What are we work'n on?

The fun doesn't stop

Raspberry PI proxy setup script explained.

    pi@raspberrypi:$ git clone https://github.com/buf0rd/Privacy-Focused.git && cd Privacy-Focused && sudo bash tor-http-proxy-install.sh

    apt-get install tor nyx privoxy -y  Install applications; Tor, Tor-Arm(Nyx) and the proxy server Privoxy
    update-rc.d privoxy enable  Allow for Privoxy to start on boot
    update-rc.d tor enable  Allow for Tor to start on boot
    ufw allow 9050  Allow port 9050 through firewall so clients may connect to TOR Socks proxy if needed
    ufw allow 8080  Allow port 8080 through firewall so clients may utilize proxy via port 8080
    cp ./torrc /etc/tor/torrc Copy downloaded 'torrc' file to /etc/tor/torrc to replace original config installed
    cp ./config /etc/privoxy/config Copy downloaded 'config' file to /etc/privoxy/config to replace original config installed
    service tor start && service privoxy start Start tor and privoxy services with new configurations
    
    print "Run nyx command to view relay status and statistics" Print message to user.
    
    exit 0 Exit script

  • Notepad
  • April 6rd 🤨, 2021

Grep | IP address regex

Old ssd to new-ish pc

    fdisk /dev/sde (d delete existing , n create new , w write changes)
    mkfs.ext4 /dev/sde1 (create 'new' ext filesys)
    mount -U 0cac31d5-9973-4bba-a4c1-45ceaf42738f /mnt/0cac31d5-9973-4bba-a4c1-45ceaf42738f (mount new UUID)

  • Notepad
  • April 3rd, 2021

There is no right way. Do be happy though

    Degrees of certs
    I've worked for schools, corporations, and have been a cook. I was never as happier than when I started mopping floors

    It was a short talk I had with a Chicago Park District worker who was cleaning the auditorium of the local park district. He wasn't full of b.s, trust me, he was financially well off and LITERALLY worked by choice. Those words never really made sense until I had nothing to do but sit and 'think it through' over 20 years later('19 accident'). The conversation we had pretty much is now slapping me in the face. Have a goal to work on what you love so you NEVER have to work. That way, you always wake up to live.

    I have a couple degrees and more certifications than I have frames for and have never, in my life, felt like I was doing the 'perfect job' for me. Secret: None of them is the reason I am where I am today. I'm still pushing and won't stop 👍.

    My best piece of advice; Learn what you love to do. Get so good 'that it pays'. Then do it until you can't. Now the hard part for some people.Be respectful, fair and grateful.

    Or make a website and sell merch 🤣 The world is changing.

  • By Adrian Buford
  • April 3rd, 2021

Pi-Hole Friday's

    Pi-Hole

      Well.. not really. Pi-hole everyday. Why you ask? The answer is as clear as mudd. So many devices are constantly phoning home and making dns queries you wouldn't be to fond of. Also, ads "are the worst" sometimes. Pi-hole is there to help with all that.

      In addition to blocking advertisements, Pi-hole has an informative Web interface that shows stats on all the domains being queried on your network.
      Wait there's more.... but you need to visit www.pi-hole.net to read up.

    • By Adrian Buford
    • April 2nd, 2021

#3dprinted Canon DSLR lens hood

LIVE lab

    I needed a lens hood for the DSLR and already have a newly leveled bed. I configured the BL level sensor as described in previous video and let this print while I slept. Woke up to this beauty!

    Coffee time. Then test work

  • By Adrian Buford
  • March 30th, 2021

Why are you even here! What is the deal?

    If you find yourself asking (yourself?) "what is the point of this website" then yoday is today! I am going to answer that question to the best of my ability. *drum roll*

    I have no real clue. This place used to be solely a notepad. It was created with the intention of passing to my kids, when I passed, for the purpose of understanding the process of growth and importance of documentation.

    And then, that kinda got carried away when my family and I took on web hosting, designing, researching, writing, and general IT for others.

    Fast forward: This is the front door to all things BRG related. Mostly professional, for the sake of existing business partnerships, yet with a personal tone for family and friends to feel at home.

    There is no goal or direction. Take what you need and ignore what you don't.

    The ideas and opinions expressed here do not reflect that of employers, partners, gov offices, affiliates or persons whom are credited as journalist/creator unless explicitly stated.Peace & Love.

  • Adrian Buford & Family
  • March 29th, 2021

LIVE lab video!

LIVE lab

    Soon we will be streaming live video automatically once the printer is working on a job. Still working on the code stuffs but hopefully it will be promising.... unless something more interesting comes up. No commitments.

