Chasing tails
03 Jun 2004I’ve made a vague promise that this would be written in loose terms, so I’m sorry if I break definitions of loose, here ;p
The St. Andrews IT department has long been a cause of angst not only for students, but for teachers, parents, and fish. In the past, there have been various people attempt to hacksaw it down, however they have been detained and generally oppressed because of it.
This is a topic scarce-discussed, for fear of reprisals from various personnel. As Ellis Baker would say in “The System” – “Anything but I.T. Levi, anything.” But SC shall brave it, bringing you news from the front at great risk to life, limb, and network access privileges. Well, okay, reduced risk to the former two, and dubious risk to the third.
Don’t interrupt my dramatisation, okay?
So, anyway… In the past, such attempts to fell the gargantuan enterprise that is SACS IT have been circumvented (often before the offending parties were aware that such attempts had occurred – such is the benefit of a “first strike” network admin policy, it would seem. Nevermind prevention, accusation is the cure!) – but now, two brave young men have endevoured to strike where none have ever (publicly) struck before (and gotten caught for it).
Bob and Bill, as they shall be known, set out on a mission to bypass the *cough* security measures *endcough* that St. Andrews had in place, using a vast variety of highly skilled programmes (note: skill rests in programmes) obtained from highly secretive and little known security resources on something known as the Internet. Big “I”, there.
It is alleged that certain people obtained access to resources through the use of utilities designed especially to disrupt network activity within St. Andrews, namely known as Linux, a highly malicious tool for Black Hat hackers, with known violations of global intellectual property law. Clearly, this is a tool only for extreme criminals on the edge of society.
Specifically, they are thought to have made use of the dubiously named “CISCO TESTING SERVER”, labelled with an equally questionable message – “DO NOT TURN OFF”. This computer, thought to have been running a variant of this highly illegal “Linux”, was a purpose-built hacking tool, with the capacity to destroy nations at the press of a button. Go the direct link to ye olde ICBM launcher on the roof of BBC.
Hey, this is sounding more and more like “The System” every minute! Bring on Paint!
[i]If you haven’t read it, talk to Ellis Baker sometime, or talk to me and I’ll email you a copy of it – from what I’ve heard from him, he’d want as many people to read it as possible… hehe, it is a VERY good read.[/i]
Disclaimer: [i]The information presented above is not guaranteed to contain a shred of truth. For the most part, I have taken a small part reality, and distorted it beyond immediate recognition. If anyone is offended by the truth that remains, if you can give me legal reason to retract comments, then I will. Until then, post a comment, have a cry, and get on with your life.
Oh, and secure your networks, whilst you’re at it.[/i]