fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
5 mistakes to avoid in your first project
Tags: Beginner, Programming, Coding, Beginners Guide

New to programming? Ready to build your first ever project? Before you start, keep these points in mind:

1. Limit copy pasting from the web:

Anything in excess is a poison -Theodore Levitt

When you find a perfect block of code to solve your problem, refrain from copy pasting it in your program. Rather, you should study it, understand how it works and type it yourself. This will not only give you the how-to knowledge to solve the problem, but typing it will help you to remember it.

2. Don’t stop or pause:

Coding your first project can be a tedious task. You will encounter many different problems that you would have never encountered before. Don’t let this stop you from proceeding further. Keep trying out different algorithms to solve the problem. When you stop or start a new project because you are not able to solve a tiny part of your first project, you will never learn how to solve such problems ever. Face the problem head-on and stamp over it like a boss!

3. It’s okay to refer the web/ask a friend for help:

It is perfectly alright if you ask a friend for help if you can’t solve something. Even the most experienced developer can’t do everything without getting help from the internet. As long as you learn how to solve the problem, it doesn’t matter if you have learnt it by yourself or from somewhere else.

4. Once completed, ask your friend to review your program

You will never know about all the bugs in your program unless you ask another person to use it. Don’t shy away from asking your friend or a teacher to review your program. You’ll be surprised to know the amount of mistakes you have made.

5. Comment your code

Make your code easily readable/understandable by writing comments alongside it. This will not only make the reviewer’s job easier but it would also be very useful to you. After a long time, when you revisit your first project, it would be easier for you to understand what you’ve done.

Some useful websites that helped me complete my first project successfully:
How to Build Your Portfolio as a Content Writer
By: Muhammad Abdullah Lashari
Tags: Content Writer, Beginner, Niche Selection, Portfolio

If you’re a writer, you would like to have a portfolio so that clients could look into your work and hire you. You’d be thinking, Why a writer requires a portfolio? Why is it essential? How will this help? Will it attract more clients? What if they do not like my work?

Well, if you’re a writer (beginner or a professional) you need some clients or want to urge employment that you simply think will assist you in future.

How will you tell another individual that you’re a right person? How will they know that you simply perfect for his or her work? that’s when portfolio jumps in.

Now you’ll be thinking “I am just a beginner what should I include in my portfolio, I haven’t had any clients yet?” you don’t need clients to create your showcase, it’s your own choice, which niche you decide on, what proportion you’re employed thereon and the way you present yourself to the client or anyone who wants to rent you?

I have gathered some points to create a decent portfolio as a content writer,

Identifying your niche

As a writer you’d like a distinct segment (specialize field) on which you would offer your work. this might be confusing at start but once you’ve figured it out it won’t bother you in future. I even have mentioned some beginner niche examples below:

• Blog writer

• Book reviewer

• Email writer

• Technology

• Daily life problems

Which articles should I include?

Once you’ve selected your niche, now you’ve recognized your part of work. Here comes another question which articles should I include on my portfolio?

I might suggest including the recent best-of work in your portfolio but remember including the work that’s associated with your niche.

Categorizing

To make your portfolio better you ought to categorize your work and include up to 3–2 articles in each. Don’t throw all of your work in your portfolio because it won’t be helpful because the client is curious about his work, how you would help him.

The less and to the point articles, the more chances of building a good portfolio.

Publishing your articles on freelancing platform

In this era, everyone needs their work in short time, they don’t wait. If you write a piece of information and don’t post it online, then other person won’t await your email that you simply could send him your work so that he or she will examine.

So what do you have to do?

Publish your work online. There are tons of platforms for writers in lately like WordPress, medium, LinkedIn and lots of more. But what we’d like is our clients should read or see our work and it might get tons easy once you have shared the link.

Are you ready to start your career in content writing? Hope this article helped you.
XSS Powerful Methodology for Beginners
By: Fani Malik Hack
Tags: Tutorial, Beginners, Xss, Methodology, For

XSS Powerful Methodology for Beginners

In this comprehensive post!

You will learn the technique and concept of hunting XSS.

No one will reveal his/her methodology of hunting bugs, because if everyone will we be following exact Steps of Hunting a particular bugs,

Then after the passage of time, then the methodology will completely become useless.

So, I will be sharing the core concept of hunting XSS, rather than telling you the exact Steps.

So coming straight to point, let’s start our discussion with the concept of XSS.

For finding XSS, what we do ?

1. We try to find parameter (either GET based or POST based)

2. Filter those params, whose params value reflects on page.

3. Then we test simple xss payload i.e. <script>alert(1)</script>

4. If the parameter’s value is reflecting but you are unable to execute simple xss payload due to WAF(Web Application Firewall)

Then you try to bypass WAF,

Such as if alert() function is a blocked keyword what if we try to execute this payload:

<script>confirm(1)</script>

But what if confirm () function is also blocked by WAF,

Then we can try to execute this payload:

<script>prompt(1)</script>

Sometimes replacing <script> with <ScRiPt> or by <SCRIPt> or by any other upper lower case script tag

We can try to bypass WAF,

WAF is a very wide topic, we will discuss it some other day.

