Hacking for Knowledge

by Jerry

Defined by Wikipedia, "Hacking" may refer to:

• Computer hacking, including the following types of activity:
• Hacker (programmer subculture), activity within the computer programmer subculture.
• Hacker (computer security), to access computer networks, legally or otherwise.
• Computer crime.
• Phone hacking, the practice of intercepting telephone calls or voicemail messages without the consent of the phone's owner.
• Illegal taxicab operation.
• Pleasure riding, horseback riding for purely recreational purposes.
• Shin-kicking, an English martial art.
• The act of stealing jokes.
• Hacking, an area within Hietzing, a municipal district of Vienna, Austria.
• Roof and tunnel hacking, a type of urban exploration.

"Bollocks," I say.  My desire to understand how things worked, my unending curiosity, combined with insufficient funds, required me to repurpose cast-off computer hardware for experimental uses.

Or perhaps that should read "Mental" uses.

A Brief History

Early on (1960s), I built a light meter for my photo darkroom, obtaining a parts list from an obscure photo magazine.  Success encouraged me to pursue additional adventures in creating needed hardware without sufficient funds.

I needed a set of transmission "jigs" for a VW Type 1 vehicle.  It was built with a few scraps of angle iron and some effort.  Of course, the key to this success was the age-old expression, RTFM.  I scoured the Volkswagon manual for dimensions and such, including proper assembly procedures.

The Sinclair ZX81 at only $99.95 was the first computer for under $100.  The ZX81 had the same microprocessor and ran at the same speed as the earlier ZX80, but it had a better BASIC programming language and was cheaper to produce.  I had purchased a Sinclair ZX81 just before the IBM PC came out.  I had my son programming in BASIC at the age of eight.  Way to go, dad.

Fast-forward into the 1980s, and the IBM PC was all the rage.  I had to have one.  However, the buy-in was way above my pay grade.

Enter the IBM clone.  Eureka!  I had a computer.

After a while, building your own computer was all the rage.  And build I did.

I'm a "hands on" guy and that's just how I learn.  And learn I did, creating the first PC network for L.A. County in the late-1980s, starting the move from "dumb terminals" and mainframe to "client server" with PCs.

Fast-forward again (1998).  I selected FreeBSD UNIX for my students to study.  As a college program director (I retired from L.A. County), I chose UNIX over Linux simply to give the students a wider range of study.  However, Linux was used also.

These days, I find the surplus computer market to be loaded with hacking/learning opportunities including the latest versions of Linux.  I utilize at least one desktop and one laptop in my lab to explore the various Linux and UNIX distributions available.  Purchased through the surplus computer distribution channel, these low prices are affordable for all.

The Phoenix Project

Regular readers here will remember stories about data recovery from surplus hard drives.  All true and, even better, complete computers with all hardware and software intact.  Enter my latest surplus computer purchase, a "Supermicro" with Intel motherboard, 19-inch rack mount server, (one U) running Windows Server 2003 with C.O.A.  The good news is: $50 out the door.  The bad news: the administrator account had a password.  Well, not too bad, as I had collected a Linux boot disk that ran a script allowing me to delete the administrator password in any Windows version.  This operation takes about five minutes or less.  Google will steer you in the correct direction for your own boot disk.  Here's a tip: If you are working in IT support, don't let your customer know how easy it is to delete passwords.  (It's bad for business.)

Here comes the knowledge.  It turns out the server was a fully configured FTP server for a high-end electronics lab (name redacted).  Full virtual setups including server instances, NICs, and services.  VMware headed the list of software included.

Here comes the "Best Practices."  Included I found all setup software and passwords in plain text format.  Score!  Without a BIOS password, the system administrator password was simply reset, allowing full access.

The server didn't directly connect to the Internet due to the proxy settings configured for the lab domain controller server.  Once that was corrected, and enabling DHCP, all systems were go.

(The server was purchased from Silicon Salvage.  Fine supplier of all types of electronic surplus, and they also rent movie studio electronic props.)

I'm still exploring the wide selection of software available on this beautiful rack server.  I encourage you to follow the yellow brick road of discovery as I did.  Next up for this server, a full Linux install with Cloud infrastructure.

Never give up, never surrender.  Knowledge is free for the taking - grab it.