CrackerCast Podcast - MrCracker.com - all things hacking » General Hacking

CrackerCast Episode 22 – Gaining Access

David — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:07:02 +0000

This Episode of CrackerCast looks at this weeks hacker news and breaks down the third phase of the hacking process, gaining access.

Download .mp3 (right-click -> save link as…)

You can subscribe to the podcast feed via one of the two feeds below (might take a day for itunes to update it) :FeedBurner or iTunes

News stories mentioned:

Tumwater teen hacker sentenced for crashing Comcast

Zeus Trojan steals $1 million from U.K. bank accounts

Understanding the Russian Hacker Underground

Malicious widget hacked millions of Web sites

Justin Bieber Gets Revenge on Twitter: 26,000 Text Messages Sent to Teen Who Hacked Account

Hackers accidentally give Microsoft their code

Hacking Site of the Week:

www.hackhound.org

CrackerCast Episode 21 – Scanning

David — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:31:33 +0000

This Episode of CrackerCast looks at this weeks hacker news and breaks down the second phase of the hacking process, scanning.

Download .mp3 (right-click -> save link as…)

You can subscribe to the podcast feed via one of the two feeds below (might take a day for itunes to update it) :FeedBurner or iTunes

News stories mentioned:

Cyberwarrior Shortage Threatens U.S. Security

Hacker Proves Facebook’s Public Data Is Public

Security researcher demonstrates ATM hacking

Defcon hackers release Android rootkit, total control of smartphone possible

Hacker Snoops on GSM Cell Phones in Demo

JailbreakMe: Apple iPhone 4 hack released

Hacker Website of the Week:

SecurityTube

Websites Mentioned:

Nmap.org

School of Hacks – Part 2

David — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:58:04 +0000

The following is a guest post by Anonymous915. This is the second part in a series of articles on his view of hacking. If you are interested in writing for MrCracker.com, click here. Otherwise, Enjoy.

I’m glad to have seen a positive response on the first part of this series. Before I elaborate in programming in python or other hacking languages, I want to discuss with you the second important skill in hacking. In case you have not guessed it, if you want to become a hacker, you need know an Open Source UNIX operating system.

Can you hack in Windows? Yes. Windows is a good operating system, and you can install Python and run programs in C on Windows. But Windows is not Open Source. Windows is distributed in binary, in other words, you can only install Windows and not change nor manipulate the code of the operating system (OS). An open source OS has the option to download the source code and contribute to it by programming features, utilities or tools for it. There are two lessons to be thought in this here skill today, and they go hand in hand. One, if you want to be a hacker, you have use and contribute to the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). This is a cultural trait. You can contribute in such a community as SourceForge, where you can download and develop FOSS. Hackers share software with their community, they test FOSS they didn’t program, write documentation for it, debug it, and eventually, write their own open source software. That is one reason why hackers use a FOSS UNIX Operating System. There are different variants of UNIX or UX operating systems, free or proprietary such as AIX, BSD, Solaris, SCO, HP-UX and the most popular, Linux, which leads us to the second lesson.

UNIX has been the operating system for scientist by scientists. It goes without saying, that hacking is a science. In the days before the Mac OS and Windows, UNIX was king and in the 1970’s, UNIX creators at Bell Labs, provided the source code to the OS to be taught in universities or enhanced by researchers. A US born professor at Vrije University in Amsterdam wrote his own UNIX (MINIX, or Minimal UNIX) and provided the 12,000 lines of C and Assembly code when you bought his book “’Operating Systems: Design and Implementation” by Andrew S. Tanenbaum. MINIX was created to teach university students how an operating system works. One student, Linus Torvalds, took the source code provided by the book in floppy disks, programmed a kernel, and according to his newsgroup post on compo.os.minix took “feedback on things people like/dislike in minix” and programmed “features most people would want”. As he shared it with the online community, like a good hacker boy that he was, it gained a lot of attention and within one month of releasing Linux 0.01 (or Linus UX) on the Internet, many hackers contributed to 0.02. Eventually Linux grew into the hundreds of Linux distributions today.

There are other Free OSS UNIX operating systems around that are used for hacking, these include FreeBSD and OpenSolaris. However, the importance to becoming a good hacker is to understand UNIX and how it works on the Internet. To do so, one must know the UNIX and Internet Fundamentals. The question here is now, what do you want read about next: should I contribute in detail on programming Python, or would you rather me show you the different ways to run Linux, including Live Distro, virtual or full installation or running Linux off a network. My next part of this series will depend on the reader, this is subliminally training you to a hacker lessons learned, contribute to this by commenting, and you’re on your way to becoming a hacker.

