Well, on another note, how would you use someones IP address to "hack" , "crack" , or whatever you want to dress it up and call it? How would I like make a box pop up saying: HAI!

NOTE: I don't want directions on how to, because I think that breaks a rule somewhere, I just want to know like: You put it into a command that does blank then you type in "HAI!" and bam!

That's not really what "hacking" (the lame definition) is. What usually happens is, they'll find a security breach that allows them to insert custom code into a set of instructions. This allows them to access and modify everything on the computer. A way to prevent this is to make sure your programs don't leak memory and certainly don't allow inputs to be passed as instructions. Refer to this: http://xkcd.com/327/

ROFLMAO, I love xkcd

This topic turned into something I wasn't expecting. Just forget computers for a sec. I know that it is possible to hack Ipods. But what do you do to then for it to be considered "Hacking"?

I don't think you're supposed to change their firmware, that's probably illegal.. There's even a linux port for the iPods.

i never said i was gunna hack it, that was just for example.

Yes, there is an important distinction between 'hacking' and 'cracking' that a lot of people don't know about. You can't really blame them, since they don't actually need to use those words frequently (there's a lot of stuff I don't know about, as well), but they should at least try to learn the meanings of and distinctions between words before using them.

It almost pains me to see people throwing around words that they know nothing about. At my school, I hear of people 'hacking' 'files', when they really mean 'gaining unauthorised access to' 'user accounts on the school database' (or even just 'cracking' 'accounts'). It's like they've invented their own terminology without bothering to learn the real one.

Hackers: Not to be confused with script kiddies. While most people these days use the word "hacker" to refer to "one who uses hacks", that isn't the original meaning.
Someone that uses a map hack or mineral hack on battle.net is a script kiddie, not technically a hacker. Someone who programmed the map hack or mineral hack... there's your hacker.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Apr 17 2008, 6:18 pm by Mini Moose 2707.

Hacking is not bad, malicious hacking is. Hacking is changing anything, from it's original design, for example, a script for a website, that adds say a shoutbox, that is a hack. Malicious hackers are people who hack with a malicious intent, such as making a maphack for starcraft. People who use hacks are nothing special, script kiddies as moose suggested.

Hackers can often be refered to as black hackers(or hats) and white hackers. Black hackers are people who hack for some malicious reason, such as maphackers and mineral hackers etc. White hackers essentialy hack hackers, by having anti hacks or dropping people with hacks etc.

Hope this helped.

Just a side note here, most hackers won't really actually cause much damage unless they know what they're doing.
I set up a class Footy tipping and a few kids thought it would be funny to poke around legit numbers, which, of course, could have let them in to the Administration console, if they tried. However, (knowing year 7s), I retaliated, and, realized that, in fact, there was a small, minute hole I had not discovered: the fact that users were able to perform the common mysql_query() command (for those of you who know PHP). Personally, I'd define this not a genuine hacking, but as curious people who poke with legit numbers...

As for other experiences, I have a Linux server. I hadn't fixed a hole in the auto recover function in VI, allowing the user to put a recovered file into the system. Autoclean, the program that keeps the computer clean and running up to schedule, was modified, giving this user full superuser control (Do you think I learnt my lesson?!?!). At first, Autoclean ran as normal, but I watched and waited a the 'egg' hatched. The resulting reaction : poof! Not quite what this hacker wanted. He gained superuser powers, but couldn't use them because he had incorrectly set a critical parameter. Now this person knew what they were doing? So what to do? They know knew I was watching them, noting every move... What made this worse was that the connection couldn't be kicked. My last resort was to kill the server, I lost my website for a while, so what. If this person had of sucseeded, my server would be up the creek by now.

As you can plainly see, my experience has lead me to the two forms of hackers: the script kiddies (who really were kiddies) and the form of hackers that you really don't want to meat. However, we all are curious, and, we must satisfy this curiosity in one way or another (curiosity killed the cat, anyone??). We are somewhat worse than that cat. Then you have people who want to cause malicious damage (to websites, to places, to, well, everything that can be broken, smashed, vandalized... you get the point). In this case, my Linux hacker created a malicious code that was intended to do harm, underneath my very own eyes.

Indeed, this could happen to anyone, anywhere, any time. My point being, hackers will never really be defined between script kiddies and the real thing, and, no matter how hard and secure we build our systems, we will always be vulnerable to attacks of all kinds, whether genuine hackers or just kids who are playing around.

You will never know if you got hacked by a real hacker, because they don't leave a trace.

That is also the flaw of this hacker: I was watching him!!

Thanks!

Same with my school, then when I continued to get in through command.com, they also disabled that, which completely screwed over the programs I made in class(all system commands were broken) so I ended up breaking Novell on my computer and creating my own account on the computer. The best part is, now I have full access to the computer, AND I can still access my account files on the school server

Malicious hacking is stupid, IMO, but if there is good reason and you know it won't leave anything permanently messed up, or you can reverse it, then it is fine to me.

Can you run .bat files? My school has run and some things disabled, but I can run .bat files to open dos prompt...

just goes to show that notepad IS the best program ever.

Most hackers are grey hat, btw.

At least I can make .bat files at school. They did fix the command propmpt and the run though.
But, would you know that you can save plain text files in MSWord, then convert them to .bat files through the ISDOS and MSDOS protocol(s) on Windows 2000 (makes making bat files alot easier).

Ha ha just don't put that whatever.bat into your startup files.

Or, alternatively, if you're going to break up with someone, go to their computer, add that line to EVERY .bat file you can find, and end that relationship. And then call at 9:00 p.m. and say, "Take that, bitch. Don't mess with someone who knows about coding."