So, what you think is the most important step from these steps ?

Well it is paramter finding,

Remember More Parameter == High Chance of Getting Valid XSS

So, if you only spider the target for parameter finding, then it is good, but not great.

So, If you are able to find some hidden parameter, then there is high chance of finding valid xss.

There are some case scenario where sometimes developers are even unaware of some parameters, which could be treasure for hackers

So, the conclusion i want to give from this post is that,

Always try to find hidden parameter,

Well you might be asking now that how we can find hidden parameters ? Right

Answer: GOOGLE IT!

HINT: waybackurls

Bonus Tips

==========

1. DOM XSS is very rare and hence difficult to find/hunt

2. Reflected XSS are easy to find (Go and Hunt)

3. Stored XSS pays a good amount, but little difficult to hunt

4. If you are somehow able to find Self XSS (No Bounty for Self XSS), then try to chain it with CSRF or Insecure CORS

5. (GOLD) Did you know that hardly 30 % people try to find Blind XSS ?

6. (SILVER) Unrestricted File Upload Vulnerability Could also lead to XSS (Search it)

My Twitter Account : https://twitter.com/fanimalikhack

My Instagram Account: https://instagram.com/fanimalikhack
Developer should have a blog
By: Conan Chang
Tags: Beginner

Developer should have a blog

Everyone say that developer should have a blog, for a ton of reasons, such as record what you learn, train your writing/explaining skill, a place where to show others who you are… Seem that the only bad thing is that it take time.

I totally agree

After working for almost two and half years, I realize that I have learned so much but forgot very quickly. In addtion to the frequently used technology, the most memorable thing is my sharing in the study group. Seem that somehow if I write down what I have learned can make me learn better.

Explanation practice . I recently become a mentor of a junior developer, he often misunderstands what I told him. The first idea coming is that maybe his did not have enough background knowledge. But, how about me? I should able to explain the same thing clear to anyone. It is absolutely the time to improve my explaining skill.

At the beginning of this year, I start looking for a new job. It means I have to show the best part of me as much as I can within a single A4 paper. At that moment, I really hope there is a file or anything that recorded what I have done. So that I can renew my resume easily.

So
5 simple steps to boost your creativity
By: Arnosh Italia
Tags: Creativity, Beginners Guide, Creative, Beginner, Creative Writing

5 simple steps to boost your creativity

We often have mental blocks when it comes to becoming more creative. We know that creativity has no boundaries, no protocol to follow and is intangible.

According to Marjorie Taylor, a psychologist and professor emerita at the University of Oregon, asking simple questions cannot gauge the creativity. Instead, creativity evaluation is a complicated process defined by various psychologists aiming to understand originality, flexibility, fluency, simplicity and they all come with their drawbacks. Let’s talk about how we can increase our level of creativity in 5 different steps.

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. — Albert Einstein

Inspirational ritual: Try reading or listening to autobiographies of leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs. Podcasts and Youtube are great tools to explore and inspire creativity.

Podcast are best at motivation.

Try to create something everyday — Try to find different uses of coffee mugs, chairs, spoons every day. See how you can find existing solutions for the usefulness of these items.

Be creative in what you do.

Ask the right questions — Inorder to begin with a creative session, always start with why, how, what, when problems and try to answer them. Reward yourself by answering these questions.

Ask the right questions.

Fight Fear of Failure — It is very evident to make mistakes as we are humans, but the fear of making mistakes or failure should not stop us from succeeding. Always soothe yourself by saying failure is a part of success. After a power struggle with an attitude of not giving up, you would meet success.

Do not fear from your past failures.

Keep a Creativity Journal — Start maintaining a journal to create a record of your creative ideas. A journal helps to note down the thoughts that we often stumble up, and we try to solve them with the possible solutions. The journal helps to save ideas that can later serve as future inspiration. Your journal can contain mind-maps, which are brilliant in connecting ideas and looking for ingenious answers to questions. Always create a mind map by writing down a central topic or word. Next, link related terms or concepts around the prominent name.

Record your thoughts and ideas in your journal.

The tool I can recommend here is “https://answerthepublic.com/" which helps you brainstorming the ideas and offers an exact visual way of seeing how these ideas are interlinked. When you sit to start a new project, create a flow chart to track the project’s progress from start to end. Look for various alternative paths or sequences of events that might occur or are possible. A flow chart can help you conceptualize an idea of the product and cut the potential problems and create unique solutions.

I hope this helps every one of us to check and build our creativity.
Semi-Timely Poetry #1 “Paper Flowers”
By: Caleb All
Tags: Poetry Writing, Beginner, Poetry On Medium, Poetry

Paper Flowers

I hope to somewhat regularly publish poetry in addition to the fiction, prose, commentary, analysis, reviews, etc. I also hope to write. I can’t commit to writing daily which is why it’s semi-timely but I hope to at the very least maintain a weekly schedule.

