______ _____ ____ _____ _ _ ____ __ ____ ___ ___ _ _ / ____/ / __ \ / __/ / __ \ // // / __/ /\ / / / __|\ \ / / \\ // / /__ / /_/ ) / /_ / / \ \ // // / / / \ / / / / \ \/ / \\ // / ___/ / __/ / __/ ( ( ) \) // // / __/ / \/ / ( ( / / \\// / / / /\ \ / /__ \ \__/ \ \ //____// / /__ / /\ / \ \__ / / || /_/ /__/ \__\ /____/ \_____/\_\ /______/ /____/ /_/ \__/ \____|/__/ INSIDE THE HACKER MIND 1. Introduction 2. BlueGiant, by: thebluegiant 3. Netzero Fix, by: Rekcahrekees 4. Regarding Level 9, by: three eleven 5. An Interview with D4sh 6. Where Does the Fun Stop? 7. New SE Trick 8. Crew/Contact 1) INTRODUCTION "Becoming the Media" In a world where people have pity for a company that is too stupid to use a virus scanner, and shows like "Level 9" portraying hackers as evil masterminds looking for world domination, it's no wonder the general public may cringe at the word hacker. Companies like Microsoft who allow Trojans to get into their networks are gaining support through propaganda in the form of the news media. Do you ever see a debate on whether or not hackers are good or evil? If you do, it's usually found only on a hacker site and is not considered "real" news. What is real news? Is it the garbage that shows like Extra and Inside Edition pour into our already junk filled minds to make us even dumber than we used to be? Or is it the constant stories regarding "a hacker that broke into some computer somewhere in the world and did something that he shouldn't have done…oh by the way he can shut down the entire internet." Unfortunately this is what the public is faced with day in and day out. No, I don't suggest moving to another country…because quite frankly this is found everywhere. Just look online, see what kind of news articles you can come up with. People getting out of hand at a protest? CNN claims no rubber bullets were fired on the crowd…but amateur video shows differently. Do I suggest people run rampant in the streets? Or that all police are bad, and all riots are good? Of course not. But there comes a point where the media tries to block out the bad and amplify the good so the public sees what they want them to see. They being the almighty government that could never do anything wrong. Well let's face it, they can do wrong. That's why it's up to us, the people of the internet to (in the words of Jello Biafra) become the media! How can this be done though, well the answer is easier than you think. The world today is filled with technological possibilities that will allow you to get your message out. Even if you're not a hacker, you can still get your word out through simple webpages! Of course there's always shortwave radio, telephone, email, irc, online radio shows, bbs's, and a hundred other ways. Bottom line, people are going to constantly believe everything the government tells them until we start giving them reason to believe otherwise. Do it peacefully, but be strong and never back down. Show proof, and report the truth (even if it hurts). That way people will begin to believe you, and listen to you when you have something to say. Until this happens, people will continue to cringe at the "evil" all hackers do…and support the actions of riot officers who tear gassed peaceful protestors. It's up to us folks, we must become the media! 2) BLUEGIANT by: thebluegiant I was readin the latest issue of frequence and that article on newbies got me thinking(probably because i am one ..i did, and wont lie about it, want 2 start hacking to go in and mess stuff up.Then i started reading a few files and talking 2 some of you. That atitudes changed.I no longer want to destroy this stuff..i want to explore and learn it.Lol, i was talking with a few on my friends the other day and they couldnt understand why i wouldnt send them any programs or trojans... Welll, anyways, i'd like 2 say.i've been a bad newbie.I havnt gone out looking as hard as i probably should've..and i only have one lame ass excuse.Not enough time.I tell myself that i have stuff 2 do and places to go..even as i lay on the couch watching tv.I'm just making excuses for myself 'cause...i do want everything handed 2 me.I dont actually want 2 learn for myself HOW to get INTO a system..i tell myself i'll start thinking when i get in.And well i probably will.I need 2 start thinking now though.I....dont have many mental challenges(school, HA!)and i started this looking for one..but now that its here i hide..i'd like 2 appologize 2 you all for just asking for the answers...i'm gonna try and think more now before posting..i'm still gonna hold on2 my not 'nough time excuse though!hehehe, i'll