Type Of Computer System example essay topic

Hacking Contents This file will be divided into four parts: Part 1: What is Hacking, A Hacker's Code of Ethics, Basic Hacking Safety Part 2: Packet Switching Networks: Telenet- How it Works, How to Use it, Outdial, Network Servers, Private PADs Part 3: Identifying a Computer, How to Hack In, Operating System Defaults Part 4: Conclusion- Final Thoughts, Books to Read, Boards to Call, Acknowledgements Part One: The Basics As long as there have been computers, there have been hackers. In the 50's at the Massachusets Institute of Technology (MIT), students devoted much time and energy to ingenious exploration of the computers. Rules and the law were disregarded in their pursuit for the 'hack'. Just as they were enthralled with their pursuit of information, so are we.

The thrill of the hack is not in breaking the law, it's in the pursuit and capture of knowledge. To this end, let me contribute my suggestions for guidelines to follow to ensure that not only you stay out of trouble, but you pursue your craft without damaging the computers you hack into or the companies who own them. I. Do not intentionally damage any system. II. Do not alter any system files other than ones needed to ensure your escape from detection and your future access (Trojan Horses, Altering Logs, and the like are all necessary to your survival for as long as possible.) . Do not leave your (or anyone else's) real name, real handle, or real phone number on any system that you access illegally. They can and will track you down from your handle!

IV. Be careful who you share information with. Feds are getting trickier. Generally, if you don't know their voice phone number, name, and occupation or haven't spoke with them voice on non-info trading conversations, be wary. V. Do not leave your real phone number to anyone you don't know. This includes logging on boards, no matter how k-rad they seem. If you don't know the sysop, leave a note telling some trustworthy people that will validate you.

VI. Do not hack government computers. Yes, there are government systems that are safe to hack, but they are few and far between. And the government has inifitely more time and resources to track you down than a company who has to make a profit and justify expenses. VII. Don't use codes unless there is NO way around it (you don't have a local telenet or tymnet outdial and can't connect to anything 800...

) You use codes long enough, you will get caught. Period. V. Don't be afraid to be paranoid. Remember, you are breaking the law. It doesn't hurt to store everything encrypted on your hard disk, or keep your notes buried in the backyard or in the trunk of your car.

You may feel a little funny, but you " ll feel a lot funnier when you when you meet Bruno, your transvestite cellmate who axed his family to death. IX. Watch what you post on boards. Most of the really great hackers in the country post nothing about the system they " re currently working except in the broadest sense (I'm working on a UNIX, or a COSMOS, or something generic. Not "I'm hacking into General Electric's Voice Mail System" or something inane and revealing like that.) X. Don't be afraid to ask questions. That's what more experienced hackers are for.

Don't expect everything you ask to be answered, though. There are some things (LOS, for instance) that a begining hacker shouldn't mess with. You " ll either get caught, or screw it up for others, or both. XI. Finally, you have to actually hack. You can hang out on boards all you want, and you can read all the text files in the world, but until you actually start doing it, you " ll never know what it's all about.

There's no thrill quite the same as getting into your first system (well, ok, I can think of a couple of bigger thrills, but you get the picture.) One of the safest places to start your hacking career is on a computer system belonging to a college. University computers have notoriously lax security, and are more used to hackers, as every college computer depart-ment has one or two, so are less likely to press charges if you should be detected. But the odds of them detecting you and having the personel to commit to tracking you down are slim as long as you aren't destructive. If you are already a college student, this is ideal, as you can legally explore your computer system to your heart's desire, then go out and look for similar systems that you can penetrate with confidence, as you " re already familar with them.

So if you just want to get your feet wet, call your local college. Many of them will provide accounts for local residents at a nominal (under $20) charge. Finally, if you get caught, stay quiet until you get a lawyer. Don't vol- unter any information, no matter what kind of 'deals' they offer you.

Nothing is binding unless you make the deal through your lawyer, so you might as well shut up and wait. Part Two: Networks The best place to begin hacking (other than a college) is on one of the bigger networks such as Telenet. Why First, there is a wide variety of computers to choose from, from small Micro-Vixen to huge Crays. Second, the networks are fairly well documented. It's easier to find someone who can help you with a problem off of Telenet than it is to find assistance concerning your local college computer or high school machine. Third, the networks are safer.

Because of the enormous number of calls that are fielded every day by the big networks, it is not financially practical to keep track of where every call and connection are made from. It is also very easy to disguise your location using the network, which makes your hobby much more secure. Telenet has more computers hooked to it than any other system in the world once you consider that from Telenet you have access to Tymnet, ItaPAC, JANET, DATAPAC, SBD N, Panda Net, THE net, and a whole host of other networks, all of which you can connect to from your terminal. The first step that you need to take is to identify your local dialup port. This is done by dialing 1-800-424-9494 (1200 7 E 1) and connecting. It will spout some garbage at you and then you " ll get a prompt saying 'TERMINAL = '.

