Hello and welcome back to our “Mystery Jet Ski.” Much better than those programs about supernatural stuff and alien suppositions. Today we will continue with our exhaustive investigation on the hacker world, and we will delve a little more into the concept of “ethical hacker.” Is it true that there are good hackers? Who are the so-called “White hats”? Who will win this year’s Super Bowl?

Do you already know who the so-called “White Hats” are?

In this blog we never stop saying it: “No one is free from EVIL, because EVIL never rests”, and if in previous articles we saw that a bad hacker, broadly speaking, is a person who knows a lot about computers and uses their knowledge to detect security flaws in company or organization systems and take control of them, today we will see who is the archenemy of the bad hacker or cracker, the superhero of security, networks and programming… “The White Hat Hacker.”

White Hats are “evangelized” hackers who believe in good practice and good ethics, and who use their hacking superpowers to find security vulnerabilities and help correct or shield them, whether in networks, software, or hardware. “Black Hats” would be the rogue hackers we all know for their evilness, and the “White Hats” would be their honest and do-gooder counterpart. Both hack systems, but White Hat hackers do it with the goal of favoring/helping the organization they are working for.

White Hats, ethical hackers

If you thought that piracy and honesty were antonyms, you should know that, within IT, they are not necessarily so. As we pointed out, White Hats do their thing but in an ethical and supervised way, all with the aim of improving cybersecurity, not damaging it. And, dear friend, there is lots of demand for this. White Hats are not short of work, they are in high demand as security researchers and freelancers. They are the candy of organizations to strengthen their cybersecurity. Companies, in fact, take white hat hackers and make them try to hack their systems over and over again. They find and expose vulnerabilities so that the company is prepared for future attacks. They show the ease with which a Black Hat could infiltrate, and even get to the kitchen, in a system, or look for “back doors” within the encryption determined to safeguard the network. We could almost consider the White Hats as another IT security engineer or an insightful network security analyst within the company.

Some known white hat hackers:

• Greg Hoglund, “The Machine.” Mostly known for his achievements in detecting malware, rootkits, and hacking online games. He has worked for the United States government and its intelligence service.

• Jeff Moss, “Obama’s Right Hand (on the Mouse)”. He came to work on the US National Security Advisory Council during the Obama term. Today he serves as a commissioner in the World Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace.

• Dan Kaminsky, “The Competent.” Known for his great feat of finding a major bug in the DNS protocol. This could have led to a complex cache spoofing attack.

• Charlie Miller, “The Messi of hackers.” He became famous for highlighting vulnerabilities in the products of famous companies like Apple. He won the Pwn2Own edition in 2008, the most important hacking contest in the world. 

• Richard M. Stallman, “The Hacktivist.” Founder of the GNU project, an essential free software initiative to understand computing without restrictions. Champion of the free software movement since 1980.

Are there more “Hats”? 

We have already talked about the exploits of these White Hats, but what about the previously mentioned “Black Hats”? Are there more “Hats”?  Let’s have a look:

• Black hats: Well, these are the bad guys, the computer criminals, the ones we know and take for granted. The villains of this story. They start out, perhaps, as inexperienced Script Kiddies and end up as crackers. Pure jargon to designate how bad they are. Some do it alone, selling malicious tools, others work for criminal organizations as sophisticated as the ones in movies.
• Gray hats: Right in the middle of computer morality, we find these hats, combining the qualities of black and white. They are usually devoted, for example, to looking for vulnerabilities without the consent of the owners of the system, but when they find them they let them know. 
• Blue hats: These are characterized by focusing all their malicious efforts on a specific subject or group. Motivated perhaps by revenge, they dominate it just enough to execute it. They may also be hired to test specific software for bugs before it is released. They say that their name comes from the blue emblem of the Microsoft employees.
• Red Hats: The Red Hats do not like the Black Hats at all and act ruthlessly against them. Their life goal? Destroy all evil plans that bad hackers have in their hands. A good Red Hat will always be aware of the initiatives of the Black Hat, their mission is to intercept it and hack the pirate. 
• Green hats: These are the “newbies” of the hacking world. They want to go further, for their hat to mature into an authentic and genuine Black Hat. They will put effort, curiosity and boldness in said company. They are often seen grazing in packs within hidden hacker communities asking their elders for everything.

