Hello,
well the problem is, if you do access the System, you cross the line.
Even if its open or without password, but that is already illegal access.
Sure you just want to be nice, but if one of the users you try to inform
gets angry, then he could still contact law enforcement. On the legal side, he
would be right as you accessed his System. Especially if its on a cooperate
network. Companies have a lot to loose if customer data or even source code
gets stolen, so even if you inform them of a bug, they can't be sure that you
didn't already copy things, unless they inform law officials to raid you.
In the 90s, if you informed a Administrator of a vulnerability, you offten
received a present of some sort like a free t-shirt :-) but those times
changed.
At least i didnt hear of someone receiving a present for hacking in years
(contests don't count). Its a nice idea to inform the people the have
vulnerabilities,
but you have to be carefull. If you just scan and tell them that port 139 is
open
then its fine as you didnt access the System and as far as i know port scanning
is still legal in most countries, but if you actually connect to a open share
thats a
different story.
A few years back there was also a discussion about whitehat worms which would
scan and patch vulnerable hosts, but its still illegal to hack a system and
install
software, no matter if its to patch or not. Well i suggest you setup a little
test
network and hack those Systems on your LAN. On that way you can learn
without breaking the law. You need to understand how bugs get exploited and
how to find vulnerabilities in code and how to write your own exploits.
Get some old daemons which are known to be vulnerable and where exploits
exist to get a better understanding. Just a few hints, hope that helps you out.
good luck! (and dont trust any hacking certifications as that is just to make
money)
-sk
Http://www.groundzero-security.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ian stuart Turnbull" <ian.t7@hotmail.co.uk>
To: <full-disclosure@lists.grok.org.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 5:05 PM
Subject: [Full-disclosure] Hello everyone
I have just started in this "hacking" [ethical I should quickly add] and
after much reading etc [and a forest more to do] I have a fundamental
question I'd like to pose.
After just a few hours of scanning (I have to start somewhere} I have
located quite a few routers that have their manufacturers password still set
not to mention loads of Windows machines that have port 139 open AND have
write access to the whole of the C: Drive in some instances.
My question - since it is these machines that I understand will be the
computers that the hacker will use to hide him/her self and given that there
are tools around - just that I don't know of one yet - WHY doesn't someone
send a message to these machines that the owner will see and ASK them
politely to close up these holes? Perhaps something along the "net send"
command.
I'm sure they would love to be enligtened. i.e. their banking info etc won't
be stolen.
If given the knowledge I'd be happy to devote a day or so doing just this.
Currently I don't yet have enough skills.
Yes, I know someone somewhere must have asked this question, though I
haven't found any instance of it, so please don't flame me. I am here to
LEARN from obviously well instructed and knowledgeable people.
Also, forgive me if I appear naive - at this point I admit I definately am
but that will change in time to come.
I'd love to help make the internet a safer place. It is a truly great
invention but for a few darksided individuals. Just because one has the
knowledge doesn't mean they have to ruin it for others !!
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Full-Disclosure - We believe in it.
Charter: http://lists.grok.org.uk/full-disclosure-charter.html
Hosted and sponsored by Secunia - http://secunia.com/
