hey, i used to have a way around the school router blocks but i cant seem to remember what it was for the life of me. What it consisted was of an .exe that installed some software that allowed me to browse freely. I vaguely remember that the software consisted of a icon on the taskbar that was kinda an earth with fire around it....maybe?
if you have any other good router/server bypasses then please let me know. .exe file executions are blocked everywhere except in the technology building at school. Preferably i would like to have something only requiring a flash drive or it can be done within IE or Chrome.
Do u mean that you are able to surf the internet but some website, like Facebook for example , are blocked?
yukinok25 said:
Do u mean that you are able to surf the internet but some website, like Facebook for example , are blocked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes exactly, often they have keywords that they block as well, (such as game, kill, black ops, etc). maybe a proxy would work? we used to have a couple good ones but they would eventually block it.
johnston9234 said:
yes exactly, often they have keywords that they block as well, (such as game, kill, black ops, etc). maybe a proxy would work? we used to have a couple good ones but they would eventually block it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, a free proxy can be a solution in most cases, here try some in this list first:
http://www.publicproxyservers.com/proxy/list1.html
johnston9234 said:
hey, i used to have a way around the school router blocks but i cant seem to remember what it was for the life of me. What it consisted was of an .exe that installed some software that allowed me to browse freely. I vaguely remember that the software consisted of a icon on the taskbar that was kinda an earth with fire around it....maybe?
if you have any other good router/server bypasses then please let me know. .exe file executions are blocked everywhere except in the technology building at school. Preferably i would like to have something only requiring a flash drive or it can be done within IE or Chrome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To do this would require some form of exe to use a proxy via a specially setup browser, or admin rights to set the system proxy.
You will find that your IT admins will block the proxies you use (I have to block proxies at my work network when we detect them).
If implemented properly (any good professional IT admin should be able to do it right), you will struggle to tunnel out using most systems.
You can't ssh forward if they block non-standard ports, or filter protocols. You can't use SOCKS proxies if they do the same. You can't use web proxies if they use smart URL filtering.
You can try web proxies, but it's an uphill battle. If you find a proxy that works, don't tell your friends, as that usage across multiple accounts flags the URL in some security systems (my users alert me to the latest proxy sites unwittingly )
Finally, you do realise you are probably breaking the acceptable use agreement? Isn't it better to do facebook etc out of school hours? Or use your phone? If you get good at evading, it is easy to remove internet access altogether from an account in most systems. Good luck in tunnelling out when you have zero internet access as your account is null routed
Summary? Try proxies, don't hold your breath, and do you really need to use facebook etc in school? Oh, and for goodness sake, don't run exes on school PCs... If they've not set them up right, you could infect the machines. They prevent EXE execution on most machines for good reason...
pulser_g2 said:
To do this would require some form of exe to use a proxy via a specially setup browser, or admin rights to set the system proxy.
You will find that your IT admins will block the proxies you use (I have to block proxies at my work network when we detect them).
If implemented properly (any good professional IT admin should be able to do it right), you will struggle to tunnel out using most systems.
You can't ssh forward if they block non-standard ports, or filter protocols. You can't use SOCKS proxies if they do the same. You can't use web proxies if they use smart URL filtering.
You can try web proxies, but it's an uphill battle. If you find a proxy that works, don't tell your friends, as that usage across multiple accounts flags the URL in some security systems (my users alert me to the latest proxy sites unwittingly )
Finally, you do realise you are probably breaking the acceptable use agreement? Isn't it better to do facebook etc out of school hours? Or use your phone? If you get good at evading, it is easy to remove internet access altogether from an account in most systems. Good luck in tunnelling out when you have zero internet access as your account is null routed
Summary? Try proxies, don't hold your breath, and do you really need to use facebook etc in school? Oh, and for goodness sake, don't run exes on school PCs... If they've not set them up right, you could infect the machines. They prevent EXE execution on most machines for good reason...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a REALLY good explanation Pulser, I always liked the way you answer to the people on XDA! (specially on the Hero thread )
By the way, why an .exe file would infect a machine? Do you mean any kind of .exe? Even from a well known company, who create safe and populars software?
I used to run, without tell anyone, firefox portable in my office to bypass firewall restrictions, is that dangerous as well?
Considering you are at school, you will lack a lot of needed rights to edit certain things. I would know, I had to get around blocks on both Windows and Mac computers my freshman year.
