Faq
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Q. What is Telnet?
A. It is an insecure service used to gain remote access to a system as though you were sitting at it's command prompt. SSH is a preffered protocol to Telnet for security reasons.
Q. What is SSH?
A. It is basically the same thing as Telnet with the exception that all the data is encrypted as it is sent and received. This way people sniffing on the network can't see what you are doing.
Q. Sniffing? What is that?
A. It is where someone will take a program and look at all the information or just select information passed through a network. Like passwords and commands used and credit card numbers when people order online.
Q. What is FTP?
A. File Transfer Protocol. It is the most common way to transfer files from a server to your own system.
Q. How do I use FTP?
A. Your browser may support using something like ftp://usernameassword@ftp.server.address.com my personal favorite is a program called FlashFXP for Win32 platforms that allows FTP and FXP transfers.
Q. What is FXP?
A. It is where you force one FTP server to download a specified file from another FTP server.
Q. What is ICMP?
A. It is the type of packet that is sent when you ping someone. Many good firewalls will block ICMP packets so when you try to scan them with a scanner it appears as though no one is online.
Q. Scanner? What is that?
A. It is a program or script used to find out information about a system. There are port scanners and security scanners and all other kinds. Your best scanners cannot get all the info you might want all by themselves so it helps to use more then one.
Q. What is UNIX?
A. It is another type of operating system. It is heavily used for large servers and many people will tell you that hackers use it all the time, which is only half true.
Q. What is nmap?
A. nmap and nmapNT are both really good port scanners for the UNIX/Linux and NT based platforms. You can aquire nmap for UNIX/Linux at http://www.insecure.org and the NT version named nmapNT at http://www.eeye.com
Q. What is LANGuard?
A. It is a Win32 based security scanner which is fast and really effective.
Q. What is a banner for a service?
A. It is the information that the server replies back with when you connect to it that contains the server OS and service type usually. They are really useful for telling what you're up against.
Q. What is Apache?
A. It is a commonly used and very secure web server daemon for UNIX/Linux and Windows platforms. Many people do not configure it properly due to it's being so complicated and unless modified and recompiled it will always return some type of info in it's banner that is useful.
Q. What is IIS?
A. It is a Windows NT/2000 daemon for web servers. It supports HTTP and FTP and some other services. It has in the past had many exploits against it and by default is configured with too many things turned on that need to be disabled. It is one of the easier services to gain remote access through.
Q. Why do you hack?
A. For fun.. I like to see if I can do something or get into something and usually don't care about the actual files or data on the server unless they can be used to get me into another system.
Q. Is port scanning illegal?
A. It depends on the area of the world you live in. You will have to contact a local lawyer that specializes in computer related laws to answer that question.
Q. Why do I get people trying to hack me all the time on my firewall?
A. Most of those 'attacks' are really just a bunch of script kiddies scanning the internet looking for easy systems to get into. As long as your firewall blocks them and you don't have any trojans on your system you are fine. Don't worry about them.
Q. What is the best way to keep up with security patches?
A. Read read read.. and when you are done... read more. Patches for all types of security holes are all over the place. Some work, some don't. Read about them before installing anything on your system. Another good rule of thumb is to only run programs that you either got from a major corporation or that you have the source code for.
Q. How do I get an AOL password?
A. You can use a program called a cracker to repeatedly try a list of passwords over and over for an account until one of them works. I do not suggest this seeing as most AOL accounts are not worth the jail time.
Q. What is a cracker?
A. The term has a few meanings. If reffering to a program then it could be a program that tried login names and passwords over and over until one works or a program used to circumvent security measures in software. If reffering to people then it could be someone that uses programs to get login names and passwords for servers by means of a program trying passwords over and over or it could be someone that reprograms a program or make a program to find a way to circumvent security measures in another person's program.
Q. What is a hacker?
A. This is a very contraversial question. To me a hacker is a person that enjoys tinkering, figuring out how and why things work. Whether it be in programming or network security or mechanics. The media would have you to believe that crackers and hackers are the same and no matter who you talk to you will get the same answer, they are not.
Q. What does '# man shadow' mean?
A. Basically, the # is to represent the # or $ or other symbol you see at the command prompt on a UNIX/Linux system. The man is for the man command on the same system and shadow is the program used to make a passwd file, in /etc/ directory, harder to gain access to.
Q. What is a proxy for?
A. Proxies allow you to connect to other servers without the server you're connecting to knowing it is you that is connecting. What happens is you tell the proxy to connect to the server and the proxy sends you the information sent to it.
Q. What is a protocol?
A. It is a set of rules that determine how a service or daemon is supposed to work. Without them it would be total chaos on the internet and nothing would work properly.
