This weekend at The Next HOPE conference Michael “theprez98” Schearer, a security researcher, gave a very interesting talk about SHODAN. SHODAN is a search engine which searches “banners” of systems. This means it’s basically a search engine of services on the internet. For example, with SHODAN you can find all servers running a specific version of Apache in a specific country. You also have the ability to export results in XML for a nominal fee. Check out the video of theprez98′s talk below. You can also find the slide-deck for theprez’s talk here. Please check your ethics before misusing SHODAN.

SHODAN for Penetration Testers (The Next Hope) from theprez98 on Vimeo.

This past weekend was The Next HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth) conference presented by 2600 Magazine. I myself am an avid lock enthusiast and enjoy the challenge of manipulating locks. Below is a video of the Lockpick Wizard competition sponsored by Locksport International. The object of the competition was to pick as many locks as possible in 8 minutes, while unable to see the locks and tools. Contestants had to place their tools and locks inside the burlap sack and pick away. The second round was done blindfolded. In hindsight I wish I’d have joined in the fun, but alas I chose to be a spectator on this one and record the spectacle. (Please forgive the blue tint in the video… apparently Qik is broken on the iPhone 4 at this time. I hope they fix it soon.)

I was searching all over for a decent dial-up modem ringtone for my iPhone for the longest time, but just couldn’t find one that I liked. So I decided to make my own. It was a major pain in the ass. Seeing as how I haven’t used a dialup modem since around the year 2000, and I only had one system that still has a dial-up modem. Then I had to find a dialup service to test with. Then record. Then edit. Then convert. But after much doing and a little geeking out, the result is 10 seconds of retro goodness that will make your friends jealous. I settled on this 10 second slice as my favorite in the modem handshake sequence. I think it makes the best ringtone and is the perfect length too.

So go ahead and download my freshly made 56k Dialup Modem Handshake Ringtone for your iPhone. Once you’ve downloaded the ringtone simply double click and it will be imported into iTunes as a ringtone. Enjoy!

UPDATE: as requested in the comments below, here is a 56k Modem Ringtone in .mp3 format for Android users as well. Go nuts.

Donald Trump branded bottled water. Something isn’t right. You’re fired…