I would advise you use the software, Your Freedom, it's free, but requires an account, you will also need to use a browser such as Firefox, and edit the settings to use the correct IP and Port as a proxy.
It also works on both Mac's and PC's. There is another software that I had used, strictly for windows PC's, but I can't recall the name of it.
Edit: I also ran the software from my flash drive..
i have special access to .exe and Command prompt just because of the position i am in as a student (several Technical courses). I can execute files on my computer and i have Chrome Installed. Does that help?
johnston9234 said:
i have special access to .exe and Command prompt just because of the position i am in as a student (several Technical courses). I can execute files on my computer and i have Chrome Installed. Does that help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I did was to download firefox portable, you can google it (and if you want you can copy it to an USB drive).
If you go to firefox networking setting, you can try to change the options in advanced with "no proxy" or as wisefire said just write an IP proxy address with the correct port, you should be able to visit any website.
At least this was working flawlessy for me..
yukinok25 said:
This is a REALLY good explanation Pulser, I always liked the way you answer to the people on XDA! (specially on the Hero thread )
By the way, why an .exe file would infect a machine? Do you mean any kind of .exe? Even from a well known company, who create safe and populars software?
I used to run, without tell anyone, firefox portable in my office to bypass firewall restrictions, is that dangerous as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only a malicious exe would cause trouble...
But on a shared school network, who knows what the user before you used...
That's why I use disk freezing software on systems I run, and a forced reboot between logins, to give you a clean environment.
But while employees run portable firefox, what if they were to use it on another pc, and it had a virus, which infected the exe?
TBH, flash drives shouldn't be used in work environments, that were used outwith that environment... But that's not realistic in a school.
johnston9234 said:
i have special access to .exe and Command prompt just because of the position i am in as a student (several Technical courses). I can execute files on my computer and i have Chrome Installed. Does that help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Come on... Surely you ain't gonna abuse that privilege? You got it because you were trusted, not to work round the restrictions that are in your acceptable use policy...
yukinok25 said:
What I did was to download firefox portable, you can google it (and if you want you can copy it to an USB drive).
If you go to firefox networking setting, you can try to change the options in advanced with "no proxy" or as wisefire said just write an IP proxy address with the correct port, you should be able to visit any website.
At least this was working flawlessy for me..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would work unless they filter out proxy traffic (you can often detect SOCKS proxies and other ones that are working using this method, or even block common ports like 8080)
Back in high school we used Ultrasurf and GPass. I liked GPass because it was really easy to hide from the taskbar and notification area.
pulser_g2 said:
Only a malicious exe would cause trouble...
But on a shared school network, who knows what the user before you used...
That's why I use disk freezing software on systems I run, and a forced reboot between logins, to give you a clean environment.
But while employees run portable firefox, what if they were to use it on another pc, and it had a virus, which infected the exe?
TBH, flash drives shouldn't be used in work environments, that were used outwith that environment... But that's not realistic in a school.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha, All of my schools have used disk freezing software. I thought about putting it on my parent's computer so I don't have to work on it anymore.
Eventhough I generally don't work on it anymore and just have them call someone to work on it for them. hahah.
buttes said:
Back in high school we used Ultrasurf and GPass. I liked GPass because it was really easy to hide from the taskbar and notification area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Back in my days in high school we just got the many different IT and Librarian passwords/usernames and some teacher's passwords aswell. Then we'd log in to them and download Kazaa (yeah, it was that long ago lol), and downloaded like a gig or two of old NES, SNES, SEGA, Etc roms and started passing them around to everyone. haha.
It got so bad that the school threatened expulsion for everyone that had the games on their user accounts because it was overloading their network and storage space.
For a while they were just searching for the rom's extensions and you could just go and change them to a .txt and then change them back when you wanted to play them, but then they finally realized that the gig of space the roms took up were about 4 times the size of the data we were allowed to have and they could just sort the usernames by the usage of storage space.
The teacher's ones were fun to have though... it allowed you change some grades here and there...especially with my method of madness which I will not describe here. lol
pulser_g2 said:
That would work unless they filter out proxy traffic (you can often detect SOCKS proxies and other ones that are working using this method, or even block common ports like 8080)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I am really interested about this topic, is there anyway to bypass a restriction if they filter out the proxy traffic?
yukinok25 said:
So, I am really interested about this topic, is there anyway to bypass a restriction if they filter out the proxy traffic?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm... It's possible. If they use deep packet filtering it may be hard. But anything is possible...
