Carolyn's most popular book, in 4th edition now!
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Nov. 30, 1998
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See the Happy Hacker web site at http://www.happyhacker.org
GTMHH en espanol: http://underhack.islatortuga.com
Svenska:http://w1.340.telia.com/~u34002171/hhd/gtmhh/svenska/hhdsvensk.html
_______________________________________________________________________Inside this report:
* New at the Happy Hacker web site!
-- Help for people whose home computers have been hacked
-- Screen shot of EtherPeek detecting "stealth" port scan
-- Happy Hacker bookstore opens
-- New hacker news links
* Dale Holmes needs someone to fill his shoes
* New Webmaster
* Book review: The Watchman
_______________________________________________________________________New at the Happy Hacker Web Site!
_______________________________________________________________________Check out http://www.happyhacker.org. It has new material, and a new look!
Highlights:* Has some idiot been breaking into your computer and acting like he or she
is three years old? If it's a Windows 95, 98 or NT box, it has probably been
infected by either the Back Orifice or Netbus Trojans (back doors). Get rid
of your unwanted visitors with help at
http://www.nwinternet.com/~pchelp/bo/bo.html. There is a link to it from
our home page.* Have you been following Fyodor's complaints in assorted hacker forums
against me (Carolyn Meinel)? My Scientific American article, "How Hackers
Break in ... and How they Are Caught" (Oct. 1998) reported that EtherPeek
3.5 for the Mac G3 (from AG Group, http://www.aggroup.com) can detect a
so-called "stealth" port scan of Fyodor's nmap program. Fyodor implies that
I lie.Oh yeah? At http://www.happyhacker.org/EPscreen-fin.JPG, you can click to
a screen shot of EtherPeek capturing an nmap stealth scan.One of the reviewers of the Scientific American article complained that I
made the fin scanner look too good by showing it penetrate a firewall. He
argued that today most firewalls will block nmap's stealth scanner. This
may well be true. However, nmap did slip through both the Cisco router
firewall and custom firewall I tested it against. So that's what went into
my article. Don't assume nmap can penetrate any firewall, however.Meanwhile, on hacker email lists and on IRC, lots of guys saying they are
computer security experts have been flaming my Scientific American article.
And, yes, they wrote many outraged letters to the editors of Scientific
American. Do these self-described experts know what they are talking about,
or are they clueless? Sometime around Christmas, letters on "How Hackers
Break in ... and How they Are Caught" that the editors thought had any merit
will appear in the Jan. issue of Scientific American. Will the editors of
Scientific American run letters that will destroy my reputation, build it,
or just plain entertain you? Check the newsstands to find out! Their
website is http://www.sciam.com.* Want some books for Christmas that will give your hacker career a boost?
See the Happy Hacker bookstore at http://www.happyhacker.org/bookstore.html.
It features reviews of books good for beginners, with some for intermediate
and advanced hackers as well. It also includes books about both harmless
white hat hackers and computer criminals. Each book review is linked
directly to the Amazon.com bookstore so that if you have a credit card, you
can order it from them online.Some of you readers are under 18 and have parents who would get really mad
if you were to ask them for a hacker how-to book such as The Happy Hacker,
second edition. Fortunately, most of the books at the our bookstore look
totally harmless. So you can order them, or request them for Christmas,
without raising suspicions. Besides, you are studying these books to be a
white hat hacker, right?* New hacker news links are on our home page and also at
http://www.happyhacker.org/news.html. In particular, be sure to check out
http://www.antionline.com, which recently got an infusion of venture
capital. Oh, no, John Vranesevich is going yuppie!_______________________________________________________________________
Dale Holmes Needs a Successor
_______________________________________________________________________The problems of a wife expecting twins any day now are getting to Happy
Hacker editor Dale Holmes. It isn't easy carrying twins -- sheesh, I've had
four babies, fortunately only one at a time, and every time about the eighth
month I would tell everyone I would *never* get pregnant again. (Obviously
I was a slow learner.) I can hardly imagine what carrying twins must be like!Anyhow, Dale is being the perfect helpful expectant father, which means no
time for the Digest. And us experienced parents know that it will only get
more tiring after the twins arrive.Despite all this, we hope to get more special reports from Dale, and will
let you know whenever another of his computer manuals is published. He has
been a fantastic editor. We will miss him badly.So -- who could take his place? If you are interested, please write
me, .What are the requirements for the editor?
* You must reveal your true identity to those of us who run Happy Hacker.
We realize, however, that there are a lot of computer criminals who hate our
work. So we will understand it if you prefer to work as editor under a
hacker handle or pen name. Nevertheless, if you hunger for a career as a
writer, using your real name will help build your reputation. That's how I
got my start, writing and editing for free.For free? OK, I admit the pay is lousy. All you will get is a free POP
account (editor@cmeinel.com), and a shell account on a Hacker Wargame
computer. (I mean your own account, not that busy, chaotic open guest
account on koan.hapyhacker.org!)* You must be AGAINST computer crime. This is an ezine for *LEGAL*, mostly
harmless hacking.* In case you have been vacationing on some other planet lately, we have a
big news flash. Computer criminals really, REALLY hate Happy Hacker. Expect
them to first try to seduce you. Then if you don't join them, expect to be
insulted, then threatened, etc. etc. If you brave candidates want more info
on these bad actors who might bother you, I'll give you the email addresses
of the worst offenders. Then you can ask them to tell you why you should
join them, f33r them or whatever. But, what the heck, if they don't scare
an old lady like me, it can't be too bad. We hope.* You must be a good writer, and be willing to follow standards of
journalistic excellence. No dirty words, no flames, no libel. A sense of
humor is a definite plus. And, yes, you need to know a great deal about
computers.If this sounds like you, please email Carolyn Meinel <>.