Conclusions

Sorry for the Manichaeism, but we have the White Hat that is good, the Black Hat that is bad, and a few other colorful types of hats that fall between these two poles. I know that now you will imagine hackers classified by colors like Pokemon or Power Rangers. If only achieved that with this article, everything was worth it.

USB types: the final list to know them all

“Pen drive”, “memory stick”, for those less attentive: “VHS”… We have given many names to what we actually meant by USB. But you have to know that the term goes a little beyond that gadget of four or eight gigabytes that we use for so many things. In fact, there are several USB types, and today we will delve into getting to know them.

USB Types: What is a USB?

First we should make clear that, as many suspected but few dared to inquire, the acronym USB is derived from the corresponding words: Universal Serial Bus. USB is a connection protocol that allows us to connect several peripheral devices to an electronic device to achieve an exchange of data. It can also be useful to carry out some operations or charge the battery of our devices. It is, then, like a port that works as a connection socket between different devices.

The range of devices that we can interconnect to a computer thanks to USB is quite wide. We just have to think a bit so that they all come to our heads immediately. Mouses, keyboards, video and photo cameras, smartphones, USB memories, music players, webcams, speakers, printers, recorders, external hard drives, PDA… There are countless examples.

We owe this protocol to the fruitful 1990s, a wonderful decade for Britpop and for technology. It was seven large technology corporations (Intel, IBM, Northern Telecom, Compaq, Microsoft, NEC and Digital Equipment Corporation) who joined hands to reach an agreement on the peripheral connection standard for a computer. The idea was good for everyone, and although they started with a first model, USB 1.0, different from the current ones, everything was just a matter of evolution.

USB Types: Standards

USB devices are classified into four types based on their data transfer speed: Low Speed (1.0), Full Speed (1.1), High Speed (2.0) and Super High Speed (3.0).

• USB 1.0. It was the one that appeared in the mid-nineties. The maximum speed at which information could be transferred was 1.5 Mbps. Well, it could be used for connecting devices like the mouse and keyboard for example.
• USB 1.1. The transfer rate increased to 12 Mbps.
• USB 2.0. It is undoubtedly the most widespread standard and sends data at a speed of 480 Mbps, although its actual rate is 280 Mbps. In the cable you may find four lines: two for data transfer and two for power.
• USB 3.0. We can consider it about ten times faster than 2.0. It reaches speeds of 4.8 Gbps. The best thing is that it is still compatible with the previous ones and on top of that, it includes five additional contacts. At present, it coexists with 2.0. in perfect harmony.
• USB 3.1 It is the last of the standards. In fact it emerged just a few years ago. It reaches a data transfer speed of 10 Gbps. As an incentive, it comes with a new type of connector, connector C.

USB Types: Types of connectors

Now we go to the shapes of USB, which is why we are more familiar with them.

Type A. It is the one that most users will recognize. That flattened rectangle in which we can see internal connections. The male connector is at the end of the cables, while the female is the port itself.

Type B. The ports and connectors belonging to this type are just as recognizable by users, but somewhat smaller and wider than those of type A. As a general rule, we can find them in devices such as printers.

Type C. The Type-C connector has appeared the same as USB 3.1 and the distinguishing feature is that it is reversible. That’s right, no matter which side you insert, it works both ways.

MiniUSB. You may find two different versions of this one, made by 5 or 8 pins. We can see them in cameras, external hard drives, music players and a few other trinkets.

MicroUSB. The microUSB is the smallest and thinnest of all. It is quite flat and was conceived to connect to our smartphones. With them we can transfer information and charge batteries, so we also know it very well.

