Guides of the Beginner's Series:

    So you want to be a harmless hacker?
    Hacking Windows 95!
    Hacking into Windows 95 (and a little bit of NT lore)!
    Hacking from Windows 3.x, 95 and NT
    How to Get a *Good* Shell Account, Part 1
    How to Get a *Good* Shell Account, Part 2
    How to use the Web to look up information on hacking.
    Computer hacking. Where did it begin and how did it grow?
    PGP for Newbies
    The Exploit Files: Basics of Breaking into Computers
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GUIDE TO (mostly) HARMLESS HACKING

Beginners' Series #1

So you want to be a harmless hacker?
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"You mean you can hack without breaking the law?"

That was the voice of a high school freshman. He had me on the phone because his father had just taken away his computer. His offense? Cracking into my Internet account. The boy had hoped to impress me with  how "kewl" he was. But before I realized he had gotten in, a sysadmin at my ISP had spotted the kid's harmless explorations and had alerted the parents. Now the boy wanted my help in getting back on line.

I told the kid that I sympathized with his father. What if the sysadmin and I had been major grouches? This kid could have wound up in  juvenile detention. Now I don't agree with putting harmless hackers in  jail, and I would never have testified against him. But that's what some people do to folks who go snooping in other people's computer accounts -- even when the culprit does no harm. This boy needs to learn how to keep out of trouble!

Hacking is the most exhilarating game on the planet. But it stops being fun when you end up in a cell with a roommate named "Spike." But hacking doesn't have to mean breaking laws. In this series of Guides we teach safe hacking so that you don't have to keep looking back over your shoulders for narcs and cops.

What we're talking about is hacking as a healthy recreation, and as a free education that can qualify you to get a high paying job. In fact, many network systems administrators, computer scientists and computer security experts first learned their professions, not in some college program, but from the hacker culture. And you may be surprised to discover that ultimately the Internet is safeguarded not by law enforcement agencies, not by giant corporations, but by a worldwide network of, yes, hackers.

You, too, can become one of us.

And -- hacking can be surprisingly easy. Heck, if I can do it, anyone can!

Regardless of why you want to be a hacker, it is definitely a way to have fun, impress your friends, and get dates. If you are a female hacker you become totally irresistible to men. Take my word for it!;^D

These Guides to (mostly) Harmless Hacking can be your gateway into this world. After reading just a few of these Guides you will be able to pull off stunts that will be legal, phun, and will impress the heck out of your friends.

These Guides can equip you to become one of the vigilantes that keeps the Internet from being destroyed by bad guys. Especially spammers. Heh, heh, heh. You can also learn how to keep the bad guys from messing with your Internet account, email, and personal computer. You'll learn not to be frightened by silly hoaxes that pranksters use to keep the average Internet user in a tizzy.

If you hang in with us through a year or so, you can learn enough and meet the people on our email list and IRC channel who can help you to become truly elite.

However, before you plunge into the hacker subculture, be prepared for that hacker attitude. You have been warned.

So...welcome to the adventure of hacking!

WHAT DO I NEED IN ORDER TO HACK?

You may wonder whether hackers need expensive computer equipment and a shelf full of technical manuals. The answer is NO! Hacking can be surprisingly easy! Better yet, if you know how to search the Web, you can find almost any computer information you need for free.

In fact, hacking is so easy that if you have an on-line service and know how to send and read email, you can start hacking immediately. The GTMHH  Beginners' Series #2 will show you where you can download special hacker-friendly programs for Windows that are absolutely free. And we'll show you some easy hacker tricks you can use them for.

Now suppose you want to become an elite hacker? All you will really need is an inexpensive "shell account" with an Internet Service Provider. In the GTMHH  Beginners' Series #3 we will tell you how to get a shell account, log on, and start playing the greatest game on Earth: Unix hacking! Then in Vol.s I, II, and III of the GTMHH you can get into Unix hacking seriously.

You can even make it into the ranks of the Uberhackers without loading up on expensive computer equipment. In Vol. II we introduce Linux, the free hacker-friendly operating system. It will even run on a 386 PC with just 2 Mb RAM!  Linux is so good that many Internet Service Providers use it to run their systems.

In Vol. III we will also introduce Perl, the shell programming language beloved of Uberhackers. We will even teach some seriously deadly hacker "exploits" that run on Perl using Linux. OK, you could use most of these exploits to do illegal things. But they are only illegal if you run them against someone else's computer without their permission. You can run any program in this series of Guides on your own computer, or your (consenting) friend's computer -- if you dare! Hey, seriously, nothing in this series of Guides will actually hurt your computer, unless you decide to trash it on purpose.

We will also open the gateway to an amazing underground where you can stay on top of almost every discovery of computer security flaws. You can learn how to either exploit them -- or defend your computer against them!

About the Guides to (mostly) Harmless Hacking

We have noticed that there are lots of books that glamorize hackers. To read these books you would think that it takes many years of brilliant work to become one. Of course we hackers love to perpetuate this myth because it makes us look so incredibly kewl.

But how many books are out there that tell the beginner step by step how to actually do this hacking stuph? None! Seriously, have you ever read _Secrets of a Superhacker_ by The Knightmare (Loomponics, 1994) or _Forbidden Secrets of the Legion of Doom Hackers_ by Salacious Crumb (St. Mahoun Books, 1994)? They are full of vague and out of date stuph. Give me a break.

And if you get on one of the hacker news groups on the Internet and ask people how to do stuph, some of them insult and make fun of you.  OK, they all make fun of you.

We see many hackers making a big deal of themselves and being mysterious and refusing to help others learn how to hack. Why? Because they don't want you to know the truth, which is that most of what they are doing is really very simple!

Well, we thought about this. We, too, could enjoy the pleasure of insulting people who ask us how to hack. Or we could get big egos by actually teaching thousands of people how to hack. Muhahaha.

How to Use the Guides to (mostly) Harmless Hacking

If you know how to use a personal computer and are on the Internet, you already know enough to start learning to be a hacker. You don't even need to read every single Guide to (mostly) Harmless Hacking in order to become a hacker.

You can count on anything in Volumes I, II and III being so easy that you can jump in about anywhere and just follow instructions.

But if your plan is to become "elite," you will do better if you read all the Guides, check out the many Web sites and newsgroups to which we will point you, and find a mentor among the many talented hackers who post to our Hackers forum or chat on our IRC server at http://www.infowar.com, and on the Happy Hacker email list (email hacker@techbroker.com with message "subscribe").

If your goal is to become an Uberhacker, the Guides will end up being only the first in a mountain of material that you will need to study. However, we offer a study strategy that can aid you in your quest to reach the pinnacle of hacking.

How to Not Get Busted

One slight problem with hacking is that if you step over the line, you can go to jail. We will do our best to warn you when we describe hacks that could get you into trouble with the law. But we are not attorneys or experts on cyberlaw.  In addition, every state and every country has its own laws. And these laws keep on changing. So you have to use a little sense.

However, we have a Guide to (mostly) Harmless Hacking Computer Crime Law Series to help you avoid some pitfalls.

But the best protection against getting busted is the Golden Rule. If you are about to do something that you would not like to have done to you, forget it. Do hacks that make the world a better place, or that are at least fun and harmless, and you should be able to keep out of trouble.

So if you get an idea from the Guides to (mostly) Harmless Hacking that helps you to do something malicious or destructive, it's your problem if you end up being the next hacker behind bars.  Hey, the law won't care if the guy whose computer you trash was being a d***. It won't care that the giant corporation whose database you filched shafted your best buddy once. They will only care that you broke the law.

To some people it may sound like phun to become a national sensation in the latest hysteria over Evil Genius hackers. But after the trial, when some reader of these Guides ends up being the reluctant "girlfriend" of a convict named Spike, how happy will his news clippings make him?

Conventions Used in the Guides

You've probably already noticed that we spell some words funny, like "kewl" and "phun." These are hacker slang terms. Since we often communicate with each other via email, most of our slang consists of ordinary words with extraordinary spellings. For example, a hacker might spell "elite" as "3l1t3," with 3's substituting for e's and 1's for i's. He or she may even spell "elite" as "31337. The Guides sometimes use these slang spellings to help you learn how to write email like a hacker.

Of course, the cute spelling stuph we use will go out of date fast. So we do not guarantee that if you use this slang, people will read your email and think, "Ohhh, you must be an Evil Genius! I'm sooo impressed!"

Take it from us, guys who need to keep on inventing new slang to prove they are "k-rad 3l1t3" are often lusers and lamers. So if you don't want to use any of the hacker slang of these Guides, that's OK by us. Most Uberhackers don't use slang, either.

Who Are You?

We've made some assumptions about who you are and why you are reading these Guides:

· You own a PC or Macintosh personal computer
· You are on-line with the Internet
· You have a sense of humor and adventure and want to express it by hacking
· Or -- you want to impress your friends and pick up chicks (or guys) by making them think you are an Evil Genius

So, does this picture fit you? If so, OK, d00dz, start your computers. Are you ready to hack?

_________________________________________________________
Subscribe to our email list by emailing to hacker@techbroker.com with message "subscribe"
Want to share some kewl stuph with the Happy Hacker list? Correct mistakes? Send your messages to hacker@techbroker.com.  To send me confidential email (please, no discussions of illegal activities) use carolyn@techbroker.com and be sure to state in your message that you want me to keep this confidential. If you wish your message posted anonymously, please say so! Direct flames to dev/null@techbroker.com. Happy hacking!
Copyright 1997 Carolyn P. Meinel. You may forward  or post on your Web site this GUIDE TO (mostly) HARMLESS HACKING as long as you leave this notice at the end..
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GUIDE TO (mostly) HARMLESS HACKING

Beginners' Series #2, Section One.

Hacking Windows 95!
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Important warning: this is a beginners lesson. BEGINNERS. Will all you super k-rad elite haxors out there just skip reading this one, instead reading it and feeling all insulted at how easy it is and then emailing me to bleat "This GTMHH iz 2 ezy your ****** up,wee hate u!!!&$%" Go study something that seriously challenges your intellect such as "Unix for Dummies," OK?

Have you ever seen what happens when someone with an America Online account posts to a hacker news group, email list, or IRC chat session? It gives you a true understanding of what "flame" means, right?

Now you might think that making fun of dumb.newbie@aol.com is just some prejudice. Sort of like how managers in big corporations don't wear dreadlocks and fraternity boys don't drive Yugos.

But the real reason serious hackers would never use AOL is that it doesn't offer Unix shell accounts for its users. AOL fears Unix because it is the most fabulous, exciting, powerful, hacker-friendly operating system in the Solar system... gotta calm down ... anyhow, I'd feel crippled without Unix. So AOL figures offering Unix shell accounts to its users is begging to get hacked.

Unfortunately, this attitude is spreading. Every day more ISPs are deciding to stop offering shell accounts to their users.

But if you don't have a Unix shell account, you can still hack. All you need is a computer that runs Windows 95 and just some really retarded on-line account like America Online or Compuserve.

In this Beginner's Series #2 we cover several fun things to do with Windows and even the most hacker-hostile Online services. And, remember, all these things are really easy. You don't need to be a genius. You don't need to be a computer scientist. You don't need to won an expensive computer. These are things anyone with Windows 95 can do.

Section One: Customize your Windows 95 visuals. Set up your startup, background and logoff  screens so as to amaze and befuddle your non-hacker friends.

Section Two: Subvert Windows nanny programs such as Surfwatch and the setups many schools use in the hope of keeping kids from using unauthorized programs. Prove to yourself -- and your friends and coworkers -- that Windows 95 passwords are a joke.

Section Three: Explore other computers -- OK, let's be blatant -- hack -- from your Windows home computer using even just AOL for Internet access.

