This week's AON might be a little short, but finally, the Garradd comet's peak has come! I picked the Garradd comet to follow because it's a bright and easy-to-follow comet. Be sure to observe it! If you need help finding it, you can find more information here.

• Until March: The Garradd comet's peak is this month! Be sure to observe it!

• February 3: Moon is at its most northern declination.
• February 4: Io occultation, Europa transit.
• February 6: Io and Europa eclipses.

Below I have defined some of the events I will be notifying you about over the course of this repeating feature:

• Transit—When an astronomical object passes in front of another, like one of Jupiter's moons passing in front of Jupiter.
• Occultation—When one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer.
• Moon Phases—It can be fun observing different phases of the moon. These are what fraction of the moon is dark. It is also fun observing the dark side.
• Conjunctions—Two (or more) bright objects in one field of view! This is when two or more astronomical objects are relatively close. Sometimes it is cool to see planets or bright stars pass by or behind the moon.
• Apogee or Perigee—This is when the moon is closest or furthest away from Earth. Not really for observing, but it can be interesting to view the moon when it is large and small.
• Meteor Showers—Easily observed by the naked eye or by binoculars.
• Comets—Not very often do these come around, but are amazing to watch.
• Lunar and Solar Eclipses—Mainly these are lunar eclipses, but if you get to see a solar eclipse you are very lucky!  This is when an astronomical object passes into a shadow of another.  This could be Jupiter's moons passing into its shadow, or vice versa.
• Solstices—This is when the Earth wobbles, or from Earth this is how the northernmost or southernmost point the sun is at. There are two each year. This is mainly for information.
• Equinoxes—This is when the earth is in the middle of its southernmost and northernmost position and it is equal. Again, this is mainly for knowledge.
• Declination of Moon—This is when the moon's path around the Earth is slightly tilted up or down. The declination is the furthest up or down it will go.

There may be more to come. When these are included, I will explain what they are.

Hello and welcome to another InfoSecurity World tutorial. The intent of this article is to teach one how to encrypt sensitive files. When set up correctly with a strong password, it would be almost impossible to hack. Even the FBI have had issues decrypting this software. I'm here to teach you how to create a general encrypted container—not the complex hidden TrueCrypt volume.  

What is the benefit to having a TrueCrypt container on the computer? There are many, and here are just some of them:

1. Great place to store your passwords;
2. Good for storing sensitive information such as your medical history and bank details;
3. Great place to store sensitive back up files. Examples include government documentation such as your Social Security Number (SSN), Birth Certificate and/or Citizenship Certificate; and
4. Having all your sensitive files in this encrypted container means that whenever your computer becomes infected, it cannot gather the information from what's in TrueCrypt. In addition to the above, should the computer get stolen, all your sensitive information will be encrypted and they won't be able to access it without the correct password.

In all, whatever you consider as "personal" or something that could be "destructive or dangerous in the hands of the hacker"—encrypt it.

Requirements

• Install the latest TrueCrypt from here before proceeding.
• Back up your computer in case something goes wrong.
• TrueCrypt works on Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000, Mac OS X and Linux.  It supports both 32 and 64 bit on Windows and Linux.

Creating the Truecrypt Volume

Do NOT proceed to these steps until you have both installed TrueCrypt and backed up your operating system.

Step 1 Create a Volume

Find Truecrypt on your computer and open it. Choose from the list of drive letters. I have chosen (F:) Drive to create my personal TC container.  When you've chosen which drive to use, click "Create Volume". 

Step 2 Create an Encrypted File Container

You may also choose from the others, but we will not be discussing those options today. It is also recommended that inexperienced users go with the method I'm creating. It doesn't make the data any less secure choosing this option. The other options are more about encrypting the entire computer which is for advanced users, not beginners.

Step 3 Create a Standard TrueCrypt Volume

Do not select "Hidden TrueCrypt Volume", as this is for more advanced users.

Step 4 Choose the Destination

Navigate to the "Documents" folder and for the file name, type something like 'TC Volume".  Do NOT click on an existing file or folder and press save. Doing so will overwrite it—all data within it will be lost. 

Step 5 Select Your Encryption Method

The default is recommended. AES-256 has being trusted for many years and therefore is more reliable. Note that this encryption method might be used by the U.S. government to protect classified information up to the Top Secret level.

Step 6 Choose the Container's Size

Think about what you will be storing and how much? It's a good idea to add a little bit of extra space in case you decide to store something big. 5 to 10 GB is usually enough.

Step 7 Choose a Password

I recommend at least a 20-character password. It should contain letters (lower and upper case), numbers, symbols and spaces. Here is a great guide to creating good passwords.  

Step 8 Set the Default File System

Here you need to make a decision on whether the container will be used to store large files (over 4GB). Depending on what you choose, it will let TC choose the best formatting option for you. 

Step 9 Create Your Encryption Key

Step nine is the fun part! Move your mouse randomly across the TC window to create your encryption key. The longer you move it the stronger the encryption will be. 30 seconds should be the absolute minimum, while a minute or two is ideal. What will happen after you've done this is TC will format your volume, which shouldn't take too long. 

Guess what? That's it! That's all there is to creating a TC volume. Just click Exit to quit the program and I'll show you how to open the volume.