I won't go into details, of getting round things, as it is my job to stop people getting round them, and I know a load of tricks, but look at the protocols in use in surfing - you need LDAP/AD to log into windows domain. Then you use DNS to resolve an IP (perhaps via a corporate web proxy). Then HTTP/HTTPS to access the page.
Now think what tools the domain admins might use to administer their network - RDP? SSH? Web services on high ports?
I think I've gone into enough detail for now... I can tunnel out almost any network these days, but I don't think it is sensible, wise, nor ethical to divulge this sort of thing.
pulser_g2 said:
Hmmm... It's possible. If they use deep packet filtering it may be hard. But anything is possible...
I won't go into details, of getting round things, as it is my job to stop people getting round them, and I know a load of tricks, but look at the protocols in use in surfing - you need LDAP/AD to log into windows domain. Then you use DNS to resolve an IP (perhaps via a corporate web proxy). Then HTTP/HTTPS to access the page.
Now think what tools the domain admins might use to administer their network - RDP? SSH? Web services on high ports?
I think I've gone into enough detail for now... I can tunnel out almost any network these days, but I don't think it is sensible, wise, nor ethical to divulge this sort of thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True I am agree with you Pulser, thus I am really into this sort of things recently.
I am eager to learn..
Could you please recommend me a book or something (not too advanced) that would help me to understand better LDAP/AD, DNS and everything about security and networking?
I obviously wanna learn just for myself and I definitely don't want to spread or divulge in anyway bad behaviors..
johnston9234 said:
hey, i used to have a way around the school router blocks but i cant seem to remember what it was for the life of me. What it consisted was of an .exe that installed some software that allowed me to browse freely. I vaguely remember that the software consisted of a icon on the taskbar that was kinda an earth with fire around it....maybe?
if you have any other good router/server bypasses then please let me know. .exe file executions are blocked everywhere except in the technology building at school. Preferably i would like to have something only requiring a flash drive or it can be done within IE or Chrome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if not previously mentioned, you're looking for "Tor" which comes in both installable packages or portable exe files that can be run off flash drives and includes a custom made 'Mozilla Firefox' which comes preloaded with Tor and does not save any browsing information on your client machine, thus this program is completely anon when ran from a flash drive.
www.torproject.org and you're looking for the Stable Portable Browser Bundle
Please thanks me (click thanks) if this helped
really there is a simple way
use kon-boot and bypass admin password and change the settings
kylon said:
really there is a simple way
use kon-boot and bypass admin password and change the settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not if he is on a school network, he would have to physically run kon-boot on the server itself which defeats the purpose because the server would already be logged in as an admin of some kind.
-correct me if I'm misunderstanding or have missed a key post somewhere-
Related
Hi All,
Does anyone know of a SQL client for Android? Just something for running basic queries when I need to check on a system and can't be arsed waiting for a computer to boot up. The databases I use are MS SQL Server.
I've searched about and can't find anything. I've also had a look at the dev docs for Android and it looks like it should be straight forward using the java.sql class but unfortunately Java isn't in my skill set at the moment and the day job & life in general doesn't leave me with much time to learn it.
If there isn't a program does anyone have any plans to write one ;-)
Cheers
Keith
Anyone ???
It'd be pretty darn insecure to open up your databases to use a remote client like that, why not just use something like phpmyadmin for it? It runs fine in the android browser and theres tons of alternatives that probably have iphone themes that would work great. Alternatively you could get debian set up and grab one of the hundreds of apps to do it in the repository
I need this as well. I'm constantly on SQL Enterprise Manager on my PC and when mobile, I have to teamviewer to my desktop and run queries there, which is such a torture.
I've bought RemoteDB, which I can't seem to get to work properly, I can't switch databases and the connection registry is very confusing.
Anybody?!
Also interested
I'm also interested in this topic.
As far as opening your db's up to the internet, that's a bogus argument. Anyone remotely managing enterprise databases will be using a vpn tunnel, and not the open web.
Having an Android app to connect to Microsoft SQL and Oracle would be extremely helpful. I've been trying to figure out how to mod Oracle's SQLDeveloper to do just that but without any success so far.
aSQL - Remote Control, new launch
Remote Control Client for Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008/2008R2/2012.
aSQL - Remote Control Lite is a powerful Microsoft SQL Server client providing Access to your server in your Pocket. Access all of your databases, Jobs and Processes as well from your mobile device.Simple and Fast application providing advanced features.
aSQL - Remote Control Lite Provide features like:
- Providing connectivity to different servers on your Network.