blame it on me 'life' (mostly messin round and eggin houses on halloween but hey...keeps me from thinking .. ok, next topic!..i've read some stuff that says...dont get mad if the 'pros' rip on ya for asking questions or just well..being a newbie.I havnt had this problem.A change in the hackre community or just he way i went about it?..i'd prefer to believe its the first choice.I've asked ALOT of stupid questions...and i've been welcomed with open arms. and then theres well..he challenge and excitement of it.Hacking is (for me and in the short time i've done it) an adenaline rush and a mental challenge..2 things that rarely mix.I dont think i've evn been as proud of myself as i was when i made my first successful hack...or when i left it and realized i had the willpower not to do anything to it.This is something i had 2 fight VERY hard not to do...chenge everything on their computer.it was the first time i realy realized the..responsibility of being a hacker.We have the power to do almost anything...yet most of us dont(excuse me if that sounds like a voting capaign ad:)and well...that interested me. It also got me thinking about the people whose 'community' i've just joined. All of them..smart...cool..adventurous people.All of them looking for a challenge and something new.The new..'pioneers' i guess.And i also discovered..it may be a harder frontier than any other.When i tried to get into it..i didnt realize how much of a challenge it would be but now that i do know how hard even the basics are...i realize the full extent of some of this.But, i'm sorry to say..it almost made me quit.I thought..this isnt worth it, its 2 hard and takes to much time.Then i thought about the rewards..and the challenges...I got right back on. so...excuse me if this doesnt make much sense and sounds like a self apology letter but..to all those 'real' hackers out there..keep it up and, if ya even see a newbie/me:) please..help em out..but not to much 'cause then we'll just be hacker wannabees with the software to shut stuff down..not hackers with the capability to turn stuff on. What we do in life echo's in eternity 3) NETZERO FIX by: Rekcahrekees NETZERO BANNER AND IDDLE FIX Before I begin: you know the drill this is entirely for information and education. This is not intended to violate Netzero's rights. Therefore if your ass gets in trouble wine to mommy not me. What is netzero ? Netzero is a free isp available in most cities in the us and Canada. It offers free high quality internet service providing so you can go to al the warezz and porn sites your little hearts can dream of. It is a great service that was made public in 1998 and is going strong. So what's the problem? The only problem is that it has a banner on the screen that flashes all the time and in return d-loads every 30 seconds to help you get that baud rate down. Also it has annoying messages about clicking on the banner and idle messages. Yeah The solution. To fix this little problem in an almost wonderfull program follow these steps. Find the netzero's main folder. Open. Find what is called Bin. And then inside bin find jpeg.dll. ok you follow. C/PROGRAM FILES/NETZERO/BIN/JPEG.DLL So far so good? Ok open jpeg.dll with word pad or Microsoft word( it might be to large for word pad. And erase every thing in it, then save by exiting not by save as. ok then start up netzero when you would expect it to retaliate with a banner and then open your browser you have nothing but a clean connection o the internet that we all love and hold dear with no banner or annoying idle disconnects. From that point on it works just like a regular dial up…………………have fun and always remember- "THE ONLY TRUE MAN IS A FREE MAN"me by. Rekcahrekees "the dyslectic hacker" 4) REGARDING LEVEL 9 (Note, this is an email I received from three eleven. I wanted to print it in issue 3 because it deals with Level 9. A show on the UPN that portrays hackers in a very bad light. As usual, I have not edited anything so let us know what you think. Thanks three eleven) Screamer: Hey first of all I wanted to say that Frequency and Hackermind are awesome and I always look forward to them. Second, about putting Frequency in wordpad: I find myself craving more information/knowledge after reading it, so I have no protest against making it bigger! Oh yeah, and about Level 9, I watched it for the first time last week, and even though I'm a newbie and I've only seen one episode, I'd have to say it's kinda lame. This one was about a malicious hacker named "Thrill Seeker" who took over government satellites and caused a lot of chaos. There are no