Q. What is tracert?
A. It is a program used to trace the route across the internet from your system to another system.
Q. What is format?
A. Format will remove all information from a disk and get it ready to hold files.
Q. What is ping?
A. Pinging is used to determine if there is network connectivity between two computers.
Q. What is a whois?
A. A whois is used to gather information about the owner and administrator of a domain and their physical location and contact methods.
Q. What is a hostname?
A. It is a name used to point to an IP address making it easier for people to remember addresses.
Q. What is a domain name?
A. It is a name used much like a hostname to point to an IP address of usually a server or network.
Q. How do I get a domain name?
A. Depending on what type you want some you can just give to yourself through network properties of your system. Others you can purchase for internet usage at places like http://www.register.com/. Most domain names can be purchased at http://www.register. and then whatever the suffix for the domain is such as .mil, .gov, .to etc.
Q. What is SMTP?
A. It is an old protocol for sending e-mail around the internet from one place to another. SMTP servers commonly allowed users to login and provide false credentials to allow them to send mail to others with false e-mail addresses or addresses they did not own themselves.
Q. What is ESMTP?
A. It is a newer protocol for sending e-mail. Due to the fact that it has a few more security features then SMTP it makes it harder to spoof e-mail to other people.
Q. What is NetBIOS?
A. A protocol for transferring files, mainly across an intranet.
Q. What is NetBEUI?
A. A protocol used on Windows to create a slightly more secure and faster intranet.
Q. What is a DNS server?
A. A server that contains a database of hostname and domain name to IP address entries. Without DNS servers there would be no way to know what domain name went with what server.
Q. What is a WINS server?
A. They manage a database much like a DNS server but are mainly used for networks that are run on Windows and use NetBIOS heavily.
Q. What is DNS poisoning?
A. It's where you force a DNS server to change the values in it's own database, causing the entries to point to different locations or to be removed completely. Imagine trying to go to www.microsoft.com and it taking you to www.persiankitty.com's server.
Q. What are shell accounts for?
A. Shell accounts allow you to use another system's resources to perform tasks for you through a command line interface using Telnet or SSH or some other related protocol.
Q. How do I get a shell account?
A. Some people scan for servers running Telnet and SSH with easy to guess, misconfigured or default passwords. Some get them from their current or former employers and some get them by paying for them through a vendor that specializes in the selling of shell accounts.
Q. What is a BNC?
A. It is a program that listens for connections and relays connections between you and the server you wanted to connect to so as to hide you from the server.
Q. What is a SOCKS proxy?
A. It is a special type of proxy, they usually run on port 1080 and their are two major versions, SOCKS4 and SOCKS5.
Q. What is an HTTP proxy?
A. A proxy that uses HTTP protocol to connect you to other systems. The syntax for the command is: CONNECT server.address.com
Q. What is a transparent HTTP proxy?
A. An HTTP proxy that sends information to the server in the header under the value of X_FOWARDED_FOR or VIA that allows the server to see who made the connection request on the other side of the proxy. These do not properly shield you from the server. You can test to see if your proxy is transparent or not by going to http://www.manshadow.org/cgi-bin/proxy-test.pl.
Q. What is a router?
A. A piece of hardware used to connect two networks together.
Q. Are there default passwords for anything?
A. Yes, for many things. CISCO routers commonly have a default password of cisco and Cayman routers use admin. Many services and other programs have default passwords as well.
Q. What is an IMEI code?
A. It is a unique number used to identify your cell phone. It is also used partially in the system used to bill your phone and to track who is making the call to a particular place.
Q. How do I unlock my phone?
A. You need a Flash Tool, a Datalink Cable and your phone's BIOS.
Q. Where do I get a flash tool?
A. Usually from the manufacturer of the phone. Check their website.
Q. Where do I get a BIOS?
A. Usually from the manufacturer as well although some service centers will give it to you with some social engineering. Also check around on sites like http://mobile.box.sk/.
Q. What is a BIOS?
A. It stands for Basic Input/Output System. It controls how your hardware can communicate with each other in simple terms. Computers, hardware applicances and phones all have them.
Q. How do I stop hackers?
A. Firewalling is the first method, also being aware of the methods they use to get into your system and network is a key element in stopping them.
Q. How do I stop viruses?
A. The best way is to just get a good anti-virus program such as Norton's Anti Virus from http://www.symantec.com/. This is not fool proof but short of being your own computer guru and knowing every file on your system, this will do.
Q. Will Norton's find every virus?
A. No. Norton's will only find well known and distributed viruses. This goes for any virus scanning software. Be aware that many good hackers can program as well and will make custom built trojans and viruses that your virus scanning software cannot detect.