- Ability to store Server Information for future use.
- Job START/STOP only a click away.
- Kill any running Processes From your mobile device.
- View Databases details - View File size.
Google Play Store link -
"market://details?id=com.sqlforce.aSQL"
SQL Client
Hi Guys
I looked for something like this for a while as well, and couldn't find anything that did what I wanted, so I made one myself
Key features I wanted are the following
Be able to connect directly to a db server. I used the jdts jdbc driver for Java to get this right
Be able to connect to any SQL Server db. I'll add support for Postgres and MySQL if this gains any popularity
List of all databases on the server (excluding system dbs) and allow you to quickly switch between them
List tables in the currently selected db, and generate Select statements for them
List stored procedures in the currently selected db, and pull the code for them so you can change it
Use a tabbed interface for the different sql queries, to allow you to run many queries at once
This is all done and works really well. Large queries take longer to run than they would on a pc, but they run nonetheless.
Let me know what you think, and feel free to suggest features. If enough people like it and use it, I'll bite the bullet and buy the developer so I can publish it on the Play store
I hope you enjoy it
ps. The installer is signed with the standard testing key, so you will need to go into your settings and allow applications from unknown sources
pps. I ask for internet access to get access to the network sockets, but dont actually connect to the internet.
danegoodwin -
I've downloaded it and played with it a bit - looks good. One feature I'd suggest off the top is storing the connection info. It's a pain having to enter the server address and username each time.
If you are still looking for a SQL client I had written one as well.
It should cover most of the popular databases and works well with tablets and phones.
SQLTool Pro
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nraboy.sqltool
I'm also open to suggestions and questions if anyone decides to give it a try.
nraboy said:
If you are still looking for a SQL client I had written one as well.
It should cover most of the popular databases and works well with tablets and phones.
SQLTool Pro
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nraboy.sqltool
I'm also open to suggestions and questions if anyone decides to give it a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so, this one does BOTH MySQL and MS SQL, and, your other one *just* MySQL ?
thanks, anyone
abbots said:
so, this one does BOTH MySQL and MS SQL, and, your other one *just* MySQL ?
thanks, anyone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. The pro version will handle MySQL, MS SQL, PostgreSQL, Sybase, and Oracle up to version 10.1.
The MySQL version is strictly MySQL.
nraboy said:
Correct. The pro version will handle MySQL, MS SQL, PostgreSQL, Sybase, and Oracle up to version 10.1.
The MySQL version is strictly MySQL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for reply (and for nice app!)
nice, looks good... even better, seems to work well....connected to remote MySQL OK
suggestion: please auto-suggest correct ports for relevant SQLs
so, editing can only be done via queries ? (time to learn SQL syntax..?)
next, I'll try connecting to MS SQL, whilst I know a tiny bit about MySQL, I know nothing about MS, might be asking for help...
Nic,
need some help, if you can:
having issues with MS SQL, MS SQL is on a cloud server, for all I know, port could be blocked..
I've setup definition with port 1433, get 'failed to connect'
how to t/s outside of the app ?
should "telnet host 1433 " work ?
I'm getting
# telnet mssql2008.xx.yy 1433
Trying 202.111.22.33...
telnet: connect to address 202.111.22.33: Connection timed out
what else can I try ?
thanks for any pointers!
abbots said:
thanks for reply (and for nice app!)
nice, looks good... even better, seems to work well....connected to remote MySQL OK
suggestion: please auto-suggest correct ports for relevant SQLs
so, editing can only be done via queries ? (time to learn SQL syntax..?)
next, I'll try connecting to MS SQL, whilst I know a tiny bit about MySQL, I know nothing about MS, might be asking for help...
Nic,
need some help, if you can:
having issues with MS SQL, MS SQL is on a cloud server, for all I know, port could be blocked..
I've setup definition with port 1433, get 'failed to connect'
how to t/s outside of the app ?
should "telnet host 1433 " work ?
I'm getting
# telnet mssql2008.xx.yy 1433
Trying 202.111.22.33...
telnet: connect to address 202.111.22.33: Connection timed out
what else can I try ?
thanks for any pointers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hinting a default port is a good idea. I will see about adding in an upcoming release.
