| From: | The Powerhouse <P.C.Steele@*********.AC.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Computer Hacking |
| Date: | Fri, 11 Feb 1994 14:30:17 +0000 |
Recently there has been a large amount of hacking in the internet. It has
been carried out largely by people using sniffer programs that utilise a bug
in /dev/nit to scan the network traffic and capture passwords which are
transmitted as pure text.
The authorities are aware of the problem but unless you read the right newgroups
it's quite possible to know nothing of thr problem. At the moment the advice
is to change your password if you log onto remote machines as it is these
passwords that the hackers are catching. If no one is aware pf the problem
at your site then the administrator should be informed who should take
appropiate steps to limit who can and can't get access to /dev/nit.
As for long term solutions I think the only way is to get some form of
encryption so that the passwords only travel over the net in their encrypted
format. This however will take some time.
If you are an adminisitrator for your system I strongly suggest reading the
RISKS forum, CERT (yes, I did already know about it Rob) has issued guidelines
on exactly how to control access to /dev/nit, as well as some very good general
security guidelines.
Phill.
--
Phillip Steele - Email address P.C.Steele@***.ac.uk | Fighting against
Department Of Electrical & Electronic Engineering | Political Correctness !
University Of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England |
Land of the mad Geordies | The Powerhouse