    To be demo'd, and eventually live, at live.buford.com:8081

  • By Adrian Buford
  • March 26th, 2021

PLEX fo LIFE!!! | PLEX Pass

PLEX pass

    I have been an avid PLEX user for years. Since the start. Since the start I have been ACTING REALLY DUMB! Check this out.. PLEX was founded in 2009. Let's say a 1 year subcription to PLEX Pass is $30 (yearly cost averaged). So, $30.00x10 years, since i wasn't loyal some years) = $300.00.

    A LIFETIME PLEX PASS IS currently... $119.99

    I played myself for too long.

  • By Adrian Buford
  • March 26th, 2021

Finally balanced!!! That alone deserves a party.

kali vm

    I got the Creality Ender 3 Pro bed finally leveled. Long story short. You will need upgraded sprngs because the 'OEM' springs are trash. Some of the windings are not even the same. Crazy huh? The bed adjusters can go also. Just because the springs came with new ones. 3x 1mm washers to compensate for the 1mm offset created by the bed heater plastic bracket. Tighten it down. It is now level with axis. You are welcome.... Now. Don't forget to level the 3dprinter ITSELF AND INITIATE A AUTO LEVEL with the BL Touch menu.

  • By Adrian Buford
  • March 25th, 2021

Not out of fear. Out of COMMON sense..or sense

    I find myself to be he whom watches data for fun. Most security researchers or analysts I know have come to a conclusion when 'watching' their data over the last, lets say, 10 years. The threat landscape is becoming vast and the good landscapers are quitting. Secure your data like those you love by retaining the quality talent you have. It costs less.

  • By Adrian Buford
  • March 24th, 2021

The G-Key. Messing around w/ 3d design

    A key for what?!
    Project in Tinkercad. This is part 1-of-3 called the G-Key. Blender is on the radar for sure!

    Came across a little issue that should have been addressed earlier. Bed adhesion. Over adhesion. Latest key printed at 100% infill fused entirely to bed surface. I've NEVER seen this before. It may be a combination of heat and a brand new surface. Glass bed ordered via Amazon for $15. Not bad. We will soon expand this project to it's own blog page.

    A key for what?!
  • By Chris T
  • March 13th, 2021

When life gives you lemons meditate or code

    my Github
    The goal for us all, on some level, is to "Be The Best You Can Be". Wow. That was my grade school's motto. This week has been very interesting. A rollercoaster on so many levels. Microsoft Office. Nightmare. OVH, a nightmare for some. Oh, lets not forget the passive aggressiveness masked as support. Very much over it. When life gives me lemons I use the energy and/or newly discovered time to improve my craft(s) while reminding myself of how big the world is. Coding w/ Lofi hiphop is one outlet. What is yours? Discover that!
  • By Adrian Buford
  • March 11th, 2021

What do you do at night? Hack Myself

kali vm

    I literally spend some nights trying to hack my home network from my OTHER network. Why? It just makes sense. I want to know that my adversary would have to try AT LEAST as hard as I do. Second, you won't sue yourself. Your ISP might not like it depending on what kind of crap you are looping so use common sense and when possible don't make noise. I'm just saying. Keep it legal.

  • By Adrian Buford
  • March 9th, 2021

Plex Upgraded & server dreams

    "Hmmmm... that took a lil longer than normal. All good tho"

    The demo PLEX box
    This morning you will wake up to a new package being available to upgrade PLEX Media server. Pleximus Prime is the newly created/named server I have built for the purpose of DEMO and answering visitor questions. It is an Ubuntu Server 20.00 VM created using KVM/QEMU.

    I will dedicate two large capacity drives, TBD, which will be configured in a ZFS Pool for fault tolerance.

    The demo PLEX vm

  • By Adrian Buford
  • March 7th, 2021

Freeradius | Because friends and family are attack surfaces

    my Github
    I know. The title is sorta rude! Lets be honest with ourselves though. How many times has a family memeber lost keys to the house or their car? How many times has a friend lost their cellphone? Now. Lets replace the word keys and phone with "wifi password" because it is technically a key and just as easy to be lost. If you feel like that is a stretch.. feel free to waste your time by continuing to read.

    How much of a pain would it be if you KNEW somebody had your home wifi password?! You would have to run around like a network administrator tasked with "Y2K bug" fix'n to replace all the KEYS in each device.

    That is where Freeradius comes in. Long story short. Each person gets a username and a password. Once the user is compromised the credentials are removed from the radius server ( /etc/freeradius/3.0/users ) config file. BAM! No running around.