HOW TO CUSTOMIZE WINDOWS 95 VISUALS

OK, let's say you are hosting a wild party in your home. You decide to show your buddies that you are one of those dread hacker d00dz. So you fire up your computer and what should come up on your screen but the logo for "Windows 95." It's kind of lame looking, isn't it? Your computer looks just like everyone else's box. Just like some boring corporate workstation operated by some guy with an IQ in the 80s.

Now if you are a serious hacker you would be booting up Linux or FreeBSD or some other kind of Unix on your personal computer. But your friends don't know that. So you have an opportunity to social engineer them into thinking you are fabulously elite by just by customizing your bootup screen.

Now let's say you want to boot up with a black screen with orange and yellow flames and the slogan " K-Rad Doomsters of the Apocalypse." This turns out to be super easy.

Now Microsoft wants you to advertise their operating system every time you boot up. In fact, they want this so badly that they have gone to court to try to force computer retailers to keep the Micro$oft bootup screen on the systems these vendors sell.

So Microsoft certainly doesn't want you messing with their bootup screen, either. So M$ has tried to hide the bootup screen software. But they didn't hide it very well. We're going to learn today how to totally thwart their plans.

***********************************************
Evil Genius tip: One of the rewarding things about hacking is to find hidden files that try to keep you from modifying them -- and then to mess with them anyhow. That's what we're doing today.

The Win95 bootup graphics is hidden in either a file named c:\logo.sys and/or ip.sys. To see this file, open File Manager, click "view", then click "by file type," then check the box for "show hidden/system files." Then, back on "view," click "all file details." To the right of the file logo.sys you will see the letters "rhs." These mean this file is "read-only, hidden, system."

The reason this innocuous graphics file is labeled as a system file -- when it really is just a graphics file with some animation added -- is because Microsoft is afraid you'll change it to read something like "Welcome to Windoze 95 -- Breakfast of Lusers!" So by making it a read-only file, and hiding it, and calling it a system file as if it were something so darn important it would destroy your computer if you were to mess with it, Microsoft is trying to trick you into leaving it alone.
***********************************************

The easiest way to thwart these Windoze 95 startup and shut down screens is to go to http://www.windows95.com/apps/ and check out their programs. But we're hackers, so we like to do things ourselves. So here's how to do this without using a canned program.

We start by finding the MSPaint program. It's probably under the accessories folder. But just in case you're like me and keep on moving things around, here's the fail-safe program finding routine:

1) Click "Start" on the lower left corner of your screen.
2) Click "Windows Explorer"
3) Click "Tools"
4) Click "Find"
5) Click "files or folders"
6) After "named" type in "MSPaint"
7) After "Look in" type in 'C:"
8) Check the box that says "include subfolders"
9) Click "find now"
10) Double click on the icon of a paint bucket that turns up in a window. This loads the paint program.
11) Within the paint program, click "file"
12) Click "open"

OK, now you have MSPaint. Now you have a super easy way to create your new bootup screen:

13) After "file name" type in c:\windows\logos.sys. This brings up the graphic you get when your computer is ready to shut down saying "It's now safe to turn off your computer." This graphic has exactly the right format to be used for your startup graphic. So you can play with it any way you want (so long as you don't do anything on the Attributes screen under the Images menu) and use it for your startup graphic.

14) Now we play with this picture. Just experiment with the controls of MSPaint and try out fun stuff.

15) When you decide you really like your picture (fill it with frightening hacker stuph, right?), save it as c:\logo.sys. This will overwrite the Windows startup logo file. From now on, any time you want to change your startup logo, you will be able to both read and write the file logo.sys.

16. If you want to change the shut down screens, they are easy to find and modify using MSPaint. The beginning shutdown screen is named c:\windows\logow.sys. As we saw above, the final  "It's now safe to turn off your computer" screen graphic is named c:\windows\logos.sys.

17. To make graphics that will be available for your wallpaper, name them something like c:\windows\evilhaxor.bmp (substituting your filename for "exilhaxor" -- unless you like to name your wallpaper "evilhaxor.")

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Evil Genius tip: The Microsoft Windows 95 startup screen has an animated bar at the bottom. But once you replace it with your own graphic, that animation is gone. However, you can make your own animated startup screen using the shareware program BMP Wizard. Some download sites for this goodie include:
http://www.pippin.com/English/ComputersSoftware/Software/Windows95/graphic.htm
http://search.windows95.com/apps/editors.html
http://www.windows95.com/apps/editors.html
Or you can download the program LogoMania, which automatically resizes any bitmap to the correct size for your logon and logoff screens and adds several types of animation as well. You can find it at
ftp.zdnet.com/pcmag/1997/0325/logoma.zip
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Now the trouble with using one of the existing Win95 logo files is that they only allow you to use their original colors. If you really want to go wild, open MSPaint again. First click "Image," then click "attributes." Set width 320 and height to 400. Make sure under Units that Pels is selected. Now you are free to use any color combination available in this program. Remember to save the file as c:\logo.sys for your startup logo, or  c:\windows\logow.sys and or c:\windows\logos.sys for your shutdown screens.

But if you want some really fabulous stuff for your starting screen, you can steal graphics from your favorite hacker page on the Web and import them into Win95's startup and shutdown screens. Here's how you do it.

1) Wow, kewl graphics! Stop your browsing on that Web page and hit the "print screen" button.

2) Open MSPaint and set width to 320 and height to 400 with units Pels.

3) Click edit, then click paste. Bam, that image is now in your MSPaint program.

4) When you save it, make sure attributes are still 320X400 Pels. Name it c:\logo.sys, c:\windows\logow.sys, c:\windows\logos.sys, or c:\winodws\evilhaxor.bmp depending on which screen or wallpaper you want to display it on.

Of course you can do the same thing by opening any graphics file you choose in MSPaint or any other graphics program, so long as you save it with the right file name in the right directory and size it 320X400 Pels.

Oh, no, stuffy Auntie Suzie is coming to visit and she wants to use my computer to read her email!  I'll never hear the end of it if she sees my K-Rad Doomsters of the Apocalypse startup screen!!!

Here's what you can do to get your boring Micro$oft startup logo back. Just change the name of c:logo.sys to something innocuous that Aunt Suzie won't see while snooping with file manager. Something like logo.bak. Guess what happens? Those Microsoft guys figured we'd be doing things like this and hid a copy of their boring bootup screen in a file named "io.sys." So if you rename or delete their original logo.sys, and there is no file by that name left, on bootup your computer displays their same old Windows 95 bootup screen.

Now suppose your Win95 box is attached to a local area network (LAN)? It isn't as easy to change your bootup logo, as the network may override your changes. But there is a way to thwart the network. If you aren't afraid of your boss seeing your "K-Rad Dommsters of the Apocalypse" spashed over an x-rated backdrop, here's how to customize your bootup graphics.

0.95 policy editor
(comes on the 95 cd) with the default admin.adm will let you change
this. Use the policy editor to open the registry, select 'local
computer' select network, select 'logon' and then selet 'logon banner'.
It'll then show you the current banner and let you change it and save it
back to the registry.
 

**************************************
Evil genius tip: Want to mess with io.sys or logo.sys? Here's how to get into them. And, guess what, this is a great thing to learn in case you ever need to break into a Windows computer -- something we'll look at in detail in the next section.

Click "Start" then "Programs" then "MS-DOS." At the MS_DOS prompt enter the commands:

ATTRIB -R -H -S C:\IO.SYS
ATTRIB -R -H -S C:\LOGO.SYS

Now they are totally at your mercy, muhahaha!

But don't be surprised is MSPaint can't open either of these files. MSPaint only opens graphics files. But io.sys and logo.sys are set up to be used by animation applications.
**************************************

OK, that's it for now.  You 31337 hackers who are feeling insulted by reading this because it was too easy, tough cookies. I warned you. But I'll bet my box has a happier hacker logon graphic than yours does. K-Rad Doomsters of the apocalypse, yesss!
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Subscribe to our email list by emailing to hacker@techbroker.com with message "subscribe" or join our Hacker forum at http://www.infowar.com/cgi-shl/login.exe.
Want to share some kewl stuph with the Happy Hacker list? Correct mistakes? Send your messages to hacker@techbroker.com.  To send me confidential email (please, no discussions of illegal activities) use cmeinel@techbroker.com and be sure to state in your message that you want me to keep this confidential. If you wish your message posted anonymously, please say so! Direct flames to dev/null@techbroker.com. Happy hacking!
Copyright 1997 Carolyn P. Meinel. You may forward  or post on your Web site this GUIDE TO (mostly) HARMLESS HACKING as long as you leave this notice at the end..
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GUIDE TO (mostly) HARMLESS HACKING

Beginners' Series #2, Section  Two.

Hacking into Windows 95 (and a little bit of NT lore)!
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Important warning: this is a beginners lesson. BEGINNERS. Will all you geniuses who were born already knowing 32-bit Windows just skip reading this one, OK? We don't need to hear how disgusted you are that not everyone already knows this.

PARENTAL DISCRETION ADVISED!

This lesson will lay the foundation for learning how to hack what now is the most commonly installed workstation operating system: Windows NT. In fact, Windows NT is coming into wide use as a local area network (LAN), Internet, intranet, and Web server. So if you want to call yourself a serious hacker, you'd better get a firm grasp on Win NT.

In this lesson you will learn serious hacking techniques useful on both Windows 95 and Win NT systems while playing in complete safety on your own computer.

In this lesson we explore:

· Several ways to hack your Windows 95 logon password
· How to hack your Pentium CMOS password
· How to hack a Windows Registry -- which is where access control on Windows-based LANs, intranets and Internet and Webs servers are hidden!

Let's set the stage for this lesson. You have your buddies over to your home to see you hack on your Windows 95 box. You've already put in a really industrial haxor-looking bootup screen, so they are already trembling at the thought of what a tremendously elite d00d you are. So what do you do next?

How about clicking on "Start," clicking "settings" then "control panel" then "passwords." Tell your friends your password and get them to enter a secret new one. Then shut down your computer and tell them you are about to show them how fast you can break their password and get back into your own box!

This feat is so easy I'm almost embarrassed to tell you how it's done. That's because you'll say "Sheesh, you call that password protection? Any idiot can break into a Win 95 box! And of course you're right. But that's the Micro$oft way. Remember this next time you expect to keep something on your Win95 box confidential.

And when it comes time to learn Win NT hacking, remember this Micro$oft security mindset. The funny thing is that very few hackers mess with NT today because they're all busy cracking into Unix boxes. But there are countless amazing Win NT exploits just waiting to be discovered. Once you see how easy it is to break into your Win 95 box, you'll feel in your bones that even without us holding your hand, you could discover ways to crack Win NT boxes, too.

But back to your buddies waiting to see what an elite hacker you are. Maybe you'll want them to turn their backs so all they know is you can break into a Win95 box in less than one minute. Or maybe you'll be a nice guy and show them exactly how it's done.

But first, here's a warning. The first few techniques we're showing work on most home Win 95 installations. But, especially in corporate local area networks (LANs), several of these techniques don't work. But never fear, in this lesson we will cover enough ways to break in that you will be able to gain control of absolutely *any* Win 95 box to which you have physical access. But we'll start with the easy ways first.

Easy Win 95 Breakin #1:

Step one: boot up your computer.

Step two: When the "system configuration" screen comes up, press the "F5" key. If your system doesn't show this screen, just keep on pressing the F5 key.

If your Win 95 has the right settings, this boots you into "safe mode." Everything looks weird, but you don't have to give your password and you still can run your programs.

Too easy! OK, if you want to do something that looks a little classier, here's another way to evade that new password.

Easy Win 95 Breakin #2:

Step one: Boot up.

Step two: when you get to the "system configuration" screen, press the F8 key. This gives you the Microsoft Windows 95 Startup Menu.

Step three: choose number 7. This puts you into MS-DOS. At the prompt, give the command "rename c:\windows\*pwl c:\windows\*zzz."

