First, understand the concept behind system logging in iOS:

• There’s a log to each App due to the Sandbox architecture and you can access then individually on the Xcode Organizer;
• When an App crashes is generated a Crash log, also available on the Organizer.
• There’s also a general system log console under Organizer.

You can access the Organizer under Xcode Window Menu. Then on the left you can find your iOS device and the available logs.

Now that you know how to do it, let’s make it the cool way:

It’s also possible to view your device logs over SSH, to do that you just need to install a tool in your iPhone called socat. You can install it over Cydia or by issuing the following command in your device:

$ apt-get install socat

Now you can view your logs by:

$ socat – UNIX-CONNECT:/var/run/lockdown/syslog.sock

(An interactive prompt will open, issue the following command and press enter)

> watch

First you need to download Mercurial from here and install it. Then Open Terminal and issue the following commands:

$ sudo /usr/local/bin/hg clone https://code.google.com/p/iphone-dataprotection/

$ cd iphone-dataprotection

$ sudo ARCHFLAGS=’-arch i386 -arch x86_64′ easy_install pycrypto

$ sudo easy_install M2crypto construct progressbar

Now you need to get your backup folder name. The backups are kept in the folder /Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/.  Once you get there all the folders inside represent iTunes backups, pick the name of one and past it on the following command:

$ python python_scripts/backup_tool.py /Users/TCB13/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup/BACKUP-FOLDER-NAME-HERE ~/iPhone-Backup-Extracted

Now the script will output something similar to this:

Device Name : TCB13′s iPhone
Display Name : TCB13′s iPhone - 24/08/2012 20:18
Last Backup Date : 2012-08-24 16:38:58
IMEI : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Serial Number : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Product Type : iPhone4,1
Product Version : 5.1.1
iTunes Version : 10.6.1
Extract backup to ~/iPhone-Backup-Extracted ? (y/n)
y
Backup is encrypted
Enter backup password :
***********
Writing Media/DCIM/100APPLE/IMG_0709.JPG

(…)

If the backup is encrypted the script will ask you for the password you used in iTunes, otherwise it will just start extracting the backup.

This was a quick tip that saved my GPS routes some days ago, when my iPhone was replaced. By some reason *Jailbreak* it was impossible to restore them to the Application via iTunes so I just extracted the files and placed them on the new iPhone over SSH.

This update issue the following new features/bug fixes: (4.1.4 – MountainKing)

• OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion issues fixed!
• Improved compatibility for some devices.

Update your STKeys now, to get the latest features.

If you don’t already have STKeys, check it out here: STKeys 4

A month ago we decided to give a try to Sheevaplug, the so great plug computer from Marvell.

Sheevaplug is very small embedded computer (actually one of the first such computers on the market), running a 1.2 GHz Marvell Kirkwood 6281 ARM-compatible CPU. It can run linux distros based on Debian such as Ubuntu (up to version 9.04) and features basic network connectivity, USB and a SD card slot.

This device seemed the ultimate low footprint and portable linux box to carry around in pen tenting, data storage at home etc… using pwnie express suite or Debian with a few tools.

The Specs:

• CPU: 1.2 GHz Marvell Kirkwood 6281 (ARM) L1: 16K L2: 256KB;
• RAM: DDR2 400MHz, 16-bit bus 512MB DDR2;
• Storage: 512MB NAND, SD Card Slot;
• Power input: 100-240VAC/50-60Hz Max. 20W;
• Connectivity: 1x USB 2.0, 1x Gigabit Ethernet, JTAG, Debug Interface via USB.
• Dimensions: 110mm (L) x 69.5mm (W) x 48.5 mm (H).

The Good…

• Very small and low power consumption for a “computer” capable of running a full featured linux;
• Possibility of expanding the internal storage a lot via SD card slot;
• Enough CPU power and RAM for most tasks,
• Can easily run a network share and a VPN server, a torrent client and some other things that usually take a standard computer to run.

The Bad…

• Power supply (PSU)

• Mechanical design

Sheevaplug is just a small white plastic box with everything inside, but it’s design is very poor starting with a lot of wasted space in the plastic box around the PSU and ending up in PCB design.

At the PCB you can easily spot design mistakes like components placed on wrong places causing them to melt down. The best example is the location of the SD Card slot: it’s located near the ARM CPU that runs really hot and doesn’t have any cooler or heatsink… We had to replace some SD cards because they just stopped working after a few hours.

The device is not properly cooled too and the CPU runs really hot without any proper heatsink.

• Old CPU (almost useless)

An ARM like 1.2 GHz Marvell Kirkwood 6281 seems a great choice but actually it isn’t! This CPU is ARM compatible ARMv5 only, new Ubuntu, Debian, BackTrack 5 or other will not work because this CPU is not supported by the new kernels anymore… So you’re stuck with Ubuntu 9.04.