Yes right now anything beyond a simple select or delete must be done with a custom query. My goal is to make it more like the desktop editors, but since I am the only developer it might take a while. But I am not saying it won't happen.
If telnet is failing to connect then there is a firewall rule blocking your IP. Three things could fix this.
1. Add your IP to the database allow list (talk to the DBA)
2. If you can connect to the network the DB is on via VPN then you should. The db might be restricted to local IP
3. Use the SSH features of SQLTool to connect to a server on the databases allow list
You were smart to try the telnet. I would have done the same thing.
Feel free to contact me here or through the tools site. I'm happy to help
nraboy said:
You were smart to try the telnet. I would have done the same thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ahem, not that smart.....
forgot to specify sql type...... ooops
suggestion: don't allow save unless all req. stuff filled in...
OK, I seem to be in.
can I dump/backup with this app ?
thanks.
decent app, well done, wish you success in further development, if I can help in any way, happy to try
now I need to figure out how to dump this MS SQL into my Linux machine
abbots said:
ahem, not that smart.....
forgot to specify sql type...... ooops
suggestion: don't allow save unless all req. stuff filled in...
OK, I seem to be in.
can I dump/backup with this app ?
thanks.
decent app, well done, wish you success in further development, if I can help in any way, happy to try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice catch on the SQL Type. I will work to correct that.
For dump / backup are you referring to data or structure or both? Right now I have exporting DDL on my things to do list, but if you're referring to something else I'd like to hear it.
Thanks for the compliments on my app. I definitely want to hear more suggestions if you have them. Also please don't forget to rate well when you get a chance
Hi everyone,
Simple question ... I've installed Ad free to download (I guess) a host file containing ad sources so browsing is less frustrating and probably faster.
Is there a similar way to add a list of porn websites to the host file? If it's not similar, how difficult could it be? I know a bit of Java and linux, but doing this on a phone might be out of my reach at this point.
Some direction would be welcome. Thanks!
If you know the sites you'd like to block, you could pull the hosts file yourself, edit it with notepad, and then repush it.
Just want to make sure I'm reading this right.... 3shirtlessmen wants to modify his hosts file to block pornography.
Sounds like a great setup for a joke.
timmins said:
Just want to make sure I'm reading this right.... 3shirtlessmen wants to modify his hosts file to block pornography.
Sounds like a great setup for a joke.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look at the nick...
on wifi you can set the DNS server to openDNS I've never used it but from what i understand you can configure it to block sites, also i believe there was a script that could be run on rooted phones to change the 3g DNS server as well but i don't know if it works on the nexus or where to find it other than on the g1 board.
godsfilth said:
on wifi you can set the DNS server to openDNS I've never used it but from what i understand you can configure it to block sites, also i believe there was a script that could be run on rooted phones to change the 3g DNS server as well but i don't know if it works on the nexus or where to find it other than on the g1 board.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use opendns on my router to block filesharing and proxies - it works well (though someone fairly technical will always find a way around it). The issue I have is that it does not play nice with vpn's (even when I have configured the opendns account for the vpn) and I can't change the dns settings on my nexus to use google dns (even with the settings in the dns field), as it still seems to pick up the settings from the router. If you don't use vpn, and are happy for all devices to be subject to the same restrictions, then opendns may be the answer (or at least it will block that content on your internet connection).
OpenDNS is used on my home network, and it does block pornography. This is meaningless on a phone when you can disable wireless though. Thanks for the tip.
How do I push and pull the host file from the phone?
Nesousx said:
Look at the nick...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I literally mention the nick in my post.
Haha, yeah. No joke here. Though it is kinda ironic . . .
Just thought of a new question. I use excel a ton and frequently need to go to my bosses office to ask questions about certain things. If I were logged onto the companies wifi, would I be able to optain access to the shared drives my NT account (assuming somehow I login from my Xoom) to manually bring the document to my boss, and have the work be easily done in one place???
The quickest way might be to install one of the remote desktop clients out there. Even on the 4.3’’ screen of the Evo, it can be a real pain to use, but I suspect a MUCH more pleasant experience on this.
By tomorrow afternoon, it is my intent to have my xoom talking to a dedicated Win7 vm that lives on one of my servers. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get to a point where creds are saved and I end up with a 1-click process to access the enterprise. Im REALLY banking on the idea that rdp will be usable on this larger screen.
I know that’s not exactly what you were looking for, but I’d be willing to bet that somebody is / has worked on a file browser that will see network shares and store credentials. I will certainly look around.
