IP

Yahoo mail Cross Site Scripting vulnerability


Yahoo mail Cross Site Scripting vulnerability


From: simo_at_morx.org
Date: Sun, 25 Dec 2005 18:00:29 -0000 (GMT)
Title: Yahoo mail Cross Site Scripting
Author: Simo Ben youssef aka _6mO_HaCk
Date: 22 December 2005
MorX Security Research Team
http://www.morx.org
Service: Webmail
Vendor: Yahoo mail, and possibly others
Vulnerability: Cross Site Scripting / Cookie-Theft / Relogin attacks
Severity: High
Tested on: Microsoft IE 6.0

Internet Information Server 6.0 Denial Of Service


Internet Information Server 6.0 Denial Of Service


#When sending multiple parallel GET requests to a IIS 6.0 server requesting
#/AUX/.aspx the server gets instable and non responsive. This happens only
#to servers which respond a runtime error (System.Web.HttpException)
#and take two or more seconds to respond to the /AUX/.aspx GET request.
#
#
#signed,
#Kingcope kingcope@gmx.net
###########################################################
###********************************************************
###
###
###
### Lame Internet Information Server 6.0 Denial Of Service (nonpermanent)
### by Kingcope, May/2007
### Better run this from a Linux system
###########################################################

Firefox 1.5 Buffer Overflow

Firefox 1.5 Buffer Overflow

Description:
Firefox 1.5 buffer overflow Basically firefox logs all kinda of URL data in it's history.dat file, this little script will set a really large topic and Firefox will then save that topic into it's history.dat.. The next time that firefox is opened, it will instantly crash due to a buffer overflow -- this will happen everytime until you manually delete the history.dat file -- which most users won't figure out. this proof of concept will only prevent someone from reopening their browser after being exploited. DoS if you will. however, code execution is possible with some modifcations. Tested with Firefox 1.5 on Windows XP SP2.
ZIPLOCK (sickbeatz@gmail.com)

Javascript bug IE 6

Javascript bug IE 6

Error reported to Microsoft on Jun 07 2005 and again on Jun 08 2005, error reported to Opera on Jun 08 2005
Informed Google, MSN, Yahoo/AltaVista, Ilse, Lycos, Excite, Webcrawler on Jun 08 2005
Informed Norton, McAfee on Jun 08 2005

Internet Explorer 6 Print Without Prompt Bug



Internet Explorer 6 Print Without Prompt Bug


Application: Microsoft Internet Explorer
Versions: 6.0
Platforms: Windows
Bugs: IE 6 allows JavaScript to send documents to the printer without prompting the user.
Exploitation: Client
Date: 12 April 2004
Author: Ben Garvey
bengarvey_at_comcast.net
http://www.bengarvey.com
Bugtraq report format: Thanks Luigi Auriemma!
########################################################

The Trojan Horse

-: The Trojan Horse :-


What is a Trojan ?
"A Trojan Horse, or Trojan, is a term used to describe malware that appears, to the user, to perform a desirable function but, in fact, facilitates unauthorized access to the user's computer system". - Wikipedia

"A Trojan horse is an apparently useful program containing hidden functions that can exploit the privileges of the user [running the program], with a resulting security threat.". - CERT Advisory

Types of Trojan :-
Trojan The different types of Trojan Horses are as follows-

1) Remote Access Trojans :- Abbreviated as RATs, a Remote Access Trojans are potentially the most damaging, designed to provide the attacker with complete control of the victim's system.

2) Data Sending Trojans :- A type of a Trojan horse that is designed to provide the attacker with sensitive data such as passwords, credit card information, log files, e-mail address or IM contact lists. They could install a keylogger and send all recorded keystrokes back to the attacker.

3) Destructive Trojans :- Once this Trojan is installed on your computer, it will begin to systematically or completely randomly delete information from your computer. This can include files, folders, registry entries, and important system files, which likely to cause the failure of your operating system.

4) Proxy Trojans :- A type of Trojan horse designed to use the victim's computer as a proxy server. This gives the attacker the opportunity to conduct illegal activities, or even to use your system to launch malicious attacks against other networks.

5) FTP Trojans :- A type of Trojan horse designed to open port 21 (FTP) and acts like an FTP server. Once installed, the attacker not only could download/upload files/programs to victim's computer but also install futher malware on your computer.

6) Security Software Disabler Trojan :- A type of Trojan horse designed stop or kill security programs such as an antivirus program or firewall without the user knowing. This Trojan type is normally combined with another type of Trojan as a payload.

7) DoS Attack Trojans :- These trojans are used by the attacker to launch a DoS/DDoS attack against some website or network or any individual. In this case they are well known as "Zombies".

How Trojan Works ?
Trojans typically consist of two parts, a client part and a server part. When a victim (unknowingly) runs a Trojan server on his machine, the attacker then uses the client part of that Trojan to connect to the server module and start using the Trojan. The protocol usually used for communications is TCP, but some Trojans' functions use other protocols, such as UDP, as well. When a Trojan server runs on a victim’s computer, it (usually) tries to hide somewhere on the computer; it then starts listening for incoming connections from the attacker on one or more ports, and attempts to modify the registry and/or use some other auto-starting method.

       It is necessary for the attacker to know the victim’s IP address to connect to his/her machine. Many Trojans include the ability to mail the victim’s IP and/or message the attacker via ICQ or IRC. This system is used when the victim has a dynamic IP, that is, every time he connects to the Internet, he is assigned a different IP (most dial-up users have this). ADSL users have static IPs, meaning that in this case, the infected IP is always known to the attacker; this makes it considerably easier for an attacker to connect to your machine.

       Most Trojans use an auto-starting method that allows them to restart and grant an attacker access to your machine even when you shut down your computer.

How Trojan Horses Are Installed ?
Infection from Trojans is alarmingly simple. Following are very common ways to become infected that most computer users perform on a very regular basis.
  • Software Downloads
  • Websites containing executable content (ActiveX control)
  • Email Attachments
  • Application Exploits (Flaws in a web applications)
  • Social Engineering Attacks

The Removal :-
Antivirus software is designed to detect and delete Trojan horses ideally preventing them from ever being installed.

Computer Viruses

-: Computer Viruses :-


What is a Computer Virus ?
A potentially damaging computer programme capable of reproducing itself causing great harm to files or other programs without permission or knowledge of the user. Types of viruses :-
The different types of viruses are as follows-

-: Honeypots :-

-: Honeypots :-


Definition :-
"Honeypot is a trap set to detect, deflect, or in some manner counteract attempts at unauthorized use of information systems."  -Wikipedia

"Honeypot is an information system resource whose value lies in unauthorized or illicit use of that resource."  -Lance Spitzner

Unlike firewalls or Intrusion Detection Systems, honeypots do not solve a specific problem. Instead, they are a highly flexible tool that comes in many shapes and sizes. They can do everything from detecting encrypted attacks in IPv6 networks to capturing the latest in on-line credit card fraud. Its is this flexibility that gives honeypots their true power. It is also this flexibility that can make them challenging to define and understand.