I know this isn’t very traditional poetry and maybe there’s a better label for it, if so please let me know. Maybe it’s not even poetry at all considering I didn’t write it technically, in which case just consider it a stream of consciousness. I’d welcome any feedback on how to improve my writing, this is the first poem that I’ve ever published and one of the few I’ve actually finished.

I wrote this when I realized that my parents never “fight” like how we imagine them. They never yell, never shatter the suburban fantasy.
Files transfer between Kali OS -> mobile or PC(Hacker Style)
By: Ayush Bagde
Tags: Hacker, Kali Linux, Beginners Guide, Beginner, File Sharing

Hey Guys Welcome Back In this post we will learn how to transfer files from your Kali OS to any other OS or to your phone

Note : This process of transfer will only work if you’re on the same network.

I’ll show you in depth process of How file transfers are done. Let’s begin

It’s really easy, simple and very convenient than other methods.

Step 1: Choose the file you want to transfer. And open the terminal in the current directory in which the file is present. For example, It’s on Desktop then open terminal in Desktop.

This is file I want to transfer.

Step 2: In the terminal enter the following command

sudo python -m SimpleHTTPServer

or

sudo python3 -m http.server

Explaination: This will run a default webpage on the desktop and then all the file on desktop will be available on the default server.

Step 3: Open new tab and type ifconfig to see the wlan0 ip.(if you’re using ethernet cable for Internet then use eth0 IP). In my case it’s wlan0

Step 4: Now type the ip address in your mobile phone browser or any other Operating system browser connected on same network.

<ip address>:8000

Because the port is by default set to 8000. You can enter any port for example 80, 8080, 4444, etc.

Step 5: Find the file, In my case it was Transfer

Step 6: Just click on it and it will start downloading
Defining and Collecting Data
By: Mradul Dwivedi
Tags: Collection, Data Science, Summary, Beginner, Statistics

Given a business problem to solve, you should identify, define, and collect the data that would help you solve the business problem.

Defining Variables:

Types of variables:

Numerical: example: time(continuous), Football goals(Descrete) Categorical: example: Gender, City, Country

Measurement scales:

Nominal → Ordinal or Rank Data → Interval → Ratio

Information content increases from left to right.

Collecting Data:

Data Sources:

Primary data: If you collect data on your own for analysis

Secondary data: If someone else collected data for you to analyze

Data distributed by an organization or individual

The outcomes of a designed experiment

The responses from a survey

The results of conducting an observational study

Data collected by ongoing business activities

Population and Samples:

Analysis of variables, when done on a population, are called parameters.

Analysis of variables, when done on a sample, is called statistics.

Data Cleaning:

Missing values, outliers treatment, etc.

Recording variables:

Mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive(MECE)

Types of Sampling Methods:

types of sampling methods

Simple Random Sample:

Same chance of selection of each item

Disadv: Often subject to more variation than other sampling methods

Disadv: On large sample/frame its time consuming and expensive

Can be done with the replacement or without replacement of the item

Systematic Sample:

systematic sampling

Divide into frames of k times each. If k is not an integer then round off to the next nearest integer. Choose the 1st item to be selected at random from the 1st k item in a frame. Then you select the remaining n-1 items by taking every kth item thereafter from the entire frame.

Adv: Prepared when frame consists of pre-numbered checks, sales receipts, or invoices, etc.. (Faster and easier than the random sample)

Disadv: Prone to selection bias

Stratified Sample:

Divide into frames of sub-population → “strata”

Select a simple random sample within each “strata”

More efficient than simple random and systematic sampling

Can also be expensive and clear “strata” need to be defined like Gender, Year, Country, etc.

Cluster Sample:

Divide N items in the frame into clusters that contain several items

Clusters are naturally occurring groups like countries, districts, cities, etc.

Take a random sample of each one or more clusters and study all items in each selected cluster

Requires a large sample size to produce precise results

Cost efficient

Types of Survey Errors:

Coverage Error: If a certain group of items is excluded from the frame/sample. Causes selection bias

Nonresponse error: Due to the failure to collect data on all items in the sample. Causes non-response bias.

Sampling error: Reflects the variation or “chance difference” from sample to sample. Can be reduced by using a large enough sample.

Measurement error: Vague questions in a survey that can not be measured.
Top 5 Javascript Carousel Libraries
Tags: HTML, Beginner, Free, Js, Slider

1. Swiper

Swiper is the most modern free mobile touch slider with hardware accelerated transitions and amazing native behavior. It is intended to be used in mobile websites, mobile web apps, and mobile native/hybrid apps. Swiper is not compatible with all platforms, it is a modern touch slider that is focused only on modern apps/platforms to bring the best experience and simplicity.

2. Owl Carousel 2

Touch-enabled jQuery plugin that lets you create a beautiful responsive carousel slider. Owl Carousel has been chosen as the number one jQuery plugin by hundreds of developers. Now it's time for a new version that comes with lots of new features and an even more user-friendly API.

