A quick point. Not that everyone doesn't already know this, but it is my personal conviction to say something whenever I see 'Hacker' and 'Cracker being used interchangeably.
Hacker: Very talented and very dedicated problem solver that works very hard to fix problems and then publishes the results for free to benefit the computing society. Hackers fix stuff.
Cracker: Not blindingly talented, probably doesn't really know 'a whole lot' about programming. Wastes valuable hours that could be used doing something usefull carrying out acts of internet violence. Crackers break stuff.
With that off my chest I would strongly suggest paying a visit to http://www.insecure.org/sploits_linux.html, or
http://www.insecure.org/index.html for those not using *nix. This is a very scary sight that lists a *huge* number of exploits on *nix based systems as well as other OS's.
By the way, I would say that roughly 90% of the attacks are designed to gain ROOT. I printed off the list (very long) and am reviewing all of my binaries against these exploits and reviewing permissions.
Cheers!
To be fair, AOL is probably one of the easier services for a novice to get up and running. To be realistic the service is garbage and most people realize this about the time they get a grip on the whole 'WWW' thing. It's kind of funny; I do tech support for a 'well known printer company'. After asking really open questions about the persons system and the issue they are having, I can guess whether they use AOL for an ISP or not with about 9*% accuracy based on the customers knowledge of simple questions like 'what OS are you using?' "i duno" 'what program did this happen in?' "i duno". My point (and I know you have been waiting for it) is that AOL is like an ugly date, it might kinda do what you had hoped for, but it sure as hell won't keep you coming back.
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A quick point. Not that everyone doesn't already know this, but it is my personal conviction to say something whenever I see 'Hacker' and 'Cracker being used interchangeably. Hacker: Very talented and very dedicated problem solver that works very hard to fix problems and then publishes the results for free to benefit the computing society. Hackers fix stuff. Cracker: Not blindingly talented, probably doesn't really know 'a whole lot' about programming. Wastes valuable hours that could be used doing something usefull carrying out acts of internet violence. Crackers break stuff. With that off my chest I would strongly suggest paying a visit to http://www.insecure.org/sploits_linux.html, or http://www.insecure.org/index.html for those not using *nix. This is a very scary sight that lists a *huge* number of exploits on *nix based systems as well as other OS's. By the way, I would say that roughly 90% of the attacks are designed to gain ROOT. I printed off the list (very long) and am reviewing all of my binaries against these exploits and reviewing permissions. Cheers!
To be fair, AOL is probably one of the easier services for a novice to get up and running. To be realistic the service is garbage and most people realize this about the time they get a grip on the whole 'WWW' thing. It's kind of funny; I do tech support for a 'well known printer company'. After asking really open questions about the persons system and the issue they are having, I can guess whether they use AOL for an ISP or not with about 9*% accuracy based on the customers knowledge of simple questions like 'what OS are you using?' "i duno" 'what program did this happen in?' "i duno". My point (and I know you have been waiting for it) is that AOL is like an ugly date, it might kinda do what you had hoped for, but it sure as hell won't keep you coming back.