******************************************************
In this Article you will learn how to:
* Use telnet from Windows
* Download web pages via telnet
* Get finger information via telnet
* Telnet from the DOS command-line
* Use netcat
* Break into Windows Computers from the Internet
Protecting Yourself
What can they do
The command-line approach
The GUI approach
Final Words (Rahul)
************************************************************
How to Use Telnet on a Windows Computer
Telnet is great little program for doing a couple of interesting things. In fact, if you want to call yourself a hacker, you absolutely MUST be able to telnet! In this lesson you will find out a few of the cool things a hacker can do with telnet.
If you are using Win95, you can find telnet in the c:\windows directory, and on NT, in the c:\winnt\system32 directory. There isn't a lot of online help concerning the usage of the program, so my goal is to provide some information for new users.
First off, telnet isn't so much an application as it is a protocol. Telnet is protocol that runs over TCP/IP, and was used for connecting to remote computers. It provides a login interface, and you can run command-line programs by typing the commands on your keyboard, and the programs use the resources of the remote machine. The results are displayed in the terminal window on your machine, but the memory and CPU cycles consumed by the program are located on the remote machine. Therefore, telnet functions as a terminal emulation program, emulating a terminal on the remote machine.
Now, telnet runs on your Win95 box as a GUI application...that is to say that you can type "telnet" at the command prompt (in Windows 95 this is the MS-DOS prompt), and assuming that your PATH is set correctly, a window titled "telnet" will open. This differs from your ftp program in that all commands are entered in the DOS window.
Let's begin by opening telnet. Simply open a DOS window by clicking "start", then "programs", then "MS-DOS", and at the command prompt, type:
c:\telnet
The window for telnet will open, and you can browse the features of the program from the menu bar.
***************************************************
NEWBIE NOTE: In this text file, I am referring only to the telnet
program that ships with Win95/NT. If you type "telnet" at the
command prompt and you don't get the telnet window, make sure
that the program is on your hard drive using the Start -> Find ->
Files or Folders command. Also make sure that your path statement includes the Windows directory. There are many other programs available that provide similar functionality, with a lot of other bells and whistles, from any number of software sites.
*************************************************
To learn a bit more about telnet, choose Help -> Contents, or
Help -> Search for help on... from the menu bar. Read through
the files in order to find more detailed explanations of things
you may wish to do. For example, in this explanation, I will
primarily be covering how to use the application and what it can
be used for, but now how to customize the colors for the application.
Now, if you choose Connect -> Remote System, you will be presented with a dialog window that will ask you for the remote host, the port and the terminal type.
****************************************************
NEWBIE NOTE: For most purposes, you can leave the terminal type on
VT100.
****************************************************
In the Connect dialog box, you can enter in the host to which
you wish to connect, and there is a list box of several ports
you can connect to:
daytime: May give you the current time on the server.
echo: May echo back whatever you type in, and will tell you that the computer you have connected to is alive nd running on the Internet. qotd: May provide you with a quote of the day.
chargen: May display a continuous stream of characters, useful for spotting network problems, but may crash your telnet program.
telnet: May present you with a login screen.
These will only work if the server to which you are trying to connect is running these services. However, you are not limited to just those ports...you can type in any port number you wish. (For more on fun ports, see the GTMHH, "Port Surf's Up.") You will only successfully connect to the port if the service in question is available. What occurs after you connect depends upon the protocol for that particular service.
When you are using telnet to connect to the telnet service on a server, you will (in most cases) be presented with a banner and a login prompt.
[Note from Carolyn Meinel: Many people have written saying their telnet program fails to connect no matter what host they try to reach. Here's a way to fix your problem. First -- make sure you are already connected to the Internet. If your telnet program still cannot connect to anything, here's how to fix your problem. Click "start" then "settings" then "control panel." Then click "Internet" then "connection." This screen will have two boxes that may or may not be checked. The top one says "connect to the Internet as needed." If that box is checked, uncheck it -- but only uncheck it if you already have been having problems connecting. The bottom box says "connect through a proxy server." If that box is checked, you probably are on a local area network and your systems administrator doesn't allow you to use telnet.]
