Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Android Exploration Tools For The Rooted User

Got Root?

Once you have rooted your android device there are lots of cool applications that open up to you.  As a curious IT professional I comb the net looking for good apps for my phone.  I think of them as a digital Swiss army knife.  Not all of these applications require root, but most require it to unlock the full potential of the application.  

Hacker's Keyboard  -

Don't let the name fool you.  There is nothing malicious about this keyboard.  It simply adds more "traditional" keys that are often left out of smartphone keyboards.  Things like the directional pad and toggles to press two buttons at once (CTRL + ALT).  While not as quick as standard keyboards, the extra keys are invaluable while SSH'd into a box.  


SSH Tunnel -

Ever find yourself on a more "restricted" network?  Wish your phone could visit the sites you want while still taking advantage of that sweet sweet bandwidth? Wish you could add a layer of encryption to your network traffic?  Well now you can!  SSH Tunnel connects to a home or remote server running S


ConnectBot

This is a fantastic SSH client (or telnet if that floats your boat) for android.  


Network Discovery and Fing

Want to find out what devices are attached to the network AND what services they are running?  Look no further than these two fantastic apps.  Think of them as NMAP lite.  Another neat feature is that once you have found a service (say SSH) on the network it will launch ConnectBot (or similar) to make the connection.  


Orbot: TOR For Android

Run Silent, Run Deep...web!?  Yup, you guessed it TOR has an official android client!  Once installed it has links to their own secure web browser and the duck duck go search engine.  Very cool stuff.  Tested and it works!


kWs: Android Web Server

Want to host a simple web page from your phone?  Look no further than the kWs web server!  Who needs a computer to update your personal site when you can just log into the server in your pocket!  It allows for 10 connections at once so it isn't going to help you rake in that sweet sweet ad revenue, but just think of all that sweet geek cred you will nab!  Check out my guide here!


Shark and Shark Reader for Root

At first I thought these were very cool, but they are actually of much less limited use than their IRL counterparts. The reason for this is the app is add supported SO...when you harvest those sweet, sweet packets they come cluttered up with lots of "noise" from the adds.  If you can filter that info out great...but it is just kind of a hassel.   

aTorrent & uTorrent - bit torrent clients for Android 

Torrent to your phone!  Tested and works like a charm (both clients).  Just make sure you are aware you will destroy your data plan if you aren't careful.

If you dear reader have any apps that you can't live without share em with me!

As always thanks for reading!!

o7