USB Types: Mistaking them with USB Memory

As we have seen, the concept of USB refers to the connection port. However, the term “USB” has also been extended to refer to pen drives. Pen drives are enabled with a memory that works as a place for storing and transporting data. It’s the rightful replacement for floppy disks and CDs (who doesn’t have one, for God’s sake?!), with different capacities ranging from 1GB to 1TB. Simply because the pen drive connects through USB, they have ended up calling it that. To shorten it. We are that practical and love saving that much.

Once you just got into the technological ins and outs, are you hungry for more? Would you like to go even further in the world of technology? What about spending a couple of minutes to find out what computing system monitoring is and why it is also very important?

Monitoring systems are responsible for supervising technology (hardware, networks and communications, operating systems or applications, for example) in order to analyze its performance, and to detect and alert about possible errors. And this leads us to Pandora FMS, that wonderful tool thanks to which this blog is possible.

Pandora FMS is a flexible monitoring system, capable of monitoring devices, infrastructures, applications, services and business processes.

What is a hacker? More like Mr. Robot rather than Operation Swordfish

If we lived in a fair and more appealing world, children would not want to be Cristiano Ronaldo or PewDiePie (popular Swedish youtuber that if you have a certain age, or dignity, you won’t know about). Children would like to be someone with values, like Immanuel Kant, She-Ra or, of course, a high-level hacker who, from the sewers of a suburban pavilion, controls the world with his killer laptop and his hoodie.

We get the idea of Immanuel or She-Ra, but why do we keep that idea in our head that hackers are so cool? What is a hacker seen through the eyes of someone who knows what this world is all about? It is not that we have brought to the fore a real hacker to solve it -authorities stay calm-, but we have brought Kevin Rojas, a project consultant at Pandora FMS and a renowned technologist and nerd of these things.

What is actually a hacker?

A hacker is a person who knows a lot about computing (security, networks, programming) and uses his knowledge to detect security flaws in the computer systems of companies or organizations.

What exactly do they do?

There are different types of hackers depending on what they do and how they do it, although it could be simplified into “good hackers” and “bad hackers”. The “good guys” (ethical hackers or “white hats”) are usually hired by companies to help them improve the system security by plugging holes and fixing bugs, and the “bad guys” (“black hats”) take advantage of those holes and mistakes for personal profit. Then there are all sorts of intermediate points, such as “gray hats”, who look for faults in business systems… to attempt to be hired to help them solve them.

Why do you think they are so romanticized by movies?

I guess because of the growing importance of computing and how “appealing” it sounds to be able to break into any kind of security. In the end, a hacker is someone who gets away with anything by being “more resourceful.” Who doesn’t like big hit movies?

In addition, a hacker does not obey to any physical pattern: it does not matter whether a person is tall or short, fat or skinny, it does not matter if that person is extroverted or what his economic level is. Anyone with enough wit (and knowledge) could be a hacker… and it’s no small feat.

What things do they usually do?

A real hacker could spend a lot of time studying (really, a lot). They have to know how things work, how elements interact, what known errors different technologies have, what the most effective security policies are and what the most common errors that users make are (which, by the way, are usually the chain’s weakest link: Have you seen those people who write down the password of their user in a post-it stuck to the screen?).

What they also usually do is a lot of programming. They create malware that takes advantage of system vulnerabilities, or that captures the keystrokes and mouse keys of careless users who install programs from suspicious web pages.

They do a lot of things, but there’s one I guarantee they don’t usually do: program “detailed 3D graphical interfaces with countdowns that light up the screen red while a submarine alarm beeps when the system recognizes a security breach and activates the countermeasures”. They don’t do that, even though you may have seen it in movies like Skyfall.

What do you think are the biggest differences between a real hacker and a cliché movie hacker?

Movie hackers often hacking into systems “just like that”. “Give me any computer with Internet access and in 10 minutes I’ll be connected to the Ministry of Defense network.” Well no, it is way more complex than that and it takes much more work behind. It’s more like Mr. Robot rather than Operation Swordfish. Not that much glamour and a lot of black screen with Linux terminals.

Could you name a real hacker who has gone down in computer history for his misdeeds? What did he do?