This is your terminal type. If you have vt 100 emulation, type it in now. Or just hit return and it will default to dumb terminal mode. You " ll now get a prompt that looks like a @. From here, type @c mail and then it will ask for a Username.

Enter 'phones' for the username. When it asks for a password, enter 'phones' again. From this point, it is menu driven. Use this to locate your local dialup, and call it back locally.

If you don't have a local dialup, then use whatever means you wish to connect to one long distance (more on this later.) When you call your local dialup, you will once again go through the TERMINAL = stuff, and once again you " ll be presented with a @. This prompt lets you know you are connected to a Telenet PAD. PAD stands for either Packet Assembler / Disassembler (if you talk to an engineer), or Public Access Device (if you talk to Telenet's marketing people.) The first description is more correct. Telenet works by taking the data you enter in on the PAD you dialed into, bundling it into a 128 byte chunk (normally... this can be changed), and then transmitting it at speeds ranging from 9600 to 19,200 baud to another PAD, who then takes the data and hands it down to whatever computer or system it's connected to.

Basically, the PAD allows two computers that have different baud rates or communication protocols to communicate with each other over a long distance. Sometimes you " ll notice a time lag in the remote machines response. This is called PAD Delay, and is to be expected when you " re sending data through several different links. What do you do with this PAD You use it to connect to remote computer systems by typing 'C' for connect and then the Network User Address (NUA) of the system you want to go to. An NUA takes the form of 031103130002520 | | | | | | network address | | area prefix | DNIC This is a summary of DNIC's (taken from Blade Runner's file on ItaPAC) according to their country and network name. DNIC Network Name Country DNIC Network Name Country | 02041 Data net 1 Netherlands | 03110 Telenet USA 02062 DCS Belgium | 03340 Telepac Mexico 02080 Transp ac France | 03400 UDTS- Curacau Curacau 02284 Telepac Switzerland | 04251 Isranet Israel 02322 Datex-P Austria | 04401 DD-P Japan 02329 Rada us Austria | 04408 Venus-P Japan 02342 PSS UK | 04501 D acom-Net South Korea 02382 Datapak Denmark | 04542 Intel pak Singapore 02402 Datapak Sweden | 05052 Aust pac Australia 02405 Telepac Sweden | 05053 Midas Australia 02442 Fin pak Finland | 05252 Telepac Hong Kong 02624 Datex-P West Germany | 05301 Packet New Zealand 02704 Lux pac Luxembourg | 06550 Saponet South Africa 02724 Eirp ak Ireland | 07240 Inter data Brazil 03020 Datapac Canada | 07241 Ren pac Brazil 03028 Info gram Canada | 09000 Dial net USA 03103 ITT / UDTS USA | 07421 Dom pac French Guiana 03106 Tymnet USA | There are two ways to find interesting addresses to connect to.

The first and easiest way is to obtain a copy of the LOD / H Telenet Directory from the LOD / H Technical Journal #4 or 2600 Magazine. Jester Slug go also put out a good list of non-US addresses in Ph rack Inc. Newsletter Issue 21. These files will tell you the NUA, whether it will accept collect calls or not, what type of computer system it is (if known) and who it belongs to (also if known.) The second method of locating interesting addresses is to scan for them manually.

On Telenet, you do not have to enter the 03110 DNIC to connect to a Telenet host. So if you saw that 031104120006140 had a VAX on it you wanted to look at, you could type @c 412 614 (0's can be ignored most of the time.) If this node allows collect billed connections, it will say 412 614 CONNECTED and then you " ll possibly get an identifying header or just a Username: prompt. If it doesn't allow collect connections, it will give you a message such as 412 614 REFUSED COLLECT CONNECTION with some error codes out to the right, and return you to the @ prompt. There are two primary ways to get around the REFUSED COLLECT message.

The first is to use a Network User Id (NUI) to connect. An NUI is a username / pw combination that acts like a charge account on Telenet. To collect to node 412 614 with NUI junk 4248, password 525332, I'd type the following: @c 412 614, junk 4248, 525332 9999 in that prefix, making a note of all the carriers you find. There is software available to do this for nearly every computer in the world, so you don't have to do it by hand. Part Three: I've Found a Computer, Now What This next section is applicable universally. It doesn't matter how you found this computer, it could be through a network, or it could be from carrier scanning your High School's phone prefix, you " ve got this prompt this prompt, what the hell is it I'm NOT going to attempt to tell you what to do once you " re inside of any of these operating systems.

