Some ques. about the current state of a few hacking practices

Hey Hey everyone,
I've been involved in computer hardware/troubleshooting for a while now, but I've just recently gotten into the whole security side of this industry (hacking and a little phreaking on the side :) Anyways, I've been doing the customary newbie practice of full bore text/tutorial consumption and I've come across one dominating trait: much of the info I've read is relatively dated, often times by 5 or 6 years. So my question is, what is popular now? Is Telnet still I viable utility? Do things like wardialers still work? And, for the phreakers out there, how much of that stuff is still functional (ie. boxes, tone dialer mods, etc) I guess that this is just a pretty crazy time to get involved in hacking, what with everyone moving to digital, high speed connections, and cell phones taking over as the dominant communication trend, etc. So, if anyone would like to shed some light for a directionless hacking newb, It would be much appreciated...

-Tengu0

Welcome tenguzero!

I'll give you my 2 cents on this topic, although my knowledge is pretty limited too ...

- Yes, telnet is still a viable utility. Even though the world of Windows is making it less obvious, many things are still done using shells and telnet. On *nix platforms, telnet is still one of the best means to connect from box to box. In my previous job, I was constantly using telnet (or rlogin for that matter)

- Wardialers. I believe they have become less interesting, but many companies still have dial-up access, so it can still pay to dial around. However, with caller-id, it's also more of a risk as your phone number could be recorded

All in all, many things that were around are still around, you just see them less. After all, COBOL, an old programming language used a lot in the past, is still one of the code bases that needs most maintenance. In the *nix world, a lot of the fast and simple utilities to do the job haven't changed, although new ones have been added.

The subject is a large one and there are better experts than me around to give you more information, so I shall now pass the mic to the next speaker.

Cheers,

BrainStop

hehe i dont know much about the american phreak scence but most of those boxes dont work in australia although we do use different systems so thats why so i know a beige box will still work cause they dont matter bout systems or stuff ur best bet is to just build the boxes and c but phreaking is alot more than that most elite phreaks concentrate on how their phone systems work etc and remeber free calls grow on trees

Check out www.webcrunchers.com/crunch
There he points out to the schematics of his BlueBx

enough of stupid captn crunch already. Anyways, more and more people are realizing the risks of using telnet and are opting out in favor of ssh. Many of the large companies that permitted dialup access to their remote employees have discovered that the internet will save them hundreds of thousands of dollars so many have gone that route. The ones with remaining modems use dialup vpns on secure lines. Of course many do not but they have become far and in between. If you think that you are going to find a carrier and then brute force your way in, you should put down @large or whatever gave you such an idea and give it up.

the phone systems are changing a lot recentally... and ive noticed that the Pheaks tools seem to be slowly diminishing.. but more always come :)

thats about all i can say.. i havent been involved with that stuff since sophmore year in highschool. (so i might be wrong too)

Anyway, telnet is still a great tool. Many companies have gone to ssh, for security reasons, but you can still telnet to any port.

Wardialers are still in use also. That is why thcscan is still being updated/maintained.

A lot of "dated" information isn't as old as you may think. Yes, some information from 3 weeks ago seems pretty useless already, because of patches etc. But not always. There is an HPuX machine at a local university that is still suseptible to a buffer overflow that was patched in the mid 90's. So a lot of the information you read is still good, you just have to know when/where to apply it. As far as recent information, you just have to know where to look. Keep an on on things like bugtraq and securityfocus.

Phreaking isn't dead either. Most of the old boxes don't work anymore, but there are a few that still do. There are also a lot of phreaks working on boxes for cell phones. Seeing as phreaking isn't really related to security (by looking at how to phreak, there is nothing we can do to fix it, unless you work for verizon or pac bell or something). In other words, I will not help you find that info, you gotta do that one on your own. It is out there though, just look for it.

Takes 5 trys to post this message, then it finally works, and I somehow double post....sorry about that.

yeah a lot of the boxe don't work anymore but they are great to use in other countries where the pots are what it stands for plain old telephone system....
telnet is still used but with the riseof vpn that is going to change since vpn are pretty well secured there is room for extension there....

phreaking won't die since with the event of wireless ethernet it 's wide open and they can't say anything ...public domain... plus the security is REALLY weak (at least till the new standards comes out ...so go get an ap and have fun learning ...)

I have switched to SSH for my servers because it is a lot more secure, and if I remember correctly i think the wardialers still work, but when i am doing anything with fone systems i have a butt set (the phone those tech's have by their arse). I have found this tool to be very easy just plug it in and boom done...you can also just listen in without them knowing. Well i hope this helps you out a little.

Andrew

actually some more about that ap stuff:

they kindof forgot about security when they made the standart so they patchet it with wep so the client authenticate himself (with a 40 bit key and the same initialisation vector... doesn't resists 15 mins ) but what prevent you from taking over the whole ap ? i mean what if you show up out there with you own ap with a 50 dbi (illegall by the way in most countries) and start advertising your services ...true they'll loose network connectivity but you'll gain access ...
fun isn't it ...

btw that won't last

Like most people have said here, old technology can still apply to new platforms. Telnet is used quit a bit still and even though people are migrating to alternitive systems like SSH, it is still very usefull. You might want to try to apply the concepts from the old school computer junkies to the new age technology. Example, virii have been around for over 20 years now, but Sys admins still take them as a threat when they distrupt even a little network connectivity. I am suprised though to hear you talking about phreaking. I see no ethical means of using information about that topic. I know that it is interesting to lean how to beat the system, but that will only end you up in jail. Take my advise, learn all you can about anything involving technology, but be carfull. Not only are people growning smarter, but so are the company's and goverment agancys that monitor them.

"BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU"- the iron cuirtian.

Hey, Thanx for the feedback guys. Yes, I realize phreaking doesnt really have a connection with security, but I didn't feel like posting two threads (I'm a lazy, lazy man :) Anyways, thanx for welcoming me to the more "underground" side of the net, and I'm glad so many people in this field are friendly, except for the one $#@$%%^ last night, who, right after I posted this thread, began scanning my ports (yeah, I picked you up!!) and left a .js virus on my computer, luckily I was able to go in through dos and delete the file (Norton didn't know what to do with it) I guess the one thing I'll never understand about this field, is why there are people willing to try and screw over others for the fun of it :(

-Tengu0