*********************************************
NEWBIE NOTE: It's not a good idea to connect to a host on which you don't have a valid account. In your attempts to guess a username and password, all you will do is fill the log files on that host. From there, you can very easily be traced, and your online service provider will probably cancel your account.
**********************************************
Now, you can also use telnet to connect to other ports, such as
ftp (21), smtp (25), pop3 (110), and even http (80). When you
connect to ftp, smtp, and pop3, you will be presented with a
banner, or a line of text that displays some information about the
service. This will give you a clue as to the operating system
running on the host computer, or it may come right out and tell
you what the operating system is...for instance, AIX, Linux,
Solaris, or NT. If you successfully connect to port 80, you will
see a blank screen. This indicates, again, that you have successfully completed the TCP negotiation and you have a connection.
Now, what you do from there is up to you. You can simply disconnect with the knowledge that, yes, there is a service running on port 80, or you can use your knowledge of the HTTP protocol to retrieve the HTML source for web pages on the server.
How to Download Web Pages Via Telnet
To retrieve a web page for a server using telnet, you need to connect to that server on port 80, generally. Some servers may use a different port number, such as 8080, but most web servers run on port 80. The first thing you need to do is click on Terminal -> Preferences and make sure that there is a check in the Local Echo box. Then, since most web pages will generally take up more than a single screen, enable logging by clicking Terminal -> Start Logging... and select a location and filename. Keep in mind that as long as logging is on, and the same file is being logged to, all new information will be appended to the file, rather than overwriting the
original file. This is useful if you want to record several sessions, and edit out the extraneous information using Notepad.
Now, connect the remote host, and if your connection is successful, type in:
GET / HTTP/1.0
and hit enter twice.
**************************************************
NEWBIE NOTE: Make sure that you hit enter twice...this is part
of the HTTP protocol. The single / after GET tells the server
to return the default index file, which is generally "index.html".
However, you can enter other filenames, as well.
*************************************************
In this Article you will learn how to:
* Use telnet from Windows
* Download web pages via telnet
* Get finger information via telnet
* Telnet from the DOS command-line
* Use netcat
* Break into Windows Computers from the Internet
Protecting Yourself
What can they do
The command-line approach
The GUI approach
Final Words (Rahul)
************************************************************
How to Use Telnet on a Windows Computer
Telnet is great little program for doing a couple of interesting things. In fact, if you want to call yourself a hacker, you absolutely MUST be able to telnet! In this lesson you will find out a few of the cool things a hacker can do with telnet.
If you are using Win95, you can find telnet in the c:\windows directory, and on NT, in the c:\winnt\system32 directory. There isn't a lot of online help concerning the usage of the program, so my goal is to provide some information for new users.
First off, telnet isn't so much an application as it is a protocol. Telnet is protocol that runs over TCP/IP, and was used for connecting to remote computers. It provides a login interface, and you can run command-line programs by typing the commands on your keyboard, and the programs use the resources of the remote machine. The results are displayed in the terminal window on your machine, but the memory and CPU cycles consumed by the program are located on the remote machine. Therefore, telnet functions as a terminal emulation program, emulating a terminal on the remote machine.
Now, telnet runs on your Win95 box as a GUI application...that is to say that you can type "telnet" at the command prompt (in Windows 95 this is the MS-DOS prompt), and assuming that your PATH is set correctly, a window titled "telnet" will open. This differs from your ftp program in that all commands are entered in the DOS window.
Let's begin by opening telnet. Simply open a DOS window by clicking "start", then "programs", then "MS-DOS", and at the command prompt, type:
c:\telnet
The window for telnet will open, and you can browse the features of the program from the menu bar.
***************************************************
NEWBIE NOTE: In this text file, I am referring only to the telnet
program that ships with Win95/NT. If you type "telnet" at the
command prompt and you don't get the telnet window, make sure
that the program is on your hard drive using the Start -> Find ->
Files or Folders command. Also make sure that your path statement includes the Windows directory. There are many other programs available that provide similar functionality, with a lot of other bells and whistles, from any number of software sites.