3. Slick Slider

Fully responsive. Scales with its container. Separate settings per breakpoint Use CSS3 when available. Fully functional when not. Swipe enabled. Or disabled, if you prefer. Desktop mouse dragging Infinite looping. Fully accessible with arrow key navigation Add, remove, filter & unfilter slides Autoplay, dots, arrows, callbacks, etc…

4. ItemSlider

A tutorial on how to create a simple category slider with a minimal design using CSS animations and jQuery. The idea is to slide the items sequentially depending on the slide direction.

5. blueimp Gallery

blueimp Gallery is a touch-enabled, responsive, and customizable image & video gallery, carousel, and lightbox optimized for both mobile and desktop web browsers. It features swipe, mouse and keyboard navigation, transition effects, slideshow functionality, fullscreen support, and on-demand content loading and can be extended to display additional content types.

I hope This information helps to use Slider for your website. also comment to me which slider you use and the most useful Slider library name….

Also, visit our website mycodemagic
The null object which is *actually* an object
By: Theo Carney
Tags: Prototype Chain, JavaScript, Beginner, Web Development, Computer Science

Disclaimer: rushed post tonight — xmas eve and all — learn from me at your own risk.

While reading Why Prototypal Inheritance Matters by Aadit M Shah, I had to pause on this variable declaration when I read it in:

let emptyObject = Object.create(null)

// using Object.create(null) yields an object with zero properties; if you’re relatively new to JS, you may have never seen this before. Test it in your console and see what that looks like.

I said to myself something like “lol, but ‘null’ isn’t an object, even though typeof null returns ‘object’; that can’t be right.” However, upon further inspection, sure enough, the Javascript overlords have defined this as a legitimate move in JS:

MDN describes Object.create() thus:
Get more than 30X speedup on your Python code
By: Rizwan Hasan
Tags: Python, Tutorial, Productivity, Beginner, Programming

Beginners guide to

Get more than 30X speedup on your Python code

Python is the world’s best programming language. But wait for a minute. Really? Some people will say in the comment that, “Bro, It’s so slower than others in the market”. By the way, I’m not going to argue with anyone about this best programming language selection war. But those who become upset after having a defeat from the war only based on the point of Python is slow, I’m here to give them a push. So, let’s jump into the mission of making Python 30X faster.

What is Cython?

Cython is an optimizing static compiler for both the Python programming language and the extended Cython programming language based on well-known Pyrex. It makes writing C extensions for Python as easy as Python itself. In other words, Cython is an intermediate step between Python and C/C++. It allows writing pure Python code with some minor modifications, which translates into the C code directly.

How Cython boosts?

Cython aims to become a superset of Python which gives it high-level, object-oriented, functional, and dynamic programming features. Source codes written in Python gets translated into optimized C/C++ code. This code is executed within the CPython runtime environment, but at the speed of compiled C and with the ability to call directly into C libraries. At the same time, it keeps the original interface of the Python source code, which makes it directly usable from Python code. Thus it compiled as a Python extension module as well as keeping up the high productivity of Python which is worshipped by the developers.
Finding the longest word in a string using JavaScript
Tags: HTML, Beginner, CSS, JavaScript

Hello guys in this tutorial, we are going to learn how finding the longest word in a string using JavaScript.

There are many way to find longest word in a string but we can use for this solution, we will use the Array.prototype.reduce().

The reduce() method applies a function against an accumulator and each value of the array (from left-to-right) to reduce it to a single value.

reduce() executes a callback function once for each element present in the array. You can provide an initial value as the second argument to reduce, here we will add an empty string “ ”.

Finding the longest word step 1:

Add below code inside index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html lang=”en”>

<head>

<meta charset=”UTF-8" />

<title>Finding the longest word in a string using JavaScript</title>

<meta name=”viewport” content=”width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />

<meta http-equiv=”X-UA-Compatible” content=”ie=edge” />

<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”style.css” />

</head>

<body>

<div class=”center-center”>

<span>( Finding the longest word in a string using JavaScript )</span>

<h1 id=”string”>Stack Findover is the largest, most trusted online community for developers</h1>

<button id=”string_check” onclick=”onbtnclick()”>Click me</button>

</div>

<script type=”text/javascript”>

function onbtnclick() {

document.getElementById(“string_check”).disabled = true;

const str = document.getElementById(“string”).textContent;

const findLongest = (str = ‘’) => {

const strArr = str.split(‘ ‘);

const word = strArr.reduce((acc, val) => {

let { length: len } = acc;

if(val.length > len){

acc = val;

};

return acc;

}, ‘’);

return word;

};

function matchString() {

var string = str;

var result = string.match(findLongest(str));

document.getElementById(‘string’).innerHTML = ‘Output: ‘+’{ ‘ +result+ ‘ }’;

} matchString()

}

</script>

</body>

</html>

Read Full Article
TryHackMe — Advent of Cyber 2 — Day 22
By: Trent Darrow
Tags: Cyber, Beginner, Walkthrough, Tryhackme, Encoding

Good afternoon everyone,

Today we continue the Blue Team saga. Reading through a bit, we are dealing with a KeePass password manager database and some different encoding. Anyhow, today’s intro:

“The past few days there have been strange things happening at Best Festival Company. McEager hasn’t had the time to fully investigate the compromised endpoints with everything that is going on nor does he have the time to reimage the workstations. McEager decides to log into a different workstation, one of his backup systems. McEager logs in and to his dismay he can’t log into his password manager. It’s not accepting his master key! He notices that the folder name has been renamed to something strange.”