Learn to hack with a Hacker Lab (see my personal set-up)

David — Fri, 28 May 2010 22:17:58 +0000

You have a choice little one. To be a poo-poo pounded legit hacker. Or just a legit hacker. What separates the two? – The right hacking environment.

To become a good hacker, actually, to actually learn how to hack in general, one must practice what he learns. And to practice hacking without the risk of getting in trouble with the authorities and ending up in a bad place (thus the poo-poo pound reference) one must practice in a safe environment. Otherwise known as a Hacker Lab.

In the video below, I show you how to set one up, and give you a tour of my own personal set up. A must watch. Watch now. Now!

The Hacker Academy give you pre-made Labs that you can learn and practice on.
Get the $30 discount before time runs out.

Join the Hacker Academy And Start Learning How To Hack Today. Click Here Now.

School of Hacks – Part 1

David — Wed, 26 May 2010 23:32:58 +0000

The following is a guest post by Anonymous915. This is the first part in a series of articles on his view of hacking. Enjoy.

You never ask, “How do I become a hacker?” and you never say “I am a hacker.” Nowadays, you will run into countless YouTube Videos and blogs regarding “hacking.” I’m glad to hear Mr. Cracker’s first few episodes focused on what is a hacker and how does one hack. However, there are many stories that can be credited for tainting the term, like an incident in Los Alamos in 1982.

Webster’s dictionary defined a hacker as an expert at programming and solving problems with a computer. Hackers have otherwise been known as computer geeks or computer wizards; up until the word was tarnished by ruthless wizards that illegally gained access to systems and tamper with information. To this day, the word hacker is used to describe these geniuses that can force their way into an operating system and manipulate data. The term hacker derived from the reference to programmers “hacking away” at the bits and bytes. Since it takes an experienced hacker to gain unauthorized entrance into a secure computer to extract information and perform some prank or mischief at the site, the term has become synonymous with “cracker” or “blackhat”, a person who performs an illegal act. A technical professional that is paid to break into a computer system in order to test its security is called “Pentester” for Penetration Tester.

True hacking, is a culture of these programmers and pentesters that understand code and network security. To become one, is to be called one by an expert. If your friends proclaim you a “hacker” because you brute forced into an account in front of them, unless you wrote the algorithm, you are nothing but a “script kiddie”. If you wrote a program that is useful to the network security and you shared with the community and pentesters or system admins recognize your talent, then you are on your way.

But what is the way, you may ask. I will have to say, it’s a long way. It doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t happen after reading this article of listening to every Mr. Cracker’s podcasts. Yet, there are certain steps you must follow, and I will elaborate in the articles to come. Let me get you started with the basics. A Hacker is a Programmer. Yes, not a MSCE or a CCNA but a programmer. Programming is a THE fundamental skill for hacking. I am a programmer. I began developing software over 10 years ago. I’m not the best, but I recommend you start by learning a language called Python. DO NOT start with a GUI based programming language like Java, or even Visual Basic or C#. Start with Python (http://www.python.org/) for two reasons. One, it’s free and powerful and two, it works on multiple platforms, i.e Windows or Linux. The importance of Linux is for another subject. Stick to semi-colon languages “;” like Perl and PHP, the object will be to move onto C and C++. It is best recommended in this subject that you learn or know all of the mentioned: Python, Perl, PHP, C and C++.

Utilize documentation provided on their site to learning Python. You would have to teach yourself in the next few days, months or years to be strong at that language. Then you can move onto another language, and it would become easier to learn once you understand data structuring and variables, etc. Hacking is the ability to use those languages and applying them to solve your problems. As you learn, keep in mind you are practicing how you think and you’re not really focusing on a particular language.

Get into your “Hacking Mode” !

David — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:42:16 +0000

All you hackers out there that can actually hack, I got a question for ya! When you sit down, and are about to start hacking away at whatever, what gets you in and keeps you in the “hacking mode”? You know that place you get into where you have full concentration on the task before you and nothing can get in the way of you and the final outcome. Let me give you a personal example. When I sit back at my butt wrenching computer chair and am about to start kickin’ computer ass, I require a few things… here’s my list:

1. A GIANT cup of hot tea. I know when many people picture hackers wacking away at their keyboards, they picture them with piles of soda cans or some other type of sugary bubble filled drink. Not me. Instead of digesting that heart killin’ crap, I stick with the old fashioned cup of freshly steeped tea. Green, White, Black, Oolong… you name it, I digest it.