good hackers portrayed, nor is there any acknowledgement that they even exist! It's basically the cops after the evil hackers (of course, what we would call crackers). I think it's just another way that the media and movies are misleading/brainwashing people as to what hacking is really about, and what kind of people the true hackers really are. It also features a lot of fast typing on computers, along with that extremely loud and annoying clicking sound of the keyboard you find alot on tv. This to me is just another hollywood actor who probably doesn't even know how to type and doesn't know a damn thing about computers or hacking. Just mindlessly bangs on the keyboard for effect, and we're supposed to think that they're a computer wiz? Not very convincing. And I laughed when one of the cops in the show refered to script kiddie tools as "kiddie script tools"! I definitely recommend all hackers to watch it and judge for yourself though...it IS kind of entertaining. Well, sorry for the long letter. Oh yeah, and there are more people listening to your show than you think. =) Peace. ~mxd 5) AN INTERVIEW WITH D4SH 1. Why the name D4sh? Well remember the nintendo 64 game "shadows of the empire"? the main character was a guy named Dash Rendar...when i was younger i thought the name Dash was cool so i used it and it stuck with me then i changed the a to a 4 just to be...different. 2. If you could choose a different handle, what would it be? Uhhhhhh.....probably Case, cuz neuromancer rocks. 3. How did you first get involved with Hackermind/Frequency? Screamer started it and i said i'd be the webmaster cuz he's a really good friend of mine plus i'm always interested in hacking/computer related topics. 4. What's the best thing about doing an online radio show? knowing people are listening to what you have to say and hopefully learning from it. 5. If you could change one thing about Hackermind, what would it be? Nothing. 6. Any chance of you writing an article for Frequency anytime soon? Sure. 7. What is your opinion of newbies? And do you think people should help them? We were all newbies at one point and of course i think people should help them 8. With that in mind, what kind of advice would you give to a newbie if you had to? Keep reading and experimenting with what you know about..anything should it be about linux/computer hardware/software/programming just read and try it out for yourself and if it doesn't work...read more 9. Do you feel newbies are treated fairly on message boards and in chat rooms? Not all the time.. 10.What is your definition of the word "hacker"? A person who likes to learn more about their computer whether that be programming, networking, security... just anything that lets a person understand more about how a computer works. 11.How do you feel about the way the media presents hackers? I think the word hacker is used alot where it doesn't apply also i think the media unjustly accuses so-called "hackers" as being deceptive criminalistic anti social people that only care about wreaking havoc on computer systems. 12.Did the movie "Hackers" help, or harm the real hacker world? I dunno...but it's a cool movie :) 13.Do you have any hackers that you admire? Who and why? ummm...naw. 14.What's your opinion of the DMCA? (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) It sucks. 15.You've said on the show that you believe hacking is getting harder, why do you feel this way? Keeping up with all the current technological advances and more & more people (sysadmins) becoming aware that their systems could be broken into, the average hacker really has to stay one foot ahead of the game, hacking is getting harder in that OTHER people are getting informed and making their systems more secure so if a hacker depends on the stupidness of say a system administrator, that admin is now learning more about what it takes to keep hackers out. 16.In your opinion, what's the best way to start hacking nowadays? Read...alot. 17.Screamer hopes you come up for the next 2600 Hope convention in 2002, will you? heh yeeh. I mean, sure. 18.If someone said you were a bad person because you're a hacker, how would you respond? I somewhat believe that it's really difficult/impossible to change the mind of some people. So, if they were just un-informed of what hacking really is I'd try to tell them that hacking is not all about breaking into computer and destroying files, it's about learning how a computer works & using your knowledge in better ways then defacing a web page with "1 r0x0r!". But, if they were informed and were just already biased against hackers, i'd tell em to fuck off. 19.Again, in your opinion...what makes a hacker elite? To be elite you have to know alot about hacking/computers. You really have to be the genuine article. You also gotta be helpful to other people...