****************************
Newbie note: MS-DOS stands for Microsoft Disk Operating System, an ancient operating system dating from 1981. It is a command-line operating system, meaning that you get a prompt (probably c:\>) after which you type in a command and press the enter key. MS-DOS is often abbreviated DOS. It is a little bit similar to Unix, and in fact in its first version it incorporated thousands of lines of Unix code.
*****************************

Step four: reboot. You will get the password dialog screen. You can then fake out your friends by entering any darn password you want. It will ask you to reenter it to confirm your new password.

Step five. Your friends are smart enough to suspect you just created a new password, huh? Well, you can put the old one your friends picked. Use any tool you like -- File Manager, Explorer or MS-DOS -- to rename *.zzz back to *.pwl.

Step six: reboot and let your friends use their secret password. It still works!

Think about it. If someone where to be sneaking around another person's Win 95 computer, using this technique, the only way the victim could determine there had been an intruder is to check for recently changed files and discover that the *.pwl files have been messed with

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Evil genius tip: Unless the msdos.sys file bootkeys=0 option is active, the keys that can do something during the bootup process are F4, F5, F6, F8, Shift+F5, Control+F5 and Shift+F8. Play with them!
****************************

Now let's suppose you discovered that your Win 95 box doesn't respond to the bootup keys. You can still break in.

If your computer does allow use of the boot keys, you may wish to disable them in order to be a teeny bit more secure. Besides, it's phun to show your friends how to use the boot keys and then disable these so when they try to mess with your computer they will discover you've locked them out.

The easiest -- but slowest -- way to disable the boot keys is to pick the proper settings while installing Win 95. But we're hackers, so we can pull a fast trick to do the same thing. We are going to learn how to edit the Win 95 msdos.sys file, which controls the boot sequence.

Easy Way to Edit your Msdos.sys File:

Step zero: Back up your computer completely, especially the system files. Make sure you have a Windows 95 boot disk. We are about to play with fire! If you are doing this on someone else's computer, let's just hope either you have permission to destroy the operating system, or else you are so good you couldn't possibly make a serious mistake.

*******************************
Newbie note: You don't have a boot disk? Shame, shame, shame! Everyone ought to have a boot disk for their computer just in case you or your buddies do something really horrible to your system files. If you don't already have a Win 95 boot disk, here's how to make one.
To do this you need an empty floppy disk and your Win 95 installation disk(s). Click on Start, then Settings, then Control Panel, then Add/Remove Programs, then Startup Disk.  From here just follow instructions.
********************************

Step one: Find the file msdos.sys. It is in the root directory (usually C:\). Since this is a hidden system file, the easiest way to find it is to click on My Computer, right click the icon for your boot drive (usually C:), left click Explore, then scroll down the right side frame until you find the file "msdos.sys."

Step two: Make msdos.sys writable. To do this, right click on msdos.sys, then left click "properties." This brings up a screen on which you uncheck the "read only" and "hidden" boxes. You have now made this a file that you can pull into a word processor to edit.

Step three: Bring msdos.sys up in Word Pad. To do this, you go to File Manager. Find msdos.sys again and click on it. Then click "associate" under the "file" menu. Then click on "Word Pad." It is very important to use Word Pad and not Notepad or any other word processing program! Then double click on msdos.sys.

Step four: We are ready to edit. You will see that Word Pad has come up with msdos.sys loaded. You will see something that looks like this:

[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C

[Options]
BootGUI=1
Network=1
;
;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs.
;Do not remove them (MSDOS>SYS needs to be >1024 bytes).
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
.
.
.

To disable the function keys during bootup, directly below [Options] you should insert the command "BootKeys=0."
Or, another way to disable the boot keys is to insert the command BootDelay=0. You can really mess up your snoopy hacker wannabe friends by putting in both statements and hope they don't know about BootDelay. Then save msdos.sys.

Step five: since msdos.sys is absolutely essential to your computer, you'd better write protect it like it was before you edited it. Click on My Computer, then Explore, then click the icon for your boot drive (usually C:), then scroll down the right side until you find the file "msdos.sys."
Click on msdos.sys, then left click "properties." This brings back that screen with the "read only" and "hidden" boxes. Check "read only."

Step six: You *are* running a virus scanner, aren't you? You never know what your phriends might do to your computer while your back is turned. When you next boot up, your virus scanner will see that msdos.sys has changed. It will assume the worst and want to make your msdos.sys file look just like it did before. You have to stop it from doing this. I run Norton Antivirus, so all I have to do when the virus warning screen comes up it to tell it to "innoculate."

Hard Way to Edit your (or someone else's) Msdos.sys File.

Step zero. This is useful practice for using DOS to run rampant someday in Win NT LANs, Web and Internet servers. Put a Win 95 boot disk in the a: drive. Boot up. This gives you a DOS prompt A:\.

Step one: Make msdos.sys writable. Give the command "attrib -h -r -s c:\msdos.sys"
(This assumes the c: drive is the boot disk.)

Step two: give the command "edit msdos.sys" This brings up this file into the word processor.

Step three: Use the edit program to alter msdos.sys. Save it. Exit the edit program.

Step four: At the DOS prompt, give the command "attrib +r +h +s c:\msdos.sys" to return the msdos.sys file to the status of hidden, read-only system file.

OK,  now your computer's boot keys are disabled. Does this mean no one can break in? Sorry, this isn't good enough.

As you may have guessed from the "Hard Way to Edit your Msdos.sys" instruction, your next option for Win 95 breakins is to use a boot disk that goes in the a: floppy drive.

How to Break into a Win 95 Box Using a Boot Disk

Step one: shut down your computer.

Step two: put boot disk into A: drive.

Step three: boot up.

Step four: at the A:\ prompt, give the command: rename c:\windows\*.pwl c:\windows\*.zzz.

Step four: boot up again. You can enter anything or nothing at the password prompt and get in.

Step five: Cover your tracks by renaming the password files back to what they were.

Wow, this is just too easy! What do you do if you want to keep your prankster friends out of your Win 95 box? Well, there is one more thing you can do. This is a common trick on LANs where the network administrator doesn't want to have to deal with people monkeying around with each others' computers. The answer -- but not a very good answer -- is to use a CMOS password.

How to Mess With CMOS #1

The basic settings on your computer such as how many and what kinds of disk drives and which ones are used for booting are held in a CMOS chip on the mother board. A tiny battery keeps this chip always running so that whenever you turn your computer back on, it remembers what is the first drive to check in for bootup instructions. On a home computer it will typically be set to first look in the A: drive. If the A: drive is empty, it next will look at the C: drive.

On my computer, if I want to change the CMOS settings I press the delete key at the very beginning of the bootup sequence. Then, because I have instructed the CMOS settings to ask for a password, I have to give it my password to change anything.

If I don't want someone to boot from the A: drive and mess with my password file, I can set it so it only boots from the C: drive. Or even so that it only boots from a remote drive on a LAN.

So, is there a way to break into a Win 95 box that won't boot from the A: drive? Absolutely yes! But before trying this one out, be sure to write down *ALL* your CMOS settings. And be prepared to make a total wreck of your computer. Hacking CMOS is even more destructive than hacking system files.

Step one: get a phillips screwdriver, solder sucker and soldering iron.

Step two: open up your victim.

Step three: remove the battery .

Step four: plug the battery back in.

Alternate step three: many motherboards have a 3 pin jumper to reset the CMOS to its default settings. Look for a jumper close to the battery or look at your manual if you have one.
For example, you might find a three pin device with pins one and two jumpered. If you move the jumper to pins two and three and leave it there for over five seconds, it may reset the CMOS. Warning -- this will not work on all computers!

Step five: Your victim computer now hopefully has the CMOS default settings. Put everything back the way they were, with the exception of setting it to first check the A: drive when booting up.

*******************************
You can get fired warning: If you do this wrong, and this is a computer you use at work, and you have to go crying to the systems administrator to get your computer working again, you had better have a convincing story. Whatever you do, don't tell the sysadmin or your boss that "The Happy Hacker made me do it"!
*******************************

Step six: proceed with the A: drive boot disk break-in instructions.

Does this sound too hairy? Want an easy way to mess with CMOS? There's a program you can run that does it without having to play with your mother board.

How to Mess with CMOS #2

Boy, I sure hope you decided to read to the end of this GTMHH before taking solder gun to your motherboard. There's an easy solution to the CMOS password problem. It's a program called KillCMOS which you can download from http://www.koasp.com. (Warning: if I were you, I'd first check out this site using the Lynx browser, which you can use from Linux or your shell account).
 

Now suppose you like to surf the Web but your Win 95 box is set up so some sort of net nanny program restricts access to places you would really like to visit. Does this mean you are doomed to live in a Brady Family world? No way.

There are several ways to evade those programs that censor what Web sites you visit.

Now what I am about to discuss is not with the intention of feeding pornography to little kids. The sad fact is that these net censorship programs have no way of evaluating everything on the Web. So what they do is only allow access to a relatively small number of Web sites. This keeps kids form discovering many wonderful things on the Web.

As the mother of four, I understand how worried parents can get over what their kids encounter on the Internet. But these Web censor programs are a poor substitute for spending time with your kids so that they learn how to use computers responsibly and become really dynamite hackers! Um, I mean, become responsible cyberspace citizens. Besides, these programs can all be hacked way to easily.

The first tactic to use with a Web censor program is hit control-alt-delete. This brings up the task list. If the censorship program is on the list, turn it off.

Second tactic is to edit the autoexec.bat file to delete any mention of the web censor program. This keeps it from getting loaded in the first place.

But what if your parents (or your boss or spouse) is savvy enough to check where you've been surfing? You've got to get rid of those incriminating records whowing that you've been surfing Dilbert!

It's easy to fix with Netscape. Open Netscape.ini with either Notepad or Word Pad. It probably will be in the directory C:\Netscape\netscape.ini. Near the bottom you will find your URL history. Delete those lines.

But Internet Explorer is a really tough browser to defeat.
Editing the Registry is the only way (that I have found, at least) to defeat the censorship feature on Internet Explorer. And, guess what, it even hides several records of your browsing history in the Registry. Brrrr!

*************************
Newbie note: Registry! It is the Valhalla of those who wish to crack Windows. Whoever controls the Registry of a network server controls the network -- totally. Whoever controls the Registry of a Win 95 or Win NT box controls that computer -- totally. The ability to edit the Registry is comparable to having root access to a Unix machine.
'em

How to edit the Registry:

Step zero: Back up all your files. Have a boot disk handy. If you mess up the Registry badly enough you may have to reinstall your operating system.

******************************
You can get fired warning: If you edit the Registry of a computer at work, if you get caught you had better have a good explanation for the sysadmin and your boss. Figure out how to edit the Registry of a LAN server at work and you may be in real trouble.
*******************************

*******************************
You can go to jail warning: Mess with the Registry of someone else's computer and you may be violating the law. Get permission before you mess with Registries of computers you don't own.
*******************************

Step one: Find the Registry. This is not simple, because the Microsoft theory is what you don't know won't hurt you. So the idea is to hide the Registry from clueless types. But, hey, we don't care if we totally trash our computers, right? So we click Start, then Programs, then Windows Explorer, then click on the Windows directory and look for a file named "Regedit.exe."

Step two: Run Regedit. Click on it. It brings up several folders:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
HKEY_USERS
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
HKEY_DYN_DATA

What we are looking at is in some ways like a password file, but it's much more than this. It holds all sorts of settings -- how your desk top looks, what short cuts you are using, what files you are allowed to access. If you are used to Unix, you are going to have to make major revisions in how you view file permissions and passwords. But, hey, this is a beginners' lesson so we'll gloss over this part.