First we can RDP into the machine (should be fun, once again on my terrible connection..). Right away, we see this folder on the desktop, first glance it looks like the name is encoded in Base64. We will load up the CyberChef and take a look.

Looks like the Grinch has visited here, and it was Base64.

This also happens to be the master password for the KeePass database. So, let’s take a look inside there.

We have usernames and passwords for a security system, email, and elf server. Although they are encoded but they were lucky enough to leave us hints in the notes of the database.

Question 2: What is the encoding method listed as the ‘Matching ops’?

For this we need to use the magic option in Cyber Chef. It just tells us what we already know.

Question 3: What is the decoded password value of the Elf Server?

Here is the entry for the Elf Server.

Let’s just put into CyberChef and use FromHex. Easy enough.

Question 4: What is the decoded password value for ElfMail?

Let’s take a peak at the encoded password and see what it looks like.

Well, these notes give away the answer pretty easily with the CyberChef. It was an HTML Entity.

And onto the final Question: Decode the last encoded value. What is the flag?

Inside the Recycling Bin folder, we see this:

Alrighty, we have a lot more data it seems here, let’s take a better look. Once we place it into CyberChef, we can see right away, it is making a string From CharCode.

We can remove some syntax and let cyber chef do the work for us.
Q#13: Students in a class
By: Abish Pius
Tags: Set Theory, Data Science, Beginner, Interview Questions, Statistics

In a class of 120 students numbered 1 to 120, all even numbered students opt for Physics, those whose numbers are divisible by 5 opt for Chemistry and those whose numbers are divisible by 7 opt for Math.

Given this information, how many opt for none of the three subjects?

TRY IT YOURSELF

ANSWER:

This question tests your understanding of statistics, specifically set theory. Recall from set theory, A U B U C = A + B + C - (A n B + B n C + C n A) + (A n B n C) where U is union and n for intersection. For the purpose of this question:

- A = students in Physics (120 /2 = 60)

- B = students in Chemistry (120/5 = 24)

- C = students in Math (120/7 *round down* = 17)

Now to find the intersection values, use the LCM (least common multiple) between the divisors, ie 2 and 5 is 10, 5 and 7 is 35:

- A n B = 120/10 = 12

- B n C = 120/35 *round down* = 3

- C n A = 120/14 *round down* = 8

Finally find A n B n C is the same method finding LCM between all three divisors in this case it is only the number 70:

- A n B n C = 120/70 *round down*= 1

Thus A U B U C = 60 + 24 + 17 — (12+3+14) + 1 = 79

Now the question asks us to find those in none of the classes:

So, 120–79 = 41 students in no classes.
Create a Simple Text Editor with Python
By: Shounak Das
Tags: Python, Tutorial, Coding, Beginner, Programming

First, create a new python file. We will be using the path module from os . So, let's import it.

from os import path

This will help us to check existing files. Now, we need the user to enter the path to the new or existing file. Let’s store it in a variable file_path .

file_path = input("

Create file (please enter the path to file): ")

Next, we need to check if the file already exists using the exists() function of the path module. For this, we need to write an if statement. The exists() function checks if the file already exists at the given path, in this case, file_path .

If the file does not exist, then it will create a new file at the same location. Otherwise, it will ask if we wish to continue with the existing file. So, we need another if statement.

If we wish to continue with the existing file, it will ask if we wish to delete the content, or do we want to append text to it. Otherwise, the program will stop. So, let’s write another if statement inside this one.

The pass keyword tells the compiler to just do nothing and move on to the next steps. Putting all parts together, your code should look something like this:

Now comes the most interesting part where we will build the interface. We need to inform the user how to use our text editor beforehand. So, paste this print statement.

print("

Press RETURN to start a new line.

Press Ctrl + C to save and close.



")

And now, paste these lines:

As you know, most text editors put a line number at the start of every line. Here, we will be doing something like that. I have used an infinite while loop so that you can add as many lines as you want to. But, we can't let it run forever. So, I have used a try / except statement, with the exception being raised by a KeyboardInterrupt , caused by pressing Ctrl + C .

If you don’t know what the try / except statement is used for, in short words, it tries to run the code unless an exception (e.g. pressing a key, reaching the end of file, etc.) occurs.

Here, the line variable will store a single line of text, then it will write it to the file, add a new line, increment line_count by one, and again repeat unless you press Ctrl + C , which is used to stop a while loop (not to copy text).

Last but not the least, we need to close the file. Summing it up, your code will look like this:

Output

Let’s see the changes in the file abc.txt .

That’s how our own text editor works and looks like. I hope today you learned something new and understand how you can apply your programming skills to create some cool projects. If you have any questions, just leave a comment and I will be happy to help you.