AndyMan386 said:
Just thought of a new question. I use excel a ton and frequently need to go to my bosses office to ask questions about certain things. If I were logged onto the companies wifi, would I be able to optain access to the shared drives my NT account (assuming somehow I login from my Xoom) to manually bring the document to my boss, and have the work be easily done in one place???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can do this at home now with my Android phone using AndroXplorer on wifi. Just need to create a shortcut to a share on my PC using UNC path. Not sure if your company will have any restrictions on WiFi or not and also not sure if that app will work on Honeycomb. But it is definitely possible.
These apps allow you to remotely access your phone from a web browser. However, they all run a web server on the phone, and I cannot connect to any of the over 3g (Verizon).
LazyDroid Web Desktop
Remote Desktop
Remote Web Desktop
I want to move the web server off phone, and (hopefully) onto private sites.google.com site. App Engine might be necessary, but I'm hoping this could be done solely in JS.
The hosting site would provide the UI, and interact with the phone using C2DM (the magic that powers Chrome2Phone, GMail, and installing apps from the web Market).
The UI is pretty obvious. It just needs a whiz to create HTML, Javascript, etc.
The C2DM backend is a still a bit mystifying to me... and searching for c2dm and javascript does not yield any obvious working implementations. But it seems plausible. Push a command to the phone, phone returns/uploads data to website, and UI updates.
Then there is the Android end. Well, there are the 3 projects above, Tasker for a quasi-hackish approach, and RPC (promising, but it seems like a WIP).
Thoughts? Volunteers? Geniuses?
Ooo... 2 birds with one stone!
This would also kill 2 birds with one stone.
No more typing in dynamic IP addresses! You get to use DNS to handle the connections. Bookmark your site in your desktop browser (it is always the same!). And set a preference in the Android app.
On lazydroid i've in planning some kind of trick that will let you connect behind firewall ... similar to a vpn...
CloudsITA said:
On lazydroid i've in planning some kind of trick that will let you connect behind firewall ... similar to a vpn...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried it again last week, and it is still unsuccessful. Webkey is currently the only application that I can successfully use to reach my phone.
Now, I could be wrong, but I believe all of these apps run a web server on the phone. I get a lovely, private 10.x.x.x IP address, which I can't reverse the route to. I have tried and failed to get DynDNS to work.
I have been looking into a solution since my original post. I have not had any time to do code squat, but I have loosely figured out all of the parts.
The big architectural difference I have been seeking is removing the server from the phone. I am not an Android expert, but I don't believe it even requires a running service. (Thank you, C2DM.)
With the app-webservice separation, you can work a "protocol" that reduces the overall bandwidth used... and thus improve battery life. Put all the "hard work" on a webserver, and (things get fuzzy here) possibly push it off onto the client browser (JS).
C2DM Browser Links
I could probably make something like WebKey but with C2DM and some more features. If you want you can give suggestions and I'll start making on saturday (after my exams). It would probably be possible in javascript for the actual sending from server and php just for logging in to your google account. The phone would just be registered on the server and no services (just as you wanted )
nebkat said:
I could probably make something like WebKey but with C2DM and some more features. If you want you can give suggestions and I'll start making on saturday (after my exams). It would probably be possible in javascript for the actual sending from server and php just for logging in to your google account. The phone would just be registered on the server and no services (just as you wanted )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure "more features" is necessarily the direction I'm headed. I am focused on making a "seamless" experience (i.e. less separation of phone and computer).
I was headed to App Engine (Python bias + easy Google integration). I have a project created. I haven't pulled together the various examples to make the core, but it seems <naive>simple</naive>. Stir in some templates, CSS, a sprinkling of JS, and voila!
The big "tricky" part that I can't convert from f***ing magic to a clear approach is the data link in the server. I want to avoid any storage to a Google disk, or otherwise, even temporarily. No stored data = easy privacy policy.
nebkat, if you're really chomping at the bit to code, here's my Android client concept.
- C2DM is a wake-up call. (cheat an borrow ChromeToPhone's ID to begin with)
- Connect to web server, send "I'm here," and wait for further instructions (Channels API/Comet/AJAX/.........)
- make the command set extensible
- each command is blockable in the client. (Permission control is set on the phone, not remotely.)
- After N minutes of no activity, send a "good bye," disconnect from the server, and fade into the background.