-: Intrusion Detection System (IDS) :-

-: Intrusion Detection System (IDS) :-


An intrusion detection system (IDS) is software and/or hardware based system that monitors network traffic and monitors for suspicious activity and alerts the system or network administrator. In some cases the IDS may also respond to anomalous or malicious traffic by taking action such as blocking the user or source IP address from accessing the network.

Typical locations for an intrusion detection system is as shown in the following figure -

ids


-: Steganography :-

-: Steganography :-


The art and science of hiding information by embedding messages within other, seemingly harmless messages. Steganography works by replacing bits of useless or unused data in regular computer files (such as graphics, sound, text, HTML, or even floppy disks ) with bits of different, invisible information. This hidden information can be plain text, cipher text, or even images.

Some common files used for hiding the data are .jpeg, .bmp, .jpg, .bmp, .pdf, .mp3, .wav, .gif, etc.

-: Cryptography :-

-: Cryptography :-


Cryptography
By definition cryptography is the process of converting recognisable data into an encrypted code for transmitting it over a network (either trusted or untrusted). Data is encrypted at the source, i.e. sender's end and decrypted at the destination, i.e. receiver's end.

In all cases, the initial unencrypted data is referred to as plaintext. It is encrypted into ciphertext, which will in turn (usually) be decrypted into usable plaintext using different encryption algorithms.

-: Packet Header Analysis :-

-: Packet Header Analysis :-


Following are the easy to analyze ICMP, TCP and UDP packet headers along with short description.
All header Drawings by- "Matt Baxter" (www.fatpipe.org/~mjb/Drawings/)

ICMP-Header

ICMP Message Types :- ICMP message type-code/name format
0 Echo Reply
3 Destination Unreachable
4 Source Quench
5 Redirect
8 Echo
11 Time Exceeded
12 Parameter Problem
13 Timestamp
14 Timestamp Reply
15 Information Request
16 Information Reply

Checksum :- The checksum is the 16-bit ones's complement of the one's complement sum of the ICMP message starting with the ICMP Type.

RFC 792 :- Please refer to RFC 792 for Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Specification.


TCP-Header

TCP Flags :- C E U A P R S F
C 0x80 Reduced (CWR)
E 0x40 ECN Echo (ECE)
U 0x20 Urgent
A 0x10 Ack
P 0x08 Push
R 0x04 Reset
S 0x02 Syn
F 0x01 Fin
 
TCP Options :-
0 End of Options List
1 No Operation (NOP, Pad)
2 Maximum Segment Size
3 Window Scale
4 Selective ACK ok
8 Timestamp
 
 
 

Checksum :- Checksum of entire TCP segment and pseudo header (parts of IP header)

Offset :- Number of 32-bit words in TCP header, minimum value of 5. Multiply by 4 to get byte count.

RFC 793 :- Please refer to RFC 793 for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Specification.


UDP-Header

Source Port :- an optional field, when meaningful, it indicates the port of the sending process, and may be assumed to be the port to which a reply should be addressed in the absence of any other information. If not used, a value of zero is inserted.

Destination Port :- Destination Port has a meaning within the context of a particular internet destination address.

Length :- Length is the length in octets of this user datagram including this header and the data. (This means the minimum value of the length is eight.)

Checksum :- Checksum is the 16-bit one's complement of the one's complement sum of a pseudo header of information from the IP header, the UDP header, and the data, padded with zero octets at the end (if necessary) to make a multiple of two octets.

RFC 768 :- Please refer to RFC 768 for User Datagram Protocol (UDP) Specification.

-: IP Address :-

-: IP Address :-


Definition :-
"An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a numerical identification (logical address) that is assigned to devices participating in a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol for communication between its nodes".   -- Wikipedia

The Internet Protocol (IP) has two versions currently in use which are IPv4 and IPv6.
This article represents to IPv4 version only.

In general, an IP address is a 32-bit decimal number that is normally written as four numbers between 1 to 255 (8 bits or 1 byte each), each seperated from the other by a decimal point. This standard is known as "Dotted Decimal Notation".
e.g.-   117.200.77.110

IP addresses are divided into number of ranges/classes as given in the table below-

Class Range
A 0.0.0.0 to 127.255.255.255
B128.0.0.0 to 191.255.255.255
C192.0.0.0 to 223.255.255.255
D224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255
E240.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255

e.g.-  IP Address 192.168.24.114 belongs to Class 'C'.

How to find out IP Address of your system ?
1) Connect to the Internet.
2) Launch MS-DOS Command Prompt.
3) Type "netstat -n", Press Enter.

You will get the output similar to following-


The IP Address shown in local address field denotes IP Address of your system.
In this case it is 117.200.160.151

IP Address Formats :-
Four different formats of IP Address along with example is as given below-

1) Domain Name System (DNS) : www.insecure.in
2) DWORD Format : 2928008962
3) Octal Format : 0256.0205.0337.002
4) Dotted Decimal Format : 174.133.223.2

Converting DNS IP Address into Normal IP Address :-
You can easily get the IP Address of any domain by various methods such as WHOIS, Netstat, Ping, Traceroute, etc.
Here I have used 'Ping' to get IP Address.

1) Connect to the Internet.
2) Launch MS-DOS Command Prompt.
3) Type "ping domainname", Press Enter.

You will get the output similar to following-



Here, IP Address for Domain "www.insecure.in" is "174.133.223.2"

Thus by typing "http://www.insecure.in" OR "http://2928008962" OR "0256.0205.0337.02" OR "174.133.223.2" in your browser will take you to the same site.

Not all of these formats work in all browsers.

-: IP Spoofing :-

-: IP Spoofing :-


The term IP (Internet Protocol) address spoofing refers to the creation of IP packets with a forged (spoofed) source IP address with the purpose of concealing the identity of the sender or impersonating another computing system.

Why it works ?
IP-Spoofing works because trusted services only rely on network address based authentication. Since IP is easily duped, address forgery is not difficult.
The main reason is security weakness in the TCP protocol known as sequence number prediction.

How it works ?
To completely understand how ip spoofing can take place, one must examine the structure of the TCP/IP protocol suite. A basic understanding of these headers and network exchanges is crucial to the process.

Internet Protocol (IP) :
It is a network protocol operating at layer 3 (network) of the OSI model. It is a connectionless model, meaning there is no information regarding transaction state, which is used to route packets on a network. Additionally, there is no method in place to ensure that a packet is properly delivered to the destination.
Examining the IP header, we can see that the first 12 bytes (or the top 3 rows of the header) contain various information about the packet. The next 8 bytes (the next 2 rows), however, contains the source and destination IP addresses. Using one of several tools, an attacker can easily modify these addresses – specifically the “source address” field.

