how d war dialer works?

I've been reading certain articles about how ppl do hacking using a war dialer..

I just want to know behind the war dialer programs, how they detect the outcoming/incoming signal from certain pc/phone line and how they identify the phone line...
or easily how they works?

war dialers connect to a given range of tel numbers . If there's a computer, a fax machine or something else this machine will send a handshake tone. The war dialer detects this signal and records it. It's even possible that a war dialer gets the operating system on the computer (if there's a computer)...
But if you connect to a network, the activity of a war dialer can be easily detected...

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"Knowledge is the Real Power"

Wardialers are the "old" versions of scanners that scan a range of IP's.
The different thing is that, you don't have to pay really big amounts of phone bills with new scanners and they are limited to the Net, not "phone line access only" computers.
:hiphop: :smokes:

although war-dialers are an old idea theres nothing outdated about it. some of the biggest security holes come from machines with modems on them, connected to an otherwise secure network and many industrial devices are controlled by telnet/hyperterm over phone lines.

War-dialers are slowly fading away.

I'd advise against using the "classic" wardialers that use phonelines and calls different numbers. Switching stations are now equiped with monitors to detect such activity.

They have been set to log the number that's making the calls and analyze where the number is from. So if it's a telemarketer, the computer has the number registered, if it isn't, it logs it and sends an alert to the phone company.

Just thought I'd give the heads-up before someone gets in trouble. It'll pick up after about an hour or so of dialing numbers....

Some pathetic depressed leprachun gave me some negative antipoints for the above post...
Actually I don't care about antipoints, but the message was interesting, stating;

"Know what you are talking about before you post. A war dialer and IP scanner are two different things...Dumbass "

Ahem, as I said in the post they are the "old" version of our days IP range scanners.
Those days there weren't many computers on Internet, so people used war dialers to detect computers etc.
I know what war dialers are for, and son I have used them for a long time in the past in combination with jammers, perhaps when you were just a protein...
Being a newbie in the board, doesn't mean that I am a newbie in the computer world.
Check my ID# and see it for yourself.
:smokes:

Ps: This is not flaming, this is clearification for the disabled... And I wonder who is that leprachun that calls me "dumbass". An underage wannabe perhaps...

Hi there

Wardialers are named after the film "Wargames" - If you haven't seen it, do - it's a cheesy 1970s "little-hacker kid nearly causes nuclear war" film :)

Wardialers are typically programs which ring a lot of phone numbers, in an attempt to elicit some response (typically a modem carrier). A wardialler is effectively a program which automates "scanning" - which is very labourious if done by hand.

It's possible with modern voice modems to make one which will determine if it's a fax machine, modem or human even, and record a short sample or such like.

As tyger_claw correctly suggests, such programs which ring a lot of numbers are easily detectable by a modern digital exchange, which can flag an alarm if it detects many different numbers being dialled from the same line.

Wardialers are still a security risk (IMHO) as people still pay scant attention to dial-up security, with security policies more focused on internet technologies. Also, dial-up servers are often old or obscure systems which are more likely to have vulnerabilities and less likely to be patched.

I agree with you Tedob1.

Modems are a huge problem in organisations. They can be used as a back door into your network, bypassing all of your perimeter security infrastructure (Fw's Access Lists.....).

Attempting to remove them from your network is even more frustrating...

today's war dialers do not sequence dial for extended periods.

I've worked in hardcore industrial areas, and believe me...LOTS of these things are connected to phone lines...a couple even to the internet (got help us all).

I know quite a few use PCAnywhere so that manufacturers can dial up and troubleshoot without flying someone half way across the country.

Luckily when we installed one of the newer machines and they told me they wanted to have a PC connected to the machine via serial and get on our LAN and out across the net...I nearly had a heart attack and bitched up a storm till they said no way...I just couldn't imagine someone compromising our network because they put some wierd factory equipment on the net.

Last note about my post...
I just wanted to show the similarities btw. war dialers and todays scanners, to people who had no idea about them...
War Dialers Today's Scanners
Phone Numbers ~= IP Addresses
Info They Collect (computer, fax, etc) ~= OS Fingerprinting
Hope the antipoint monsters understand what I mean this time :D
:smokes:

ASA.. Most of us knew what you meant..
mate you would be great to take fishing..


"always get a bite.."


Cheers..

UndertakerOZ

Like undertaker02 said, we knew what you meant, just some true newbies don't read between the lines..... those darn kiddies..... :shootem:

ASA -don't worry about the gnubies, they're brain dead already.

Hey! Thanks a lot ppl, good to see such nice people around the board :)
:hiphop: