FREQUENCY: INSIDE THE HACKER MIND February 2001 1. Introduction "Watch Your Language" 2. Why I Can Never Be a Real Hacker, by Jon Conley 3. Can The Internet Get Full? by: The BlueGiant 4. Hacking Clubs: Why To Join Them, Why to Start Them, and Why to Avoid Them! by: DamienAK 5. Retro Tech, by: Screamer 6. Closing Arguments 7. Crew 1. INTRODUCTION: "WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE" Salem, Massachusetts: A teenage boy is arrested and thrown in jail for doing something the police didn't like. No he didn't shoot someone, he didn't steal from anyone, he didn't even hack a computer. This teenager did something far more vile, as far as the Salem PD is concerned, with the computers in his bedroom. No government computers were infiltrated, no credit cards were stolen, and no cellular phones were modified. He didn't distribute inappropriate material or sell warez. What this young man did do, was something the Salem police will never forgive him for. He made a website. Yes you read right, he made a website and was thrown in jail. No, there was no illegal material on this website…only his personal opinions of the Salem PD and a few pictures making a mockery of them. Something many of us like to refer to as "freedom of speech," you know, that foreign concept to those that have the ability to silence the little people. Many will say his use of pornographic images was "crossing the line," and that the police department didn't deserve such treatment. And perhaps they're right. But according to the laws of this country (USA), you're allowed to express yourself in a manner which you see fit. For doing this however, he was thrown in jail. His house was illegally searched (Officers refused to show a warrant until AFTER the search had been completed) and that pretty much sealed his fate. Hopefully, he will fight this in a court of law and come out on top. But it just goes to show how easily you can be locked away in this "free" country for expressing yourself. Sure you have the first amendment, but just watch your language! In other news, a big thanks to everyone who's posting on our new message board! www.hackermind.net is there to serve you, so feel free to show the world you're not afraid to speak your mind. Also, we should have that interview with the one and only Cap'n Crunch next issue, so be sure to watch for that and tell us who else you would like to see interviewed! 2. WHY I CAN NEVER BE A REAL HACKER by: Jon Conley Why I Can Never Be A Real Hacker By Jon Conley Reason One: Get Linux That is right. I chose to use Microsoft Windows as my primary operating system. Wether I use Windows Millenium or Windows NT 5 is irrelevant. The important thing is that I am using an OS that is easy to learn, used by the computer illiterate, and maybe worst of all, it is mainstream. That is right folks, I am choosing to "pay" for my operating system. I have broke the first rule that I hear out of the "elite hackers" mouths. Read a book, learn to code, get a real ISP. No, the rule that to be "uberhacker" or even a hacker at all, I must use linux. I will switch to linux...when Windows is hackproof & Linux supports as much hardware as windows does.I have heard many reasons for why they demand this. What I would like to say now is that I challenge that BS rule. Commercialized or not, expensive or not, buggy or not, I love my Microsoft. That is right. Without windows, I wouldnt have given the PC a chance. You tell me how much more powerful is linux. That I must get it and learn it inside and out. I have a few questions. Looking at that, I think I am making a wise choice. I can just go out and get a free shell account if I want to learn linux. Maybe I like the software on my Windows box. Sure I could get software similar to it for linux, but it would be second rate. I am not a second rate kind of guy. You tell me that windows is buggy and has tons of holes. I tell you that if I install a default installation of Windows Millenium and a default installation of Slackware, I would much rather leave the Millenium connected via cablemodem to the internet unattended than the Slackware. Guess what, I can learn plenty with my windows. I can go ahead and get a shell if I need to, w/o creating an incovenience to myself. I could spend my whole life using only windows, studying windows security, and never EVER running or using a linux server. Would I feel like I was missing out on something? No. Why? Because look at the internet and the percentage of Windows NT servers. It sure as hell outnumbers the linux servers. Another thing, I actually like my hardware. I like my awesome graphics card, I like using my internal modem (i like a clean desk), and I like getting whatever hardware I want and being able to plug it in and use it. And I love the guys on IRC telling you that you need linux, only to version them and see a reply of mIRC. Real smooth. Oh yeah, they are using their families computer. The elite hacking linux box must be down again, or just upgrading it. BS. If I used linux, I couldnt even get on the internet. As is a story for most people. We dont want to buy a different modem, give up our broadband, switch to a more expensive ISP. Screw that. Now you tell me, do you think having linux w/o the internet as opposed to Windows and the internet is a good alternative? I can tell you which one I think would hamper the learning process. Reason Two: Drop AOL OK. I use AOL. Lamer. I know, I know. I have heard all the jokes. I bet the ratio of people who are "newbies" is only slightly higher on AOL than other ISPs, if at all. Only because well informed people would probably call up ISPs and ask about service, quality, etc rather than just pick up or use one of those damn CDs. AOL does have absolutely worthless software and horrible tech support. However, it is the only semi-reliable connection I can get in the area. I can go ANYWHERE on the internet that I want with it. I need linux, live above, I can use a shell. Email, I can get a pop3/smtp account at tons of places for no cost. I can even use webmail, which the majority of ppl seem to be using nowadays. I can telnet into any system. I can minimize AOL and tada, use any browser I want. OMG, there goes the whole but aol has a terrible browser argument. Even think of that one geniuses? Talk about how it is newbie haven, because anyone can get on with it. Sorry, but their software is perhaps the biggest pain nowadays. Any other ISP gives you a CD where you just put it in and your done. Enter your name and password off a piece of paper, if even that. On efnet, I can even get into some channels to help or help others. Why? Because AOL is banned from their channel. That is lame. Stereotyping an entire group of ppl like that. The thing is, they guy that you always send questions to his hotmail account, the webmaster of the security site you frequent, the op on IRC using the proxy. They all could be on AOL. Unfortunately, you don't know that. SO you cant prejudge, harass, and discriminate against them. Poor you. If you only knew. Reason Three: Read A Book Oh yeah, I can understand with general questions, why you would answer with this. But it seems that some people just throw it up there. These people might be really good in a certain field but are new in another and just need to be pointed in the right direction(Like someone really good with satellite programming that wants to get in on phreaking). Read a book, do a search. learn a programming language? OK I did a search for "martha stewart naked", read the book "Cat in the Hat", and made a program in FORTRAN, but I still can't seem to crack the UNIX password file. I understand it can be frustrating helping someone when they can find the answer anywhere. So why dont you tell them what to search for? what site to look at? what book to read? Doesnt take very long, but it helps. Maybe they havent heard of neworder or packetstorm or Hacking Exposed. They are coming from all types of locations, backgrounds, and ages. We dont all experience the same things. Especially in a place as big as the internet. So just take that extra minute or two to get the extra information. It can really go along way. Be like: "Hey neo, try searching for "unix password" @ http://packetstorm.securify.com, check out the site while you are there." OMG, now they have a method to find information next time, a site to look at, and a resource to find answer to the question they asked. Simple and quick. Summary: AOL breeds newbies? Windows breeds newbies? Open your eyes people. It isnt the service or the software. It is the fact that well over the majority of people use these. So you have to expect the good with the bad. So next time you see someone that is using AOL or windows or asking a general question, maybe STFU and think for a second. Ppl can see through you telling them to get linux, to read a book, to get a "real" isp. Chances are, they just might know more than you. Or maybe they just forgot how to code in c++ and are using their little sisters computer too :). 3. CAN THE INTERNET GET FULL? by: The BlueGiant Ø Can the Internet GET full?> I'm sure that most of you have by now heard the catch phrase,"The Internet is full, go away."But what exactly does that mean?I thought about that allot and game up with a few different ideas. Are any of them the right ones?...I think it depends on the person saying it. If the number of people using the Internet continue to expand that then by 2003 there will be 4,266,972,482 people connected to the Internet, that's 71.12% of the WORLDS population! It certainly seems like that would 'fill it up', but its cyberspace, there is no maximum capacity. > So most likely that's not what it means, or even possible. Or is it the number or inexperienced users on the 'net? Probably at least 60% of the people on the Internet know next to nothing, and they seem to be the more vocal crowd. Believing the press, being the press even, with its hate of hackers and even its hate for just about anything that isn't mass market. Should these people go way though?...Even if they should they wont, 'newbies' are something that will never go away, and in the instance of the Internet, they'll a breed that's definitely expanding. Then there's the corporations that are taking it over. And that's something I definitely don't like, but once again, it was inevitable. Something like the Internet can open up huge new markets to these companies,how could they resist? Of course, having banners advertising these at virtually ever site you visit is definitely going to far, but that's the way huge corporations usually work. And now to my final idea, the geeky rebel that's no longer a rebel. This used to be a niche area, barely anyone knew of the Internet or even how to use it, but those that did we're 'elite' so to speak. But now, the playground is gone, the mass market has taken it over and its definitely not the same as it used to be. Places still exist for these 'nerds' to go and meet with other of our kind , people who can share the new Internet challenges with you. But still,it's like you're favorite toy was stolen by the school yard bully. I don't agree with most of my theories here, in fact the only one I really believe is that the corporations should back off a bit. Sadly, however, they wont. The Internet will continue to be the new marketing frontier, and we'll probably see even more of it in the future. Will it ever get to crowded with 'newbies'? I doubt it, sure the more people that are on the less 'virgin territory' there will be, but then it'll just be even more of a challenge to find the frontiers of cyberspace. And finally, can we ever reclaim our toy?Only if we speak out and can actually take on the bully. The Internet is a wonderful thing and definitely should be used by everyone, I don't think that 'hackers'(and I use that to describe everyone that loves exploring computers) should be pushed aside though. Why is it that whenever something bad on the Internet happens it's blamed on hackers? It's because no ones ever told them otherwise. I'm not saying start a revolution, but when your local news pins something on hackers call them up or write them a letter explaining exactly what a hacker is. The Internet never was ours, it always belonged to corporations and the mass's but make sure that those don't push you aside or ruin your image of the Internet. Educate them, start up forums and e-zines so that your voice is heard. But the Internet definitely isn't, and never will be full, it's just expanding and everyone has to be able to expand their ideas with it.Because if you don't you will be left behind, the internet will be run over by coporations, and then your playground will be gone, without a trace of what it used to be. 4. HACKING CLUBS: by DamienAK by DamienAK Hacking Clubs have been around since the early 1980. One of the most famous was and still is the LOD. Started by Lex Luthor, the LOD became famous not only in the computer underground but also to the main stream media for their abilty to cause havoc and destroy everything in their way. At least thats what everybody thought about them. The fact is that the LOD promoted good ethics and did not accept members deleting files and messing up other peoples computers. Anybody belonging to LOD was considered extremely dangerous and was hated by law enforcement. Well, that was then and this is now. Today there are tons of Hacking clubs, coming from different countries. There are hacking clubs from Germany, Spain, Austalia, Korea and the middle-east. There are Hacking clubs which specialize in web site defacements and others are just there to share information. So, why should you join a Hacking club? I think the biggest reason people join clubs is so they can get help, share information, and just have others to talk to. Of course nowadays there are tons of webboards and IRC servers where all this can be done. The problem is that all of these are pretty public and posting any real info could end up in getting you arrested. Plus now with technology such as "Carnivore" and "Echelon" FEDs can easily monitor e-mails and just about everything else you do online. Hacking is becoming a lot harder all the time and joining a club could make your life a lot easier. A good place to find clubs is cyberamry.com. They have an (almost) endless list of clubs. Ok, so you couldn't find any Hacking Club that wanted to accept you or that did what you were interested in. What the next best thing you can do? Yes you've guessed right, just start your own club. If you want to start a club that hacks webpages from companies that destroy the tropical rain forest suck as Home Deopt and Mitsubishi all you have to do is make a web-site on angelfire.com, go to a couple of boards and IRC servers and ask people to join and pretty soon you will have a club. The only problem is that you'll have 3 FEDs, 10 nebies that don't know what telnet is, and the head of computer security over at Home Depot as your only members. You see what I'm getting at. When starting a serious club you shouldn't make it public, you shouldn't let everybody join. Pick out only a few members that you know vert well and that you "t r u s t". Notice how I spelled trus? That's because you shouldn't trust anybody. Trust is one of the things that can get you arrested so be carefull who you do trust. Now you know why to join clubs and why to start them but why should you aviod them? I mean there are a lot of good things that come with clubs. Matter of fact, everything is perfectly fine until something goes wrong. One of the members screws up, gets busted, and that's not the end of it. Let's say he DOS attacked a website, the webiste loses like $100,000 while it was down. Now, let's say he could get up to 2-3 years in jail. The FEDs scare him, tell him how a weak little computer dork like him wouldn't survive one day in jail. He's scared to death, he doesn't know what to do, he just wants to start crying. All of the sudden the FEDs tell him that they could let him out on probation if he would be nice enough to provide them with info about all the other Hackers he knows. Of course he will do it. He gets away with probation and ten other hackers go to jail. Thats just one scenario. Then again you could be like Lex Luthor, the leader of the most famous hacking crew and you never get arrested or even visited. Well, in the end I want to say that close-knit hacking organizations which are not aimed at using their skills for criminal purposes are always a good addition for the underground. Just be carefull who you tell what you are doing and who you "t r u s t". 5. RETRO TECH by: Screamer Remember WarGames? I know I do, it's got to be one of my favorite movies. In fact, it's almost a certainty that if it's on I'll be watching it, whether it's one in the afternoon or three in the morning. Believe me, if anyone notices all the mistakes that are made in that film it's me, but nonetheless it's an exciting film that raises some good points about government security…or a lack thereof. What it's also well known for is creating the need for every kid in America to purchase a modem for their computers back in 1983 (you were alive then…right?) Yes, those beautiful 1200 baud modems (if you were lucky of course) could dial up a BBS and allow you to post all sorts of messages and communicate with others in your area. Let's face it, those days are gone. Nowadays we no longer dial up BBS's to post a message, instead we go to a website and flame the hell out of someone else who had just posted. Or even better, message them through one of the millions of messaging programs out there. Yes that's right, email is far too slow by today's standards. For crying out loud, the person will have to go and check their email to find it! Why do that when you can conveniently plop a message right on their screen? This all brings to question one discovery I made recently. If all this old technology is so slow and out dated…why then do so many people wish we were back in the olden days? From my experience, this syndrome known as "Retro Tech" affects mainly those new to the hacker world. The people that are more likely to read those 1980's text philes on how to do things. You know, the ones that have only about 1% truth and 99% urban legend bullshit? The obvious question is why? Why do these newbies desire the days of dial ups and 2600 tones so badly? Perhaps because it's all they know…after all there are plenty of tutorials on how to wardial and enter a machine through telenet. So maybe they hate the idea that they now have to learn C and TCP/IP before they can do anything at all. Let me examine a friend of mine, I'll call him John. John wanted to become a hacker because, like so many others, he watched Hackers and fell in love with the idea of looking like those guys. Naturally he turned to me *sigh* to find out what to do, and I gave him the usual lecture. I asked him if he had any interest in computers/phones/tech at all, and he swore he did. With that, I sent him to the library to get books on windows, linux, unix, tcp/ip, c programming, and even a general "how telephones work" book. He checked them out and brought them back to his house, where I then said he would have to read them all. Obviously he would need to renew them several times, but that he shouldn't worry because it was doubtful anyone else would want these huge unattractive books. Then he asked me something that made me laugh out loud, "You mean I have to read these?!" "Yes John, you have to read them…but I thought you liked this stuff?" Apparently he didn't have a genuine love for the topics before him, and I felt good catching him in his lie. All he wanted to do was be like those kids in the movie…but considering he was my friend, and since the hacker world could use a few more knowledgeable people, I decided to not give up. Next, I told him to read a few text philes on the internet…feeling that this was probably going to turn him on to the subject more, and that the bigger books would come later. Sure enough, he enjoyed reading about wardialers, 2600 tones, default logins, etc, etc. After reading for three months, I asked him if he had any desire to learn about the newer stuff, and he gave me a cold "no." Alright, I thought, he's not interested in advancing technology…only in the hackers of yesteryear. Later that night I called him up, only one number out the hundreds I usually dial, and asked him what he was doing. He told me that he was using his other line to wardial. "Wardial?" I asked, "John this is the year 2000, people don't wardial anymore!" "Bullshit," he said, and of course he was going to think this. After all, all those text philes told him that if he wanted to hack he would need to find a dial up through a wardialer and then try some default logins. I did my best to tell him what he was doing was futile, but he refused to listen. I had to breath a loud sigh, another newbie with a case of Retro Tech: A love of outdated technology. What can be done to cure someone of Retro Tech? The best solution this hacker can come up with is to show them how pointless their attempts at being a better hacker are. And then try to move them towards things that can actually be used today, such as TCP/IP and networking layers etc. Otherwise their desire to use the information presented in these old text philes will consume their life, and they'll probably never learn anything new. Anyway, let me know what you think of Retro Tech, and what can be done about it. Until the day a cure is found, John will still be whistling the 2600 tone into his phone…it's sad, but true. -screamer 6. CLOSING ARGUMENTS A big shoutout to thebluegiant for agreeing to send in an article whenever we need him, we'll be sure to get his info up on hackermind.net as a regular crew member. And if anyone out there should want to help us out a bit, drop me a line at screamer@hackermind.net. Shout Outs: D4sh - Great job on the site! Writers - Thanks for keeping this zine alive! UGN Crew - A big thanks for giving me help along the way! Whoever Made Those Phone Card Machines That Give You 8 Hours for 10 Bucks - nuff said Angry Shouts: Optimum Online - Stop ignoring people that ask for help! SNET Operators - Being rude is NOT a job requirement! Milford Post Mall Security - Stop bothering people who've done nothing wrong! You could be sued for that you know! 1-212-555-99XX Directory Numbers - Stop knocking a half hour off my phone card when I don't even use the service! Southern Connecticut State University - Until you get your act together, don't expect me to ever refer anyone to you. Professor DiSano - Sophmores in University's should NOT have name tags on their desk. 7. CREW Screamer Chaotix: Editor-in-Chief D4sh: Webmasta TheBlueGiant: Writer Contributing Writers: DamienAK, Jon Conley, TheBlueGiant Tune into Hackermind every half hour Thursday by using WinAmp to open location 166.90.148.114:9474 Articles for freq7 due March 8th, 2001! WWW.HACKERMIND.NET