________________________________________________________________________________                                   ____   THE BASICS OF HACKING:  INTRO   ____                                   ___________________________________________  Uploaded by Elric of Imrryr      __________________________________________                                     __ THE FIRST OF A SET OF ARTICLES:     __ AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD OF THE __ HACKER.  BASICS TO KNOW BEFORE DOING__ ANYTHING, ESSENTIAL TO YOUR CONTIN- __ UING CAREER AS ONE OF THE ELITE IN  __ THE COUNTRY...                      _______________________________________________________________________________THIS ARTICLE, "THE INTRODUCTION TO THEWORLD OF HACKING" IS MEANT TO HELP YOUBY TELLING YOU HOW NOT TO GET CAUGHT,WHAT NOT TO DO ON A COMPUTER SYSTEM,WHAT TYPE OF EQUIPMENT SHOULD I KNOWABOUT NOW, AND JUST A LITTLE ON THEHISTORY, PAST PRESENT FUTURE, OF THEHACKER._______________________________________WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF HACKING!WE, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE OUTSIDE OFTHE NORMAL RULES, AND HAVE BEEN SCORNEDAND EVEN ARRESTED BY THOSE FROM THE'CIVILIZED WORLD', ARE BECOMMINGSCARCER EVERY DAY.  THIS IS DUE TO THEGREATER FEAR OF WHAT A GOOD HACKER(SKILL WISE, NO MORAL JUDGEMENTS HERE)CAN DO NOWADAYS, THUS CAUSING ANTI-HACKER SENTIMENT IN THE MASSES.ALSO, FEW HACKERS SEEM TO ACTUALLY KNOWABOUT THE COMPUTER SYSTEMS THEY HACK,OR WHAT EQUIPMENT THEY WILL RUN INTOON THE FRONT END, OR WHAT THEY COULDDO WRONG ON A SYSTEM TO ALERT THE'HIGHER' AUTHORITIES WHO MONITOR THESYSTEM.THIS ARTICLE IS INTENDED TO TELL YOUABOUT SOME THINGS NOT TO DO, EVENBEFORE YOU GET ON THE SYSTEM.  WEWILL TELL YOU ABOUT THE NEW WAVE OFFRONT END SECURITY DEVICES THAT AREBEGINNING TO BE USED ON COMPUTERS.WE WILL ATTEMPT TO INSTILL IN YOU ASECOND IDENTITY, TO BE BROUGHT UP ATTIME OF GREAT NEED, TO PULL YOU OUTOF TROUBLE.AND, BY THE WAY, WE TAKE NO, REPEAT,NO, RESPONCIBILITY FOR WHAT WE SAY INTHIS AND THE FORTHCOMING ARTICLES.ENOUGH OF THE BULLSHIT, ON TO THE FUN:_______________________________________AFTER LOGGING ON YOUR FAVORITE BBS,YOU SEE ON THE HIGH ACCESS BOARD APHONE NUMBER!  IT SAYS IT'S A GREATSYSTEM TO "FUCK AROUND WITH!"THIS MAY BE TRUE, BUT HOW MANY OTHERPEOPLE ARE GOING TO CALL THE SAMENUMBER?  SO:  TRY TO AVOID CALLING ANUMBER GIVEN TO THE PUBLIC.  