Since you’re using an old kernel, you can’t do everything you want with the Aircrack-ng suite, you will only have wifi drivers for Alfa AWUS036H (RTL8187) and other common chipsets. Injection is only available on the latest Ubuntu kernel and it’s buggy.

• No Floating Point!

So… forget about encoding and decoding, math and all because it won’t work fine…

• Old, useless tools, unavailable documentation…

Marvell and others decided to take down the most of the useful documentation regarding how to install a new SO on the Sheevaplug and how to debug it and work with the low level stuff, so you will end up wasting lot’s of time trying to figure out how to make it work properly…

Most of the debug and installation tools work back in the day (2009 — when Sheevaplug was released) are useless today and you need to do everything manually or setup your own scripts if you’ve to deal with a lot of devices.

• No support of any kind, not even community

With the documentation take down, people stop buying and using Sheevaplugs so there aren’t so many support forums available and the information there the very vague and old. If you have a problem you’ll have to fix it by yourself.

• sheeva.with-linux.com: Your source for kernels…

This guys are the only ones running a mirror with compiled kernels and boot images for Sheevaplug and similar devices but… their server seems to using a very low bandwidth internet connection and you’ll have to wait hours to download a kernel and a boot image… Even surfing the file directory takes ages!

The Unknown…

• Debian ISC DHCP Server

The standard DHCP Server packed into Debian have some strange behaviors, it won’t serve any IPs to clients other than iOS or Android devices. We tested the same config on a computer running Debian it was working correctly.

• Reaver-WPS

This device could be great to use in WPS pen testing with the recent and famous Reaver-WPS tool but by some reason we can’t figure out it doesn’t work too. You can read my bug report here, so far without any answers.

• BackTrack 5, pwnie express suite, and pen testing…

Thinking about running BackTrack 5 or similar for pen testing? It won’t work. The ARM build of BT5 is not compatible with this old CPU.

Pwini Express, works fine but you’ll quickly find out that you’re stuck with old versions of your favorite tools.

Alternatives? 

There are some really great boards that can replace Sheevaplug, you can check a very good comparison between them here from raymii.org website.

• ODROID board (129$)

Conclusion

Sheevaplug was one of the biggest disappointments I’ve ever had in this kind of hardware… if you want a very small linux box save your money, don’t buy Sheevaplug because it’s USELESS.

If you want to do pen testing, run new linux systems or have general UNIX fun you should get an ODROID board (129$). If you just want something small and quick to run a network share and a VPN get a Raspberry Pi (35$).

Beyond bug fixes, this time STKeys got a new localization! With the collaboration of Antonio “Fantasma” Aguirre we’ve managed to translate STKeys to Spanish.

STKeys for Mac: (4.1.3 – LatinoX)

• New Spanish Localization!
• Bugs fixed in the Portuguese Localization.
• User interface bugs fixed in main version.
• Improved compatibility of the Active Mode for: Thompson, ThomCom, ThomMob, ThomGst.

STKeys for iOS: (1.2.2 — LatinoRelease)

• New Spanish Localization!
• Bugs fixed in the Portuguese Localization.

Update your STKeys now, to get the latest features.

If you don’t already have STKeys, check it out here: STKeys 4

“Lawful Interception” means that government agencies can, without your permission, begin tracking your Skype conversations. Calls can be covertly recorded and used against you in any circumstance. It is legal, it is frightening and it is coming to a voice over IP application near you.

I understand where Microsoft is coming from. They are obliged, by law, to provide some sort of tracking tool for the authorities who require these specific services. The US law, set by CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act), states that all telecommunications operators must enable their hardware and software for surveillance tracking. What is hard to understand is why Microsoft is so willing to open up its software for backdoor exploits. This creates a situation which welcomes exploits and willingly turns your computer into a revolving door for hackers.

Microsoft claims that “Legal Intercept” gently smoothes over the holes which exist in our current telecommunications setup. POTS or Plain Old Telephone Services uses a different monitoring system and one which is far too archaic for VOIP. Microsoft managed to successfully implement “Legal Intercept” and it just hold the rights to the world’s most powerful monitoring system. This is obliviously one of Microsoft’s main goals for its invasive system.
If you are feeling powerless, join the club. You could uninstall Skype, because it remains one of the best, if not the best, VOIP application. After years of use, are we now expected to sit back and relax as our privacy is invaded? India is not as impartial as I am and have warned Skype that if it does not fix its laws relating to Legal Interception then Skype will risk being blocked in India; as this is a market of 1.2-billion potential users, Microsoft will have to work hard to please the Indian telecommunication committees and remain in its good graces.