****************************
Evil genius tip: You can run Regedit from DOS from a boot disk. Verrrry handy in certain situations...
****************************

Step three. Get into one of these HKEY thingies. Let's check out CURRENT_USER by clicking the plus sign to the left of it. Play around awhile. See how the Regedit gives you menu choices to pick new settings. You'll soon realize that Microsoft is babysitting you. All you see is pictures with no clue of who these files look in DOS. It's called "security by obscurity." This isn't how hackers edit the Registry.

Step four. Now we get act like real hackers. We are going to put part of the Registry where we can see -- and change -- anything. First click the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT line to highlight it. Then go up to the Registry heading on the Regedit menu bar. Click it, then choose "Export Registry File." Give it any name you want, but be sure it ends with ".reg".

Step five. Open that part of the Registry in Word Pad. It is important to use that program instead of Note Pad or any other word processing program. One way is to right click on it from Explorer. IMPORTANT WARNING: if you left click on it, it will automatically import it back into the Registry. If you were messing with it and accidentally left click, you could trash your computer big time.

Step six: Read everything you ever wanted to know about Windows security that Microsoft was afraid to let you find out. Things that look like:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htmlctl.PasswordCtl\CurVer]
@="htmlctl.PasswordCtl.1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htmlctl.PasswordCtl.1]
@="PasswordCtl Object"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htmlctl.PasswordCtl.1\CLSID]
@="{EE230860-5A5F-11CF-8B11-00AA00C00903}"

The stuff inside the brackets in this last line is an encrypted password controlling access to a program or features of a program such as the net censorship feature of Internet Explorer. What it does in encrypt the password when you enter it, then compare it with the unencrypted version on file.

Step seven: It isn't real obvious which password goes to what program. I say delete them all! Of course this means your stored passwords for logging on to your ISP, for example, may disappear. Also, Internet Explorer will pop up with a warning that "Content Advisor configuration information is missing. Someone may have tried to tamper with it." This will look really bad to your parents!

Also, if you trash your operating system in the process, you'd better have a good explanation for your Mom and Dad about why your computer is so sick. It's a good idea to know how to use your boot disk to reinstall Win 95 it this doesn't work out.

Step eight (optional): Want to erase your surfing records? For Internet Explorer you'll have to edit HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_USERS. You can also delete the files c:\windows\cookies\mm2048.dat and c:\windows\cookies\mm256.dat. These also store URL data.

Step nine. Import your .reg files back into the Registry. Either click on your .reg files in Explorer or else use the "Import" feature next to the "Export" you just used in Regedit. This only works if you remembered to name them with the .reg extension.

Step nine: Oh, no, Internet Explorer makes this loud obnoxious noise the first time I run it and puts up a bright red "X" with the message that I tampered with the net nanny feature! My parents will seriously kill me!

Or, worse yet, oh, no, I trashed my computer!

All is not lost. Erase the Registry and its backups. These are in four files: system.dat, user.dat, and their backups, system.da0 and user.da0. Your operating system will immediately commit suicide. (This was a really exciting test, folks, but I luuuv that adrenaline!) If you get cold feet, the Recycle bin still works after trashing your Registry files, so you can restore them and your computer will be back to the mess you just made of it. But if you really have guts, just kill those files and shut it down.

Then use your Win 95 boot disk to bring your computer back to life. Reinstall Windows 95. If your desk top looks different, proudly tell everyone you learned a whole big bunch about Win 95 and decided to practice on how your desk top looks. Hope they don't check Internet Explorer to see if the censorship program still is enabled.

And if your parents catch you surfing a Nazi explosives instruction site, or if you catch your kids at bianca's Smut Shack, don't blame it on Happy Hacker. Blame it on Microsoft security -- or on parents being too busy to teach their kids right from wrong.

So why, instead of having you edit the Registry, didn't I just tell you to delete those four files and reinstall Win 95? It's because if you are even halfway serious about hacking, you need to learn how to edit the Registry of a Win NT computer. You just got a little taste of what it will be like here, done on the safety of your home computer.

You also may have gotten a taste of how easy it is to make a huge mess when messing with the Registry. Now you don't have to take my work for it, you know first hand how disastrous a clumsy hacker can be when messing in someone else's computer systems.

So what is the bottom line on Windows 95 security? Is there any way to set up a Win 95 box so no one can break into it? Hey, how about that little key on your computer? Sorry, that won't do much good, either. It's easy to disconnect so you can still boot the box. Sorry, Win 95 is totally vulnerable.

In fact, if you have physical access to *ANY* computer, the only way to keep you from breaking into it is to encrypt its files with a strong encryption algorithm. It doesn't matter what kind of computer it is, files on any computer can one way or another be read by someone with physical access to it -- unless they are encrypted with a strong algorithm such as RSA.

We haven't gone into all the ways to break into a Win 95 box remotely, but there are plenty of ways. Any Win 95 box on a network is vulnerable, unless you encrypt its information.

And the ways to evade Web censor programs are so many, the only way you can make them work is to either hope your kids stay dumb, or else that they will voluntarily choose to fill their minds with worthwhile material. Sorry, there is no technological substitute for bringing up your kids to know right from wrong.

******************************
Evil Genius tip: Want to trash most of the policies can be invoked on a workstation running Windows 95? Paste these into the appropriate locations in the Registry. Warning: results may vary and you may get into all sorts of trouble whether you do this successfully or unsuccessfully.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Network\Logon]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Network\Logon]
"MustBeValidated"=dword:00000000
"username"="ByteMe"
"UserProfiles"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies]
"DisablePwdCaching"=dword:00000000
"HideSharePwds"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]

"NoDrives"=dword:00000000
"NoClose"=dword:00000000
"NoDesktop"=dword:00000000
"NoFind"=dword:00000000
"NoNetHood"=dword:00000000
"NoRun"=dword:00000000
"NoSaveSettings"=dword:00000000
"NoRun"=dword:00000000
"NoSaveSettings"=dword:00000000
"NoSetFolders"=dword:00000000
"NoSetTaskbar"=dword:00000000
"NoAddPrinter"=dword:00000000
"NoDeletePrinter"=dword:00000000
"NoPrinterTabs"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Network]

"NoNetSetup"=dword:00000000
"NoNetSetupIDPage"=dword:00000000
"NoNetSetupSecurityPage"=dword:00000000
"NoEntireNetwork"=dword:00000000
"NoFileSharingControl"=dword:00000000
"NoPrintSharingControl"=dword:00000000
"NoWorkgroupContents"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]

"NoAdminPage"=dword:00000000
"NoConfigPage"=dword:00000000
"NoDevMgrPage"=dword:00000000
"NoDispAppearancePage"=dword:00000000
"NoDispBackgroundPage"=dword:00000000
"NoDispCPL"=dword:00000000
"NoDispScrSavPage"=dword:00000000
"NoDispSettingsPage"=dword:00000000
"NoFileSysPage"=dword:00000000
"NoProfilePage"=dword:00000000
"NoPwdPage"=dword:00000000
"NoSecCPL"=dword:00000000
"NoVirtMemPage"=dword:00000000
"DisableRegistryTools"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WinOldApp

                             [END of message text]
                          [Already at end of message]
  PINE 3.91   MESSAGE TEXT           Folder: INBOX  Message 178 of 433 END
 

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WinOldApp
]
"Disabled"=dword:00000000
"NoRealMode"=dword:00000000
 

_________________________________________________________
Subscribe to our email list by emailing to hacker@techbroker.com with message "subscribe" or join our Hacker forum at http://www.infowar.com/cgi-shl/login.exe.
Want to share some kewl stuph with the Happy Hacker list? Correct mistakes? Send your messages to hacker@techbroker.com.  To send me confidential email (please, no discussions of illegal activities) use cmeinel@techbroker.com and be sure to state in your message that you want me to keep this confidential. If you wish your message posted anonymously, please say so! Direct flames to dev/null@techbroker.com. Happy hacking!
Copyright 1997 Carolyn P. Meinel. You may forward  or post on your Web site this GUIDE TO (mostly) HARMLESS HACKING as long as you leave this notice at the end.
________________________________________________________
 

___________________________________________________________

GUIDE TO (mostly) HARMLESS HACKING

Beginners' Series #2, Section 3.

Hacking from Windows 3.x, 95 and NT
____________________________________________________________

This lesson will tell you how, armed with even the lamest of on-line services such as America Online and the Windows 95 operating system, you can do some fairly serious Internet hacking -- today!

In this lesson we will learn how to:

· Use secret Windows 95 DOS commands to track down and port surf computers used by famous on-line service providers.
· Telnet to computers that will let you use the invaluable hacker tools of whois,  nslookup, and dig.
· Download hacker tools such as port scanners and password crackers designed for use with Windows.
· Use Internet Explorer to evade restrictions on what programs you can run on your school or work computers.

Yes, I can hear jericho and Rogue Agent and all the other Super Duper hackers on this list laughing. I'll bet already they have quit reading this and are furiously emailing me flames and making phun of me in 2600 meetings. Windows hacking? Pooh!

Tell seasoned hackers that you use Windows and they will laugh at you. They'll tell you to go away and don't come back until you're armed with a shell account or some sort of Unix on your PC. Actually, I have long shared their opinion. Shoot, most of the time hacking from Windoze is like using a 1969 Volkswagon to race against a dragster using one of VP Racing's high-tech fuels.

But there actually is a good reason to learn to hack from Windows. Some of your best tools for probing and manipulating Windows networks are found only on Windows NT. Furthermore, with Win 95 you can practice the Registry hacking that is central to working your will on Win NT servers and the networks they administer.

In fact, if you want to become a serious hacker, you eventually will have to learn Windows. This is because Windows NT is fast taking over the Internet from Unix. An IDC report projects that the Unix-based Web server market share will fall from the 65% of 1995 to only 25% by the year 2000. The Windows NT share is projected to grow to 32%.  This weak future for Unix Web servers is reinforced by an IDC report reporting that market share of all Unix systems is now falling at a compound annual rate of decline of -17% for the foreseeable future, while Windows NT is growing in market share by 20% per year. (Mark Winther, "The Global Market for Public and Private Internet Server Software," IDC #11202, April 1996, 10, 11.)

So if you want to keep up your hacking skills, you're going to have to get wise to Windows. One of these days we're going to be sniggering at all those Unix-only hackers.

Besides, even poor, pitiful Windows 95 now can take advantage of  lots of free hacker tools that give it much of the power of Unix.

Since this is a beginners' lesson, we'll go straight to the Big Question: "All I got is AOL and a Win 95 box. Can I still learn how to hack?"

Yes, yes, yes!

The secret to hacking from AOL/Win 95 -- or from any on-line service that gives you access to the World Wide Web -- is hidden in Win 95's MS-DOS (DOS 7.0).

DOS 7.0 offers several Internet tools, none of which are documented in either the standard Windows or DOS help features. But you're getting the chance to learn these hidden features today.

So to get going with today's lesson, use AOL or whatever lame on-line service you may have and make the kind of connection you use to get on the Web (this will be a PPP or SLIP connection). Then minimize your Web browser and prepare to hack! Next, bring up your DOS window by clicking Start, then Programs, then MS-DOS.

For best hacking I've found it easier to use DOS in a window with a task bar which allows me to cut and paste commands and easily switch between Windows and DOS programs. If your DOS comes up as a full screen, hold down the Alt key while hitting enter, and it will go into a window. Then if you are missing the task bar, click the system menu on the left side of the DOS window caption and select Toolbar.

Now you have the option of  eight TCP/IP utilities to play with: telnet, arp, ftp, nbtstat, netstat, ping, route, and tracert.

Telnet is the biggie. You can also access the telnet program directly from Windows. But while hacking you may need the other utilities that can only be used from DOS, so I like to call telnet from DOS.

With the DOS telnet you can actually port surf almost as well as from a Unix telnet program. But there are several tricks you need to learn in order to make this work.

First, we'll try out logging on to a strange computer somewhere. This is a phun thing to show your friends who don't have a clue because it can scare the heck out them. Honest, I just tried this out on a neighbor. He got so worried that when he got home he called my husband and begged him to keep me from hacking his work computer!