THIS ISBECAUSE THERE ARE AT LEAST EVERY OTHERUSER CALLING, AND HOW MANY OTHER BOARDSWILL THAT NUMBER SPREAD TO?IF YOU CALL A NUMBER FAR, FAR AWAY, ANDYOU PLAN ON GOING THRU AN EXTENDER ORA RE-SELLER, DON'T KEEP CALLING THESAME ACCESS NUMBER (I.E. AS YOU WOULDIF YOU HAD A HACKER RUNNING), THISLOOKS VERY SUSPICIOUS AND CAN MAKELIFE MISERABLE WHEN THE PHONE BILLCOMES IN THE MAIL.  MOST CITIES HAVEA VARIETY OF ACCESS NUMBERS ANDSERVICES, SO USE AS MANY AS YOU CAN.NEVER TRUST A CHANGE IN THE SYSTEM...THE 414'S, THE ASSHOLES, WERE CAUGHTFOR THIS REASON:  WHEN ONE OF THEMCONNECTED TO THE SYSTEM, THERE WASNOTHING GOOD THERE.  THE NEXT TIME,THERE WAS A TREK GAME STUCK RIGHT INTHEIR WAY!  THEY PROCEDED TO PLAY SAIDGAME FOR TWO, SAY TWO AND A HALF HOURS,WHILE TELENET WAS TRACING THEM!  NICEJOB, DON'T YOU THINK?  IF ANYTHINGLOOKS SUSPICIOUS, DROP THE LINEIMMEDIATELY!!  AS IN, YESTERDAY!!THE POINT WE'RE TRYING TO GET ACCROSSIS:  IF YOU USE A LITTLE COMMON SENCE,YOU WON'T GET BUSTED.  LET THE LITTLEKIDS WHO AREN'T SMART ENOUGH TORECOGNIZE A TRAP GET BUSTED, IT WILLTAKE THE HEAT OFF OF THE REAL HACKERS.NOW, LET'S SAY YOU GET ON A COMPUTERSYSTEM...  IT LOOKS GREAT, CHECKSOUT, EVERYTHING SEEMS FINE.  OK, NOWIS WHEN IT GETS MORE DANGEROUS.  YOUHAVE TO KNOW THE COMPUTER SYSTEM (SEEFUTURE ISSUES OF THIS ARTICLE FOR INFOON SPECIFIC SYSTEMS) TO KNOW WHAT NOTTO DO.  BASICALLY, KEEP AWAY FROM ANYCOMMAND WHICH LOOKS LIKE IT MIGHTDELETE SOMETHING, COPY A NEW FILE INTOTHE ACCOUNT, OR WHATEVER!  ALWAYS LEAVETHE ACCOUNT IN THE SAME STATUS YOULOGGED IN WITH.  CHANGE _NOTHING_...IF IT ISN'T AN ACCOUNT WITH PRIV'S,THEN DON'T TRY ANY COMMANDS THATREQUIRE THEM!  ALL, YES ALL, SYSTEMSARE GOING TO BE KEEPING LOG FILESOF WHAT USERS ARE DOING, AND THAT WILLSHOW UP.  IT IS JUST LIKE DROPPING ATROUBLE-CARD IN AN ESS SYSTEM, AFTERSENDING THAT NICE OPERATOR A PRETTYTONE.  SPEND NO EXCESSIVE AMOUNTS OFTIME ON THE ACCOUNT IN ONE STRETCH.KEEP YOUR CALLING TO THE VERY LATENIGHT IF POSSIBLE, OR DURING BUSINESSHOURS (BELIEVE IT OR NOT!).  IT SOHAPPENS THAT THERE ARE MORE USERS ONDURING BUSINESS HOURS, AND IT IS VERYDIFFICULT TO READ A LOG FILE WITH60 USERS DOING MANY COMMNDS EVERYMINUTE.  TRY TO AVOID SYSTEMS WHEREEVERYONE KNOWS EACH OTHER, DON'T TRYTO BLUFF.  AND ABOVE ALL:  NEVER ACTLIKE YOU OWN THE SYSTEM, OR ARE THEBEST THERE IS.  THEY ALWAYS GRAB THEPEOPLE WHO'S HEADS SWELL...THERE IS SOME VERY INTERESTING FRONTEND EQUIPMENT AROUND NOWADAYS, BUTFIRST LET'S DEFINE TERMS...BY FRONT END, WE MEAN ANY DEVICE THATYOU MUST PASS THRU TO GET AT THE REALCOMPUTER.  