Happy Coding!😎

Resources
TryHackMe — Advent of Cyber 2 — Day 21
By: Trent Darrow
Tags: Powershell, Beginner, Datastream, Walkthrough, Tryhackme

Good Afternoon everyone,

With my A/C not fixed but working again today, let’s get after it. The tasks looks like it deals with the various Alternate Data Streams files can have. I’ve only dealt with this once I can think of and that was a HackTheBox machine. Should be a good refresher. Today’s intro:

“One of the ‘little helpers’ logged into his workstation only to realize that the database connector file has been replaced, and he can’t find the naughty list anymore. Furthermore, upon executing the database connector file, a taunting message was displayed, hinting that the file was moved to another location. McEager has been notified, and he will put the pieces together to find the database connector file.”

Question 1: Read the contents of the text file within the Documents folder. What is the file hash for db.exe?

Should be easy enough. Just need to Get-Contents the file..

Question 2: What is the file hash of the mysterious executable within the Documents folder?

Once again, not too bad, simple command.

Get-FileHash -Algorithm MD5 .\deebee.exe

Question 3: Using Strings find the hidden flag within the executable?

Using strings was simple enough, was able to scan through the data quickly enough to find the flag and also a note saying our database connector file has been moved and we can’t query the naughty list anymore. We will save that part for question 4.

C:\Tools\strings64.exe -accepteula .\deebee.exe

Question 4: What is the flag that is displayed when you run the database connector file?

First we can locate the different streams with this

PS C:\Users\littlehelper\Documents> Get-Item -Path .\deebee.exe -Stream *

We now can guess the hidedb is the stream we are looking for. Now to access this stream with wmic.

PS C:\Users\littlehelper\Documents> wmic process call create $(Resolve-Path .\deebee.exe:hidedb)

Anyway, from here we are presented with a simple DB style selection window with the flag. As usual, I’ll leave that part up to you so I don’t ruin all of the fun.

As always, best of luck. If you enjoy my content, feel free to add me on LinkedIn and let me know you saw the blog.

Until next time,

-3lduderino
Blind SQLi with conditional errors
Tags: Portswigger, Beginner, Blind Sql Injection, Binary Search

Hej, I am at the very beginning of this journey however I like to learn the things in detail as much as I can. Let’s jump in.

There is some information to help us to solve the lab. We have a table called users, their columns are username and password. We will use it later We need to login as an administrator to solve this lab so our username is administrator.

I intercepted the request and sent it to the repeater. First things first, we need discover where the vulnerability is.

GET /filter?category=Gifts HTTP/1.1 //Let’s focus on categories. I added one quote at the end of the Gift (‘) Gifts’ and examined the request and nothing has changed. Then added one more but nothing has happened.

We know that database is Oracle from previous labs.

TrackingId can be vulnerable. After adding one quote, the response has changed. 500 Internal Server Error. I added one more, there is a SQL Injection. If I need to clarify, quote escapes quote.

SELECT * FROM x WHERE y = ‘Gifts’

Time to exploit it

Tried to use: TrackingId=t1IsJioU7lbjwtY5'||pg_sleep(10) — ‘ //500 Internal Error

After take a look the cheat sheat, we can use this payload

SELECT CASE WHEN (YOUR-CONDITION-HERE) THEN to_char(1/0) ELSE NULL END FROM dual — ;

but why? what is case and to_char,NULL. Do we need to use them? In oracle we can use CASE to make conditions,

We can think CASE STATEMENT as an IF STATEMENT,

( our condition) ? (condition_n) : (result) END so if our condition is evaluated to true then condition_n statement is executed, otherwise result is. All we are OK with. But what about to_char, in oracle to_char makes them string. Because we do not know all of the tables, we do not need to conflict with the types of tables. As we remember the UNION BASED SQLi , it is suggested to use null instead of 1,2,3,.. UNION SELECT null,null — ‘ because we want to escape the conflict the types. Jump in to Oracle. I do not have Oracle in my local but I am using apex.oracle.com.

SELECT CASE WHEN (1=1) THEN to_char(1/0) ELSE NULL END FROM DUAL;

SELECT CASE WHEN (1=2) THEN to_char(1/0) ELSE NULL END FROM DUAL;

To be sure, TrackingId=x’ UNION SELECT CASE WHEN (username=’administrator’) THEN to_char(1/0) ELSE NULL END FROM dual — ‘; // 500 Internal Server Error, still working now we can use SUBSTRING to find the password of administrator. SUBSTR takes 3 parameters; (xx, initial point, initialition step) Now our payload is:

TrackingId=x’ UNION SELECT CASE WHEN (username=’administrator’

AND

ASCII(SUBSTR(password,1,1))>80)

THEN to_char(1/0) ELSE NULL END FROM users — ‘; // Time to begin binary search, ASCII table will be our guide, It is easy to find it on the internet.We need to increase the number until 500 is appeared.

After find the 20 characters of password. CONGRATULATIONS, YOU SOLVED THE LAB! STAY TUNED.
Be Still Meditation
By: Katie Krimitsos
Tags: Daily, Morning, Beginner, Self Love, Starter

Today’s be still meditation will help you take the time to relax and enter the stillness inside of you.