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) :
It is the connection-oriented, reliable transport protocol in the TCP/IP suite. Connection-oriented simply means that the two hosts participating in a discussion must first establish a connection via the 3-way handshake (SYN-SYN/ACK-ACK). Reliability is provided by data sequencing and acknowledgement. TCP assigns sequence numbers to every segment and acknowledges any and all data segments recieved from the other end.

As you can see above, the first 12 bytes of the TCP packet, which contain port and sequencing information.

TCP sequence numbers can simply be thought of as 32-bit counters. They range from 0 to 4,294,967,295. Every byte of data exchanged across a TCP connection (along with certain flags) is sequenced. The sequence number field in the TCP header will contain the sequence number of the *first* byte of data in the TCP segment. The acknowledgement number field in the TCP header holds the value of next *expected* sequence number, and also acknowledges *all* data up through this ACK number minus one.

TCP packets can be manipulated using several packet crafting softwares available on the internet.

The Attack
IP-spoofing consists of several steps. First, the target host is choosen. Next, a pattern of trust is discovered, along with a trusted host. The trusted host is then disabled, and the target's TCP sequence numbers are sampled. The trusted host is impersonated, the sequence numbers guessed, and a connection attempt is made to a service that only requires address-based authentication. If successful, the attacker executes a simple command to leave a backdoor.

Spoofing can be implemented by different ways as given below -

Non-Blind Spoofing :- This type of attack takes place when the attacker is on the same subnet as the victim. The sequence and acknowledgement numbers can be sniffed, eliminating the potential difficulty of calculating them accurately.

Blind Spoofing :- Here the sequence and acknowledgement numbers are unreachable. In order to circumvent this, several packets are sent to the target machine in order to sample sequence numbers.

Both types of spoofing are forms of a common security violation known as a Man In The Middle Attack. In these attacks, a malicious party intercepts a legitimate communication between two friendly parties. The malicious host then controls the flow of communication and can eliminate or alter the information sent by one of the original participants without the knowledge of either the original sender or the recipient. In this way, an attacker can fool a victim into disclosing confidential information by “spoofing” the identity of the original sender, who is presumably trusted by the recipient.

IP spoofing is almost always used in what is currently one of the most difficult attacks to defend against – Denial of Service attacks, or DoS.
CounterMeasures
1) Filtering at the Router :- Implementing ingress and egress filtering on your border routers is a great place to start your spoofing defense. You will need to implement an ACL (access control list)

2) Encryption and Authentication :- Implementing encryption and authentication will also reduce spoofing threats. Both of these features are included in Ipv6, which will eliminate current spoofing threats.

3) Initial Sequence Number Randomizing.

Yahoo Booters

How Yahoo Booter Works ?

Yahoo messenger can get into yahoo chat, but in reality, it’s a seperate service…
Yahoo Messenger’s server has a Buffer, this buffer is actually 128k not the 512k.
When the attacker sends multiple packets to you, what you don’t get from the server gets stored in a buffer, in comes a chat packet, the client grabs it, in comes 5 chat packets, you grab the first 3 packets, 2 are left behind on yahoo’s server, you then grab the 2 packets and then the buffer is back to empty.
Actually the booter sends 1k’s worth in 1 packet of PM (instant messaging packets) but instead of sending the 1 packet, the booter builds up 10 pm/im packets.
Then you send it to yahoo 10 loops packets of PMs @ 1k each = 80k in 1 load to yahoo then the booter sends it again, 160k.
Now if you can send 128k’s worth of data, pm packets, chat packets, anything you like to the other user BEFORE the user can get the data out, yahoo will simply disconnect them over 128k why?
Most Probably because the server is instructed to disconnect idle users or users who are no longer online, what’s the point of Keeping someone in yahoo chat if they are not getting the data people are sending them, after 40 minutes of a client sending data yahoo goes, we’ve buffered 128k, the user aint there, kick him…!
In Short, Yahoo Messenger Would Crash if it got anything more than 128k.
Also the connection protocols YMSG and Chat2 which is also a factor. YChat was harder to boot for the simple fact that it lacked in features compared to YMSG.
This is also why YMSG is easier to boot then Chat2. The more features the more ways you can be booted.
Yes there are ways to prevent from being booted…..!

How to Boot Yahoo Messenger ?
1] You need bots ID (100 to 1000 might be enough). Therefore you need to create ID bots using Manual way just like you create Yahoo Id or use Yahoo Messenger ID Creator aka ID Maker. usually, the bots ID stored in notepad aka txt file with a format ID and password like this:
BotIDd:Password
BotID2:Password
BotID3:Passowrd
etc.. (upto 1000-10000 id bots)
2] You need Yahoo Boot Software that work properly.
3] Load you BotID in Yahoo Boot Software by selecting stored BotID in txt file and load in Yahoo Boot Program.
4] Select the Type of your Boot Option
5] Select / Type Target aka Victim Username or Yahoo ID
6] Final steps. Boot him! Done.


Black Hole By ReMi

Black Hole
Name : Black-Hole
Coder : -= ReMi =-
Nice One boot booter
Can crush messy & Clients
Next Version Coming Soon
Download :
http://www.2shared.com/file/4782142/d37b66d9/-Black-Hole-_By_-ReMi-.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/193003810/-Black-Hole-_By_-ReMi-.zip
http://www.filefactory.com/file/a04gc0e
http://uploaded.to/?id=owd4dn

Terror Begin

terror-begin
6 YM Option
6 Client Option
1 yahelite Lagger Option
Download :
http://www.2shared.com/file/4227318/60fed6cc/T-Begin1.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/161202363/T-Begin1.zip.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/70005998/bc2973aa/T-Begin1.html
 
Evil-DisConnect-V1.0 Update V2.0
Evil Disconnect
Download :
http://www.2shared.com/file/3642119/f2d54b3e/Evil_Disconnect_v10_Fixed.html


Dead Room By Satma

Dead Room
Multi login booter up to 200 , With delay features , For each boot option on this booter has been tested randomly and it works , Anything else the pic says it all.
Download :
http://www.2shared.com/file/4250678/1f985708/Dead_Room_By_Satma.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/162134901/Dead_Room_By_Satma.rar

EX Silent DC V9.0

EX Silent DC
This will auto refresh your bot after every boot.
You should be able to get anywhere from 5-15 effective dc’s before it stops working.
When it does, just use another bot. You can boot a single person as much as you want as long as you rotate bots.
Will auto save your bot id, bot password, and victim id on exit.
Download :
http://rapidshare.com/files/137368430/EX_Silent_DC.zip.html
http://www.2shared.com/file/3763973/4369b3be/EX_Silent_DC.html
http://www.zshare.net/download/1704930081c2a7f4/