To do this (I mean log on to a strange computer, not scare your neighbors) go to the DOS prompt C:\WINDOWS> and give the command "telnet." This brings up a telnet screen. Click on Connect, then click Remote System.

This brings up a box that asks you for "Host Name." Type "whois.internic.net" into this box. Below that it asks for "Port" and has the default value of "telnet." Leave in "telnet" for the port selection. Below that is a box for "TermType."  I recommend picking VT100 because, well, just because I like it best.

The first thing you can do to frighten your neighbors and impress your friends is a "whois." Click on Connect and you will soon get a prompt that looks like this:

[vt100]InterNIC>

Then ask your friend or neighbor his or her email address. Then at this InterNIC prompt, type in the last two parts of your friend's email address. For example, if the address is "luser@aol.com," type in "aol.com."

Now I'm picking AOL for this lesson because it is really hard to hack. Almost any other on-line service will be easier.

For AOL we get the answer:

[vt100] InterNIC > whois aol.com
Connecting to the rs Database . . . . . .
Connected to the rs Database
America Online (AOL-DOM)
   12100 Sunrise Valley Drive
   Reston, Virginia 22091
   USA

   Domain Name: AOL.COM

   Administrative Contact:
      O'Donnell, David B  (DBO3)  PMDAtropos@AOL.COM
      703/453-4255 (FAX) 703/453-4102
   Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
      America Online  (AOL-NOC)  trouble@aol.net
      703-453-5862
   Billing Contact:
      Barrett, Joe  (JB4302)  BarrettJG@AOL.COM
      703-453-4160 (FAX) 703-453-4001

   Record last updated on 13-Mar-97.
   Record created on 22-Jun-95.

   Domain servers in listed order:

   DNS-01.AOL.COM               152.163.199.42
   DNS-02.AOL.COM               152.163.199.56
   DNS-AOL.ANS.NET              198.83.210.28

These last three lines give the names of some computers that work for America Online (AOL). If we want to hack AOL, these are a good place to start.

*********************************
Newbie note: We just got info on three "domain name servers" for AOL. "Aol.com" is the domain name for AOL, and the domain servers are the computers that hold information that tells the rest of the Internet how to send messages to AOL computers and email addresses.
*********************************
*********************************
Evil genius tip: Using your Win 95 and an Internet connection, you can run a whois query from many other computers, as well. Telnet to your target computer's port 43 and if it lets you get on it, give your query.
Example: telnet to nic.ddn.mil, port 43. Once connected type "whois DNS-01.AOL.COM," or whatever name you want to check out. However, this only works on computers that are running the whois service on port 43.
Warning: show this trick to your neighbors and they will really be terrified. They just saw you accessing a US military computer! But it's OK, nic.ddn.mil is open to the public on many of its ports. Check out its Web site www.nic.ddn.mil and its ftp site, too -- they are a mother lode of information that is good for hacking.
*********************************

Next I tried a little port surfing on DNS-01.AOL.COM but couldn't find any ports open. So it's a safe bet this computer is behind the AOL firewall.

**********************************
Newbie note: port surfing means to attempt to access a computer through several different ports. A port is any way you get information into or out of a computer. For example, port 23 is the one you usually use to log into a shell account. Port 25 is used to send email. Port 80 is for the Web. There are thousands of designated ports, but any particular computer may be running only three or four ports. On your home computer your ports include the monitor, keyboard, and modem.
**********************************

So what do we do next? We close the telnet program and go back to the DOS window. At the DOS prompt we give the command "tracert 152.163.199.42." Or we could give the command "tracert DNS-01.AOL.COM." Either way we'll get the same result. This command will trace the route that a message takes, hopping from one computer to another, as it travels from my computer to this AOL domain server computer. Here's what we get:

C:\WINDOWS>tracert 152.163.199.42

Tracing route to dns-01.aol.com [152.163.199.42]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  2   150 ms   144 ms   138 ms  204.134.78.201
  3   375 ms   299 ms   196 ms  glory-cyberport.nm.westnet.net [204.134.78.33]
  4   271 ms     *      201 ms  enss365.nm.org [129.121.1.3]
  5   229 ms   216 ms   213 ms  h4-0.cnss116.Albuquerque.t3.ans.net [192.103.74.45]
  6   223 ms   236 ms   229 ms  f2.t112-0.Albuquerque.t3.ans.net [140.222.112.221]
  7   248 ms   269 ms   257 ms  h14.t64-0.Houston.t3.ans.net [140.223.65.9]
  8   178 ms   212 ms   196 ms  h14.t80-1.St-Louis.t3.ans.net [140.223.65.14]
  9   316 ms     *      298 ms  h12.t60-0.Reston.t3.ans.net [140.223.61.9]
 10   315 ms   333 ms   331 ms  207.25.134.189
 11     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 12     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 13  207.25.134.189  reports: Destination net unreachable.

What the heck is all this stuff? The number to the left is the number of computers the route has been traced through. The "150 ms" stuff is how long, in thousandths of a second, it takes to send a message to and from that computer. Since a message can take a different length of time every time you send it, tracert times the trip three times. The "*" means the trip was taking too long so tracert said "forget it." After the timing info comes the name of the computer the message reached, first in a form that is easy for a human to remember, then in a form -- numbers -- that a computer prefers.

"Destination net unreachable" probably means tracert hit a firewall.

Let's try the second AOL domain server.

C:\WINDOWS>tracert  152.163.199.56

Tracing route to dns-02.aol.com [152.163.199.56]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  2   142 ms   140 ms   137 ms  204.134.78.201
  3   246 ms   194 ms   241 ms  glory-cyberport.nm.westnet.net [204.134.78.33]
  4   154 ms   185 ms   247 ms  enss365.nm.org [129.121.1.3]
  5   475 ms   278 ms   325 ms  h4-0.cnss116.Albuquerque.t3.ans.net [192.103.74.
45]
  6   181 ms   187 ms   290 ms  f2.t112-0.Albuquerque.t3.ans.net [140.222.112.22
1]
  7   162 ms   217 ms   199 ms  h14.t64-0.Houston.t3.ans.net [140.223.65.9]
  8   210 ms   212 ms   248 ms  h14.t80-1.St-Louis.t3.ans.net [140.223.65.14]
  9   207 ms     *      208 ms  h12.t60-0.Reston.t3.ans.net [140.223.61.9]
 10   338 ms   518 ms   381 ms  207.25.134.189
 11     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 12     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 13  207.25.134.189  reports: Destination net unreachable.

Note that both tracerts ended at the same computer named h12.t60-0.Reston.t3.ans.net. Since AOL is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it's a good bet this is a computer that directly feeds stuff into AOL. But we notice that h12.t60-0.Reston.t3.ans.net , h14.t80-1.St-Louis.t3.ans.net, h14.t64-0.Houston.t3.ans.net and Albuquerque.t3.ans.net all have numerical names beginning with 140, and names that end with "ans.net." So it's a good guess that they all belong to the same company. Also, that "t3" in each name suggests these computers are routers on a T3 communications backbone for the Internet.

Next let's check out that final AOL domain server:

C:\WINDOWS>tracert 198.83.210.28

Tracing route to dns-aol.ans.net [198.83.210.28]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  2   138 ms   145 ms   135 ms  204.134.78.201
  3   212 ms   191 ms   181 ms  glory-cyberport.nm.westnet.net [204.134.78.33]
  4   166 ms   228 ms   189 ms  enss365.nm.org [129.121.1.3]
  5   148 ms   138 ms   177 ms  h4-0.cnss116.Albuquerque.t3.ans.net [192.103.74.
45]
  6   284 ms   296 ms   178 ms  f2.t112-0.Albuquerque.t3.ans.net [140.222.112.22
1]
  7   298 ms   279 ms   277 ms  h14.t64-0.Houston.t3.ans.net [140.223.65.9]
  8   238 ms   234 ms   263 ms  h14.t104-0.Atlanta.t3.ans.net [140.223.65.18]
  9   301 ms   257 ms   250 ms  dns-aol.ans.net [198.83.210.28]

Trace complete.

Hey, we finally got all the way through to something we can be pretty certain is an AOL box, and it looks like it's outside the firewall! But look at how the tracert took a different path this time, going through Atlanta instead of  St. Louis and Reston. But we are still looking at ans.net addresses with T3s, so this last nameserver is using the same network as the others.

Now what can we do next to get luser@aol.com really wondering if you could actually break into his account? We're going to do some port surfing on this last AOL domain name server! But to do this we need to change our telnet settings a bit.

Click on Terminal, then Preferences. In the preferences box you need to check "Local echo." You must do this, or else you won't be able to see everything that you get while port surfing. For some reason, some of the messages a remote computer sends to you won't show up on your Win 95 telnet screen unless you choose the local echo option. However, be warned, in some situations everything you type in will be doubled. For example, if you type in "hello" the telnet screen may show you "heh lelllo o. This doesn't mean you mistyped, it just means your typing is getting echoed back at various intervals.

Now click on Connect, then Remote System. Then enter the name of that last AOL domain server, dns-aol.ans.net. Below it, for Port choose Daytime. It will send back to you the day of the week, date and time of day in its time zone.

Aha! We now know that dns-aol.ans.net is exposed to the world, with at least one open port, heh, heh.  It is definitely a prospect for further port surfing. And now your friend is wondering, how did you get something out of that computer?

******************************
Clueless newbie alert: If everyone who reads this telnets to the daytime port of this computer, the sysadmin will say "Whoa, I'm under heavy attack by hackers!!! There must be some evil exploit for the daytime service! I'm going to close this port pronto!" Then you'll all email me complaining the hack doesn't work. Please, try this hack out on different computers and don't all beat up on AOL.
******************************

Now let's check out that Reston computer. I select Remote Host again and enter the name h12.t60-0.Reston.t3.ans.net. I try some port surfing without success. This is a seriously locked down box! What do we do next?

So first we remove that "local echo" feature, then we telnet back to whois.internic. We ask about this ans.net outfit that offers links to AOL:

[vt100] InterNIC > whois ans.net

Connecting to the rs Database . . . . . .
Connected to the rs Database
ANS CO+RE Systems, Inc. (ANS-DOM)
   100 Clearbrook Road
   Elmsford, NY 10523

   Domain Name: ANS.NET

   Administrative Contact:
      Hershman, Ittai  (IH4)  ittai@ANS.NET
      (914) 789-5337
   Technical Contact:
      ANS Network Operations Center  (ANS-NOC)  noc@ans.net
      1-800-456-6300
   Zone Contact:
      ANS Hostmaster  (AH-ORG)  hostmaster@ANS.NET
      (800)456-6300  fax: (914)789-5310
 

   Record last updated on 03-Jan-97.
   Record created on 27-Sep-90.

   Domain servers in listed order:

   NS.ANS.NET                   192.103.63.100
   NIS.ANS.NET                  147.225.1.2

Now if you wanted to be a really evil hacker you could call that 800 number and try to social engineer a password out of somebody who works for this network. But that wouldn't be nice and there is nothing legal you can do with ans.net passwords. So I'm not telling you how to social engineer those passwords.

Anyhow, you get the idea of how you can hack around gathering info that leads to the computer that handles anyone's email.

So what else can you do with your on-line connection and Win 95?

Well... should I tell you about killer ping? It's a good way to lose your job and end up in jail. You do it from your Windows DOS prompt. Find the gory details in the GTMHH Vol.2 Number 3, which is kept in one of our archives listed at the end of this lesson. Fortunately most systems administrators have patched things nowadays so that killer ping won't work. But just in case your ISP or LAN at work or school isn't protected, don't test it without your sysadmin's approval!

Then there's ordinary ping, also done from DOS.  It's sort of like tracert, but all it does is time how long a message takes from one computer to another, without telling you anything about the computers between yours and the one you ping.