We do not have to go that far: Swedish Julian Assange, for example, went down in history in 2010 (and on the lists of most wanted people in the United States) for leaking documents from the American intelligence service regarding several incidents that took place in the war against Afghanistan.

Also the group Anonymous is currently quite a hot topic, which is not a single person but a large group of hackers, who have been leaking information since 2003 and from which the aforementioned series, Mr. Robot was inspired.

But not all famous hackers are bad guys: there are also famous ethical hackers like Chema Alonso, Telefónica’s current CDCO, one of the heads involved in managing of the 2017 Wannacry crisis, which, in case you don’t remember, was caused by a program that encrypted the code and data of infected computers, and asked for money to recover them. We need hackers to deal with hackers…

It is always a luxury to show off a new plugin in Pandora FMS, and for that reason we decided to devote an article in style to this Zendesk plugin on our blog. We will discuss what it is and how it can help us. Step by step, and concisely, so that no one gets lost along the way.

New Zendesk plugin added to Pandora FMS

But first: What is Zendesk?

Zendesk is a platform that channels the different communication modes between customer and company through a ticketing system.

A consolidated CRM company, devoted specifically to customer service, which designs software to improve relationships with users. Known for growing and innovating while building bonds and putting down roots in the communities where it lives. Its software, such as Pandora FMS, is very advanced and flexible, being able to adapt to the needs of any growing business.

Zendesk plugin

The plugin we are talking about today allows you to create, update and delete Zendesk tickets from the terminal, or from Pandora FMS console. For that, it makes use of the API of the service, which allows this system to be integrated into other platforms. Using a series of parameters, which would be the configurable options of the ticket, you may customize them as if you were working from Zendesk itself.

Zendesk Ticket System 

Zendesk has an integrated ticketing system, with which you may track support tickets, prioritize them and resolve them.

To the point: System configuration to use the plugin.

To make use of the plugin, enable access to the API, either using password or token.

Do it from the API section in the administrator menu.

Plugin parameters

The plugin makes use of a number of parameters when creating, updating or deleting tickets. With them you may configure the ticket according to your own criteria and needs. Just as you would do it from Zendesk’s own system.

Method

-m

With this option you will choose whether to create, update or delete the ticket. Use post to create it, put to update it, and delete to delete it.

IP or hostname

-i

With this alternative you may add the ip or name of your site. Sites usually have this format:

“https://<nombre>.zendesk.com

For example, mine is https://pandoraplugin.zendesk.com/. So, in this case, it should be pandoraplugin.

* If the full url is placed, it will not work.

User

-us

Your username. Usually the email with which you signed up in Zendesk. Use this option, combined with password or token, depending on how you have it enabled.

Password

-p

The password to authenticate with the API.

Token

-t

The token to authenticate to the API. If you use this option, you do not have to use the password option.

Ticket name

-tn

The name to be given to the ticket.

Ticket content

-tb

Ticket text. It should be enclosed in quotation marks.

Ticket ID

-id

Ticket ID. This option is for when you want to update or delete a ticket.

Ticket status

-ts

The status of the ticket, which can be new, open, hold, pending, solved or closed.

Priority

-tp

The priority of the ticket, which can be urgent, high, normal or low.

Type

-tt

The ticket type, which can be problem, incident, question or task.

Ticket creation

By running the plugin with the appropriate parameters you may create tickets:

python3 pandora_zendesk.py -m post -i <ip or site name> -us <user> -t <token> -tn <ticket name> -tb <ticket content> -tp <priority> -tt <type> -ts <ticket status>

Example

With the following command:

python3 pandora_zendesk.py -m post  -i pandoraplugin -us alejandro.sanchez@pandorafms.com -t <token> -tn "Problem with X" -tb "Something is giving some problem" -tp urgent -tt task -ts new

Interact with the API and the ticket will be created in your system.

Ticket update

You may update the tickets. The parameters are the same as in creation, but you have to add also the id, which will be the id of the ticket to be updated.

python3 pandora_zendesk.py -m put -i <ip or site name> -us <user> -t <token> -id <id ticket> -tn <ticket name> -tb <ticket content> -tp <priority> -tt <type> -ts <ticket status>

Example:

Let’s update the ticket we created in the example above, which has id #24

With the following command:

We see that the ticket has been updated and moved to pending tickets.