2. Loud music. Depending on my mood I go with a playlist of techno or rap. I like to mix it up with some softer techno like ATB, some harder heavy beated techno like Benny Benassi and some fast-paced get-out-of-my-chair-and-shake-my-booty techno like…. well theres to many good ones to single out a few. When I’m in the rap mood, I like some older Eminem and related, and some old-school rap like Biggie Smalls. “I love it when you call me Big Poppa!” … but most of the time I stick with the techno. If you hate techno.. i hate you. Not really…

3. A clear desk. I need to have my desk to be everything-free… somehow I relate a clear desk with a clear mind and can think much better. It also bothers me… which is funny because its still always a complete mess, so I guess it doesn’t bother me enough. Hmm…

4. Full stomach. I can’t work on an empty stomach. Sometimes when you start without planning, you forget you are hungry so it’s no big deal. But if I sit down and plan to do some hacking, then I must have a full stomach. The bad part about this is that it doesn’t mix well with the tea part. As many of you may know, tea is a pretty good laxitive, so it doesn’t help me much when it causes me to have to take an immediate shit every thirty minutes… killing my “hacker mojo” a.k.a, concentration.

That’s it for me. What gets you in the mode? Tell us in the comments or I’ll come after you after I’ve eaten a full meal and had a giant cup of tea… you don’t want that. Trust me.

CrackerCast Episode 10 – Hacking Process

David — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:02:17 +0000

This Episode looks at this weeks hacker news and discusses the hacking process.

Download .mp3 (right-click -> save link as…)
You can subscribe to the podcast feed via one of the two feeds below (might take a day for itunes to update it) :
FeedBurner or iTunes

News stories mentions:

Warnings issued for Valentine’s spam and malware

Hacker Unleashes BlackBerry Spyware Source Code

How To Hack The Sky

Black Hawk Down: China Busted Hacker-Training Site

Hacker Cracks Security Chip Known as ‘Digital Fort Knox‘

Criminal hacker ‘Iceman’ gets 13 years

Hackers at Pwn2Own to compete for $100K in prizes

Hacker website of the week:

www.r00tsecurity.org

Follow me:

Twitter.com/MrCracker

CrackerCast Episode 07 – DoS / DDoS attacks

David — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:04:58 +0000

This Episode looks at this weeks hacker news and discusses DoS/DDoS attacks.

Download .mp3 (right-click -> save link as…)
You can subscribe to the podcast feed via one of the two feeds below (might take a day for itunes to update it) :
FeedBurner or iTunes

News stories mentions:

Hackers post Mr. Bean photo in place of lookalike Spanish Prime Minister

First hacker trial powers up in Beijing

Colombia Busts Hacking Ring that Stole $2 Million

Search Results on Office.Microsoft.Com Lead to Malware

Virus scanning service designed for malware writers

FIA cyber crime wing loses to hackers

‘Life imprisonment awaits hackers who’ll try to sabotage polls’

X-ray security: can airport system be hacked?

Website of the week:

www.HackingLibrary.ws

Book of the week:

Masters of Deception: The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace

1337 speak

David — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:44:00 +0000

While there are sophisticated encrypting programs, there are also those that are used by almost anyone provided that the users know what symbols are being used. Geeks and even non-geeks can hide messages using substitutes for the English alphabet. This symbolic writing is known in technical communities as leet speak or 1337.

1337 is a cryptic writing language used to shorten the typed messages or as a form of encryption to hide the nature or meaning of the message sent. The term “leet” refers to those with elite status in message boards in the 1980s. It actually originated from 31330 “eleet,” which is the UDP port that the hacker group Dead Cow Cult used to hack Windows 95. The language really is not owned by any specific group. Anyone can use and write “leet” and anyone can have or use its own ciphers to decode it.

The way to use it is by substituting alphanumeric characters or symbols to each character or words from any common communication language such as English. The language can also be developed to include intentional phonetic spelling, new words or even misspellings. Traditionally, the primary strategy is using homoglyphs – symbols that closely resemble the letter for which they stand or an Argot also referred to as a “secret language” for obscurity. It is ever changing but it really has no borders, rules or barriers on what encoding you could use, only that there should be an agreement or a set of protocols for the group to use.

In the past, gamers used leet speak as a communications tool. Currently, anyone could be using leet speak. Chatting teens and young adults who often logon to the Internet are often using this method.

Generally for starters, you could actually use the example below for a quick and simple “leet” letter substitution. It is the most common and traditional cipher used for “leet speak.” You can also find some advanced ones in the Internet, or just make up one for your group.