(newbies) And you gotta have a hella cool handle...(just kidding) 20.And lastly, do you feel the hacker world is growing? Or dying off? Why? Oh i think it's growing, deffinately. You may only hear about viruses and trouble making "crackers" in the news but what you don't hear is what the real "hackers" do. That's because almost all REAL hackers that DON'T want to go to jail don't advertise what they hack/make viruses/destroy other peoples files. So i think the hacker world is deffinately growing..just...quietly. (Note: Want to be interviewed? Think you have even better answers? Copy the questions and send them to screamer@hackermind.net) 6) WHERE DOES THE FUN STOP? The reason for this article is to express an opinion, as well as get a message out there. Quite often a topic arises that I find difficult to answer. The topic is this, when does hacking stop being "fun" and start being criminal? The law has one definition of this, although it may or may not be clear. You would assume playing around with DVD's you own is alright…it's not. You could go to prison for 15 years for decrypting something you purchased legally. That's all thanks to the DMCA. Now what about finding something in a computer somewhere out there in the world and checking it out, mainly to see how it works and it what it does? This is the part of the question that has so many people torn. What do both hacker ethics, and the law have to say about this? I am majoring in Criminal Justice, but I'm not going to focus on the legalities here. I'm going to focus on hacker ethics when it comes to hacking (no matter which form of hacking it may be). As hackers, we have fun exploring and seeing what we can learn…although sometimes to do this we have to bend a law or two. While I don't recommend this, since you will be prosecuted, sometimes it's the only way to go. Now wait a second…if there was ever a hacker that stood for peace and fairness it would be myself (in my opinion of course), so what the hell am I doing saying that sometimes you have to bend a law? I say this because that's how you get to the really fun stuff. True you don't have to get to the fun stuff, you could sit at home and regedit your win9x box or write some C on your linux machine…but that gets dull. You want the real deal! You want to get out there and see what all those "supercomputers" have in store! Ahh…but that's illegal. You have no authorization to use them. With this in mind, is it "wrong" to trick someone into giving you their personal account? It's certainly not polite or proper, but that's what needs to be done. Is it "right" to exploit a system that obviously has an open door and not tell anyone? As I said, the law would give you clear answers to these questions. But every hacker out there may have a different opinion. Personally, I would say as long as you don't damage anything or hurt anyone, there's no harm. But what about you? Let me know what you think at screamer@hackermind.net 7) NEW SE TRICK As promised, here's a social engineer trick to try out. This one's aimed mainly at those of you that get caught a lot (newbies) while trying to get information out of someone. What you can do is this, if they sound as though they're on to you, just tell them you work for Network Security and that you were hired by *insert boss name here* (you should have figured out a supervisor's name at this point) to make sure no one at the front desk gives out confidential information. More than likely the secretary will be thrilled that she did her job properly, and since she wants that fat juicy bonus will be more than happy to provide you with her personal information. Such as mailing address etc. You might not get everything, but you will most likely get a name from her if you state that you need to tell her supervisor what a fantastic job she's doing. And a name can lead to bigger and better things the next time you call. :) Best of luck to you! 8) CREW/CONTACT Editor-in-Chief - Screamer Chaotix screamer@hackermind.net Webmasta - D4sh d4sh@hackermind.net Contributing Writers- rekcahrekees, thebluegiant, three eleven Hackermind, the online radio companion to Frequency can be heard every Thursday all day long. Just open location 166.90.148.114:9474 with Winamp or Real Player. Sorry, a minimum of a 56k connection is required for best results. ARTICLES FOR ISSUE 4 DUE BY DECEMBER 8! WWW.HACKERMIND.NET