     ::: BASICS OF HACKING I: DEC'S :::

            Knights Shadow

   When you're receiving a carrier from a DEC, find out the
format of logon names. This can be done by finding out who's on
the system. Type at the EXEC level prompt:

   SY

   which stands for system status. The format of logon names
appears in this form usually:

   job  line  program  user

   JOB: the job number, not important unless you want to log
them off later.

   LINE: what line they are on, used to talk to them.

   PROGRAM: a two or three digit number, what program they are
running. EXEC means they aren't doing anything.

   USER: the user name they are logged under. Copy the format
and hack a working code.

   Logon format at prompt:

   logon username password

   USERNAME is in the SY format. After the USERNAME and a space
characters in the PASSWORD won't be echoed back.

   People usually use their name, their dog's name, a favorite
character in a book or something else familiar to them. A few
clever people use a key cluster, QWERTY or ASDFG. PASSWORDs are
1 to 8 characters long.

   To get help once on the system type:

   HELP

   A list of topics if provided.

   Control characters:

   DEC 20 backspace: RUBOUT, ASCII 255
   DEC 10 backspace: CTRL-H
   Abort long listing: CTRL-C
   Stop long output: CTRL-O
   Time: CTRL-T
   Kill current line: CTRL-U
   Abort: CTRL-X
   Pause: CTRL-S
   Resume: CTRL-Q

   The system supports many terminal types. Type:

   INFO TER

   to see what type you're set for.

   To set the terminal type enter:

   SET TER type (like VT05)

   To see what's in the account you're using enter:

   DIR

   for directory. It shows what the user has saved to disk. The
format is XXXXX.OOO where XXXXX is the file name, 1 to 20
characters, and OOO is the file type EXE, TXT, DAT, BAS, CMD or
other.

   EXE is a compiled program that can be run just by typing its
name at the prompt.

   TXT is a text file which can be seen by entering:

   TYPE XXXXX.TXT

   DAT is saved data.

   BAS is a Basic program. Use the TYPE command to see it.

   CMD is a command type file. Try:

   TAKE XXXXX.CMD

   To use other users' files type:

   DIR <*.*> (DEC 20)
   DIR ;*,*= (DEC 10)

   * is a wildcard and allows access to files on other accounts
if the user has set it for public access. To run that program
type:

   username programname

   USERNAME is the directory you saw the file listed under and
PROGRAMNAME was the file name.

   Remember SY? This showed the other users on the system. You
can send a message to anyone listed in the system status. Type:

   TALK username (DEC 20)
   SEND username (DEC 10)

   TALK allows immediate transmission of whatever is typed to
the other user. SEND only allows messages terminated by <CR>.
When using TALK, whatever is typed is acted upon by the parser
or control program. To avoid a string of errors type:

   ;your message

   The semicolon denotes a comment. CTRL-Z or CTRL-C switches
back to the EXEC mode.

   To break connection from a TALK type:

   BREAK

   If you have privs you must first activate them to use them. Type:

   ENABLE

   and a $ prompt should appear. You can now do whatever you
want on any other directory.

   To create a new account using your privs type:

   BUILD username

   If the USERNAME is old you can edit it. If it is new you can
define it to be whatever you wish. Privacy has nothing to do
with privs.

   There are various levels of privs: OPERATOR, WHEEL and CIA
WHEEL, the most powerful because he can logon from anywhere and
have his capabilities. OPERATORs have power because they are at
a special terminal allowing them privs. CIA stands for
confidential information access which allows a low level of
privs. But you can read the system log file which has all the
passwords to the other accounts.

   To deactivate privs type:

   DISABLE

   To leave the system type:

   L