Other TCP/IP commands hidden in DOS include:

· Arp IP-to-physical address translation tables
· Ftp File transfer protocol. This one is really lame. Don't use it. Get a shareware Ftp program from one of the download sites listed below.
· Nbtstat Displays current network info -- super to use on your own ISP
· Netstat Similar to Nbstat
· Route Controls router tables -- router hacking is considered extra elite.

Since these are semi-secret commands, you can't get any details on how to use them from the DOS help menu. But there are help files hidden away for these commands.

· For arp, nbtstat, ping and route,  to get help just type in the command and hit enter.
· For netstat you have to give the command "netstat ?" to get help.
· Telnet has a help option on the tool bar.

I haven't been able to figure out a trick to get help for the ftp command.

Now suppose you are at the point where you want to do serious hacking that requires commands other than these we just covered, but you don't want to use Unix. Shame on you! But, heck, even though I usually have one or two Unix shell accounts plus Walnut Creek Slackware on my home computer, I still like to hack from Windows. This is because I'm ornery. So you can be ornery, too.

So what is your next option for doing serious hacking from Windows?

How would you like to crack Win NT server passwords? Download the free Win 95 program NTLocksmith, an add-on program to NTRecover that allows for the changing of passwords on systems where the administrative password has been lost. It is reputed to work 100% of the time. Get both NTLocksmith and NTRecover -- and lots more free hacker tools -- from http://www.sysinternals.com.

**********************************
You can go to jail warning: If you use NTRecover to break into someone else's system, you are just asking to get busted.
**********************************

How would you like to trick your friends into thinking their NT box has crashed when it really hasn't? This prank program can be downloaded from http://www.osr.com/insider/insdrcod.htm.

*********************************
You can get punched in the nose warning: need I say more?
*********************************

But by far the deadliest hacking tool that runs on Windows can be downloaded from, guess what?

http://home.microsoft.com

That deadly program is Internet Explorer 3.0. Unfortunately, this program is even better for letting other hackers break into your home computer and do stuff like make your home banking program (e.g. Quicken) transfer your life savings to someone in Afghanistan.

But if you're aren't brave enough to run Internet Explorer to surf the Web, you can still use it to hack your own computer, or other computers on your LAN. You see, Internet Explorer is really an alternate Windows shell which operates much like the Program Manager and Windows Explorer that come with the Win 94 and Win NT operating systems.

Yes, from Internet Explorer you can run any program on your own computer. Or any program to which you have access on your LAN.

***********************************
Newbie note: A shell is a program that mediates between you and the operating system. The big deal about Internet Explorer being a Windows shell is that Microsoft never told anyone that it was in fact a shell. The security problems that are plaguing Internet Explorer are mostly a consequence of it turning out to be a shell. By contrast, the Netscape and Mosaic Web browsers are not shells. They also are much safer to use.
***********************************

To use Internet Explorer as a Windows shell, bring it up just like you would if you were going to surf the Web. Kill the program's attempt to establish an Internet connection -- we don't want to do anything crazy, do we?

Then in the space where you would normally type in the URL you want to surf, instead type in c:.

Whoa, look at all those file folders that come up on the screen. Look familiar? It's the same stuff your Windows Explorer would show you. Now for fun, click "Program Files" then click "Accessories" then click "MSPaint." All of a sudden MSPaint is running. Now paint your friends who are watching this hack very surprised.

Next close all that stuff and get back to Internet Explorer. Click on the Windows folder, then click on Regedit.exe to start it up. Export the password file (it's in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT). Open it in Word Pad. Remember, the ability to control the Registry of a server is the key to controlling  the network it serves. Show this to your next door neighbor and tell her that you're going to use Internet Explorer to surf her password files. In a few hours the Secret Service will be fighting with the FBI on your front lawn over who gets to try to bust you. OK, only kidding here.

So how can you use Internet Explorer as a hacking tool? One way is if you are using a computer that restricts your ability to run other programs on your computer or LAN. Next time you get frustrated at your school or library computer, check to see if it offers Internet Explorer. If it does, run it and try entering disk drive names. While C: is a common drive on your home computer, on a LAN you might get results by putting in R: or Z: or any other letter of the alphabet.

Next cool hack: try automated port surfing from Windows! Since there are thousands of possible ports that may be open on any computer, it could take days to fully explore even just one computer by hand. A good answer to this problem is the NetCop automated port surfer, which can be found at http://www.netcop.com/.

Now suppose you want to be able to access the NTFS file system that Windows NT uses from a Win 95 or even DOS platform? This can be useful if you are wanting to use Win 95 as a platform to hack an NT system. http://www.sysinternals.com/ntfsdos.htm offers a program that allows Win 95 and DOS to recognize and mount NTFS drives for transparent access.

Hey, we are hardly beginning to explore all the wonderful Windows hacking tools out there. It would take megabytes to write even one sentence about each and every one of them. But you're a hacker, so you'll enjoy exploring dozens more of these nifty programs yourself. Following is a list of sites where you can download lots of free and more or less harmless programs that will help you in your hacker career:

ftp://ftp.cdrom.com
ftp://ftp.coast.net
http://hertz.njit.edu/%7ebxg3442/temp.html
http://www.alpworld.com/infinity/void-neo.html
http://www.danworld.com/nettools.html
http://www.eskimo.com/~nwps/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/park/2613/links.html
http://www.ilf.net/Toast/
http://www.islandnet.com/~cliffmcc
http://www.simtel.net/simtel.net
http://www.supernet.net/cwsapps/cwsa.html
http://www.trytel.com/hack/
http://www.tucows.com
http://www.windows95.com/apps/
http://www2.southwind.net/%7emiker/hack.html

_________________________________________________________
Subscribe to our email list by emailing to hacker@techbroker.com with message "subscribe" or join our Hacker forum at http://www.infowar.com/cgi-shl/login.exe.
Want to share some kewl stuph with the Happy Hacker list? Correct mistakes? Send your messages to hacker@techbroker.com.  To send me confidential email (please, no discussions of illegal activities) use cmeinel@techbroker.com and be sure to state in your message that you want me to keep this confidential. If you wish your message posted anonymously, please say so! Direct flames to dev/null@techbroker.com. Happy hacking!
Copyright 1997 Carolyn P. Meinel. You may forward or post this GUIDE TO (mostly) HARMLESS HACKING on your Web site as long as you leave this notice at the end.
________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

GUIDE TO (mostly) HARMLESS HACKING

Beginners' Series #3 Part 1

How to Get a *Good* Shell Account
____________________________________________________________
 
____________________________________________________________
In this Guide you will learn how to:
· tell whether you may already have a Unix shell account
· get a shell account
· log on to your shell account
____________________________________________________________

You've fixed up your Windows box to boot up with a lurid hacker logo. You've renamed "Recycle Bin" "Hidden Haxor Secrets." When you run Netscape or Internet Explorer, instead of that boring corporate logo, you have a full-color animated Mozilla destroying New York City. Now your friends and neighbors are terrified and impressed.

But in your heart of hearts you know Windows is scorned by elite hackers. You keep on seeing their hairy exploit programs and almost every one of them requires the Unix operating system. You realize that when it comes to messing with computer networks, Unix is the most powerful operating system on the planet. You have developed a burning desire to become one of those Unix wizards yourself. Yes, you're ready for the next step.

You're ready for a shell account. SHELL ACCOUNT!!!!
 
*****************************************************
Newbie note: A shell account allows you to use your home computer as a terminal on which you can give commands to a computer running Unix. The "shell" is the program that translates your keystrokes into Unix commands. With the right shell account you can enjoy the use of a far more powerful workstation  than you could ever dream of affording to own yourself. It also is a great stepping stone to the day when you will be running some form of Unix on your home computer.
*****************************************************
 
Once upon a time the most common way to get on the Internet was through a Unix shell account. But nowadays everybody and his brother are on the Internet. Almost all these swarms of surfers want just two things: the Web, and email. To get the pretty pictures of today's Web, the average Internet consumer wants a mere PPP (point to point) connection account. They wouldn't know a Unix command if it hit them in the snoot. So nowadays almost the only people who want shell accounts are us wannabe hackers.

The problem is that you used to be able to simply phone an ISP, say "I'd like a shell account," and they would give it to you just like that. But nowadays, especially if you sound like a teenage male, you'll run into something like this:

ISP guy: "You want a shell account? What for?"

Hacker dude: "Um, well, I like Unix."

"Like Unix, huh? You're  a hacker, aren't you!" Slam, ISP guy hangs up on you.

So how do you get a shell account? Actually, it's possible you may already have one and not know it. So first we will answer the question, how do you tell whether you may already have a shell account? Then, if you are certain you don't have one, we'll explore the many ways you can get one, no matter what, from anywhere in the world.

How Do I Know Whether I Already Have a Shell Account?

First you need to get a program running that will connect you to a shell account. There are two programs with Windows 95 that will do this, as well as many other programs, some of which are excellent and free.

First we will show you how to use the Win 95 Telnet program because you already have it and it will always work. But it's a really limited program, so I suggest  that you use it only if you can't get the Hyperterminal program to work.

1) Find your Telnet program and make a shortcut to it on your desktop.
· One way is to click Start, then Programs, then Windows Explorer.
· When Explorer is running, first resize it so it doesn't cover the entire desktop.
· Then click Tools, then Find, then "Files or Folders."
· Ask it to search for "Telnet."
· It will show a file labeled C:\windows\telnet (instead of C:\ it may have another drive). Right click on this file.
· This will bring up a menu that includes the option "create shortcut."  Click on "create shortcut" and then drag the shortcut to the desktop and drop it.
· Close Windows Explorer.

2) Depending on how your system is configured, there are two ways to connect to the Internet. The easy way is to skip to step three. But if it fails, go back to this step. Start up whatever program you use to access the Internet. Once you are connected, minimize the program. Now try step three.

3) Bring up your Telnet program by double clicking on the shortcut you just made.
· First you need to configure Telnet so it actually is usable. On the toolbar click "terminal," then "preferences," then "fonts."  Choose "Courier New," "regular" and 8 point size. You do this because if you have too big a font, the Telnet program is shown on the screen so big that the cursor from your shell program can end up being hidden off the screen.  OK, OK, you can pick other fonts, but make sure that  when you close the dialog box that the Telnet program window is entirely visible on the screen. Now why would there be options that make Telnet impossible to use? Ask Microsoft.
· Now go back to the task bar to click Connect, then under it click "Remote system." This brings up another dialog box.
· Under "host name" in this box  type in the last two parts of your email address. For example, if your email address is jane_doe@boring.ISP.com, type "ISP.com" for host name.
· Under "port" in this box, leave it the way it is, reading "telnet."
· Under "terminal type," in this box, choose "VT100."
· Then click the Connect button and wait to see what happens.
· If the connection fails, try entering the last three parts of your email address as the host, in this case "boring.ISP.com."
 
Now if you have a shell account you should next get a message asking you to login. It may look something like this:

Welcome to Boring Internet Services, Ltd.

Boring.com S9 - login: cmeinel
Password:
Linux 2.0.0.
Last login: Thu Apr 10 14:02:00 on ttyp5 from pm20.kitty.net.
sleepy:~$

If you get something like this you are in definite luck. The important thing here, however, is that the computer used the word "login" to get you started. If is asked for anything else, for example "logon," this is not a shell account.

As soon as you login, in the case of Boring Internet Services you have a Unix shell prompt on your screen. But instead of something this simple you may get something like:

BSDI BSD/OS 2.1 (escape.com) (ttyrf)

login: galfina
Password:
Last login: Thu Apr 10 16:11:37 from fubar.net
Copyright 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Berkeley Software Design, Inc.
Copyright (c) 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994
        The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.