Exploited Y!Messenger Silent Dc V 3.0 By Satma

Silent DC
Download :
http://www.snapdrive.net/qs/01663f5f269c
http://sharebee.com/934f338b
http://w15.easy-share.com/1701762988.html

Yah-Mart Special

YAH-MART SPECIAL: YMCS-CLIENT LAGG :twist:
Yah Mart
Download :
http://yourupload.com/files/get/7sHY3UwxSo/ymcs-client-lagg.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/153908334/YMCS-CLIENT-LAGG.rar.html
http://www.2shared.com/file/4092441/6cdcec80/YMCS-CLIENT-LAGG.html

Dark Booter v3

Dark Booter v3 coded by mohammad
Dark Booter
Download :
http://www.2shared.com/file/4186062/b9b41a26/Dark_Booter_V3.html
http://yourupload.com/files/get/zovYrLVrlA
http://www.sendspace.com/file/tte0sp
http://www.snapdrive.net/qs/db94df85d90e
http://rapidshare.com/files/158973020/Dark_Booter_V3.rar.html


Filthy Assassin v1.2

Filthy Assassin
New updated faster hitting Packets, still up to 500 bot login.
Before it hit pretty fast now it hits REALLY fast…….!
Download :
http://www.snapdrive.net/qs/a353d325f8b7
http://www.keepmyfile.com/download/cf70392345710
http://rapidshare.com/files/153823190/Filthy_Assassin_v_1.2.rar.html

FREE KEYLOGGERS

VicSPY 2008 keylogger [Undetectable]

Vicspy Keylogger
New VicSpy 2008 Keylogger is completely undetectable.
You can bind it with another file, perfectly works…..!
Download :
http://rapidshare.com/files/93069143/VicSpy2008_upped_by_AKEXOR_.rar
Password : crazy-coderz.net

-: The NetBus Trojan :-

-: The NetBus Trojan :-


NetBus was written in Delphi by Carl-Fredrik Neikter, a Swedish programmer in March 1998.

It is capable of :--
  • Open/Close CD-ROM
  • Show optional BMP/JPG image
  • Swap mouse buttons
  • Start optional application
  • Play a wav file
  • Control mouse
  • Show different kind's of messages
  • Shut down Windows
  • Download/Upload/Delete files
  • Go to an optional URL
  • Send keystrokes and disable keys
  • Listen for and send keystrokes
  • Take a screendump
  • Increase and decrease the sound-volume
  • Record sounds from the microphone
  • Make click sounds every time a key is pressed
This utility also has the ability to scan "Class C" addresses by adding "+Number of ports" to the end of the target address. Example: 255.255.255.1+254 will scan 255.255.255.1 through 255.

NetBus 2.0 Pro :- It was completely re-written and re-designed. It now has increased features such as improved GUI for client and server, improved file manager, windows manager, registry manager, plugin manager, capture of web cam images, n...more............!

Following is the stepwise procedure for installation and configuration of NetBus 2.0 Pro (server and client).

1) Download NetBus 2.0 Pro. from here -  NB2ProBeta.zip

2) Extract and install properly on your system.

3) After installation you will find the two shortcuts in the NetBus installation directory.
This is to be executed on victim's system.
This is to be executed on your system.


4) By Executing the 'NetBus Server' (on victim's computer), you will be greeted by a window as shown in figure (left). Click on 'Settings' button.
Here you can configure server settings such as port no, password, visibility, auto/manual start, etc. as shown in figure (right).

Click on 'OK' button to finish NetBus Server settings.
Then close the NetBus Server window.

5) By executing 'NetBus' (i.e. client)(on your system), you will be greeted by a window as shown below-

6) To add a new host go to the menu 'Host' and then click 'New'. This is as shown in figure (left).
Here you should enter the proper Destination(e.g. 'My Computer'), IP Address(eg. 72.232.50.186), TCP Port(by default 20034), Username/Password(exactly same as that of 'NetBus Server') for target computer.

Click on 'OK' to finish the addition of new host.

7) Now you are ready to connect with target(victim's) computer.
To do so, select the host from main window then go to 'Host' menu and then click 'Connect'.

8) After client get connected with server(target computer), you can use any of the features of 'NetBus Trojan' as listed above. You can see all these tools on 'Toolbar' of NetBus Client.

-: Popular Trojans :-

-: Popular Trojans :-


1) NetBus :-

NetBus 2.10

NetBus 2.10
  • Latest Version: NetBus 2.10 Pro
  • Developer: Carl-Fredrik Neikter
  • Default Port: 20034 (variable)
  • Language: Delphi
  • Operating System: Windows 95/98, NT4 or later
  • Type: Remote Access
  • Download:  NB2ProBeta.zip








2) Back Orifice XP :-

BOXP 

  • Latest Version: BOXP Beta 7
  • Developer: Javier Aroche
  • Default Port: 15380
  • Language: Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0
  • Operating System: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
  • Type: Remote Access
  • Download:  boxp_beta7_bin.zip




3) SubSeven / Sub7 :-

SubSeven 2.2

SubSeven 2.2
  • Latest Version: SubSeven 2.2
  • Developer: Mobman
  • Default Port: 1080, 1369, 5873, 27374 (variable)
  • Language: Delphi
  • Operating System: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000
  • Type: Remote Access, Keylogger, Eavesdropper, Sniffer, Proxy server, FTP server
  • Download:  Subseven.2.2.zip




4) Beast :-

Beast 2.07

Beast 2.07
  • Latest Version: Beast 2.07
  • Developer: Tataye
  • Default Port: 6666
  • Language: Delphi
  • Operating System: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
  • Type: Remote Access, Keylogger
  • Download:  Beast_2.07.rar

-: The Trojan Horse :-

-: The Trojan Horse :-


What is a Trojan ?
"A Trojan Horse, or Trojan, is a term used to describe malware that appears, to the user, to perform a desirable function but, in fact, facilitates unauthorized access to the user's computer system". - Wikipedia

"A Trojan horse is an apparently useful program containing hidden functions that can exploit the privileges of the user [running the program], with a resulting security threat.". - CERT Advisory

Types of Trojan :-
Trojan The different types of Trojan Horses are as follows-

1) Remote Access Trojans :- Abbreviated as RATs, a Remote Access Trojans are potentially the most damaging, designed to provide the attacker with complete control of the victim's system.

2) Data Sending Trojans :- A type of a Trojan horse that is designed to provide the attacker with sensitive data such as passwords, credit card information, log files, e-mail address or IM contact lists. They could install a keylogger and send all recorded keystrokes back to the attacker.

3) Destructive Trojans :- Once this Trojan is installed on your computer, it will begin to systematically or completely randomly delete information from your computer. This can include files, folders, registry entries, and important system files, which likely to cause the failure of your operating system.

