Basics to know before doing anything, essential to your continuing career as one 
of the elite in the country... This article, "the introduction to the world of 
hacking" is meant to help you by telling you how not to get caught, what not to 
do on a computer system, what type of equipment should I know about now, and 
just a little on the history, past present future, of the hacker. 


Welcome to the world of hacking! We, the people who live outside of the 
normal rules, and have been scorned and even arrested by those from the 
'civilized world', are becomming scarcer every day. This is due to the greater 
fear of what a good hacker (skill wise, no moral judgements here)|can do 
nowadays, thus causing anti- hacker sentiment in the masses. Also, few hackers 
seem to actually know about the computer systems they hack, or what equipment 
they will run into on the front end, or what they could do wrong on a system to 
alert the 'higher' authorities who monitor the system. This article is intended 
to tell you about some things not to do, even before you get on the system. I 
will tell you about the new wave of front end security devices that are 
beginning to be used on computers. 

I will attempt to instill in you a 
second identity, to be brought up at time of great need, to pull you out of 
trouble. And, by the way, I take no, repeat,no, responcibility for what we say 
in this and the forthcoming articles. 

Enough of the bullshit, on to the 
fun: after logging on your favorite bbs, you see on the high access board a 
phone number! It says it's a great system to "fuck around with!" This may be 
true, but how many other people are going to call the same number? So: try to 
avoid calling a number given to the public. This is because there are at least 
every other user calling, and how many other boards will that number spread to? 


If you call a number far, far away, and you plan on going thru an 
extender or a re-seller, don't keep calling the same access number (I.E. As you 
would if you had a hacker running), this looks very suspicious and can make life 
miserable when the phone bill comes in the mail. Most cities have a variety of 
access numbers and services, so use as many as you can. Never trust a change in 
the system... The 414's, the assholes, were caught for this reason: when one of 
them connected to the system, there was nothing good there. The next time, there 
was a trek game stuck right in their way! They proceded to play said game for 
two, say two and a half hours, while telenet was tracing them! Nice job, don't 
you think? If anything looks suspicious, drop the line immediately!! As in, 
yesterday!! The point we're trying to get accross is: if you use a little common 
sence, you won't get busted. Let the little kids who aren't smart enough to 
recognize a trap get busted, it will take the heat off of the real hackers. Now, 
let's say you get on a computer system... It looks great, checks out, everything 
seems fine. 

Ok, now is when it gets more dangerous. You have to know the 
computer system to know what not to do. Basically, keep away from any command 
something, copy a new file into the account, or whatever! Always leave the 
account in the same status you logged in with. Change *nothing*... If it isn't 
an account with priv's, then don't try any commands that require them! All, yes 
all, systems are going to be keeping log files of what users are doing, and that 
will show up. It is just like dropping a trouble-card in an ESS system, after 
sending that nice operator a pretty tone. 

Spend no excessive amounts of 
time on the account in one stretch. Keep your calling to the very late night 
ifpossible, or during business hours (believe it or not!). It so happens that 
there are more users on during business hours, and it is very difficult to read 
a log file with 60 users doing many commnds every minute. 

Try to avoid 
systems where everyone knows each other, don't try to bluff. And above all: 
never act like you own the system, or are the best there is. They always grab 
the people who's heads swell... There is some very interesting front end 
equipment around nowadays, but first let's define terms... By front end, we mean 
any device that you must pass thru to get at the real computer. There are 
devices that are made to defeat hacker programs, and just plain old 
multiplexers. 

To defeat hacker programs, there are now devices that pick 
up the phone and just sit there... This means that your device gets no carrier, 
thus you think there isn't a computer on the other end. The only way around it 
is to detect when it was picked up. If it pickes up after the same number ring, 
then you know it is a hacker-defeater. These devices take a multi-digit code to 
let you into the system. Some are, in fact, quite sophisticated to the point 
where it will also limit the user name's down, so only one name or set of names 
can be valid logins after they input the code... Other devices input a number 
code, and then they dial back a pre-programmed number for that code. These 
systems are best to leave alone, because they know someone is playing with their 
phone. You may think "but i'll just reprogram the dial-back." Think again, how 
stupid that is... Then they have your number, or a test loop if you were just a 
little smarter. If it's your number, they have your balls (if male...), If its a 
loop, then you are screwed again, since those loops are *monitored*. As for 
multiplexers... What a plexer is supposed to do is this: 

The system can 
accept multiple users. We have to time share, so we'll let the front-end 
processor do it... Well, this is what a multiplexer does. Usually they will ask 
for something like "enter class" or "line:". Usually it is programmed for a 
double digit number, or a four to five letter word. There are usually a few sets 
of numbers it accepts, but those numbers also set your 300/1200/2400 baud data 
type. 
These multiplexers are inconvenient at best, so not to worry. A little 
about the history of hacking: hacking, by my definition, means a great knowledge 
of some special area. Doctors and lawyers are hackers of a sort, by this 
definition. But most often, it is being used in the computer context, and thus 
we have a definition of "anyone who has a great amount of computer or 
telecommunications knowledge." You are not a hacker because you have a list of 
codes... Hacking, by my definition, has then been around only about 15 years. It 
started, where else but, mit and colleges where they had computer science or 
electrical engineering departments. 

Hackers have created some of the 
best computer languages, the most awesome operating systems, and even gone on to 
make millions. Hacking used to have a good name, when we could honestly say "we 
know what we are doing". Now it means (in the public eye): the 414's, ron 
austin, the nasa hackers, the arpanet hackers... 

All the people who have 
been caught, have done damage, and are now going to have to face fines and 
sentences. Thus we come past the moralistic crap, and to our purpose: educate 
the hacker community, return to the days when people actually knew something... 


--------------Jolly Roger