[Ti] Some one Hacked me!

[Chris Olson]

On Jan 12, 2005, at 1:46 PM, Robert Ameeti wrote:

> And do please give a link showing me where the Mac was cracked in a 
> cracking contest. All the ones that I've heard about were not cracked. 
> And my opinion was in this case that Ray's computer was not attacked 
> by the experts capable of winning contests worth $10K or more.

I indeed agree that Ray's computer more than likely was not cracked.  
But never make the mistake of thinking Mac OS X is infallible.  As 
shipped in it's default configuration it is indeed secure, usually more 
so than other Unices, but people use their computers for things.  The 
computer does little good sitting there with the ethernet plug lying on 
the floor not plugged into the wall jack.  If it has ports open and is 
running services on those ports, it can be cracked.  Period.  I don't 
care what it runs.

In addition, I'm up for a challenge, and I'd like to prove it to you 
first hand.

Firstly, those of us who specialize in, and like to play with cracking 
computers are *NOT* hackers, nor does your box get "hacked".  "Hacking" 
is writing software.

Place a "secret" text file in your user directory someplace named 
"secret.txt", the contents of which only you know.  I don't want to 
know your user name (if the box has multiple users), nor where you put 
the file as long as it's in your user directory.  Put your Mac on a DSL 
or Cable modem with a static IP that won't change for 48 hours.  
Connect it directly to the modem with the firewall on, with web sharing 
(http port 80), remote login (SSH port 22), and FTP access (FTP control 
port 21 and data port 20, plus non-privileged ports 1024-65535) turned 
on.  Make certain Windows File Sharing and Personal File Sharing are 
turned off, along with all other services on the box except for the 
three mentioned above.  Email me the IP address of the machine along 
with a waiver that gives express consent to me and an undisclosed 
number my colleagues to attack the box.  We need the waiver to state an 
understanding on your part that this is not a criminal activity, that 
we may take root control of the target box over remote connection, and 
that we may modify some critical system utilities, including replacing 
the NetInfo database in the BSD subsystem in order to do so.  We'll 
also need written consent from your ISP giving us permission to attack 
an IP address on a subnet owned by them.  An email signed with your PGP 
key is sufficient for your written consent, the ISP will have to fax me 
their waiver.

Give us a start time, and allow 48 hours continuous access to the box.  
To prove we broke in, one of us will email you the contents of your 
secret text file before the 48 hour time period expires, with complete 
step by step documentation of how we broke in.  And we'll do it for 
fun.  We won't expect any big prize for breaking in.
--
Chris