4) Proxy Trojans :- A type of Trojan horse designed to use the victim's computer as a proxy server. This gives the attacker the opportunity to conduct illegal activities, or even to use your system to launch malicious attacks against other networks.

5) FTP Trojans :- A type of Trojan horse designed to open port 21 (FTP) and acts like an FTP server. Once installed, the attacker not only could download/upload files/programs to victim's computer but also install futher malware on your computer.

6) Security Software Disabler Trojan :- A type of Trojan horse designed stop or kill security programs such as an antivirus program or firewall without the user knowing. This Trojan type is normally combined with another type of Trojan as a payload.

7) DoS Attack Trojans :- These trojans are used by the attacker to launch a DoS/DDoS attack against some website or network or any individual. In this case they are well known as "Zombies".

How Trojan Works ?
Trojans typically consist of two parts, a client part and a server part. When a victim (unknowingly) runs a Trojan server on his machine, the attacker then uses the client part of that Trojan to connect to the server module and start using the Trojan. The protocol usually used for communications is TCP, but some Trojans' functions use other protocols, such as UDP, as well. When a Trojan server runs on a victim’s computer, it (usually) tries to hide somewhere on the computer; it then starts listening for incoming connections from the attacker on one or more ports, and attempts to modify the registry and/or use some other auto-starting method.

       It is necessary for the attacker to know the victim’s IP address to connect to his/her machine. Many Trojans include the ability to mail the victim’s IP and/or message the attacker via ICQ or IRC. This system is used when the victim has a dynamic IP, that is, every time he connects to the Internet, he is assigned a different IP (most dial-up users have this). ADSL users have static IPs, meaning that in this case, the infected IP is always known to the attacker; this makes it considerably easier for an attacker to connect to your machine.

       Most Trojans use an auto-starting method that allows them to restart and grant an attacker access to your machine even when you shut down your computer.

How Trojan Horses Are Installed ?
Infection from Trojans is alarmingly simple. Following are very common ways to become infected that most computer users perform on a very regular basis.
  • Software Downloads
  • Websites containing executable content (ActiveX control)
  • Email Attachments
  • Application Exploits (Flaws in a web applications)
  • Social Engineering Attacks

The Removal :-
Antivirus software is designed to detect and delete Trojan horses ideally preventing them from ever being installed.

-: Privacy Attacks :-

-: Privacy Attacks :-


Here attacker uses various automated tools which are freely available on the internet. Some of them are as follows:

1) Trojan :- Trojan is a Remote Administration Tool (RAT) which enable attacker to execute various software and hardware instructions on the target system.

Most trojans consist of two parts -
a) The Server Part :- It has to be installed on the the victim's computer.
b) The Client Part :- It is installed on attacker's system. This part gives attacker complete control over target computer.

Netbus, Girlfriend, sub7, Beast, Back Orifice are some of the popular trojans.

-: Denial Of Service (DoS) Attacks :-

-: Denial Of Service (DoS) Attacks :-


A denial of service (DoS) attack is an attack that clogs up so much memory on the target system that it can not serve it's users, or it causes the target system to crash, reboot, or otherwise deny services to legitimate users.There are several different kinds of dos attacks as discussed below:-

1) Ping Of Death :- The ping of death attack sends oversized ICMP datagrams (encapsulated in IP packets) to the victim.The Ping command makes use of the ICMP echo request and echo reply messages and it's commonly used to determine whether the remote host is alive. In a ping of death attack, however, ping causes the remote system to hang, reboot or crash. To do so the attacker uses, the ping command in conjuction with -l argument (used to specify the size of the packet sent) to ping the target system that exceeds the maximum bytes allowed by TCP/IP (65,536).
example:- c:/>ping -l 65540 hostname
Fortunately, nearly all operating systems these days are not vulnerable to the ping of death attack.

-: SQL Injection Attacks :-

-: SQL Injection Attacks :-


What is SQL Injection?
SQL Injection SQL injection is a technique that exploits a security vulnerability occurring in the database layer of an application. The vulnerability is present when user input is either incorrectly filtered for string literal escape characters embedded in SQL statements or user input is not strongly typed and thereby unexpectedly executed. Web pages which accepts parameters from user, and make SQL query to the database, are targeted. For Example, A web page with username and password, fires SQL query on the database to check whether a user has entered valid name and/or password or not. With SQL Injection, it is possible for us to send crafted user name and/or password field that will change the SQL query and thus grant us something else.

-: Google Hacking :-

-: Google Hacking :-


Basic Operators:-
1) And (+) :- This operator is used to include multiple terms in a query which is to be searched in google.
example:- if we type "hacker+yahoo+science" in google search box and click search, it will reveal the results something which are related to all the three words simultaneously i.e. hacker, yahoo and science.

2 ) OR (|) :- The OR operator, represented by symbol( | ) or simply the word OR in uppercase letters, instructs google to locate either one term or another term in a query.

3) NOT :-
It is opposite of AND operator, a NOT operator excludes a word from search.
example:- If we want to search websites containing the terms google and hacking but not security then we enter the query like "google+hacking" NOT "security".

-: Input Validation Attacks :-

-: Input Validation Attacks :-


Input Validation Attacks are where an attacker intentionally sends unusual input in the hopes of confusing the application.
The most common input validation attacks are as follows-

1) Buffer Overflow :- Buffer overflow attacks are enabled due to sloppy programming or mismanagement of memory by the application developers. Buffer overflow may be classified into stack overflows, format string overflows, heap overflows and integer overflows. It may possible that an overflow may exist in language’s (php, java, etc.) built-in functions.
To execute a buffer overflow attack, you merely dump as much data as possible into an input field. The attack is said to be successful when it returns an application error. Perl is well suited for conducting this type of attack.
Here’s the buffer test, calling on Perl from the command line:
$ echo –e “GET /login.php?user=\
> `perl –e ‘print “a” x 500’`\nHTTP/1.0\n\n” | \
nc –vv website 80
This sends a string of 500 “a” characters for the user value to the login.php file.
Buffer overflow can be tested by sending repeated requests to the application and recording the server's response.

-: Wireless Hacking :-

-: Wireless Hacking :-


Wireless networks broadcast their packets using radio frequency or optical wavelengths. A modern laptop computer can listen in. Worse, an attacker can manufacture new packets on the fly and persuade wireless stations to accept his packets as legitimate.
The step by step procerdure in wireless hacking can be explained with help of different topics as follows:-

1) Stations and Access Points :- A wireless network interface card (adapter) is a device, called a station, providing the network physical layer over a radio link to another station.
An access point (AP) is a station that provides frame distribution service to stations associated with it.
The AP itself is typically connected by wire to a LAN. Each AP has a 0 to 32 byte long Service Set Identifier (SSID) that is also commonly called a network name. The SSID is used to segment the airwaves for usage.

