I gotz a Question!

I was wondering what exactly is a rootkit and are they considered lame? I have heard of them but never bothered to find out what they are. Can someone please tell me What they are and are they lame? Also what they do.... Thanks!

Someone please help me..... :(

I believe:
A rootkit is a collection of programs used to gain root in a machine...often despised because they are primarily used by script kiddies and are just a collection of their favorite progz, kind of the kiddiots toy box.

However, I think that they are not always lame, as a person may develop one that is entirely their own programs, in which case I think they may be a bit respected.

I'm not entirely sure about these, but that's what I have observed about them

So if I make one then it isn't really lame? Hmm...

Rootkits are used by intruders to hide and secure their presence on your system. An intruder achieves complete cloaking capability by relying on an administrator to trust the output of various system programs. This notion is more or less true...most of the time system administrators trust "ps" to display all processes and "ls" to list all files.

A root kit is basically a program or set of programs that a cracker installs on a box that they have rooted. The programs allow them to avoid detection while keeping access to the system. The reason that they have a reputation as being lame is that they're written by someone else and kiddies just install them without really understanding how they work.

guess I was wrong, as politroyx's definition seems more accurate than mine (so many name, acronyms, and slang...It's enough to make a man go crazy!).

I believe much of the reasoning for lameness may still apply here, however.

Hi JRoc,
Here's a google page that should give you plenty of reading material.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=root+kit :)

Thanks, I'm going to try to code my own rootkit. Would that be lame?

Well it depends what u consider "lame" and depends what you will use it for, I guess. I don't think it would be lame if you could code your own, but that still would depend on what you use it for