Written exclusively for HackAddict by Electrik Monk
(electrikmonk@mailexcite.com, electrik@L0phT.com)
Last issue I talked about the ins and outs of web based authentication systems. This issue we’ll focus on setting up an easy, free, and (hopefully for you) fast FTP server with your or your school’s/office’s/whomever’s Mac.
Ingredients:
• 1 Macintosh connected to the net, running System 7.1+
• 1 copy of NCSA Telnet 2.6+ (Included)
All set? Okay, let’s go. In case you didn’t notice, NCSA Telnet (and it’s hacks) have a crude but effective FTP serving capabilities built in. Why do you care, you being the k-rad Hotline admin you are? Well, for starters, you can upload and download new files incognito when other people are using a publicly accessible Mac. No one suspects Telnet to do anything useful or harmful on its own when it is open, so people leave it alone. However, try setting up a HL server at school or work and see how many people using the machine notice. (Hint: everyone does.) So, let’s get to the bottom of this.
When you are connected to the net, launch Telnet. Go to the “Network” menu and select “Show network numbers”. If you think you are connected but you really aren’t or there is a network problem, you will see:
TCP Error: failed to get IP address (MacTCP)
which indicates there is a problem. If you really are connected you will see a dialog like:
Network Address
IP Number: 187.224.2.139
MacTCP driver
with your IP address. Record this because that is the number you type to access the server. Now for the fun part. Go to the “Edit” menu and select “Preferences” and under that, “FTP Server” and later on, “FTP Users”. The FTP Server prefs turn on or turn off the FTP serving capabilities. By default, Netscape has it turned off.
NOTE: The Telnet FTP server is vulnerable to brute force hacking. Just so you know!!!
You will want to turn the server on, WITH passwords required. You don’t want guests to access your entire hard drive! After configuring those pref’s, go to the FTP Users pref’s. Click on “New” to bring up a dialog asking for default directory and user/pass fields.
The default directory is the root folder of your hard drive. If you don’t want everything accessible or only you regular HL server Files folder accessible, navigate and select that particular folder. The password is shown ON SCREEN the first time you type it in.
Beware, children, whose nosy school administrators own the Apple Network Admin Toolkit 2.0, as admin’s can look on your screen whenever they want without your knowing... With that said, the password will only be displayed the first time it is typed; all other times it will be “dingbatted”, so to speak.
Now that you have all your users set up, try your server out by FTPing into the address mentioned earlier (the one you wrote down) with your login and password with a FTP client such as Fetch 3.0x. If you are really depraved, use telnet itself to start an FTP session and try it out, but the commands will be arcane to those newbie WYSIWYG users.
So, what can you do? Well, now you can update your HL server when the Hotline app is open, set up an HL server at school or work during off hours and update during the day with FTP, or you can abandon this community and use it as a plain ole FTP server.
NOTE: Telnet does not perform to the standards of, say, NetPresenz or Rumpus. Don’t get all your hopes up. The purpose of using Telnet is the hidden features and stealth tactics. If you still don’t understand, go back and read the article!
Standard Disclaimer: you didn’t hear it from me that Hotline is much faster on the school/company T1/T3....and don’t get caught or do stupid stuff. Duh!
