                 THE BASICS OF HACKING: INTRO

   This article, 'The Introduction to the World of Hacking' is
meant to help you by telling you how not to get caught, what not
to do on a computer system, what type of equipment should you
know about now, and just a little on the history -- past,
present, and future -- of the hacker.

   Welcome to the world of hacking! We, the people who live
outside of the public eye, scorned and even arrested by those
from the 'Civilized World,' are becoming scarcer every day. This
is due to the greater fear of what a good hacker (skill wise, no
moral judgements here) can do nowadays, thus causing anti-hacker
sentiment in the masses. Also, few hackers seem to actually know
about the computer systems they hack, or what equipment they
will run into on the front end, or what they could do wrong on a
system to alert the 'higher' authorities who monitor the system.
This article is intended to tell you about some things not to
do, even before you get on the system. We will tell you about
the new wave of front end security devices that are beginning to
be used on computers. We will attempt to instill in you a second
identity, to be brought up at a time of great need, to pull you
out of trouble. And, by the way, we take no, repeat, no
responsibility for what we say in this and the forthcoming
articles. Enough of the bullshit, on to the fun:

  After logging onto your favorite BBS, you see on the high
access board a phone number! It says it's a great system to
'Fuck around with!' This may be true, but how many other people
are going to call the same number? So: Try to avoid calling a
number given to the public. This is because there are at least
every other user calling, and how many other boards will that
number spread to? If you call a number far, far away, and you
plan on going thru an extender or a re-seller, don't keep
calling the same access number (i.e. as you would if you had a
hacker running), this looks very suspicious and can make life
miserable when the phone bill comes in the mail. Most cities
have a variety of access numbers and services, so use as many as
you can. Never trust a change in the system. The 414's, the
assholes, were caught for this reason: When one of them
connected to the system, there was nothing good there. The next
time, there was a Trek game stuck right in their way! They
proceeded to play said game for two, say two and a half hours,
while Telenet was tracing them! Nice job, don't you think? If
anything looks suspicious, drop the line immediately! As in,
yesterday! The point we're trying to get across is: If you use a
little common sense, you won't get busted. Let the little kids
who aren't smart enought to recognize a trap get busted, it will
take the heat off of the real hackers. Now, let's say you get on
a computer system. It looks great, checks out, everything seems
fine. Ok, now is when it gets more dangerous. You have to know a
computer system (see future issues of this article for info on
specific systems) to know what not to do. Basically, keep away
from any command which looks like it might delete something,
copy a new file into the account, or whatever! Always leave the
account in the same status you logged in with. Change nothing.
If it isn't an account with priv's, then don't try any commands
that require them! All, yes, all systems are going to be keeping
log files of what users are doing, and that will show up. It is
just like dropping a trouble-card in an ESS system, after
sending that nice operator a pretty tone. Spend no excessive
amounts of time on the account in one stretch. Keep your calling
to the very late night if possible, or during business hours
(believe it or not!). It so happens that there are more users on
during business hours, and it is very difficult to read the log
file with 60 users doing many commands every minute. Try to
avoid systems where everyone knows each other, don't try to
bluff. And above all: Never act like you own a system, or are
the best there is. They always grab the people who's heads
swell.

    There is some very interesting front end equipment around
nowadays, but first let's define terms. By front end, we mean
any device that you must pass thru to get at the real computer.
There are devices that are made to defeat hacker programs, and
just plain old multiplexers. To defeat hacker programs, there
are now devices that pick up the phone and just sit there. This
means that your device gets no carrier, thus you think there
isn't a computer on the other end. The only way around it is to
detect when it was picked up. If it picks up after the same
number of rings, you know it is the hacker-defeater. These
devices take a multi-digit code to let you into the system. Some
are, in fact, quite sophisticated to the point where it will
also limit the user names down, so only one name or set of names
can be valid logins after they input a code. Other devices input
a number code, and then they dial back a pre-programmed number
for that code. These systems are best to leave alone, because
they know someone is playing with their phone. You may think
'But I'll just re-program the dial-back.' Think again how stupid
that is. Then they have your number, or the test loop if you
were just a little smarter. If it's your number, they have your
balls (if male), if it's a loop, then you are screwed again,
since those loops are monitored. As for multiplexers, what a
plexer is supposed to do is this: A system can accept multiple
users. We have to time share, so we'll let a front-end processor
do it. Well, this is what a multiplexer does. Usually they will
ask for something like 'Enter class' or 'Line:.'  Usually it is
programmed for a double digit number, or a four to five letter
word. There are usually a few sets of numbers it accepts, but
those numbers also set your 300/1200 baud data type. These
multiplexers are inconvenient at worst, so not to worry.

   A little about the history of hacking: Hacking, by our
definition, means a great knowledge of some special area.
Doctors and lawyers are hackers of a sort, by this definition.
But most often, it is being used in the computer context, and
thus we have the definition of 'anyone who has a great amount of
computer or telecommunications knowledge.' You're not a hacker
because you have a list of codes. Hacking, by our definition,
has then been around only about 15 years. It started, where
else, but MIT and colleges where they had computer science or
electrical engineering departments. Hackers have created some of
the best computer languages, the most awesome operating systems,
and even gone on to make millions. Hacking used to have a good
name, when we could honestly say 'We know what we are doing.'
Now it means (in the public eye): The 414's, Ron Austin, the
Nasa Hackers, the Arapanet hackers. All the people who have been
caught, have done damage, and are now going to have to face
fines and sentences. Thus we come past the moralistic crap, and
to our purpose: Educate the hacker community, return to the days
when people actually knew something.

   A program guide:

Three more articles will be written in this series, at the
present time.

   BASICS OF HACKING I: DEC'S
   BASICS OF HACKING II: VAX'S (UNIX)
   BASICS OF HACKING III: DATA GENERAL

   It is impossible to write an article on IBM, since there are
so many systems and we only have info on a few.

Thanks to Knights of Shadow, Camel Jockey
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