    Best of all...... you can do it on a Raspberry Pi AND become comfortable with centralized Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting for users.

  • By Adrian Buford
  • March th, 2021

They might want to see a Github

    my Github

    I guess I can call this a tech/infosec quickie.

    I have been noticing a trend. Well.. it's more of a question asked of security folks. Do you have a github? Since it has come up more than 5x in the last week I would recommend you make the answer a YES very soon. Aside from Github being a place to store your old code junk it also stores valuable code you may reference for your next creation.

    On a side note.. I have a Proxy helper script in the Arctic Code Valult thanks to Github!

  • By Adrian Buford
  • March 2nd, 2021

IF it fits... then its a rack

    harbor freight rack

    It isn't super pretty but it's mine and it's paid for! TODAY I realized that my 4U server + 1U server + spare switch FIT NEATLY underneath my Harbor Freight work bench. No-mo-floor! Wow. I feel somewhat productive. More space and less wire mess FTW! The best part is I don't have to get rid of my 12U cabinet!

    I am really hoping to have some more good news in the next couple weeks that isn't rack related!
    Oh yes! Another thing! I'm not a coder but I git some. Most 'code' things will be available on my github.

  • By Adrian Buford
  • March 1st, 2021

More AP and WiFi weekend stuffs

    Took the time today to hone down more on my wifi issues. Long story short. The higher ceiling, in the rear room, sits a good amount higher than the drywall/wood in the rest of the place. A good amount of the wifi signal is simply being 'absorbed' by a ceiling. Like a ceiling should. Quick fix; Drop APs by approximately 1ft to avoid any ceiling structural interference.

  • By Adrian Buford
  • Feb 28th, 2021

Career and Passion

    For the previous 20+ years I have made tech more than just a passion. I made it my life. Now I need to bring both my life and my career together. I want to love what I live to do. It's the advice I always give others. I had an interesting 'conversation' with a couple individuals in the field and reminded myself, again, that this is what I was made for. Not every 8th grader was reading 2600 magazine while printing out Rainbow Books. Not every 7th grader considered the computer class teacher a personal friend. Not every 6th grader traded floppy disks with friends containing their latest website creation. Move >>FWD. Let's do it together. Yeah?

  • By Adrian Buford
  • Feb 27th, 2021

Education. What part was the hardest?

    certs

    What part of my academic career so far has been the most difficult? I decided to think back a little. Each time I went to college I remember the feeling of misery. I felt that being in a windowless lecture hall was not the best way to learn. It was seen as an immature mindset by most. A window is not a privilege and neither is a learning env you enjoy. I ditched that. Moved to what I felt was a better structured atmosphere. Degrees later, certs later -- years later, i've proven different learning styles work for different people. The most difficult part of my academic career, yet most REWARDING, would most definately be the Cyber Security Bootcamp that was offered by the City Colleges of Chicago.

    To keep it short; I need information to be straight to the point with the extra meat cut out. No formalities. Scheduled. Unscripted. BAM! It has changed how I learn and actually has made "learning something new" a life goal. I recommend learning materials that do not have an underlying objective that centers around the creator making money (video watch hours, subscriptions, etc). The learning materials carry a COMPLETELY different vibe. Professor Messer is a great example and A BIG reason I have my ITF+,Net+, and Sec+!

  • By Adrian Buford
  • Feb 15th, 2021

Free my privacy. Why not Tor doe?

    tor controller

    A common "ice breaker" question from those new-ish to privacy is... "What is a cheap or FREE way to securely communicate and surf the internet?" My response is usually "Nothing is free and cheap isn't secure. You need an IT consultation" (while at the same time magic-tricking my business card into sight). Then I advise them to use Tor.

    Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows you to improve your privacy and security on the Internet. Tor works by sending your traffic through three random servers (also known as relays) in the Tor network. The last relay in the circuit (the “exit relay”) then sends the traffic out onto the public Internet.

    TLDR; Tor will do what you want for most soho users.

  • By Adrian Buford
  • Feb 15th, 2021

When all else has failed....5ghz?

    ap testing

    My brother Ryan really started to make me re-think my WiFi access point layout. I went nuts trying to position them every way possible. Decided to really take the time to do a survey in my home. 2.4ghz is like a circus from neighboring ENTERPRISE wifi signals in a residential neighborhood. Ironic huh? USPS is the rudest of all. Then again we share an alley. usps you too close mannn
    My Unifi NanoHD is decent enough though... when positioned correctly (perfectly). The home layout doesn't allow for a 'ONE AP TO RULE IT ALL' mentality. Bunching them up... also no bueno. The Unifi Access Point BeaconHD does look promising. Maybe they will loan me one. Come on Ubiquiti. You got my address.