Find TC and open it up. Click "Select File" and find the container. Press OK, then click "Mount" and enter the password as the below picture shows.

Warning

• The use of encryption is illegal in some countries. So before you install this, ensure that this program is legal in your country.

Image by opscode

In this series, I'll be exploring electromagnetic weapons: how to build them, their function and application to the future, and the amazing possibilities electromagnetism has to offer. In today's segment, we'll go into the electromagnetic pulse generator, or EMP. You've probably heard of these before, and their devastating effects on electronics. A simple EMP consists of a capacitor, transformer, trigger, and coil of copper wire. This, when triggered, would produce an intense magnetic field for a brief period, similar to a coil gun (see this article for more info). On a small scale, this would be enough to reset a calculator or electronic clock, but not enough to be of any use. However, it is quite easy to make a more effective one (at close range), with a few more components, and time. I'll be going over capacitors and transformers in this article, and discussing which are most applicable to an EMP. 

Capacitors

There are many kinds of capacitors, but I'll categorize them in "electrolyte" and "non-electrolyte". These types are represented by symbols: 

In a way, capacitors are quite similar to batteries. They both store electrical energy; however, there is a major difference. That is, capacitors only STORE electrons, never produce them. In a battery, a chemical reaction between two terminals and an acidic solution PRODUCES electrons. Inside the capacitor, the terminals connect to two metal plates separated by a non-conducting substance, or dielectric.

It's quite easy to make a capacitor from two pieces of aluminium foil and a piece of paper or plastic, like a leyden jar (see this article on how to make a simple leyden jar shocker). Depending on the voltage rating and capacitance rating, capacitors can be as small as a grain of rice, or as large as a garbage can and bigger. For a practical DIY EMP, a simple 5000uf 400V capacitor (or capacitor bank) would be legitimate. There are two ways to create a capacitor bank; series or parallel. This article explains the differences in series and parallel quite well.

A capacitor bank for an EMP should have capacitors linked together in parallel. This increases the capacitance and reduces electrolyte damage. For example, if you had six capacitors at 650uf 400V each in parallel, your final capacitance and voltage would be 3900uf 400V. The voltage does not change, but the capacitance increases. The image below is a circuit diagram representation of capacitors in parallel. Your capacitor bank should be similar (if not exact) in design. Also, keep in mind electrolyte capacitors have a positive and a negative (polarity). The white line on an electrolyte capacitor represents negative, ensuring your capacitor bank has an orderly, constant polarity. 

Transformers

Now that you have the storage availability, what about filling it? For that, you'll need a transformer. A transformer takes electricity and basically shifts around the voltage: current ratio. In a transformer, there is generally a primary winding/coil, and a secondary winding/coil. They rarely are made up of exact gauge/number of windings, and usually contain a core made out of ferrite or metal.

A transformer turns electricity into a magnetic field with a coil of copper, then back into electricity again using another coil. You'll need a fairly powerful high voltage transformer to fill your capacitor bank quickly, a MOT (microwave transformer) or ZVS flyback transformer would work nicely, if properly used (these are VERY DANGEROUS and can KILL YOU INSTANTLY). Of course, you'll need a DC voltage source to charge your capacitor bank, to ensure you have a diode (or similar rectification device). The circuit symbol for a transformer looks like this: 

The two outside "humps" or coils represent inductors, and the center portion represents a core. Most (all) flyback transformers have a ferrite core, and most MOTs have a steel or similar metal core. For more information about transformers, see here. 

In part two, I'll be covering switches and coils. Stay tuned! 

Warnings

• When working with voltage of any kind, always be careful. Capacitors and transformers can be deadly if misused. 
• Have RESPECT for electricity! Electrons may be light, but they can pack a punch!
• I am not responsible for any danger or harm you cause yourself

Image via Hacked Gadgets

I have to say, the Xbox 360 controller is the best controller ever created. When I first held it back in 2005, I swore that the dudes working at Microsoft came over and took a molding of my hands because of how great it felt. The thing felt like it was born there. 

What's even better about the 360 controller, is that the wired ones have a compatible driver in order for Windows to be able to game with them. This makes me not miss gaming on the Xbox so much. You can even use it for emulators, allowing you to play retro games with today's comfortable controllers! However, Linux users will fall short of being able to game with the lovely 360 controller.

Luckily for us, there exists a great open source driver that we can use to actually use our 360 controller to utilize the whole computer! The driver isn't a driver in the normal sense. It takes the raw signals coming from the controller, and then converts them to corresponding key strokes. You can actually control the mouse on your computer with a 360 joystick, allowing you to browse the internet like a proverbial "boss".

Follow along with me to learn how to set up an emulator and map the buttons with the 360 controller.

Requirements

• Linux
• Wired 360 controller (wireless controllers with a play and charge kit do not work)

Installing the 360 Controller Driver

Watch the below vTutorial to learn how to get the driver installed and the snes9x emulator running with it.

Click here to watch the video

Commands

1. yaourt -S xboxdrv
2. yaourt -S snes9x-gtk
3. sudo xboxdrv

Want more Null Byte?

• Post to the forums
• Chat on IRC
• Follow on Twitter
• Circle on Google+

Image via wallpapergyd