THERE ARE DEVICES THAT AREMADE TO DEFEAT HACKER PROGRAMS, ANDJUST PLAIN OLD MULTIPLEXERS.TO DEFEAT HACKER PROGRAMS, THERE ARENOW DEVICES THAT PICK UP THE PHONEAND JUST SIT THERE...  THIS MEANSTHAT YOUR DEVICE GETS NO CARRIER, THUSYOU THINK THERE ISN'T A COMPUTER ONTHE OTHER END.  THE ONLY WAY AROUND ITIS TO DETECT WHEN IT WAS PICKED UP.  IFIT PICKES UP AFTER THE SAME NUMBERRING, THEN YOU KNOW IT IS A HACKER-DEFEATER.  THESE DEVICES TAKE A MULTI-DIGIT CODE TO LET YOU INTO THE SYSTEM.SOME ARE, IN FACT, QUITE SOPHISTICATEDTO THE POINT WHERE IT WILL ALSO LIMITTHE USER NAME'S DOWN, SO ONLY ONE NAMEOR SET OF NAMES CAN BE VALID LOGINSAFTER THEY INPUT THE CODE...OTHER DEVICES INPUT A NUMBER CODE, ANDTHEN THEY DIAL BACK A PRE-PROGRAMMEDNUMBER FOR THAT CODE.  THESE SYSTEMSARE BEST TO LEAVE ALONE, BECAUSE THEYKNOW SOMEONE IS PLAYING WITH THEIRPHONE.  YOU MAY THINK "BUT I'LL JUSTREPROGRAM THE DIAL-BACK."  THINKAGAIN, HOW STUPID THAT IS...  THENTHEY HAVE YOUR NUMBER, OR A TEST LOOPIF YOU WERE JUST A LITTLE SMARTER.IF IT'S YOUR NUMBER, THEY HAVE YOURBALLS (IF MALE...), IF ITS A LOOP,THEN YOU ARE SCREWED AGAIN, SINCE THOSELOOPS ARE _MONITORED_.AS FOR MULTIPLEXERS...  WHAT A PLEXERIS SUPPOSED TO DO IS THIS:  THE SYSTEMCAN ACCEPT MULTIPLE USERS.  WE HAVETO TIME SHARE, SO WE'LL LET THE FRONT-END PROCESSOR DO IT...  WELL, THIS ISWHAT A MULTIPLEXER DOES.  USUALLY THEYWILL ASK FOR SOMETHING LIKE "ENTERCLASS" OR "LINE:".  USUALLY IT ISPROGRAMMED FOR A DOUBLE DIGIT NUMBER,OR A FOUR TO FIVE LETTER WORD.  THEREARE USUALLY A FEW SETS OF NUMBERS ITACCEPTS, BUT THOSE NUMBERS ALSO SETYOUR 300/1200 BAUD DATA TYPE.  THESEMULTIPLEXERS ARE INCONVENIENT AT BEST,SO NOT TO WORRY.A LITTLE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF HACKING:HACKING, BY OUR DEFINITION, MEANS AGREAT KNOWLEDGE OF SOME SPECIAL AREA.DOCTORS AND LAWYERS ARE HACKERS OF ASORT, BY THIS DEFINITION.  BUT MOSTOFTEN, IT IS BEING USED IN THE COMPUTERCONTEXT, AND THUS WE HAVE A DEFINITIONOF "ANYONE WHO HAS A GREAT AMOUNT OFCOMPUTER OR TELECOMMUNICATIONSKNOWLEDGE."  YOU ARE NOT A HACKERBECAUSE YOU HAVE A LIST OF CODES...HACKING, BY OUR DEFINITION, HAS THENBEEN AROUND ONLY ABOUT 15 YEARS.  ITSTARTED, WHERE ELSE BUT, MIT ANDCOLLEGES WHERE THEY HAD COMPUTERSCIENCE OR ELECTRICAL ENGINEERINGDEPARTMENTS.  