Each one is worth several G-files in its own right. I'm going to tell you how to identify and recognize certain Op Systems, how to approach hacking into them, and how to deal with something that you " ve never seen before and have know idea what it is. VMS- The VAX computer is made by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), and runs the VMS (Virtual Memory System) operating system. VMS is characterized by the 'Username:' prompt. It will not tell you if you " ve entered a valid username or not, and will disconnect you after three bad login attempts. It also keeps track of all failed login attempts and informs the owner of the account next time's / he logs in how many bad login attempts were made on the account.

It is one of the most secure operating systems around from the outside, but once you " re in there are many things that you can do to circumvent system security. The VAX also has the best set of help files in the world. Just type HELP and read to your heart's content. Common Accounts / Defaults: [username: password [ [, password]] ] SYSTEM: OPERATOR or MANAGER or SYSTEM or SYSLIB OPERATOR: OPERATOR SYS TEST: U ETP SYSMAINT: SYSMAINT or SERVICE or DIGITAL FIELD: FIELD or SERVICE GUEST: GUEST or unpassworded DEMO: DEMO or unpassworded DECNET: DECNET DEC-10- An earlier line of DEC computer equipment, running the TOPS-10 operating system. These machines are recognized by their '. ' prompt. The DEC-10/20 series are remarkably hacker-friendly, allowing you to enter several important commands without ever logging into the system.

Accounts are in the format [ , ] where and are integers. You can get a listing of the accounts and the process names of everyone on the system before logging in with the command. syst at (for SYstem STATus). If you seen an account that reads [234, 1001] BOB JONES, it might be wise to try BOB or JONES or both for a password on this account. To login, you type. login, and then type the password when prompted for it. The system will allow you unlimited tries at an account, and does not keep records of bad login attempts. It will also inform you if the UIC you " re trying (UIC = User Identification Code, 1, 2 for example) is bad.

Common Accounts / Defaults: 1, 2: SYSLIB or OPERATOR or MANAGER 2, 7: MAINTAIN 5, 30: GAMES UNIX- There are dozens of different machines out there that run UNIX. While some might argue it isn't the best operating system in the world, it is certainly the most widely used. A UNIX system will usually have a prompt like 'login:' in lower case. UNIX also will give you unlimited shots at logging in (in most cases), and there is usually no log kept of bad attempts. Common Accounts / Defaults: (note that some systems are case sensitive, so use lower case as a general rule.

Also, many times the accounts will be unpassworded, you " ll just drop right in!) root: root admin: admin sysadmin: sysadmin or admin unix: unix uucp: uucp rje: rje guest: guest demo: demo daemon: daemon sysbin: sysbin Prime- Prime computer company's mainframe running the Primos operating system. The are easy to spot, as the greet you with 'Prime con 18.23. 05 or the like, depending on the version of the operating system you run into. There will usually be no prompt offered, it will just look like it's sitting there. At this point, type 'login '. If it is a pre-18.00.

00 version of Primos, you can hit a bunch of ^C's for the password and you " ll drop in. Unfortunately, most people are running versions 19+. Primos also comes with a good set of help files. One of the most useful features of a Prime on Telenet is a facility called NETLINK.

Once you " re inside, type NETLINK and follow the help files. This allows you to connect to NUA's all over the world using the 'nc' command. For example, to connect to NUA 026245890040004, you would type @nc: 26245890040004 at the netlink prompt. Common Accounts / Defaults: PRIME PRIME or PRIMOS PRIMO SCS PRIME or PRIMOS PRIMENET PRIMENET SYSTEM SYSTEM or PRIME NETLINK NETLINK TEST TEST GUEST GUEST GUEST 1 GUEST HP-x 000- This system is made by Hewlett-Packard.

It is characterized by the ':' prompt. The HP has one of the more complicated login sequences around- you type 'HELLO SESSION NAME, USERNAME, ACCOUNT NAME, GROUP'. Fortunately, some of these fields can be left blank in many cases. Since any and all of these fields can be password ed, this is not the easiest system to get into, except for the fact that there are usually some unpassworded accounts around. In general, if the defaults don't work, you " ll have to brute force it using the common password list (see below.) The HP-x 000 runs the MPE operat- ing system, the prompt for it will be a ':', just like the logon prompt. Common Accounts / Defaults: MGR.

TELESUP, PUB User: MGR Acct: HPONLY Grp: PUB MGR. HP OFFICE, PUB unpassworded MANAGER. ITF 3000, PUB unpassworded FIELD. SUPPORT, PUB user: FLD, others unpassworded MAIL. TELESUP, PUB user: MAIL, others unpassworded MGR. RJE unpassworded FIELD.