A = 4, /-\, @, ^, /\ , //-\\, ci
B = 8, ]3, ]8, |3, |8, ]]3, 13
C = (, { , [[, <, €
D = ), [}, |), |}, |>, [>, ]]), Ð
E = 3, ii, €
F = |=,(=, ]]=, ph
G = 6, 9, (_>, [[6, &
H = #, |-|, (-), )-(, }{, }-{, {-}, /-/, \-\, |~|, []-[], ]]-[[
I = 1, !, |, ][, []
J = _|, u|, ;_[], ;_[[
K = |<, |{, ][<, ]]<, []<
L = |,1, |_, []_, ][_, £
M = /\/\, |\/|, [\/], (\/), /V\, []V[], \\\, (T), ^^, .\\, //., ][\\//][,
N = /\/, |\|, (\), /|/, [\], {\}, ][\][, []\[], ~
O = 0, (), [], <>, *, [[]]
P = |D, |*, |>, []D, ][D
Q = commas are necessary: (,) or 0, or O, or O\ or []\
R = |2, |?, |-, ]]2 []2 ][2
S = 5, $
T = 7, +, ']‘, 7`, ~|~, -|-, ‘][', "|", †
U = (_), |_|, \_\, /_/, \_/, []_[], ]_[, µ
V = \/ , \\//
W = \/\/, |/\|, [/\], (/\), VV, ///, \^/, \\/\//, 1/\/, \/1/, 1/1/
X = ><, }{, )(, }[
Y = ‘/, %, `/, \j , “//, ¥, j, \|/, -/
Z = 2, z, 7_,`/_

This can explain how “leet” or “elite” came to be written as “1337” (1=L, 3=E and 7=T).

Some simple vocabularies:

n00b – Short for noobie, misspelling of newbie.

0wn3d you ! – Short for I’ve beaten you, probably the most common leet in gaming.

Where did it come from?

In the early 1980’s a group of chatters/gamers devised a way that will not allow their newsgroups from being indexed by the “Bulletin Board System” Chat operators. Others are also using this method to prevent their websites from being picked up by a simple keyword search by replacing certain characters with number on their domain names.

The purpose of leet was to prevent others from discovering coordinated battle strategies or banning or discouraging them from discussing forbidden topics such as cracking, hacking and other forms of pornography.

It became popular as a communications lingo when Id software in 1994 began adding Internet connectivity to a game called Doom 1 and 2.

How does it relate to hacking?

It cannot be considered as one of the primary tools for hacking but it can be useful for ciphering your electronic communications, most especially if you are planning a coordinated hack group strike in an area or facility. However, there are traditional ciphering tools in the market that can be used to encrypt and decrypt sent messages to prevent eavesdropping. The leet speaks serves as a second wave of encryption to keep the message from being decoded.

How is it looked upon in the hacking world today?

Real hackers would look at leet as amateurish in nature. When those wannabe-hackers caught on the language, they started using it thinking that they would become real hackers just by doing so. They forgot that hacking requires real knowledge and skills. Right now, hackers openly mock kids who use 1337 just to appear (,00£.

Download full website

David — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:50:55 +0000

Scenario: Spencer was having a terrible day. His girlfriend broke up with him and kicked him out of her apartment. He didn’t think that it could get any worse, after all, he could try to get over her by watching the beautiful, HIV infected women on his favorite late night website. He knew that no matter how depressed he got…. there was NOTHING that couldn’t be fixed by titties. But his night got worse when he realized that the website was shut down forever, and he had no backup to fall on!

Solution: Spencer should have downloaded the full website.

How: There are many ways to do the same thing. I will show you two.

1. BlackWidow – BlackWidow is a web site scanner, a site mapping tool, a site ripper, a site mirroring tool, an offline browser, a FTP program, a Net Spy and a Webmaster tool. In this case, we will be using the site ripping feature.

To download a website, enter the address and hit Go. Once it has completed indexing the website, click on the Structure tab and you will see the website in its folder hierarchy.

Here you can choose certain files, or the whole website and click the Dnld (Download) button to download it to your computer.

2. To download a website on linux, you can use the WGET command.

wget -r -p -U Mozilla http://www.MrCracker.com

-r (recursive) tells the wget command to download all the links from www.MrCracker.com ‘s front page including image, audio, and other files.

-U Mozilla tells the website that you are using a common browser – Mozilla. Occasionaly, the target server will not let you download the website if you are not coming from a browser. This option will fix this issue.

Happy Hacking!