*************************************************
To learn a bit more about telnet, choose Help -> Contents, or
Help -> Search for help on... from the menu bar. Read through
the files in order to find more detailed explanations of things
you may wish to do. For example, in this explanation, I will
primarily be covering how to use the application and what it can
be used for, but now how to customize the colors for the application.
Now, if you choose Connect -> Remote System, you will be presented with a dialog window that will ask you for the remote host, the port and the terminal type.
****************************************************
NEWBIE NOTE: For most purposes, you can leave the terminal type on
VT100.
****************************************************
In the Connect dialog box, you can enter in the host to which
you wish to connect, and there is a list box of several ports
you can connect to:
daytime: May give you the current time on the server.
echo: May echo back whatever you type in, and will tell you that the computer you have connected to is alive nd running on the Internet. qotd: May provide you with a quote of the day.
chargen: May display a continuous stream of characters, useful for spotting network problems, but may crash your telnet program.
telnet: May present you with a login screen.
These will only work if the server to which you are trying to connect is running these services. However, you are not limited to just those ports...you can type in any port number you wish. (For more on fun ports, see the GTMHH, "Port Surf's Up.") You will only successfully connect to the port if the service in question is available. What occurs after you connect depends upon the protocol for that particular service.
When you are using telnet to connect to the telnet service on a server, you will (in most cases) be presented with a banner and a login prompt.
[Note from Carolyn Meinel: Many people have written saying their telnet program fails to connect no matter what host they try to reach. Here's a way to fix your problem. First -- make sure you are already connected to the Internet. If your telnet program still cannot connect to anything, here's how to fix your problem. Click "start" then "settings" then "control panel." Then click "Internet" then "connection." This screen will have two boxes that may or may not be checked. The top one says "connect to the Internet as needed." If that box is checked, uncheck it -- but only uncheck it if you already have been having problems connecting. The bottom box says "connect through a proxy server." If that box is checked, you probably are on a local area network and your systems administrator doesn't allow you to use telnet.]
*********************************************
NEWBIE NOTE: It's not a good idea to connect to a host on which you don't have a valid account. In your attempts to guess a username and password, all you will do is fill the log files on that host. From there, you can very easily be traced, and your online service provider will probably cancel your account.
**********************************************
Now, you can also use telnet to connect to other ports, such as
ftp (21), smtp (25), pop3 (110), and even http (80). When you
connect to ftp, smtp, and pop3, you will be presented with a
banner, or a line of text that displays some information about the
service. This will give you a clue as to the operating system
running on the host computer, or it may come right out and tell
you what the operating system is...for instance, AIX, Linux,
Solaris, or NT. If you successfully connect to port 80, you will
see a blank screen. This indicates, again, that you have successfully completed the TCP negotiation and you have a connection.
Now, what you do from there is up to you. You can simply disconnect with the knowledge that, yes, there is a service running on port 80, or you can use your knowledge of the HTTP protocol to retrieve the HTML source for web pages on the server.
How to Download Web Pages Via Telnet
To retrieve a web page for a server using telnet, you need to connect to that server on port 80, generally. Some servers may use a different port number, such as 8080, but most web servers run on port 80. The first thing you need to do is click on Terminal -> Preferences and make sure that there is a check in the Local Echo box. Then, since most web pages will generally take up more than a single screen, enable logging by clicking Terminal -> Start Logging... and select a location and filename. Keep in mind that as long as logging is on, and the same file is being logged to, all new information will be appended to the file, rather than overwriting the
original file. This is useful if you want to record several sessions, and edit out the extraneous information using Notepad.
Now, connect the remote host, and if your connection is successful, type in:
GET / HTTP/1.0
and hit enter twice.
**************************************************
NEWBIE NOTE: Make sure that you hit enter twice...this is part
of the HTTP protocol. The single / after GET tells the server
to return the default index file, which is generally "index.html".
However, you can enter other filenames, as well.
*************************************************