“Legal Interception” is not only pervasive in Skype, but will soon be in your email accounts too. The Egyptian government, famous for breaking the privacy laws of its citizens, recently ended a five-month trial of the “Legal Interception” application in conjunction with Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and various other webmail providers. The software then has the further option of planting its own version of a Trojan horse executable which can be passed on to any computer via social sharing, or portable drives. In yet another irritating blow, “Legal Interception” also allows targeted ads based on our user preferences to invade our screens.
Skype has more than 200-million users and, since its inception, it has been exceptionally secretive regarding its security protocols and have refused to reveal any details to the public. It has effectively asked its users to trust it, no matter what it throws at them. Microsoft cannot deny the FBI or the CIA the ability to tap calls. It is therefore placed in the precarious position of infuriating either the user or the government which wishes to track the user.

In a Nutshell: You can uninstall Skype if anonymous tracking enrages you. Otherwise, enjoy a more monitored VOIP existence. Regardless of the steps we take to cover our activities, nothing can keep us out of the spotlight of the tracking tools.

Source: memeburn

To archive this, first you need to know that CS 1.6 uses the protocol UDP. Then you need to write some custom headers to the server so it answers you. Check the documentation provided by Valve itself if you’re interested in what you can do.

Anyway, I come up with this function to get the server status:

function statCS16Sv($server_add, $server_port) {
$socket = socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, SOL_UDP);
socket_connect($socket, $server_add, $server_port);
socket_write($socket, “\xFF\xFF\xFF\xFF\x69″);

if (@socket_read($socket, 5) == “\xFF\xFF\xFF\xFF\x6A”) {
$status = true;
} else {
$status = false;
}
socket_close($socket);
return $status;
}

If the server is up and running and everything is ok it will return true. Otherwise false.

This update issue the following new features/bug fixes: (4.1.2 – WorldWideCompatibility)

• Improved compatibility of the Active Mode for ISP branded Thomson equipments.

Update your STKeys now, to get the latest features.

If you don’t already have STKeys, check it out here: STKeys 4

ATTENTION: This tutorial was made specifically for Xcode 4+, OSX Lion+ and iOS 5.1+, if you’re running Xcode 3.x and Snow Leopard this may not work! Please don’t waste others people time by posting comments saying that this is not working when you’re using old software. Make sure you identify your Xcode version in the comments. For older versions of Xcode you might find a fix on the comment #36 by idude. Thank you!

Step 1: Create self-signed certificate with name ‘iPhone Developer’

Open Keychain

Go to Keychain Access > Certificate Assistant > Create a Certificate…

Name the certificate as “iPhone Developer” and choose “Code Signing” on the “Certificate Type” box.

Click “Continue”, since you’re developing for Jailbroken devices a self-signed certificate is enough and also free.

Step 2: Configure the “Code Signing Identities” under Xcode.

Under your project and target build settings, set the Code Signing Identity to use your “iPhone Developer” self-signed certificate in both debug and release.

Step 3: Fix the iPhoneOS.platform Info.plist.

Open the file /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/

iPhoneOS.platform/Info.plist with your favorite text editor and replace all occurrences of “XCiPhoneOSCodeSignContext” by “XCCodeSignContext”.

Save the file and restart Xcode.

Step 4: Replace Apple CodeSign with ldid!

Download ldid here: https://github.com/downloads/rpetrich/ldid/ldid.zip

Place the executable in /usr/bin/. You might want use the Finder menu Go > Go to Folder… and write the path to open the folder. Or using the Terminal:

your-mac:~ you$ cp ~/Downloads/ldid /usr/bin/

Give it permission to execute by issuing the following command on the Terminal:

your-mac:~ you$  chmod +x /usr/bin/ldid

Now, download this python script and save it as ldid3.py also under the folder /usr/bin/.

Give it permission to execute by issuing the following command on the Terminal:

your-mac:~ you$  chmod +x /usr/bin/ldid3.py

Open the file /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/

Developer/Library/Xcode/PrivatePlugIns/iPhoneOS Build System Support.xcplugin/Contents/Resources/iPhoneCodeSign.xcspec

Replace the line saying CommandLine = “/usr/bin/codesign” with CommandLine = “/usr/bin/ldid3.py”

Now your Xcode is signing binaries with ldid! How cool is that?

Step 5: Build and Run

Try to Run your project and it should work fine in the Simulator. To use the program in your iOS Device, just use menu Product > Build.

Then open the Product in Finder and copy the Application over SSH using Cyberduck to your device’s /Applications/ folder.

If you’ve problems following this guide please comment so I can make it better!

Note: If you need debug simply add “-gta” flag under “Other Code Sign Flags”. Thanks to egregious who made it possible. This script bellow has been updated too.

An update will be published soon, stay tuned!

Update: This is a code signing issue not a bug at all.

Update 2: Problem solved, open Cydia and update to the latest version.