-: Password Hacking :-

-: Password Hacking :-


Password cracking is the process of recovering secret passwords from data that has been stored in or transmitted by a computer system. A common approach is to repeatedly try guesses for the password.
Most passwords can be cracked by using following techniques :

1) Hashing :- Here we will refer to the one way function (which may be either an encryption function or cryptographic hash) employed as a hash and its output as a hashed password.
If a system uses a reversible function to obscure stored passwords, exploiting that weakness can recover even 'well-chosen' passwords.
One example is the LM hash that Microsoft Windows uses by default to store user passwords that are less than 15 characters in length.
LM hash breaks the password into two 7-character fields which are then hashed separately, allowing each half to be attacked separately.

Hash functions like SHA-512, SHA-1, and MD5 are considered impossible to invert when used correctly.

-: Network Hacking :-

-: Network Hacking :-


Network Hacking is generally means gathering information about domain by using tools like Telnet, NslookUp, Ping, Tracert, Netstat, etc.
It also includes OS Fingerprinting, Port Scaning and Port Surfing using various tools.

Ping :- Ping is part of ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) which is used to troubleshoot TCP/IP networks. So, Ping is basically a command that allows you to check whether the host is alive or not.
To ping a particular host the syntax is (at command prompt)--
c:/>ping hostname.com

example:- c:/>ping www.google.com


Various attributes used with 'Ping' command and their usage can be viewed by just typing c:/>ping at the command prompt.


Netstat :- It displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP network connections. i.e. local address, remote address, port number, etc.
It's syntax is (at command prompt)--
c:/>netstat -n



Telnet :- Telnet is a program which runs on TCP/IP. Using it we can connect to the remote computer on particular port. When connected it grabs the daemon running on that port.
The basic syntax of Telnet is (at command prompt)--
c:/>telnet hostname.com

By default telnet connects to port 23 of remote computer.
So, the complete syntax is-
c:/>telnet www.hostname.com port

example:- c:/>telnet www.yahoo.com 21 or c:/>telnet 192.168.0.5 21


Tracert :- It is used to trace out the route taken by the certain information i.e. data packets from source to destination.
It's syntax is (at command prompt)--
c:/>tracert www.hostname.com
example:- c:/>tracert www.insecure.in



Here "*    *    *    Request timed out." indicates that firewall installed on that system block the request and hence we can't obtain it's IP address.

various attributes used with tracert command and their usage can be viewed by just typing c:/>tracert at the command prompt.

The information obtained by using tracert command can be further used to find out exact operating system running on target system.


Internet Security and Ethical Hacking

Welcome to the unique confluence of hackers , crackers and security professionals
on the world wide web.
This is your complete resource for internet security and ethical hacking.

Ethical Hacker -: The Ethical Hacker :-
Most people think that hackers are computer criminals. They fail to recognise the fact that criminals and hackers are two totally different things. Media is responsible for this. Hackers in reality are actually good and extremely intelligent people who by using their knowledge in a constructive manner help organisations, companies, goverment, etc. to secure documents and secret information on the internet.

Conclusion


Conclusion

The word "hacker" carries weight. People strongly disagree as to what a hacker is. Hacking may be defined as legal or illegal, ethical or unethical. The media’s portrayal of hacking has boosted one version of discourse. The conflict between discourses is important for our understanding of computer hacking subculture. Also, the outcome of the conflict may prove critical in deciding whether or not our society and institutions remain in the control of a small elite or we move towards a radical democracy (a.k.a. socialism). It is my hope that the hackers of the future will move beyond their limitations (through inclusion of women, a deeper politicization, and more concern for recruitment and teaching) and become hacktivists. They need to work with non-technologically based and technology-borrowing social movements (like most modern social movements who use technology to do their task more easily) in the struggle for global justice. Otherwise the non-technologically based social movements may face difficulty continuing to resist as their power base is eroded while that of the new technopower elite is growing – and the fictionesque cyberpunk-1984 world may become real.

Limitations to Resistance


Limitations to Resistance

The master's tools will never destroy the master's house.
(Audre Lorde in Sister Outsider)
The institutions that are in power create the technology that helps them.
(Kirkpatrick Sale, qtd. in Robin 1996)
What limitations are there to hacking as a source of resistance? Structurally Sale argues that the technology in the computer revolution is designed to be undemocratic. He thinks we should take a Luddite position and reject the digital revolution. He pessimistically forecasts that the elite will win the fight for technopower. The statistics on inequality in Internet use back him up.
More critically, the illegal hackers, who meet the most accepted definition of hacker, show potential for resistance, but also major problems before that potential can be realized. Namely, overall hacker support for progressive causes outside of libertarian issues is shallow. While one might expect hackers who by operating anonymously can be free of their sex, race, and sexual orientation to be very accepting of diversity ("We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias..." – The Mentor), this is not the case. Probably 80-90% of hackers are male and they tend to act sexist. Phrack includes many letters that were generally accompanied by sarcastic editorial comments. If the letter-writer’s name or handle was female, then the editor would usually suggest that they "hook-up". In past summer conferences organized by hackers and Phrack, people hired strippers and watched pornography videos (along with drinking) as a form of entertainment. Women are generally treated as sex objects. Men who try to get help from more experienced hackers or phreaks have trouble, but women receive favorable treatment, probably in hope that they will return the favor. Phrack ragged on one hacker, Oryan Quest, for being a Mexican ("illegal alien") and using Spanish commands on his BBS. However as they also attacked him for a series of other things (Ex. to try and boost his reputation he filed fake news stories to Phrack) so one cannot know whether the editors were primarily motivated by racism or not.
Some hackers are more concerned about their status within the movement, than about building the movement. There is a lot of teaching happening in the underground with BBSes, webpages, electronic journals, files, and chat rooms; however hackers need to change their attitude. Instead of assuming that everyone who has an AOL account is a loser and kicking off an Internet Relay Chat channel anyone who asks a question (just because they seem a little new), hackers need to write a friendly response and bring the newcomers into hacking culture like other social movements do. By contrast, if a new person shows up at a National Council meeting of the Student Environmental Action Coalition (large national progressive student environmental network) they get a lot of attention and are welcomed into the fold. If they are willing, they will end up with a very high level of responsibility.