Q. How do I get free AOL?
A. If you don't mind changing accounts frequently then the easiest way that is still legal is to go to your local Best Buy or something of the sort and get one of the displays of AOL CDs. The CDs contain what are called certs. Use the certs to make a new account with free time whenever you need it and before the account is set to charge you either get it terminated or cancel it. You can do this as many times as you wish. There's also another way, you can get an AOL password cracker (pwc) and go use a valid credit card to make an account, now log onto the account and change the billing information to invalid information. Now go tell a host that you are going to hack them and that you have AOL passwords, maybe scroll a few in the room. This will get your account terminated. Now take that AOL pwc and load up your freshly terminated name and a password list (pwl) containing only passwords that are known to be used as the password on a terminated account. These may also be reffered to as reset accounts or reset passwords. Crack the password to the terminated account and log onto it. Now as long as you don't get another TOS violation, according to AOL's database the account is terminated and can no longer be billed or be in use. The funny thing is that when it comes time for a name dump from the servers that since the account is still in use, it will not get dumped.
Q. What is IRC?
A. Internet Relay Chat. It is an old and still heavily used method of communicating with other internet users from across the world.
Q. What is a channel?
A. On IRC you have rooms setup where multiple people can join and chat. These rooms are called channels.
Q. What is a nick?
A. It is the name you use to identify yourself on an IRC server.
Q. What are modes?
A. These determine what type of security you have activated on your channel or nick.
Q. What is an Op?
A. An Operator. These people have control over a channel or a server or even a whole network. There are Ops and HalfOps for channels, IRCOps for servers and Net Admins for networks.
Q. How do I become an IRCOp?
A. You either have to know someone that runs an IRC server and get them to make you into an IRCOp or you can run a server of your own and make yourself an IRCOp.
Q. How do I get an AOL HOST account?
A. Keyword: Leaders is the legal way to get an AOL HOST account. You can also scam, crack and steal the passwords from other HOSTs to use their accounts.
Q. What is Sub7?
A. A commonly used trojan. Most people that are new to hacking or cracking use this thinking it is the god of all programs and thinking they have found some new creation no one else knows about. If trojans are your thing I would suggest learning to program and making your own trojans. These are a thousand times more effective then any publically released trojan.
Q. What is a .dll file?
A. It is a file in Windows that stores programming code for use by other applications.
Q. What are drivers?
A. These are files that tell your OS how to use the hardware you have in your system.
Q. What is the best OS to use?
A. If I could answer this then I would be God. What I can tell you are my personal favorites. For Windows based platforms I only use Windows 98se and Windows 2000 Professional and Server. For UNIX/Linux I use FreeBSD only and for Apple I use Mac OS X.
Q. Where does Windows 95/98/ME store passwords for users?
A. In C:\WINDOWS\ in .pwl files named the same as the user name.
Q. Where does Windows NT/2000/XP store passwords for users?
A. In C:\WINNT\System32\config\ in a file named SAM.
Q. Where does UNIX store passwords for users?
A. Usually in /etc/passwd but these can be shadowed and the /etc/passwd file is then useless.
Q. How can I read a Windows 95/98/ME .pwl file?
A. Any text editor. The file is in what appears to be a binary form but you can just delete them and bypass that user's security. A good way to get around them is to make a new user and then rename the user's .pwl file you want to login as. Now name your .pwl file to match the user's .pwl file before you renamed it. Now you know the password for that user and can login as them.
Q. How can I read a Windows NT/2000/XP SAM file?
A. You will need a program called NTFSDOS from http://www.winternals.com/ and a Windows bootdisk and probably L0pht Crack from http://www.atstake.com/ to find the passwords if you want them. Otherwise it will at least get the usernames for you.
Q. How can I read a UNIX shadowed passwd file?
A. Each system is different and can be changed but the quickest way is to find how the system reads it by reading the man pages for shadow and for passwd. Then code a program to read the passwd file that is shadowed. On some systems it is in /etc/ and named master.passwd some systems put it in /etc/shadow/passwd. You just have to look around to find it and read.
Q. What is social engineering?
A. It is where you use lies and fast talking along with a cunning mind to outwit someone and trick them into doing something for you or giving you information.
Q. How can I find information about a person?
A. Phone numbers are a good place to start. Any other utilities as well. A whois on their domain name if you know it. Hacking the database of their ISP sometimes works. Talking to their family and friends. There are thousands of methods, be creative.
Q. What is trashing?
A. This is more used in the old days of hacking then today. Basically it was where you would go digging through the garbage can of a victim, looking for any information that would help you to learn more about them. Phone bills, credit cards, letters from family, anything.
Q. What is a PBX?
A. It is simply a switch for phones that is used to transfer a call from one place to another. They are usually owned by companies for employee use and are many times password protected. They can be used in much the same manner that proxies are used for TCP connections but instead used for modem connections. This would require a custom coded program to accomplish, however.
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