__________________________________________________________________

                  ___________________  ______  ______________
             ___ /   ___/   ___/     \/      \/  __  /   ___/
          _____ /   ___/\__   /   /__/   /   /  /___/   ___/
       _______ /   /  /   /  /   /  /       /  /   /   /  /
    _________  \_____/\_____/\_____/\__/___/\_/    \_____/  .com
                             [ ESCAPE.COM ]

__________________________________________________________________

PLEASE NOTE:

        Multiple Logins and Simultaneous Dialups From Different Locations Are
_NOT_ Permitted at Escape Internet Access.

__________________________________________________________________

Enter your terminal type, RETURN for vt100, ? for list:

Setting terminal type to vt100.
Erase is backspace.
 

                                      MAIN
                                Escape Main Menu
----[05:45PM]-----------------------------------------------------

 ==> H) HELP       Help & Tips for the Escape Interface. (M)
     I) INTERNET   Internet Access & Resources (M)
     U) USENETM    Usenet Conferences (Internet Distribution) (M)
     L) LTALK      Escape Local Communications Center (M)
     B) BULLETINS  Information on Escape, Upgrades, coming events. (M)
     M) MAIL       Escape World Wide and Local Post Office (M)
     F) HOME       Your Home Directory (Where all your files end up)
     C) CONFIG     Config your user and system options  (M)
     S) SHELL      The Shell (Unix Environment) [TCSH]
     X) LOGOUT     Leave System

     BACK      MAIN      HOME      MBOX      ITALK     LOGOUT

----[Mesg: Y]------------[ TAB key toggles menus ]-------[Connected:   0:00]---
CMD>

In this case you aren't in a shell yet, but you can see an option on the menu to get to a shell. So hooray, you are in luck, you have a shell account. Just enter "S" and you're in.

Now depending on the ISP you try out, there may be all sorts of different menus, all designed to keep the user from having to ever stumble across the shell itself. But if you have a shell account, you will probably find the word "shell" somewhere on the menu.

If you don't get something obvious like this, you may have to do the single most humiliating thing a wannabe hacker will ever do. Call tech support and ask whether you have a shell account and, if so,  how to login. It may be that they just want to make it really, really hard for you to find your shell account.

Now personally I don't care for the Win 95 Telnet program. Fortunately there are many other ways to check whether you have a shell account. Here's how to use the Hyperterminal program, which, like Telnet, comes free with the Windows 95 operating system. This requires a different kind of connection. Instead of a PPP connection we will do a simple phone dialup, the same sort of connection you use to get on most computer bulletin board systems (BBS).

1) First, find the program Hyperteminal and make a shortcut to your desktop. This one is easy to find. Just click Start, then Programs, then Accessories. You'll find Hyperterminal on the accessories menu. Clicking on it will bring up a window with a bunch of icons. Click on the one labeled "hyperterminal.exe."

2) This brings up a dialog box called "New Connection." Enter the name of your local dialup, then in the next dialog box enter the phone dialup number of your ISP.

3) Make a shortcut to your desktop.

4) Use Hyperterminal to dial your ISP. Note that in this case you are making a direct phone call to your shell account rather than trying to reach it through a PPP connection.

Now when you dial your ISP from Hyperterminal you might get a bunch of really weird garbage scrolling down your screen. But don't give up. What is happening is your ISP is trying to set up a PPP connection with Hyperterminal. That is the kind of connection you need in order to get pretty pictures on the Web. But Hyperterminal doesn't understand PPP. Unfortunately I've have not been able to figure out why this happens sometimes or how to stop it. But the good side of this picture is that the problem may go away the next time you use Hyperterminal to connect to your ISP. So if you dial again you may get a login sequence. I've found it often helps to wait a few days and try again. Of course you can complain to tech support at your ISP. But it is likely that they won't have a clue on what causes their end of things to try to set up a PPP session with your Hyperterminal connection. Sigh.

But if all goes well, you will be able to log in. In fact, except for the PPP attempt problem, I like the Hyperterminal program much better than Win 95 Telnet. So if you can get this one to work, try it out for awhile. See if you like it, too.

There are a number of other terminal programs that are really good for connecting to your shell account. They include Qmodem, Quarterdeck Internet Suite, and Bitcom. Jericho recommends Ewan, a telnet program which also runs on Windows 95. Ewan is free, and has many more features than either Hyperterminal or Win 95 Telnet. You may download it from jericho's ftp site at sekurity.org in the /utils directory.

OK, let's say you have logged into your ISP with your favorite program. But perhaps it still isn't clear whether you have a shell account. Here's your next test. At what you hope is your shell prompt, give the command "ls -alF." If you have a real, honest-to-goodness shell account, you should get something like this:

> ls -alF
total 87
drwx--x--x    5 galfina  user    1024 Apr 22 21:45 ./
drwxr-xr-x  380 root     wheel   6656 Apr 22 18:15 ../
-rw-r--r--    1 galfina  user    2793 Apr 22 17:36 .README
-rw-r--r--    1 galfina  user     635 Apr 22 17:36 .Xmodmap
-rw-r--r--    1 galfina  user     624 Apr 22 17:36 .Xmodmap.USKBD
-rw-r--r--    1 galfina  user     808 Apr 22 17:36 .Xresources
drwx--x--x    2 galfina  user     512 Apr 22 17:36 www/
etc.

This is the listing of the files and directories of your home directory. Your shell account may give you a different set of  directories and files than this (which is only a partial listing). In any case, if you see anything that looks even a little bit like this, congratulations, you already have a shell account!

*******************************************************
Newbie note: The first item in that bunch of dashes and letters in front of the file name tells you what kind of file it is.  "d" means it is a directory, and "-" means it is a file. The rest are the permissions your files have. "r" = read permission, "w" = write permission, and "x" = execute permission (no, "execute" has nothing to do with murdering files, it means you have permission to run the program that is in this file). If there is a dash, it means there is no permission there.

The symbols in the second, third and fourth place from the left are the permissions that you have as a user, the following three are the permissions everyone in your designated group has, and the final three are the permissions anyone and everyone may have. For example, in galfina's directory the subdirectory "www/" is something you may read, write and execute, while everyone else may only execute. This is the directory where you can put your Web page. The entire world may browse ("execute") your Web page. But only you can read and write to it.

If you were to someday discover your permissions looking like:

 drwx--xrwx  newbie user     512 Apr 22 17:36 www/

Whoa, that "w" in the third place from last would mean anyone with an account from outside your ISP can hack your Web page!
******************************************************

Another command that will tell you whether you have a shell account is "man." This gives you an online Unix manual. Usually you have to give the man command in the form of  "man <command>" where <command> is the name of the Unix command you want to study.  For example, if you want to know all the different ways to use the "ls" command, type "man ls" at the prompt.

On the other hand, here is an example of something that, even though it is on a Unix system, is not a shell account:

BSDI BSD/386 1.1 (dub-gw-2.compuserve.com) (ttyp7)

Connected to CompuServe

Host Name: cis

Enter choice (LOGON, HELP, OFF):

The immediate tip-off that this is not a shell account is that it asks you to "logon" instead of "login:"
 

How to Get a Shell Account
 

What if you are certain that you don't already have a shell account? How do you find an ISP that will give you one?

The obvious place to start is your phone book. Unless you live in a really rural area or in a country where there are few ISPs, there should be a number of companies to choose from.

So here's your problem. You phone Boring ISP, Inc. and say, "I'd like a shell account." But Joe Dummy on the other end of the phone says, "Shell? What's a shell account?"  You say "I want a shell account. SHELL ACCOUNT!!!" He says, "Duh?" You say "Shell account. SHELL ACCOUNT!!!" He says, "Um, er, let me talk to my supervisor." Mr. Uptight Supervisor gets on the phone. "We don't give out shell accounts, you dirty &%$*# hacker."

Or, worse yet, they claim the Internet access account they are giving you a shell account but you discover it isn't one.

To avoid this embarrassing scene, avoid calling big name ISPs. I can guarantee you, America Online, Compuserve and Microsoft Network don't give out shell accounts.

What you want to find is the seediest, tiniest ISP in town. The one that specializes in pasty-faced customers who stay up all night playing MOOs and MUDs. Guys who impersonate grrrls on IRC. Now that is not to say that MUD and IRC people are typically hackers. But these definitely are your serious Internet addicts. An ISP that caters to people like that probably also understands the kind of person who wants to learn Unix inside and out.

So you phone or email one of these ISPs on the back roads of the Net and say, "Greetings, d00d! I am an evil haxor and demand a shell account pronto!"

No, no, no!  Chances are you got the owner of this tiny ISP on the other end of the line. He's probably a hacker himself. Guess what? He loves to hack but he doesn't want hackers (or wannabe hackers) for customers. He doesn't want a customer who's going to be attracting email bombers and waging hacker war and drawing complaints from the sysadmins on whom this deadly dude has been testing exploit code.

So what you do is say something like "Say, do you offer shell accounts? I really, really like to browse the Web with lynx. I hate waiting five hours for all those pretty pictures and Java applets to load. And I like to do email with Pine. For newsgroups, I luuuv tin!"

Start out like this and the owner of this tiny ISP may say something like, "Wow, dude, I know what you mean. IE and Netscape really s***! Lynx uber alles! What user name would you like?"

At this point, ask the owner for a guest account. As you will learn below, some shell accounts are so restricted that they are almost worthless.

But let's say you can't find any ISP within reach of a local phone call that will give you a shell account. Or the only shell account you can get is worthless. Or you are well known as a malicious hacker and you've been kicked off every ISP in town. What can you do?

Your best option is to get an account on some distant ISP, perhaps even in another country.  Also, the few medium size ISPs that offer shell accounts (for example, Netcom) may even have a local dialup number for you. But if they don't have local dialups,  you can still access a shell account located *anywhere* in the world by setting up a PPP connection with your local dialup ISP, and then accessing your shell account using a telnet program on your home computer.

*************************************************
Evil Genius Tip: Sure, you can telnet into your shell account from another ISP account. But unless you have software that allows you to send your password in an encrypted form, someone may sniff your password and break into your account. If you get to be well known in the hacker world, lots of other hackers will constantly be making fun of you by sniffing your password. Unfortunately, almost all shell accounts are set up so you must expose your password to anyone who has hidden a sniffer anywhere between the ISP that provides your PPP connection and your shell account ISP.

One solution is to insist on a shell account provider that runs ssh (secure shell).
**************************************************

So where can you find these ISPs that will give you shell accounts? One good source is http://www.celestin.com/pocia/. It provides links to Internet Service Providers categorized by geographic region. They even have links to allow you to sign up with ISPs serving the Lesser Antilles!

***********************************************
Evil Genius tip: Computer criminals and malicious hackers will often get a guest account on a distant ISP and do their dirty work during the few hours this guest account is available to them. Since this practice provides the opportunity to cause so much harm, eventually it may become really hard to get a test run on a guest account.
***********************************************

But if you want to find a good shell account the hacker way, here's what you do.  Start with a list of your favorite hacker Web sites. For example, let's try http://ra.nilenet.com/~mjl/hacks/codez.htm.

You take the beginning part of the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) as your starting point. In this case it is "http://ra.nilenet.com." Try surfing to that URL. In many cases it will be the home page for that ISP. It should have instructions for how to sign up for a shell account. In the case of Nile Net we strike hacker gold:

 Dial-up Accounts and Pricing

                        NEXUS Accounts

NEXUS Accounts include: Access to a UNIX Shell, full
Internet access, Usenet newsgroups, 5mb of FTP and/or
WWW storage space, and unlimited time.
One Time Activation Fee: $20.00
Monthly Service Fee: $19.95 or
Yearly Service Fee: $199.95

Plus which they make a big deal over freedom of online speech. And they host a great hacker page full of these Guides to (mostly) Harmless Hacking!