Don't worry, I'm very experienced with the server side stuff and I know exactly what you want. The only information stored on the sever side would be google account, the device c2dm registration id and some logging features just for statistics. A password could be set on the phone that would be sha512 hashed on the ajax request and would be sent to the phone. Even if a hacker found the hash, it would be useless without being logged in to the persons google account or knowing the server side auth token.
For now i'll just make the reciever, processor and command output and later on the extra security and ui stuff. It will work exactly the same way as Chrome2Phone except it will have server side php and the different commands. The connection from pc to phone will be something like this.
user command -> ajax request -> php c2dm request -> phone
phone -> php server http request -> controller page status
BTW I'm saving up for a Nexus S, how much would people pay for this type of app? There would definitely be a free version, but I just need to get the Nexus S because I have a Galaxy Spica now and it isn't the best for app development. I'm new to how stuff at xda works, would a donate version get me enoguh for the Nexus?
nebkat said:
Don't worry, ... <snip> ... auth token.
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Alrighty then. I'm feeling like I can stop contemplating implementing this.
BTW I'm saving up for a Nexus S, how much would people pay for this type of app? There would definitely be a free version, but I just need to get the Nexus S because I have a Galaxy Spica now and it isn't the best for app development. I'm new to how stuff at xda works, would a donate version get me enoguh for the Nexus?
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Since I was learning the ins and outs of App Engine, I read their quota rules and realized if this were popular it would require funding. I don't know where you are going to your web server, but I assume you'll have to pay someone to keep it running. But I had thought about $$$ already.
"Give away the razor, and sell them the blades."
Make the app free, no feature restrictions.
You get your money through various "membership" levels on the server. (See the account levels at fastmail.fm for an example.) So, you can use the app for free, but you only get, say, 2-3 MB of traffic per day, and only X sessions per day. Need more? See the pricing chart.
user command -> ajax request -> php c2dm request -> phone
phone -> php server http request -> controller page status
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user command -> php server http request -> phone
phone -> php server http request -> controller page status
user command -> php server http request -> phone
lather, rinse, repeat.
C2DM is not deterministic, and acts up in low signal conditions. So, I made a decision to only use C2DM to initiate a session. Once both ends are connected to the server, everything goes over HTTP.
Oh.... and not that we need another Lookout/Phone Finder, but a shared-secret SMS code for the case where "they" have shut down the data connection.
I have my own server nebkat.com and there is nothing on it anyway.
The only other way to make "push" requests to the phone is with WebSockets. It would probably be better than c2dm because we have full control over what gets sent (google limits some requests). The advantage of WebSockets is that they send no header information which means that we could send our messages in 20 to 30 bytes.
I'll look into more detail on friday.
With web sockets won't you need to ensure the phone has a routable, external IP address? I know, for one, t-mobile does not expose an external IP address for their phones. Unless, of course, if the phone is connected over WiFi. C2DM works great for me (I have used a couple of apps with it and it is really useful).
MrGibbage said:
With web sockets won't you need to ensure the phone has a routable, external IP address? I know, for one, t-mobile does not expose an external IP address for their phones. Unless, of course, if the phone is connected over WiFi. C2DM works great for me (I have used a couple of apps with it and it is really useful).
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No, WS is server initiated and the ip address' shouldn't make a difference.
MrGibbage said:
With web sockets won't you need to ensure the phone has a routable, external IP address? I know, for one, t-mobile does not expose an external IP address for their phones. Unless, of course, if the phone is connected over WiFi. C2DM works great for me (I have used a couple of apps with it and it is really useful).
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You need an valid external IP address if you are attempting to initiate contact with your phone, which is why the 4-5 apps I've mentioned do not work on carriers like t-mo and verizon.
But the phone can establish a connection, and the carrier NATs (or whatever) will handle the routing for outgoing and incoming data.
I think the right questions are: Will Verizon/T-Mo allow the ports and protocol for WebSockets? Do Android and desktop browsers implement the draft API correctly and consistently?
I like C2DM. I works well when you have a good connection. But there are 3 issues with it.
1) The message size limit is 1024 bytes. Not ideal for file transfers.
2) In a poor signal areas, since the service retries sending messages, you will get delayed and/or duplicate messages. I work in a large "concrete" building, so I get this behavior often enough that I don't want to rely on it.
3) I believe there is a limit on the number of messages you can send. So, hunting around the filesystem could hit this limit (but unlikely in reality... I hope.)
