IRC Servers
You may already have an IRC server running on your ISP. Customer service at
your ISP should be able to help you with instructions on how to use it. Even
easier yet, if your Web browser is set up to use Java, you can run IRC straight
from your browser once you have surfed into a Web-based IRC server.
Where are good IRC servers for meeting other hackers?
There are several IRC servers that usually offer hacker channels. EFNet (Eris-Free
Network)links many IRC servers. It was originally started by the Eris FreeNet (ef.net).
It is reputed to be a "war ground" where you might get a chance to really
practice the IRC techniques we cover below.
Undernet is one of the largest networks of IRC servers. The main purpose of
Undernet is to be a friendly place with IRC wars under control. But this means,
yes, lots of IRC cops! The operators of these IRC servers have permission to
kill you not only from a channel but also from a server. Heck, they can ban you
for good. They can even ban your whole domain.
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Newbie note: A domain is the last two (or sometimes three or four) parts of your
email address. For example, aol.com is the domain name for America Online. If an
IRC network were to ban the aol.com domain, that would mean every single person
on America Online would be banned from it.
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You can get punched in the nose warning: If the sysadmins at your ISP were to
find out that you had managed to get their entire domain banned from an IRC net
on account of committing ICMP bombing or whatever, they will be truly mad at
you! You will be lucky if the worst that happens is that you lose your account.
You'd better hope that word doesn't get out to all the IRC addicts on your ISP
that you were the dude that got you guys all kicked out.
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IRCNet is probably the same size if not larger than Undernet. IRCNet is
basically the European/Australian split off from the old EFNet.
Yes, IRC is a world-wide phenomenon. Get on the right IRC network and you
can be making friends with hackers on any continent of the planet. There are at
least 80 IRC networks in existence. To learn how to contact them, surf over to:
http://www.irchelp.org/. You can locate additional IRC servers by surfing over
to http://hotbot.com or http://digital.altavista.com and searching for "IRC
server." Some IRC servers are ideal for the elite hacker, for example the l0pht
server. Note that is a "zero" not an "O" in l0pht.
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Evil genius tip: Get on an IRC server by telneting straight in through port 6667
at the domain name for that server.
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But before you get too excited over trying out IRC, let us warn you. IRC is
not so much phun any more because some d00dz aren't satisfied with using it to
merely say naughty words and cast aspersions on people's ancestry and grooming
habits. They get their laughs by kicking other people off IRC entirely. This is
because they are too chicken to start brawls in bars. So they beat up on people
in cyberspace where they don't have to fret over getting ouchies.
But we're going to show some simple, effective ways to keep these lusers
from ruining your IRC sessions. However, first you'll need to know some of the
ways you can get kicked off IRC by these bullies.
The simplest way to get in trouble is to accidentally give control of your
IRC channel to an impostor whose goal is to kick you and your friends off.
You see, the first person to start up a channel on an IRC server is
automatically the operator (OP). The operator has the power to kick people off
or invite people in. Also, if the operator wants to, he or she may pass operator
status on to someone else.
Ideally, when you leave the channel you would pass this status on to a
friend your trust. Also, maybe someone who you think is your good buddy is
begging you to please, please give him a turn being the operator. You may decide
to hand over the OP to him or her in order to demonstrate friendship. But if you
mess up and accidentally OP a bad guy who is pretending to be someone you know
and trust, your fun chat can become history.
One way to keep this all this obnoxious stuff from happening is to simply
not OP people you do not know. But this is easier said than done. It is a
friendly thing to give OP to your buddies. You may not want to appear stuck up
by refusing to OP anyone. So if you are going to OP a friend, how can you really
tell that IRC dude is your friend?
Just because you recognize the nick (nickname), don't assume it's who you
think it is! Check the host address associated with the nick by giving the
command "/whois IRCnick" where "IRCnick" is the nickname of the person you want
to check.
This "/whois" command will give back to you the email address belonging to
the person using that nick. If you see, for example, "d***@wannabe.net" instead
of the address you expected, say friend@cool.com, then DO NOT OP him. Make the
person explain who he or she is and why the email address is different.
But entering a fake nick when entering an IRC server is only the simplest of
ways someone can sabotage an IRC session. Your real trouble comes when people
deploy "nukes" and "ICBMs" against you.
"Nuking" is also known as "ICMP Bombing." This includes forged messages such
as EOF (end of file), dead socket, redirect, etc.
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Newbie note: ICMP stands for Internet Control Message Protocol. This is an class
of IRC attacks that go beyond exploiting quirks in the IRC server program to
take advantage of major league hacking techniques based upon the way the
Internet works.
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You can go to jail warning: ICMP attacks constitute illegal denial of service
attacks. They are not just harmless harassment of a single person on IRC, but
may affect an entire Internet host computer, disputing service to all who are
using it.
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For example, ICMP redirect messages are used by routers to tell other
computers "Hey, quit sending me that stuff. Send it to routerx.foobar.net
instead!" So an ICMP redirect message could cause your IRC messages to go to bit
heaven instead of your chat channel.
EOF stands for "end of file." "Dead socket" refers to connections such as
your PPP session that you would be using with many IRC clients to connect to the
Internet. If your IRC enemy spoofs a message that your socket is dead, your IRC
chat session can't get any more input from you. That's what the program "ICMP
Host Unreachable Bomber for Windows" does.
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