- t h e -
- h a c k e r ' s -
- h a n d b o o k -
copyright (c) hugo cornwall
all rights reserved
first published in great britain in 1985 by century communications ltd portland house, 12-13 greek street, london w1v 5le.
reprinted 1985 (four times)
isbn 0 7126 0650 5
printed and bound in great britain by billing & sons limited, worcester.
contents
introduction
vii
first principles
2 computer-to-computer communications
7
3 hackers' equipment
15
4 targets: what you can find on mainframes
30
5 hackers' intelligence
42
6 hackers' techniques
57
7 networks
69
8 viewdata systems
86
9 radio computer data
99
10 hacking: the future
108
appendices
i troubleshooting ii glossary iii ccitt and related standards iv standard computer alphabets v modems vi radio spectrum vii port-finder flow chart
112 117 130 132 141 144 148
introduction
the word 'hacker' is used in two different but associated ways: for some, a hacker is merely a computer enthusiast of any kind, who loves working with the beasties for their own sake, as opposed to
operating them in order to enrich a company or research project --or to play games.
this book uses the word in a more restricted sense: hacking is a recreational and educational sport. it consists of attempting to make unauthorised entry into computers and to explore what is there. the sport's aims and purposes have been widely misunderstood; most hackers are not interested in perpetrating massive frauds, modifying their personal banking, taxation and employee records, or inducing one world super-power into inadvertently commencing armageddon in the mistaken belief that another super-power is about to attack it. every hacker i have ever come across has been quite clear about where the fun lies: it is in developing an understanding of a system and finally producing the skills and tools to defeat it. in the vast majority of cases, the process of 'getting in' is much more satisfying than what is discovered in the protected computer files.
in this respect, the hacker is the direct descendant of the phone phreaks of fifteen years ago. phone phreaking became interesting as intra-nation and international subscriber trunk dialling was introduced, but when the london-based phreak finally chained his way through to hawaii, he usually had no one there to speak to except the local weather service or american express office, to confirm that the desired target had indeed been hit. one of the earliest of the present generation of hackers, susan headley, only 17 when she began her exploits in california in 1977, chose as her target the local phone company and, with the information extracted from her hacks, ran all over the telephone network. she 'retired' four years later, when friends started developing schemes to shut down part of the phone