It would be interesting to see exactly how those apps handle all of the data. Do they only use C2DM, or do they hand over to another protocol?
Ok my exams are over and I am starting with it. I'll give updates on this thread
Am a little bit surprised (to say the least) that a device for ebook reading with a shop based function, has no working firewall!
Especially as the kernel is based on Linux!
What are people here doing for a firewall?
Has anyone manged to get ipchains etc back onto the Nook?
Freya
FreyaBlack said:
Am a little bit surprised (to say the least) that a device for ebook reading with a shop based function, has no working firewall!
Especially as the kernel is based on Linux!
What are people here doing for a firewall?
Has anyone manged to get ipchains etc back onto the Nook?
Freya
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I doubt that an unrooted NST has any listening ports, so no need for a firewall. Credit Card details aren't stored on the NST itself, so an attacker would need to sniff the (SSL-encrypted+signed?) network traffic and use that to log into the account, if that's even possible. I suspect that all an attacker could do would be to buy books for the registered user without their permission.
cowbutt said:
I doubt that an unrooted NST has any listening ports, so no need for a firewall. Credit Card details aren't stored on the NST itself, so an attacker would need to sniff the (SSL-encrypted+signed?) network traffic and use that to log into the account, if that's even possible. I suspect that all an attacker could do would be to buy books for the registered user without their permission.
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We know that at least port 80 exists because of the built in web browser and the nook must be receiving data somehow for the books etc.
You are right that the credit card details are almost certainly stored remotely but once a hacker is inside they can log the data from the keyboard so that when you update your credit card details you are passing on the details to who knows who.
Freya
FreyaBlack said:
We know that at least port 80 exists because of the built in web browser and the nook must be receiving data somehow for the books etc.
You are right that the credit card details are almost certainly stored remotely but once a hacker is inside they can log the data from the keyboard so that when you update your credit card details you are passing on the details to who knows who.
Freya
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No, that's not how TCP works.
The NST will make a connection from an ephemeral source port in the range 1024-65535 to the destination port of 80 (http) or 443 (https) on the server. Connections cannot be established to the ephemeral port on the NST without MITMing the connection. If you're worried about that, you should also worry about lots of other attacks (e.g. transparent malicious proxies) that an IP firewall also won't protect against. And don't connect your WiFi devices to untrusted networks (which is good advice anyway).
TL;DR: the lack of an IP firewall on an unrooted NST is the least of your worries.
cowbutt said:
No, that's not how TCP works.
The NST will make a connection from an ephemeral source port in the range 1024-65535 to the destination port of 80 (http) or 443 (https) on the server. Connections cannot be established to the ephemeral port on the NST without MITMing the connection. If you're worried about that, you should also worry about lots of other attacks (e.g. transparent malicious proxies) that an IP firewall also won't protect against. And don't connect your WiFi devices to untrusted networks (which is good advice anyway).
TL;DR: the lack of an IP firewall on an unrooted NST is the least of your worries.
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Well I would worry about malicious proxies but I'm not sure I can do anything about them really.
So what you appear to be saying is that the whole firewall thing is very overrated and isn't really all that necessary.
I assume it was just one of those things that was trendy for a short while some time ago but has now gone out of fashion.
I know a lot of people turn off their firewalls to play networked computer games because the firewall tends to get in the way, so maybe they are a lot less important than I assumed.
You are right that I probably worry too much about these things.
The thing you say that makes me pause for thought tho, is about connecting to untrusted networks.
Isn't the internet itself an untrusted network? Or am I being over the top again because I'm basically protected by my ISP?
Freya
FreyaBlack said:
Well I would worry about malicious proxies but I'm not sure I can do anything about them really.
So what you appear to be saying is that the whole firewall thing is very overrated and isn't really all that necessary.
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It depends.
IP firewalls are still quite useful to protect networks where people may connect hosts running network services that don't comply with the organisation's security policy. And host firewalls are sometimes useful if there are listening network services that cannot easily be disabled, or if there are outbound connections that one wishes to block. More intelligent firewalls that perform some deep packet inspection can also be useful these days (mostly because so many so-called "firewall friendly" network protocols just run over HTTP(S)).
The thing you say that makes me pause for thought tho, is about connecting to untrusted networks.
Isn't the internet itself an untrusted network? Or am I being over the top again because I'm basically protected by my ISP?
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That depends how competent and/or malicious your ISP is, and how co-operative they are with the local government!
Freya
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