Ticket deletion

You may also delete a ticket by searching it by its ID with the following command:

python3 pandora_zendesk.py -m delete  -i <ip o host> -us <user> -t <token> -id <id ticket>

Use of the plugin from Pandora FMS console

You will be able to execute the plugin from the console, by means of an alert, which will make the use of the plugin easier.

To that end, go to the menu Commands in alerts:

Inside, create a new command that you will use to create alerts. To achieve this, run the plugin by entering its path and use a macro for each of the parameters used to create a ticket.

Add the description to each of these macros:

Once the command is saved, create an action to which assign this created command:

In each field below (the one of each macro where you have added a description when creating the command), add the value that you would have added to the parameter.

Once you have filled in all the fields of the necessary parameters, click Create.

Once done, go to List of alerts (don’t worry, once configured, you won’t have to repeat the process for each ticket you want to create), and create one.

Designate an agent and a module (it does not matter which one), and assign the action you just created. In the template, set the manual alert.

Once completed, click Add alert.

Now, to run the plugin, go to the view of the agent that you assigned to the alert and you will see it there. You may execute it by clicking the icon Force.

To establish different tickets, go to the action you created and change the values of the fields.

Just as we generated an alert for ticket creation, you may make another to update them and another to delete them to allow the use of the optimized plugin.

More integrations in ticketing services

Apart from Zendesk, there are more ticketing services that can be used from Pandora FMS by using a plugin. These are Redmine and Zammad, which have new plugins with which to create, update and delete tickets in these systems. And Jira and OTRS, which also have a plugin in the library that allows you to use these services easily from Pandora FMS.

Resources cursos:

Pandora FMS plugin library 

Today I will tell you a little story, that of good Redhat6 and Pandora FMS, a relationship that endured, on favorable terms, everything it had to endure, but finally fell apart. Calm down, they still will stay as friends.

Pandora FMS stops supporting RedHat6 this 2022

Redhat6 was once the generation of Red Hat’s complete set of operating systems, designed for mission-critical enterprise computing and certified by leading enterprise software and hardware providers. Many systems were based on Rhel6. Among them we highlight CentOS, which in its day, was a derivation, a kind of free clone of Redhat, with the same life cycle.

As many of us know, CentOS 6 reached the end of its official life cycle, on November 30th, 2020, so it is a system that has been obsolete for more than a year. However, we, Pandora FMS, have maintained a year of extended support (2021) for these systems to make transition and migration from CentOS 6-based systems to systems based on CentOS 7 or the latest RedHat 8 easier. But this is over by 2022.

The Future of RedHat

What will happen now? Well, let’s talk about RedHat Enterprise Linux 8. Because the most cutting-edge IT is hybrid IT. And in order to transform a system into a hybrid environment, from data centers to Cloud services, certain formalities are needed. Like an adaptable scalability. Seamless workload transfer. Application development… And, of course, RedHat already has an operating system that meets all these requirements, the path to its future is RedHat 8. Cutting-edge technology that adapts to businesses and has the essential features, “from container tools to compatibility with graphic processing units”, to launch tomorrow’s technology today.

Some alternatives to CentOS

Are there any alternatives for team administrators who already moved on? Well, we have some candidates and we know them well because we support them.

• RHEL for Open Source Infrastructure: RedHat itself launched this alternative to the community so that no one would sigh for the death of CentOS, even so we are facing a clone of RHEL.
• Rocky Linux: It was developed by Greg Kurtzer and named after Rocky McGough. During its first 12 hours of life online, it was downloaded 10,000 times.
• AlmaLinux: Although now managed by its own foundation, AlmaLinux was launched in its day by those responsible for CloudLinux. Since its inception it was claimed by many as the best positioned successor to CentOS, now its version 8.5 is the proposed exact copy of RHEL 8.5.