_______________________________________________________________________
New Webmaster
_______________________________________________________________________We have a new webmaster: Ender Wiggin. He's already webmaster of
http://www.aviary-mag.com. As you will see when you visit, he is impressive
in his ability to build a visually pleasing Web site, in his writing talent,
and his principles.He also knows a thing or two about hacking -- good guy, white hat hacking.
As he wrote to me, "Since I first stumbled across your page a couple years
ago, I've learned everything from C++ to HTML to Perl, and UNIX... I've
taken your 'harmless hacking' idea to heart, and even started my own site at
www.aviary-mag.com... thank you for inspiring me... take a look at
www.aviary-mag.com and tell me what you think. I've put some Happy Hacker
digests up, along with lots of original content. Currently, there are 115
pages worth of content..."So check out Ender's site for some great hacker reading!
In case you were wondering, Ender was not the one who recently updated the
Happy Hacker web site. What happened was I finally decided to put in some
time learning a bit more about HTML. You can expect a lot more changes in
the Web site as Ender puts his stamp on it. For example, he has already
tested a link that allows anyone (with the right browser) using Windows to
click on it and get a telnet connection to the guest account on the Hacker
Wargame computer koan.happyhacker.org. Expect to see it, and many other
fascinating hacker HTML tricks, at our Web site soon.Ender is looking for a CGI expert to assist him. If you are
interested in volunteering your CGI expertise, or have other ideas for how
to improve our Web site, please email Ender at webmaster@cmeinel.com.Now, here are some words from Ender himself:
Hi... I figured I may as well say something myself in response to what seems
to be a sterling recommendation from Carolyn.I've been in computers for only about three years, in which time (as you can
see in what Carolyn's written), I got very interested in the inner workings
of the machines themselves, and of the software. I've mantained over a
dozen websites, some of them very high-traffic.My major project, up until Carolyn asked me to work for Happy Hacker, was
aviary-mag.com, which sports lots of original content & some cool HTML
design (if I do say so myself). I'm looking forward to bringing my work to
Happy Hacker (and, for those of you who look at my source, those pages are
created with NetObjects Fusion for the sake of saving time -- I can code in
true HTML, if you're curious).I plan to impliment two versions of the Happy Hacker site. One version will
be fully backward-compatible, working with Lynx and the older Netscape
browsers. The second version will use HTML 4 or 3.2 (depending on how I
decide to work the two-version setup), and will have lots of nifty tricks in
it -- along with some cool easter eggs.I look forward to making a version of the new Happy Hacker site public in
about two weeks... So stay tuned :-)_______________________________________________________________________
Book Review: The Watchman
_______________________________________________________________________The Watchman : The Twisted Life and Crimes of Serial Hacker Kevin Poulsen
by Jonathan Littman.
The Watchman is the story of the man, Kevin Poulsen, who holds the US
world record for the most time spent in prison for computer crime! Poulsen
is the only US hacker ever indicted for espionage! He was a good buddy of
Kevin Mitnick, who is called "America's most wanted computer fugitive" by
the national bestseller book Takedown! Poulsen sounds like a scary dude, huh?As the woman who is in the running for the world record of having the
most computer crime in history committed against her (or in protest against
her), IMNSHO I am qualified to argue that Kevin Poulsen may have gotten an
unfair deal from the FBI and Federal prosecutors. Littman's book suggests
that Poulsen was at worst a petty computer criminal, and at best a daring
prankster who committed funny, (mostly) harmless but somewhat, um, er,
non-legal pranks against the wrong people and companies.I hate to admit it, but Poulsen reminds me of myself when I was in my 20s.
(Yes, I wasn't always as perfect as I am now:):) As I read this
well-researched book, I kept on thinking, "There but for the grace of God..."The Watchman also contains some rather, um, er, detailed material about
the, um, er, love life of Agent Steal, the narc who helped bust Poulsen. I
found myself rooting for Poulsen to get away.Since his release from prison, Poulsen has been working as a journalist.
You can read some of his excellent articles at
http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/cybercrime/chaostheory/. Nowadays he's getting
his revenge in the American way, writing news stories on Peterson's flight
from the authorities who are trying to imprison him for violation of parole.
Morals of this story: a computer criminal should NEVER get on the bad side
of a journalist. And a narc should NEVER get on the bad side of the FBI.Poulsen also has done a sympathetic and remarkably well-researched job of
covering the upcoming Kevin Mitnick trial."The Watchman" also is fun to read, yet will give us hacker pranksters
sobering food for thought. -- Carolyn MeinelFor more book reviews, see http://www.happyhacker.org/bookstore.html
Happy hacking, folks!
-- Carolyn Meinel
__________________________________________________________________
This is a list devoted to *legal* hacking! If you plan to use any
information in this Digest or at our Web site to commit crime, go away!
Foo on you! Happy Hacker is a 501 (c) (3) tax deductible organization
in the United States operating under Shepherd's Fold Ministries. Yes!
This is all a plot to save your immortal souls!For Windows questions, email keydet89@yahoo.com
For Unix questions, contact Roger Prata<rprata@cmeinel.com>
For Macs, write Strider <s.corinth@iname.com>Happy Hacker Grand Pooh-bah: Carolyn Meinel <>