Forwarded From: Aleph One <aleph1t_private> [ I didnt catch this one until recently. Interesting it didnt get more play on the news. - a1 ] http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/editorial/0,1012,1915,00.html Design Disasters by [11]Lev Grossman, Steve Baldwin and Declan McCullagh April 20, 1998 [ snip ] * * * A friend of Netly's was poking around one of InterNIC's ftp servers last week -- let's not ask why -- when he noticed a file called "core" in the root directory, suggesting that a core dump had taken place. If you're trying to hack into a computer, one way to do it is to trick an application with root privileges into doing a core dump and then overwriting a password file; this -- coupled with the fact that the file size was exactly [30]68040 -- tipped our friend off that the machine was under attack. Since he was in a public-spirited mood, he called up InterNIC to tell them about it. He was passed up the supervisor chain a couple of times, until finally InterNIC told him that the server in question, [31]ds.internic.net, was "not our problem," that AT&T was administering it. But when InterNIC double-checked, they discovered that AT&T's control of the server had lapsed on April 1, and that nobody had been watching it for two and a half weeks. Creation date of the core file? April 1. For the records, the file contained the following: a message from the [32]Klan of the Bloodstained Blade claiming responsibility; instructions for hacking a Cisco router; passwords for a handful of porn sites; and information on how to raise marijuana. You kids play nice, now. * * * -o- Subscribe: mail majordomot_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Dimensional Communications (www.dim.com)
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