Hackers as Resistance (illegal and legal)


Hackers as Resistance (illegal and legal)

Hacking. It is a full time hobby, taking countless hours per week to learn, experiment, and execute the art of penetrating multi-user computers: Why do hackers spend a good portion of their time hacking? Some might say it is scientific curiosity, others that it is for mental stimulation. But the true roots of hacker motives run much deeper than that. In this file I will describe the underlying motives of the aware hackers, make known the connections between Hacking, Phreaking, Carding, and Anarchy, and make known the "techno-revolution" which is laying seeds in the mind of every hacker. . . And whatever you do, continue the fight. Whether you know it or not, if you are a hacker, you are a revolutionary. Don't worry, you're on the right side.
("Doctor Crash," 1986, Phrack 6)
In the beginning the military-industrial complex invented the Internet, and the generals looked upon the Internet and saw that it was an effective war-proof control structure. And as the military-industrial complex penetrated the halls of academia, the professors looked upon the Internet and saw that it was interesting. The professors showed it to their students, and the students looked upon the Internet and saw that it was brilliant. Then the student activists saw the Internet, and realised that it was capable of being subverted into a more socially useful purpose than a control structure for the military-industrial complex - and lo, the state lost control of the Internet!
(electrohippies : http://www.greennet.org.uk/ehippies/)
Are hackers revolutionaries? Some are. Part of the reason West German hackers (such as Pengo who was a punk and a Green) attempted to hack for the Russians (codename "Project Equalizer") was because they wanted to promote peace through reducing the West’s technical advantage. The 1960s New Left started Phreaking. Computer hackers and enthusiasts in general tend to be a mixture of libertarian, anarchist, and generally liberal. They are overwhelmingly opposed to authoritarian systems. Cyberpunk literature shows the individual using technology, somehow surviving in the midst of authoritarian structures.
More recently, "hacktivism" has emerged as people have learnt how to put their computer "in the way," instead of their body. Hacktivists have broken into websites to put a political message on the site (freeing computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, human rights in China, the Zapatistas, and East Timor have all been popular topics). Hacktivists invented the electronic sit-in. A program called "Floodnet" allows you to set your computer so that it is constantly requesting a webpage. Activists can cooperate from around the world, and if enough people join it will slow down the webpage, ultimately leading to a Denial of Service. In addition, it is possible to overload a target’s email account by sending them large attachments. Hacktivists flooded and email bombed the World Trade Organization during its meeting in Seattle.
It is also possible to legally use computers and the Internet to share information and build movements of resistance. The reduction of costs of communication helps both multi-national corporations and encourages the creation of a global alliance of anti-corporate resistance. For instance the student anti-sweatshop movement (United Students Against Sweatshops) has used an email list as its primary organizing tool and has arguably become the most cohesive and powerful progressive student movement in only two years.

Technopower


Technopower

[2600] holds that technical power and specialized knowledge, of any kind obtainable, belong by right in the hands of those individuals brave and bold enough to discover them--by whatever means necessary.
(Goldman qtd. in Sterling)
The economy of the developed world is moving from focussing on producing goods (Ex. cars, houses, food, and computers) to being based on the exchange of information. This shift may be compared to the transition from feudalism to capitalism where the power shifted away from the landed aristocracy to the newly enriched bourgeoisie. In this case, the power will shift from the owners of productive capital (a.k.a. factories) to those of informational capital. Already we have seen a strong shift away from productive capital, as speculative investments are able to wreck havoc on national economies (such as Mexico’s 1994 crisis and the recent Southeast Asian financial crisis). Each day over 1.5 trillion dollars is traded in international currency markets (UNDP: 1999). Thus capital is overwhelming the power of the state. For example, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is attempting to liberalize trade and permits corporations to challenge and change national laws by appealing to the WTO to rule that they are barriers to free trade. Despite the WTO’s recent failure at the protest-marred Seattle meeting, corporate sponsored globalization will march on.
Now if the economy is entering a new stage, then a new class will gain power. The new class could be called an "info-bourgeoisie." Sterling argues that hackers and their critics are fighting over "technopower." While access to computers has been growing, there is still great inequality. According to the 1998 study, "Falling Through the Net," families with incomes over $75,000 were five times more likely than those under $15,000 to have a computer and seven times more likely to use the Internet. Inequality is even worse if you include race. Only 1.9% of black families with income under $15,000 used the Internet, compared to 3.8% of Hispanic families and 8.9% of white ones.
Globally Internet usage was only 140 million people in mid-1998 (Human Development Report Office ctd. in UNDP), though expected to reach 700 million by 2001. There are many people who are not going to use the Internet for a very long time. The bottom 20% of nations only had 0.2% of Internet users, compared to 6.5% for the middle 60%, and a whopping 93.3% for the top 20%. So the difference between rich and poor is a ratio of 450.
Also even as more people gain access to the Internet there will still be vast inequality between users. For instance if you are a corporation and know how to market and design an effective website you will get thousands or more hits per day. By comparison, for two years my personal website was only visited once every several days. The World Wide Web was a medium where I could and did publish my opinions and research, however it did not matter as no one was reading. As more and more websites are created, search engines have started to rank sites by how many time other sites link to them. So if your website starts with a high-ranking on the search engine, more people will link to it, which will increase your search engine rank and so on (and vice-versly if no-one knows about your site, nobody will link to it, and it will never appear in the top hits for a search engine). This Internet-specific examples shows that an information or technopower based economy permits, and possibly promotes, inequality due to differences in technical knowledge, education, language, race, class, gender, and other factors.
In the software or "information management" market, Microsoft’s monopoly of the operating systems market and near-monopoly of the word processing and spreadsheet markets shows the danger of not questioning who owns the infrastructure of the developing information economy. The nostalgic discourse has a good argument when it says that the people collaborating to create one of Microsoft’s primary rival in operating systems, Linux, are hackers, if hackers are to be understood as individuals resisting monopolization of technopower. Though recently so-called "hackers" have been cashing-in big time by listing their Linux-related corporation on the stock market. On its first day of trading, stock in VA Linux Systems set a new record by soaring from its initial public offer price of $30 to $239 ¼.
What impact will the corporatization of the Internet (its growing use for e-commerce and the advertisements all over) have upon deciding whether it is used for resistance or to further domination? Will "free" mean "free because it comes with advertisements?" That is how it is for the free webpages, free email, free hard drive space, free phone calls (a couple companies offer free long distance which is interrupted for an ad every several minutes), free listservs, and free pirated software – all of which are being promoted for someone’s profit. Or will "free" be the start of a gift-giving, possibly post-capitalist and socialistic, economy? This is how it is with freeware like Linux and other programs, USENET, and discussion lists and webpages on nonprofit servers. Unfortunately, now Linux is also under threat of commercialization too. Is the Internet going to intensify capitalism by reducing transaction costs so that everyone can be an entrepreneur or will it help lead to socialism?