  • By A.Buford
  • Feb 6th, 2021
1u

6x Raspberry Pi 1U rackmount 3d printed build

    Given the amount of power a Raspberry Pi is packing i've decided to move some server images over to the Raspberry Pi platform. Nothing very intensive. Home stuff. Like the RADIUS server, PLEX backup server, Shinobi CCTV, and a couple others. I will document all that is to come (Enter to read more)

  • By A.Buford
  • Jan 22nd, 2021

Raspberry Pi Zero W Rackmount 3d design and print : Flashforge Adventurer 3 Lite

    Raspberry Pi Zero W Rackmount 3d design and print : Flashforge Adventurer 3 Lite

    What I use for editing (FREE!);

    Tinkercad 3d model editor ► https://www.tinkercad.com/
    Photo editing ► Gimp (open source) https://www.gimp.org/
    Video editing ► Kdenlive (open source) https://kdenlive.org/en/
    Music ► Dakar Flow - Carmen María and Edu Espinal
    I recommend using a Windows PC for Kdenlive live but personally use Linux whenever possible.
    Website ► https://www.buf0rd.com
    Instagram ►https://www.instagram.com/beearegee/

  • By another Buford
  • Jan 27th, 2021
Ben 10 Watch

Ben 10 Omniverse Omnitrix | Flash Forge Adventure 3 Lite: Kids Arts and Crafts project

    Had a fun little arts and crafts day with the family. We created our minimalistic version of a Ben 10 Omniverse Omnitrix. The end result is FREE 3d printer, STL, files so you may make your own also!. The YT video is available here

    At one point we started thinking of integrated lighting but opted out. Ben 10 Watch v2
    Downloadable content:
    Ver1.0
    Ver2.0(wide)

  • By Ari
  • Jan 19th, 2021
Tis not the season

Winter Plex

    Tis the season to sit at home, kick off dem cowboy/girl boots, and let Plex do the leg work. Decided to start putting up Plex content somewhat consistenty due to pubic feedback. If you have an idea for related content keep it to yourself.... or send us an email for consideration.

  • By a Buford
  • Jan 16th, 2021
The Art of tesa cloth tape

"Just put some tesa on it"

    For a very long part of being a maker and pc builder I have had to deal with the ugly that is a wire or cord bundle. Then I found tesa. What is tesa?! It's just a type of tape. Wiring Loom Cloth Tape is the one i'm specifically speaking about. It is the small things that account for big wins right? When finishing up an automotive wiring harness repair I like to; 1) utilize heat shrink on the individual wires, 2) use electrical tape to seal the OEM shielding, then 3) use tesa cloth tape to finish it all up. The end result is very clean look'n.

    Tesa 51026 Highest Quality Heat Proof Engine Compartment Wiring Tape used by VW AUDI BMW

  • By a Buford
  • Jan 12th, 2021
The Art of 3d printing

The Art of 3d printing

    Sometimes it is the small simple things that snowball to big wins right? For the last few years the Flash Forge Adventurer Lite 3d printer has paid for itself time and time again. I've been able to create everything from automotive part protoypes to drawer safety latches. When navigating through YouTube you can really get a sense for the art that is 3d printing. The variables and settings for printing are sometimes company secrets and/or proprietary information. How fast should it print to allow good layer bonding? How many mm per second? It gets nuts! I'm grateful that it is something I am able to incorporate into daily life and expand upon with the only expense being fillament. It adds a different type of reward for the work required. Like a painting.

  • By a Buford
  • Jan 6th, 2021

On focus mode

    Finally feeling like this accident situation is behind me. Time to focus on a certifcation for the 2021 year. At least one. I'm considering the CompTia Cloud+ or diving even deeper into security. Maybe Cicso? The further I got into cyber security the more I realized that I am a Blue Teamer. I have a niche for pattern recognition and a "what were they thinking" tone to almost everything. Life goal; To learn the most possible while helping the most possible.

  • By Adrian
  • Dec 27th, 2020
Here we come YT

Do it for teh kids

    Decided to start making some kid appropriate YouTube content. I feel like there is a lot of stuff out there these kids are growing up on that is on auto-play based on algos. I'd llke to contribute to that, with family, using quality content. Not the garbage that is "comment below for ...".

  • By Adrian
  • Dec 7th, 2020