Come with me,

To enter the stillness.

The place inside of you that settles all fears,

Comforts all emotions,

And connects you to your divinity.

Be still, my love.

And find the answers you can’t hear in the noise around you.

The whispers of truth,

The timely ideas,

And the deep secrets of the universe.

They’re all here for you.

In the stillness.

So Let’s Begin…

BE STILL MEDITATION SCRIPT

So breathe, my love.

In and out.

Slower and slower,

Letting your breath calm and relax your body.

Your breath is your path to stillness.

Let it guide you into the quiet.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

PAUSE…

Our world tells us that fast is best.

That doing more and achieving more will fill our souls.

But that’s all noise.

Instead, slow down and be still.

PAUSE…

Go inside,

And the noise will stop.

Your soul will replenish as it realigns with your divinity.

The undeniable knowing that you are pure magic,

A being of love and light.

PAUSE…

Be still,

And let it remind you of what is important and what is not,

Of who YOU are,

And how you are meant to live.

PAUSE…

Be still, my love,

And let the spaciousness inside expand,

Open,

Cleanse,

And clarify.

Let your dreams swim in crystal blue waters,

Alongside the hows and people and magic that can make them all real.

It all gets created here.

In the stillness.

PAUSE…

So be still, my love,

Breathing in,

And breathing out.

Every day.

Coming home,

To the stillness.

Namaste, Beautiful.
Investing
By: Teresa English
Tags: Beginner, Investing, Ethical Investment

I have a tiny bit of money to invest so I’m going to see what happens when I invest in companies that I truly support.

LNTH — Lantheus Holdings Inc is a company in North Billerica specializing in the development, manufacture, and commercialization of diagnostic medical imaging agents and products that assist clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular and other diseases. I bought a single share @ $14.30

ANCN — Anchiano Therapeutics LTD is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with two promising cancer treatments. I bought 5 shares @ $2.72

EVLO — Evelo Biosciences is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focusing on solutions for inflammatory diseases and cancer located in Massachusetts. I bought 5 shares @ $10.91

SLDB — Solid Biosciences is developing gene therapies for patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy located in Cambridge, MA. I bought 25 shares @ $5.86

ALRN — Aileron Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on novel therapeutics for cancer. I bought 100 shares @ $0.96
hi i’m autumn
By: Autumn
Tags: Autumn, Introduction, Beginner, Tiktok App, Texas

I think that’s how you start an introduction anyway. I’m 19 and I live in Texas. I found out about medium through Tiktok. The girl said that she writes on here a lot to alleviate stress and to get her thoughts out so I figured it would be a good idea to start a blog. I don’t really know what I wanna write about yet but I promise it won’t be stupid. I don’t expect to get a lot of viewers considering i’m just starting out but that’s okay :). Anyways, thank you for reading this and taking the time to consider it. I truly appreciate it.

sincerely, autumn
Why is Self-Love important?
By: Ambika Piu Santra
Tags: Beginner, Self Love, Writing

Tell me something about yourself that you really admire? Is it beauty, interests, or other qualities? In modern days, people prefer outer appearance more than inner specialties. This is more common in the teenage phase. Many teeners get so confused and tensed about their appearance that they almost forget what they are! Or should I say who they are? They don’t care what matters or what is actually important. They just want themselves to look perfect. They want to be famous and want to gain interests and popularity. For some time, it convinced them that their presence matters, people love them, admire them just by following them on social media. The reality flashes out when they are in trouble and nobody cares. Then the truth comes out, no one is your friend, you are on your own and you have to face problems alone.

I was an invisible girl. Nobody ever knew who I was, not even my name! I had a friend; I thought she was but turned out she was never there for me, never mind. So just a normal, boring girl with specs living a normal life. At first, I didn’t bother about friends and popularity, then I grew up. Started hearing things about myself, how cheap and simple I was. People hated to sit near me in class. I was probably untouchable for them. Slowly it became harder and more complex to bear all this shit. I was ugly and fat and not even considered a friend. Then I met someone. He was kind and funny and he understood me, at least I thought that he did. But little did I know that I was again going to end up alone. Everybody rejected me as a friend and off-course as something more. It also crushed the bit of hope left when he broke up with me saying that I was a cheater. It was a big misunderstanding made by others, and he trusted them more than me. Obviously, he would do that. What is there in me? Nothing! I became furious and realized that enough is enough. I can’t tolerate it anymore. I had to show that they were wrong. I totally changed myself, stopped caring about others and what they think, started prioritizing myself, and became tough. And they started giving attention to me. But importantly, I started loving myself. The strength of self-worth gave way to my growth and understanding. Everybody is born nothing, but it’s on us if we want to be nothing! To be a good person, we just need to be honest and real to ourselves. Don’t follow others, what they do, or what they think. Just live up to yourself, follow your dreams, and do what you like. The world is a big place, don’t be someone else, be who you are.