How to Login to Your Shell Account

Now we assume you finally have a guest shell account and are ready to test drive it. So now we need to figure out how to login. Now all you hacker geniuses reading this, why don't you just forget to flame me for telling people how to do something as simple as how to login. Please remember that everyone has a first login. If you have never used Unix, this first time can be intimidating. In any case, if you are a Unix genius you have no business reading this Beginners' Guide. So if you are snooping around here looking for flamebait, send your flames to /dev/null.

***********************************************************
Newbie note: "Flames" are insulting, obnoxious rantings and ravings done by people who are severely lacking in social skills and are a bunch of &$%@#!! but who think they are brilliant computer savants. For example, this newbie note is my flame against &$%@#!! flamers.
 "/dev/null" stands for "device null." It is a file name in a Unix operating system. Any data that is sent to /dev/null is discarded. So when someone says they will put something in "/dev/null" that means they are sending it into permanent oblivion.
***********************************************************

The first thing you need to know in order to get into your shell account is your user name and password. You need to get that information from the ISP that has just signed you up. The second thing you need to remember is that Unix is "case sensitive." That means if your login name is "JoeSchmoe" the shell will think "joeschmoe" is a different person than "JoeSchmoe" or "JOESCHMOE."

OK, so you have just connected to your shell account for the first time. You may see all sorts of different stuff on that first screen. But the one thing you will always see is the prompt:

 login:

Here you will type in your user name.

In response you will always be asked :

 Password:

Here you type in your password.

After this you will get some sort of a prompt. It may be a simple as:

 %

or

 $

or

 >

Or as complicated as:

 sleepy:~$

Or it may even be some sort of complicated menu where you have to choose a "shell" option before you get to the shell prompt.

Or it may be a simple as:

 #

**********************************************************
Newbie note: The prompt "#" usually means you have the superuser powers of  a "root" account. The Unix superuser has the power to do *anything* to the computer. But you won't see this  prompt unless either the systems administrator has been really careless -- or someone is playing a joke on you. Sometimes a hacker thinks he or she has broken into the superuser account because of seeing the "#" prompt. But sometimes this is just a trick the sysadmin is playing. So the hacker goes playing around in what he or she thinks is the root account while the sysadmin and his friends and the police are all laughing at the hacker.
**********************************************************

Ready to start hacking from your shell account? Watch out, it may be so crippled that it is worthless for hacking. Or, it may be pretty good, but you might inadvertently do something to get you kicked off. To avoid these fates, be sure to read Beginners' Series #3 Part 2 of How to Get a *Good* Shell Account, coming out tomorrow.

In that GTMHH section you will learn how to:

· explore your shell account
· decide whether your shell account is any good for hacking
· keep from losing your shell account
 

In case you were wondering about all the input from jericho in this Guide, yes, he was quite helpful in reviewing it and making suggestions. Jericho is a security consultant runs his own Internet host, obscure.sekurity.org. Thank you, jericho@dimensional.com, and happy hacking!

_________________________________________________________
Subscribe to our discussion list by emailing to hacker@techbroker.com with message "subscribe"
Want to share some kewl stuph with the Happy Hacker list? Correct mistakes? Send your messages to hacker@techbroker.com.  To send me confidential email (please, no discussions of illegal activities) use cmeinel@techbroker.com and be sure to state in your message that you want me to keep this confidential. If you wish your message posted anonymously, please say so! Direct flames to dev/null@techbroker.com. Happy hacking!
Copyright 1997 Carolyn P. Meinel. You may forward or post this GUIDE TO (mostly) HARMLESS HACKING on your Web site as long as you leave this notice at the end.
________________________________________________________
 

___________________________________________________________

GUIDE TO (mostly) HARMLESS HACKING

Beginners' Series #3 Part 2

How to Get a *Good* Shell Account
____________________________________________________________
 

____________________________________________________________
In this section you will learn:

· how to explore your shell account
· Ten Meinel Hall of Fame Shell Account Exploration Tools
· how to decide whether your shell account is any good for hacking
· Ten Meinel Hall of Fame LAN and Internet Exploration Tools
· Meinel Hall of Infamy Top Five Ways to Get Kicked out of Your Shell Account
____________________________________________________________
 

How to Explore Your Shell Account
 

So you're in your shell account. You've tried the "ls -alF" command and are pretty sure this really, truly is a shell account. What do you do next?

A good place to start is to find out what kind of shell you have. There are many shells, each of which has slightly different ways of working. To do this, at your prompt give the command "echo $SHELL." Be sure to type in the same lower case and upper case letters. If you were to give the command "ECHO $shell," for example, this command won't work.

If you get the response:

 /bin/sh

That means you have the Bourne shell.

If you get:

 /bin/bash

Then you are in the Bourne Again (bash) shell.

If you get:

 /bin/ksh

You have the Korn shell.

If the "echo $SHELL" command doesn't work, try the command "echo $shell," remembering to use lower case for "shell."  This will likely get you the answer:

 /bin/csh

This means you have the C shell.

Why is it important to know which shell you have? For right now, you'll want a shell that is easy to use. For example, when you make a mistake in typing, it's nice to hit the backspace key and not see ^H^H^H on your screen. Later, though, for running those super hacker exploits, the C shell may be better for you.

Fortunately, you may not be stuck with whatever shell you have when you log in. If your shell account is any good, you will have a choice of shells.

Trust me, if you are a beginner, you will find bash to be the easiest shell to use. You may be able to get the bash shell by simply typing the word "bash" at the prompt. If this doesn't work, ask tech support at your ISP for a shell account set up to use bash. A great book on using the bash shell is _Learning the Bash Shell_, by Cameron Newham and Bill Rosenblatt, published by O'Reilly.

If you want to find out what other shells you have the right to use, try "csh" to get the C shell; "ksh" to get the Korn shell, "sh" for Bourne shell, "tcsh" for the Tcsh shell, and "zsh" for the Zsh shell. If you don't have one of them, when you give the command to get into that shell you will get back the answer "command not found."

Now that you have chosen your shell, the next thing is to explore. See what riches your ISP has allowed you to use. For that you will want to learn, and I mean *really learn* your most important Unix commands and auxiliary programs. Because I am supreme arbiter of what goes into these Guides, I get to decide what the most important commands are. Hmm, "ten" sounds like a famous number. So you're going to get the:

Ten Meinel Hall of Fame Shell Account Exploration Tools

1) man <command name>
This magic command brings up the online Unix manual.  Use it on each of the commands below, today! Wonder what all the man command options are? Try the "man -k" option.

2) ls
Lists files. Jericho suggests "Get people in the habit of using "ls -alF". This will come into play down
the road for security-conscious users." You'll see a huge list of files that you can't see with the "ls" command alone, and lots of details. If you see such a long list of files that they scroll off the terminal screen, one way to solve the problem is to use "ls -alF|more."

3) pwd
Shows what directory you are in.

4) cd <directory>
Changes directories.  Kewl directories to check out include /usr, /bin and /etc.  For laughs, jericho suggests exploring in /tmp.

5) more <filename>
This shows the contents of text files. Also you might be able to find "less" and "cat" which are similar commands.

6) whereis <program name>
Think there might be a nifty program hidden somewhere?  Maybe a game you love? This will find it for you. Similar commands are "find" and "locate." Try them all for extra fun.

7) vi
An editing program. You'll need it to make your own files and when you start programming while in your shell account. You can use it to write a really lurid file for people to read when they finger you. Or try "emacs." It's another editing program and IMHO more fun than vi. Other editing programs you may find include "ed" (an ancient editing program which I have used to write thousands of lines of Fortran 77 code), "ex," "fmt," "gmacs," "gnuemacs," and "pico."

8) grep
Extracts information from files, especially useful for seeing what's in syslog and shell log files. Similar commands are "egrep," "fgrep," and "look."

9) chmod <filename>
Change file permissions.

10) rm <filename>
Delete file. If you have this command you should also find "cp" for copy file, and "mv" for move file.
 

How to Tell Whether Your Shell Account Is any Good for Hacking
 

Alas, not all shell accounts are created equal.  Your ISP may have decided to cripple your budding hacker career by  forbidding your access to important tools. But you absolutely must have access to the top ten tools listed above. In addition, you will need tools to explore both your ISP's local area network (LAN) and the Internet. So in the spirit of being Supreme Arbiter of Haxor Kewl, here are my:

Ten Meinel Hall of Fame LAN and Internet Exploration Tools

1) telnet <hostname> <port number or name>
If your shell account won't let you telnet into any port you want either on its LAN or the Internet, you are totally crippled as a hacker. Dump your ISP now!

2) who
Shows you who else is currently logged in on your ISP's LAN. Other good commands to explore the other users on your LAN are "w," "rwho, " "users."

3) netstat
All sorts of statistics on your LAN, including all Internet connections. For real fun, try "netstat -r" to see the kernel routing table. However, jericho warns "Be careful. I was teaching a friend the basics of summing up a Unix system and I told her to do that and 'ifconfig'. She was booted off the system
the next day for 'hacker suspicion' even though both are legitimate commands for users."

4) whois <hostname>
Get lots of information on Internet hosts outside you LAN.

5) nslookup
Get a whole bunch more information on other Internet hosts.

6) dig
Even more info on other Internet hosts. Nslookup and dig are not redundant. Try to get a shell account that lets you use both.

7) finger
Not only can you use finger inside your LAN. It will sometimes get you valuable information about users on other Internet hosts.

8) ping
Find out if a distant computer is alive and run diagnostic tests -- or just plain be a meanie and clobber people with pings. (I strongly advise *against* using ping to annoy or harm others.)

9) traceroute
Kind of like ping with attitude. Maps Internet connections, reveals routers and boxes running firewalls.

10) ftp
Use it to upload and download files to and from other computers.

If you have all these tools, you're in great shape to begin your hacking career. Stay with your ISP. Treat it well.

Once you get your shell account, you will probably want to supplement the "man" command with a good Unix book . Jericho recommends _Unix in a Nutshell_ published by O'Reilly. "It is the ultimate Unix command reference, and only costs 10 bucks. O'Reilly r00lz."

How to Keep from Losing Your Shell Account

So now you have a hacker's dream, an account on a powerful computer running Unix. How do you keep this dream account? If you are a hacker, that is not so easy. The problem is that you have no right to keep that account. You can be kicked off for suspicion of being a bad guy, or even if you become inconvenient, at the whim of the owners.

Meinel Hall 'O Infamy
Top Five Ways to Get Kicked out of Your Shell Account

1) Abusing Your ISP
Let's say you are reading Bugtraq and you see some code for a new way to break into a computer. Panting with excitement, you run emacs and paste in the code. You fix up the purposely crippled stuff someone put in to keep total idiots from running it. You tweak it until it runs under your flavor of Unix. You compile and run the program against your own ISP. It works! You are looking at that "#" prompt and jumping up and down yelling "I got root! I got root!" You have lost your hacker virginity, you brilliant dude, you!  Only, next time you go to log in, your password doesn't work. You have been booted off your ISP. NEVER, NEVER ABUSE YOUR ISP!

*********************************************************
You can go to jail warning: Of course, if you want to break into another computer, you must have the permission of the owner. Otherwise you are breaking the law.
*********************************************************

2) Ping Abuse.
Another temptation is to use the powerful Internet connection of your shell account (usually a T1 or T3) to ping the crap out of the people you don't like. This is especially common on Internet Relay Chat. Thinking of ICBMing or nuking that dork? Resist the temptation to abuse ping or any other Internet Control Message Protocol attacks. Use ping only as a diagnostic tool, OK? Please? Or else!

3) Excessive Port Surfing
Port surfing is telnetting to a specific port on another computer. Usually you are OK if you just briefly visit another computer via telnet, and don't go any further than what that port offers to the casual visitor. But if you keep on probing and playing with another computer, the sysadmin at the target computer will probably email your sysadmin records of your little visits. (These records of port visits are stored in "messages," and sometimes in "syslog" depending on the configuration of your target computer -- and assuming it is a Unix system.)