Forcing HTTPS on Websites (.htaccess)

HTTPS Site Wide

So, I wanted to write up a quick tutorial on using HTTPS globally or on certain directories of a website.

I had a friend asking me about how they could force HTTPS throughout their whole website. So, I listed a tutorial below to do so and he was able to accomplish HTTPS site wide.

Now, there are multiple ways this can be achieved. In the case of my friend he was on a shared hosting web server. Therefore,  shared webhosting users normally will not have access to modify the apache config files.

So that leaves us with a simple solution (htaccess) that all users can make use of fairly easily. All it required is a file edit or creation of a file and the ability to FTP or upload it to your web root directory.

What is an htaccess file?

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Research Project – Android Mobile Forensics

Mobile Devices

Today is more of a Throwback Thursday moment that I’d like to share with everyone regarding mobile devices.

So in 2015 in order to Graduate from the B.tech Forensics – Computer Crime program.
We had a year long research project that was conducted by each student.

My focus was on Mobile forensics and particularly on Android devices.

This was a field that was slightly newer to me, but I felt mobile security will play a huge role in the future. We use our mobile devices for just about everything, and this means future cyber attacks will start to hit mobile devices.

Also, at the same time, I was very curious as to what type of information mobile devices hold and contain about us. I hope my research brings out some answers for many people while at the same time posing further questions to explore.

I’ve decided to attach a PDF of my Android Forensics project.
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Samsung Note 7 Recall – Batteries Blowing up?

Samsung Note 7 Mobile Devices

Samsung recently released a new phone to their existing line of phones.

They released their new device the Note 7, which made some amazing sales in the first week of its release.
The demand was so high, they they ended up selling out all of their preorders.

However, it seems that Samsung now has come head to head with a new global issue.

An announcement was made recently which revealed that the Samsung Note 7 devices can melt, catch on fire and even explode when being charged.
The issue seems to reside from using a battery supplier than possibly did not make high quality batteries.

The models sold in China had a battery made from another supplier, which might be why none of these issues have been heard of in China so far.
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Russia claims they can now collect crypto keys?

Russia and the Encrypted World

So in top news many have probably already heard of Russia claiming or at least pushing to break encryption.
The initiative is to push for a wide ranging surveillance law, which would allow them access to a whole heck lot of information.

The law calls for metadata and content to be stored for at least six months, plus access to encrypted services.
This means that they also want access to decrypt Whatsapp conversations/chats, Viber & Skype calls… etc… etc…

So how do they go about this now? (more…)

TeamViewer Breach?

Teamviewer is a fairly popular application used to gain remote access to machines.

Many use it to help other users troubleshoot their computer issues.
I personally avoid these types of applications as there are added security risks and concerns.

Teamviewer went down about a month ago which impacted every Teamviewer user on a global scale.
Many people at that time thought Teamviewer had been breached or hacked.

I was alerted about the issue through a friend the same day.
The twitter feed for teamviewer was hit hard by angry users. And as I started to noticed right away many businesses rely heavily on TeamViewer to run their day to day operations. (more…)