Can you hack with telnet

[Dean]

i dont understand telnet want can you do with it?

[Metgod]

depends.. I'm really tired and about to go to bed but will try to answer...

it's really old for these days but it still has its uses. It's basically remote terminal emulation.

Some systems still have the telnetd (telnet daemon) running, and so you can remotely log in with that. Others (those who understand the risks of plain text) run sshd (secure shell daemon). To make it easier to understand, ssh is basically telnet but has a lot more features (like secure copy.. and such) and is more secure (encrypted). And to make it easy (and too tired to explain anyway), a shell is an interface to the operating system (say, unix or linux or windows even).

It really depends.. many other programs can use 'telnet-like' interfaces...

It basically opens a connection to the computer specified (by the ip address or hostname) and allows you to either view what's there or remotely execute commands (usually requires logging in.. i.e., with a login and password).

In short... it's just a way to connect to another computer, remotely (not local) or locally (the same computer)...

So you can do a lot with it. If you want to read all the info on it, either look at the manual for telnet (if you can get a hold of it. not sure if you would have a unix system.. guessing not).. or read the RFC (request for comment, which iwll be in more detail and longer)..

Here :

ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc854.txt

Hope that helps.

I'm off for now.. feel free to respond and I'll get back to you.

Met

[Dean]

Thanks a lot.
But would i be able to like get there computer screen up?
i g2g bi!

[Cobra]

Nope, You would be remotely connecting to a shell.

If you wanted to get a visual screen up, you would need to use something line VNC or something. But you wouldn't be doing any hacking with that. It just allows you to remotely admin a system by displaying the remote pc display onto your local display.

Telnet just allows you to login to a shell that would look something like a DOS prompt box or a Unix Shell.

I find telnet still usefull for Banner Grabbing and the like.

[Dean]

Nope, You would be remotely connecting to a shell.

If you wanted to get a visual screen up, you would need to use something line VNC or something. But you wouldn't be doing any hacking with that. It just allows you to remotely admin a system by displaying the remote pc display onto your local display.

Telnet just allows you to login to a shell that would look something like a DOS prompt box or a Unix Shell.

I find telnet still usefull for Banner Grabbing and the like.

Oh i understand now. But what's VNC and where could I get it?

[Metgod]

I can't remember what it stands for off the top of my head, but if I remember right, it's Virtual Network Computer. Anyway, it has two parts (like most things on the Internet) :

a client (the program connecting to it)
a server (the program feeding/serving/whatever it is to the client).

Telnet is another example.. telnet client and telnet server (you'll often hear daemon instead of server in the unix world though).

It's basically another way to connect to machines, only it's also possible to do it (at least semi) graphically. You can use a mouse and the like. I guess you could relate it to a 'visual server' in a way.

That's it in a nutshell.

http://www.realvnc.com

should also be of some help.

Met

[Dean]

I can't remember what it stands for off the top of my head, but if I remember right, it's Virtual Network Computer. Anyway, it has two parts (like most things on the Internet) :

a client (the program connecting to it)
a server (the program feeding/serving/whatever it is to the client).

Telnet is another example.. telnet client and telnet server (you'll often hear daemon instead of server in the unix world though).

It's basically another way to connect to machines, only it's also possible to do it (at least semi) graphically. You can use a mouse and the like. I guess you could relate it to a 'visual server' in a way.

That's it in a nutshell.

http://www.realvnc.com

should also be of some help.

Met

THANKS you guys are the man!

[Dean]

A sever is like 198.369.249 right?



sorry for all the questions!

[Metgod]

That would be the IP Address, but as long as it's serving 'something' (on the Internet for example), then I suppose you could call it a 'server'.

There are two different 'types' of servers that I can think of...

1. the actual hardware. There are certain systems that are called servers. Often they are mounted on racks (rack mounted systems against a wall with all the cables feeding from/to one place.. just as an example).

2. the actual process on a system (whether its a hardware server or just a PC really doesn't matter).

So let's say you have apache running on your PC. Then you could basically say you are running a web server (because apache is an http/web process that serves it).

Although I don't have 'a hardware server' (technically it's just a PC), it is a server in that I do serve some things off of it.

Some Operating systems are better for running these types of applications, just like some are better for networking.

Example is DOS is pretty .... bad for networking. But Unix is a native network operating system and is quite good for it and servers.

That type of thing.. so it just depends on how you look at it.

I answered that in a hurry as I have little time before I have to go to a doctor appt. And I'm sure some others here would have more to add.

Feel free to ask more questions either way and I'll get back to you.

Take care,
Met

[Dean]

Can you just give me an ex.?   please
and where could i find the sever (im going to look on the internet for that now)

[Cobra]

Okay another example of a server would be:

A server is something that serves (Hence being called a server). So for now just look at it as anything that provides a service. Be it a shell account, web hosting, ftp, e-mail. That is a server.

Now most companies would build & design systems specifically to deal with this tasks. Like take for example a company called IE Internet.. They are an Irish web hosting company. They would have a Web Farm of servers, just loads of servers built to do nothing else but provide a service.

That would be the basic uses of a server.

Another way of explaining a server would be the software that the average "joe show" can run on his home XP or 98 machine.

The VNC software is a good example. It needs a server and a client. The server you can install on your machine and it provides a service. That service can then be used by any machine connecting to it using a compatible client.

Does that make sense?
----------------------

The IP address that you typed " 198.369.249" wouldn't be correct. The IPv4 standard is 4 blocks like 192.168.0.1. This is currently what is in use on the internet today. This is a public address for a specified machine. When you connect a PC to the internet it is given a unique public IP address.

You may want to read up on IPv4 and IPv6. I'm sure Metty or someone would have links to the RFC's.
---------------------------------------

As for finding a server. I'm not sure what you mean? Are you referring to finding the VNC server online? Any server in general? Or are you trying to find a specific server?

Anyway.. Hope that helps.. If not .. Just ask away.

[Dean]

So like aol is a sever?

[Metgod]

Yeah, it's important to know that the IPs don't have that high numbers. It's from 0 - 255 on each of the four octets.

And 255 is a broadcast address (meaning everything on that subnet). So 192.168.1.255 would basically go to everything on that subnet. (192.168.x.x, is one of the IP ranges reserved for internal networks; i.e., NO computer on the Internet will have it [at least not officially.. spoofing is another story]).

Now, AOL is not a server per se.. it is an internet service provider.

But it runs servers. That's the key. In fact, the machines you connect to to log in to the Internet (using aol for example) are servers, but the ISP itself is not a server...

Hope that helps..

And yes, as Cobra said, if you want, I have ample documentation for all of this ... It is kind of dry though ...

Cheers,
Metty

[Dean]

Im starting to get this stuff but do you know of any websites that name severs?

[Metgod]

do you mean a web site that lets you do hostname/ip lookups ?

Try for example ...

http://www.networksolutions.com (that's a major registrar -- i.e., a place you register domains)

another one that I just found by google is :

http://www.dnsstuff.com/

Not sure if that's what you're after though ...

Met