Media Discourse


Media Discourse

The media serves a similar role to the legal system. Its net effect is to sensationalize illegal hacking and thus has caused the nostalgic discourse to lose out in the battle for public opinion. And like the legal discourse, the media generally fails to distinguish between ethical and unethical hacking.
There are some differences within the media. As hacking and computers have become increasingly prevalent, the reporters who cover hacking are better informed and more immune to the hype (Ex. the War Games theme that a teen hacker could set-off a nuclear war). Some reporters and particularly segments of the computer-media, like the magazine Wired, will present a more sympathetic and realistic story about the dangers and motivations of computer hackers.
However, it is media coverage like the following examples which sets the tone. First, Eddie Schwarz, a WGN radio talk-show host, rebukes hacker / phreak "Anna" who openly admitted to stealing $15,000 worth of long distance:
You know what Anna, you know what disturbs me? You don't sound like a stupid person but you represent a . . . a . . . a . . . lack of morality that disturbs me greatly. You really do. I think you represent a certain way of thinking that is morally bankrupt. And I'm not trying to offend you, but I . . . I'm offended by you! (WGN Radio, 1988 – qtd. in Meyer)
Schwarz creates a moral boundary between normal society and hackers / phreaks – who apparently are maliciously causing financial damage without adhering to any ethical values. This boundary is necessary for the criminalization and marginalization of hackers. And here is an example from an NBC TV special on "computer crime," hosted by Gary Collins who is talking to Jay Bloombecker, director of the National Center for Computer Crime Data."
Collins: . . . are they [hackers] malicious in intent, or are they simply out to prove, ah, a certain machismo amongst their peers?
Bloombecker: I think so. I've talked about "modem macho" as one explanation for what's being done. And a lot of the cases seem to involve proving [sic] that he . . . can do something really spiffy with computers. But, some of the cases are so evil, like causing so many computers to break, they can't look at that as just trying to prove that you're better than other people.
GC: So that's just some of it, some kind of "bet" against the computer industry, or against the company.
JB: No, I think it's more than just rottenness. And like someone who uses graffiti doesn't care too much whose building it is, they just want to be destructive.
GC: You're talking about a sociopath in control of a computer!
JB: Ah, lots of computers, because there's thousands, or tens of thousands [of hackers]
(NBC-TV, 1988 – qtd. in Meyer).
The image of thousands of hackers working magic, penetrating every possible imagine computer system (the media covered successful attacks on military systems are the proof), whether it is coincidental or not, allows for pressure / repression to be brought to bear against hackers, conveniently ignoring the immense technical power that is being gathered and wielded by corporations and governments.

Problems with the Law Enforcement Discourse


Problems with the Law Enforcement Discourse

The legal discourse, in its attempts to figure out how to treat computer hackers yet often knowing very little about computers and/or hacking (especially judges and juries), fits it into the traditional criminal code. The problem with this approach is that computer hacker "crimes" can be qualitatively different from regular ones. For instance Prophet, a Legion of Doom member, hacked into a Bell South system and copied a file on the 911 system. Later he was charged with theft of a document valued at a highly inflated $79,449 for its approximately ten pages. He had not even stolen it. Bell South still had their original copy, and his document was of next to no value. In fact, this "stolen property" was distributed to thousands of people when it was edited and included in an issue of Phrack. Are they all guilty of a criminal offense? Another questionable parallel is that when a hacker gains access into a computer system it is treated like break and entry or trespassing. While in fact the actions of the white hat hackers are as if someone were to enter a house without breaking anything, read a couple books, and leave everything in such a condition that the house’s occupants will never realize or feel any loss from the intrusion. Not only that, but the hacker’s behavior inside the house is so low-key, that if you were to be home at the time of the intrusion you would likely not notice them.
The other major problem with the legal discourse is that it fails to distinguish between hackers who intend no harm and criminals. As an example, while questioning Emmanuel Goldstein, editor of 2600, chairman of the congressional committee Markey first wanted used the label "bad hacker," then twice insisted upon "crackers," and finally went with "criminal hackers," all while Goldstein insisted that the people in question were criminals. He does not even accept for them to be called the lesser term of "cracker." The criminals might be using hacker technology, but that does not make them hackers because they lack the values and technical knowledge.

Mr. MARKEY. ... What do we do about the bad hacker?
Mr. GOLDSTEIN. Well, I just would like to clarify something. We have heard here in testimony that there are gang members and drug members who are using this technology. Now, are we going to define them as hackers because they are using the technology?
Mr. MARKEY. Yes. Well, if you want to give them another name, fine. We will call them hackers and crackers, all right?
Mr. GOLDSTEIN. I think we should call them criminals.
Mr. MARKEY. So the crackers are bad hackers, all right? If you want another word for them, that is fine, but you have got the security of individuals decreasing with the sophistication of each one of these technologies, and the crackers are out there. What do we do with the crackers who buy your book?
Mr. GOLDSTEIN. I would not call them crackers. They are criminals. If they are out there doing something for their own benefit, selling information --
Mr. MARKEY. Criminal hackers. What do we do with them?
Mr. GOLDSTEIN. There are existing laws. Stealing is still stealing.
Mr. MARKEY. OK. Fine.
(Congressional Testimony qtd. from Phrack)
In summary, the legal discourse contradicts both the ethical hacker one by lumping all hackers together as criminals, and the nostalgic one by preferring the computer underground’s definition of hacking to the nostalgic one.

The Legal Discourse


The Legal Discourse

The culture of criminal hackers seems to glorify behavior which would be classified as sociopathic or frankly psychotic.
(Mich Kabay, director of education, NCSA, NCSA News, June 1996, qtd. in Phrack 48)
The law enforcement discourse simply argues that there are people who are causing financial loss to corporations and that their activity should be viewed as criminal. Some people are using hacker-knowledge to defraud credit card companies (Ex. infamous hacker/phreak Kevin Mitnick was convicted for stealing 20,000 credit card numbers), long distance companies, banks, and plant viruses or otherwise damage a company’s computer system. 1For a company that does not know who is accessing its network and cannot tell their intention, it makes sense to lump all hackers together and depict them as criminals.
Of course computer security companies who benefit from over-playing the hacker threat, are not helping to calm corporate fears:
Anti-hacker ad runs during Super Bowl XXXII. The Network Associates ad, costing $1.3-million for 30 seconds, shows two Russian missile silo crewmen worrying that a computer order to launch missiles may have come from a hacker. They decide to blow up the world anyway (Trigaux 1998).
Computer hacking is in a gray legal area. It is only since 1980 that computer hacking became illegal in every state (Hollinger and Lanza-Kaduce, 1988 - ctd in Meyer), but law officials have made up for their lack of activity with high profile raids such as those carried out in 1990 (see Sterling’s The Hacker Crackdown). In a May 9, 1990 press release, Mr. Jenkins, Asst. Dir. of the US Secret Service explained their newly found vigilance: "Our experience shows that many computer hacker suspects are no longer misguided teenagers, mischievously playing games with their computers in their bedrooms. Some are now high tech computer operators using computers to engage in unlawful conduct"(qtd. in Sterling).
With this kind of rhetoric aimed at hackers it is not surprising that Judge Stanton said the following while handing down an exemplary one year (and three years probation) sentence to hacker Phiber Obtik: "The defendant...stands as a symbol here today... Hacking crimes constitute a real threat to the expanding information highway" (qtd. in Dibbel 1994).