HPPl 89, HPPl 87, HPPl 89, HPPl 96 unpassworded MGR. TELESUP, PUB, HPONLY, HP 3 unpassworded IRIS- IRIS stands for Interactive Real Time Information System. It orig- finally ran on PDP-11's, but now runs on many other minis. You can spot an IRIS by the 'Welcome to "IRIS" R 9.1. 4 Timesharing' banner, and the ACCOUNT ID prompt. IRIS allows unlimited tries at hacking in, and keeps no logs of bad attempts.

I don't know any default passwords, so just try the common ones from the password database below. Common Accounts: MANAGER BOSS SOFTWARE DEMO PDP 8 PDP 11 ACCOUNTING VM / CMS- The VM / CMS operating system runs in International Business Machines (IBM) mainframes. When you connect to one of these, you will get message similar to 'VM/370 ONLINE', and then give you a '. ' prompt, just like TOPS-10 does. To login, you type 'LOGON '.

Common Accounts / Defaults are: AUTOLOG 1: AUTOLOG or AUTOLOG 1 CMS: CMS CMSBATCH: CMS or CMSBATCH EREP: EREP MAINT: MAINT or MAINTAIN OPERATNS: OPERATNS or OPERATOR OPERATOR: OPERATOR RSCS: RSCS SMART: SMART SNA: SNA VMTEST: VMTEST VMUTIL: VMUTIL VTAM: VTAM NOS- NOS stands for Networking Operating System, and runs on the Cyber computer made by Control Data Corporation. NOS identifies itself quite readily, with a banner of 'WELCOME TO THE NOS SOFTWARE SYSTEM. COPYRIGHT CONTROL DATA 1978, 1987. The first prompt you will get will be FAMILY: .

Just hit return here. Then you " ll get a USER NAME: prompt. Usernames are typically 7 alpha-numerics characters long, and are extremely site dependent. Operator accounts begin with a digit, such as 7 ET PDOC. Common Accounts / Defaults: $SYSTEM unknown SYSTEM unknown Decserver- This is not truly a computer system, but is a network server that has many different machines available from it. A Decserver will say 'Enter Username ' when you first connect.

This can be anything, it doesn't matter, it's just an identifier. Type 'c', as this is the least conspicuous thing to enter. It will then present you with a 'Local ' prompt. From here, you type 'c ' to connect to a system. To get a list of system names, type 'sh services' or 'sh nodes'. If you have any problems, online help is available with the 'help' command.

Be sure and look for services named 'MODEM' or 'DIAL' or something similar, these are often outdial modems and can be useful! GS/1- Another type of network server. Unlike a Decserver, you can't predict what prompt a GS/1 gateway is going to give you. The default prompt it 'GS/1 ', but this is redi finable by the system administrator. To test for a GS/1, do a 'sh d'. If that prints out a large list of defaults (terminal speed, prompt, parity, etc... ), you are on a GS/1.

You connect in the same manner as a Decserver, typing 'c '. To find out what systems are available, do a 'sh n' or a 'sh c'. Another trick is to do a 'sh m', which will sometimes show you a list of macros for logging onto a system. If there is a macro named VAX, for instance, type 'do VAX'.

The above are the main system types in use today. There are hundreds of minor variants on the above, but this should be enough to get you started. Unresponsive Systems Occasionally you will connect to a system that will do nothing but sit there. This is a frustrating feeling, but a methodical approach to the system will yield a response if you take your time. The following list will usually make something happen. 1) Change your parity, data length, and stop bits.

A system that won't re- spend at 8 N 1 may react at 7 E 1 or 8 E 2 or 7 S 2. If you don't have a term program that will let you set parity to EVEN, ODD, SPACE, MARK, and NONE, with data length of 7 or 8, and 1 or 2 stop bits, go out and buy one. While having a good term program isn't absolutely necessary, it sure is helpful. 2) Change baud rates. Again, if your term program will let you choose odd baud rates such as 600 or 1100, you will occasionally be able to penetrate some very interesting systems, as most systems that depend on a strange baud rate seem to think that this is all the security they need...

3) Send a series of 's. 4) Send a hard break followed by a. 5) Type a series of.'s (periods). The Canadian network Datapac responds to this. 6) If you " re getting garbage, hit an 'i'.

Tymnet responds to this, as does a MultiLink II. 7) Begin sending control characters, starting with ^A - ^Z. 8) Change terminal emulations. What your vt 100 emulation thinks is garbage may all of a sudden become crystal clear using ADM-5 emulation. This also relates to how good your term program is. 9) Type LOGIN, HELLO, LOG, ATTACH, CONNECT, START, RUN, BEGIN, LOGON, GO, JOIN, HELP, and anything else.