Honestly copying others is a lot of work, it’s better not to. Embrace the beauty within and let the world see how beautiful you are! Everyone is trying to destroy your confidence, trust none, and follow your heart. The world will become a better place for you, just need some effort to adapt. Nothing is possible if you don’t believe in yourself. Trust yourself and start working on your thoughts and your abilities. And in a short time, you’ll see yourself successful in life, happy, and people will admire and inspire you.
Rejection
By: Prateeti Hazarika
Tags: Life, Poetry On Medium, Thoughts And Feelings, Beginner, Poetry

Rejection

“Rejection”,

It’s not just a word or an expression,

Feeling the troubled waters of each day,

Bearing the unparalleled pain ,

Like a dagger on your spine,

“Rejection”,

Right in front of your eyes,

Scattered dreams and hopes,

Shattering the heart and the mind.

“Rejection”

It’s not just a word or an expression.
“ The Cry ”
By: Prateeti Hazarika
Tags: Life, Poetry On Medium, Thoughts And Feelings, Beginner, Poetry

“ The Cry ”

Triggered with the gloomy clouds and thundershock,

Walkedmiles and miles across the storm,

Till the toes were decorated with red,

Cried loud and streamed,

Till the pain settled down,

Sweats drizzled,

Till the tears became dry,

Emotions fade away,

Till the first piece of bread was in the hands.
The Exact Strategy You Can Use To Get Curated As a Beginner
By: Giorgos Pantsios
Tags: Curation, Writing Tips, Strategy, Writing, Beginner

The Exact Strategy You Can Use To Get Curated As a Beginner

Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

So, I got curated for the first time.

English is not my first language, I came into the writing scene 3 months ago and I haven't written much to begin with.

How did I do it?

The answer is more complex than, “I wrote great content”.

And the guide is not your typical, “You can get curated in your first day of writing”.

It’s not false either. You can get curated on your first day of writing. But it will happen in your 20th+ day of reading.

I spent months reading on Medium before I wrote a story that got curated. I realized that I needed to understand the principles of curation before attempting it.

I’m a perfectionist, so I wanted to succeed early on. I wrote two articles for The Ascent that got rejected before I get accepted+curated.

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

― Abraham Lincoln

By “sharpening the axe” I noticed how others did it. What brought curation to their articles and applied them to mine. Below you’ll see the exact strategy to get yourself curated and accepted in a big publication as well.
Conquer The Command Line: The open Command
By: Jim Homme
Tags: Tutorial, Command Line, Beginner, Linux, Programming

How to use the Linux open command on Mac plus essential options

In this installment of “Conquer The Command Line” we talk about how to use the Linux open command on Mac.

When ever you want to open a file, a directory, or an application from the command line on a Mac, use the open command.

To use the open command, you need to have your Mac terminal open. oOnce opened, type open <item> . Item can be a file, an application, or a directory.

As an aside, I have always wondered why the directory tree has that name and why the main directory, the one that the other directories branch from is called the root. I googled and found this page about tree roots among other things. It says that trees grow root systems that keep up with the branches we see above ground. Now I’m good with this, because I thought that the developer jargon didn’t make sense.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Opening The Current And Parent Directory

Linux uses two special designations for directories. . means the current directory. .. means the parent directory, the directory one level closer to the root, which is the highest directory in the tree of directories and files. Since Mac OS, operating system, is based on Linux, it honors this.

To open the current directory, type open . .

To open the parent directory, type open .. .

Essential Options

If you have a Mac, you will find the options for the open command by typing the man command at the terminal prompt.

Related Commands

To print the working directory, the one you are currently pointing to, use the pwd command.

To change to directories, use the cd command.

To list the contents of a directory, use the ls command.

To make directories, use the mkdir command.

To remove directories, use the rmdir command.

To create files or change their time stamps, use the touch command.

To move or rename files and directories, use the mv command.

To copy files and directories, use the cp command.

Remember to use the man command to find all the options for any command on your system. And remember that for a less technical explanation of commands to check out tldr pages.

What Now?

Hopefully this post has helped you take one more step in conquering the command line. I welcome any feedback.

This post was originally written at https://www.jimhomme.com
Q#12: Reverse It
By: Abish Pius
Tags: Python, String Manipulation, List Comprehension, Beginner, Interview Questions

Suppose you’re given an array of strings, s. Write a function using Python to take each string in the array and reverse it.

For example:

#Given the following:

s = [‘rac’, ‘talf’, ‘tot’, ‘tob’]

#Your function should return:

[‘car’, ‘flat’, ‘tot’, ‘bot’]

TRY IT YOURSELF

Answer:

This question tests your python skills, specifically looping through a list and slicing strings. We will cover two possible answers, one using standard procedures and one with List Comprehension.

The standard way involves looping through the list, and using our knowledge of slicing where list[<start>:<end>:<by>] can be used with the <by> being -1, meaning we reverse our list. Recall if you use just the semicolon the indexes will be assumed to be the first through last item in the list.

ans = []

for i in s:

ans.append(i[::-1])

The other method is to use List Comprehension. Recall list comprehension works as follows list[expression(i) for i in list].