HACKERS HAVE CREATEDSOME OF THE BEST COMPUTER LANGUAGES,THE MOST AWESOME OPERATING SYSTEMS, ANDEVEN GONE ON TO MAKE MILLIONS.  HACKINGUSED TO HAVE A GOOD NAME, WHEN WE COULDHONESTLY SAY "WE KNOW WHAT WE AREDOING".  NOW IT MEANS (IN THE PUBLICEYE):  THE 414'S, RON AUSTIN, THE NASAHACKERS, THE ARPANET HACKERS...  ALLTHE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN CAUGHT, HAVEDONE DAMAGE, AND ARE NOW GOING TO HAVETO FACE FINES AND SENTANCES.THUS WE COME PAST THE MORALISTIC CRAP,AND TO OUR PURPOSE:  EDUCATE THE HACKERCOMMUNITY, RETURN TO THE DAYS WHENPEOPLE ACTUALLY KNEW SOMETHING..._______________________________________A PROGRAM GUIDE:THREE MORE ARTICLES WILL BE WRITTEN INTHIS SERIES, AT THE PRESENT TIME.BASICS OF HACKING I:  DEC'SBASICS OF HACKING II:  VAX'S (UNIX)BASICS OF HACKING III:  DATA GENERALIT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO WRITE AN ARTICLEON IBM, SINCE THERE ARE SO MANY SYSTEMSAND WE ONLY HAVE INFO ON A FEW..._______________________________________THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN WRITTEN BY:THE KNIGHTS OF SHADOW_______________________________________   THE BASICS OF HACKING II: VAX'S                             UNIX    UNIX IS A TRADEMARK OF AT&T    (AND YOU KNOW WHAT _THAT_ MEANS)Uploaded by Elric of Imrryr_______________________________________WELCOME TO THE BASICS OF HACKING II:VAX'S AND UNIX.  IN THIS ARTICLE, WEDISCUSS THE UNIX SYSTEM THAT RUNS ONTHE VARIOUS VAX SYSTEMS.  IF YOU AREON ANOTHER UNIX-TYPE SYSTEM, SOMECOMMANDS MAY DIFFER, BUT SINCE IT ISLICENCED TO BELL, THEY CAN'T MAKE MANYCHANGES._______________________________________HACKING ONTO A UNIX SYSTEM IS VERYDIFFICULT, AND IN THIS CASE, WE ADVISEHAVING AN INSIDE SOURCE, IF POSSIBLE.THE REASON IT IS DIFFICULT TO HACK AVAX IS THIS:  MANY VAX, AFTER YOU GETA CARRIER FROM THEM, RESPOND=>LOGIN:THEY GIVE YOU NO CHANCE TO SEE WHAT THELOGIN NAME FORMAT IS.  MOST COMMONLYUSED ARE SINGLE WORDS, UNDER 8 DIGITS,USUALLY THE PERSON'S NAME.  THERE ISA WAY AROUND THIS:  MOST VAX HAVE ANACCT. CALLED 'SUGGEST' FOR PEOPLE TOUSE TO MAKE A SUGGESTION TO THE SYSTEMROOT TERMINAL.  THIS IS USUALLY WATCHEDBY THE SYSTEM OPERATOR, BUT AT LATEHE IS PROBABLY AT HOME SLEEPING ORSCREWING SOMEONE'S BRAINS OUT.  SO WECAN WRITE A PROGRAM TO SEND AT THEVAX THIS TYPE OF A MESSAGE:A SCREEN FREEZE (CNTRL-S), SCREENCLEAR (SYSTEM DEPENDANT), ABOUT 255GARBAGE CHARACTERS, AND THEN A COMMANDTO CREATE A LOGIN ACCT., AFTER WHICHYOU CLEAR THE SCREEN AGAIN, THEN UN-FREEZE THE TERMINAL.  WHAT THIS DOES:WHEN THE TERMINAL IS FROZEN, IT KEEPSA BUFFER OF WHAT IS SENT.  WELL, THEBUFFER IS ABOUT 127 CHARACTERS LONG.SO YOU OVERFLOW IT WITH TRASH, AND THENYOU SEND A COMMAND LINE TO CREATE ANACCT. (SYSTEM DEPENDANT).  AFTER THISYOU CLEAR THE BUFFER AND SCREEN AGAIN,THEN UNFREEZE THE TERMINAL.  THIS ISA BAD WAY TO DO IT, AND IT IS MUCHNICER IF YOU JUST SEND A COMMAND TOTHE TERMINAL TO SHUT THE SYSTEM DOWN,OR WHATEVER YOU ARE AFTER...THERE IS ALWAYS, *ALWAYS* AN ACCT.CALLED ROOT, THE MOST POWERFUL ACCT.TO BE ON, SINCE IT HAS ALL OF THESYSTEM FILES ON IT.  IF YOU HACK YOURWAY ONTO THIS ONE, THEN EVERYTHING ISEASY FROM HERE ON...ON THE UNIX SYSTEM, THE ABORT KEY ISTHE CNTRL-D KEY.  WATCH HOW MANY TIMESYOU HIT THIS, SINCE IT IS ALSO A WAY TOLOG OFF THE SYSTEM!A LITTLE ABOUT UNIX ARCHITECHTURE:THE ROOT DIRECTORY, CALLED ROOT, ISWHERE THE SYSTEM RESIDES.  AFTER THISCOME A FEW 'SUB' ROOT DIRECTORIES,USUALLY TO GROUP THINGS (STATS HERE,PRIV STUFF HERE, THE USER LOG HERE...).UNDER THIS COMES THE SUPERUSER (THEOPERATOR OF THE SYSTEM), AND THENFINALLY THE NORMAL USERS.  IN THE UNIX'SHELL' EVERYTHING IS TREATED THE SAME.BY THIS WE MEAN:  YOU CAN ACCESS APROGRAM THE SAME WAY YOU ACCESS A USERDIRECTORY, AND SO ON.  THE WAY THE UNIXSYSTEM WAS WRITTEN, EVERYTHING, USERSINCLUDED, ARE JUST PROGRAMS BELONGINGTO THE ROOT DIRECTORY.  THOSE OF YOUWHO HACKED ONTO THE ROOT, SMILE, SINCEYOU CAN SCREW EVERYTHING...THE MAIN LEVEL (EXEC LEVEL) PROMPT ONTHE UNIX SYSTEM IS THE $, AND IF YOUARE ON THE ROOT, YOU HAVE A # (SUPER-USER PROMPT).OK, A FEW BASICS FOR THE SYSTEM...TO SEE WHERE YOU ARE, AND WHAT PATHSARE ACTIVE IN REGUARDS TO YOUR USERACCOUNT, THEN TYPE => PWDTHIS SHOWS YOUR ACCT. SEPERATED BYA SLASH WITH ANOTHER PATHNAME (ACCT.),POSSIBLY MANY TIMES.TO CONNECT THROUGH TO ANOTHER PATH,OR MANY PATHS, YOU WOULD TYPE:YOU=> PATH1/PATH2/PATH3AND THEN YOU ARE CONNECTED ALL THEWAY FROM PATH1 TO PATH3.  YOU CANRUN THE PROGRAMS ON ALL THE PATHSYOU ARE CONNECTED TO.  IF IT DOESNOT ALLOW YOU TO CONNECT TO A PATH,THEN YOU HAVE INSUFFICIENT PRIVS, ORTHE PATH IS CLOSED AND ARCHIVED ONTOTAPE.  YOU CAN RUN PROGRAMS THIS WAYALSO:YOU=> PATH1/PATH2/PATH3/PROGRAM-NAMEUNIX TREATS EVERYTHING AS A PROGRAM,AND THUS THERE A FEW COMMANDS TOLEARN...TO SEE WHAT YOU HAVE ACCESS TO IN THEEND PATH, TYPE=>  LSFOR LIST.  THIS SHOW THE PROGRAMSYOU CAN RUN.  YOU CAN CONNECT TOTHE ROOT DIRECTORY AND RUN IT'SPROGRAMS WITH=>