Clear CMOS all Tricks

ENTERING DEBUG Debug has been included in every version of MS-DOS as well as Windows. When running any of the debug routines it is recommended that if you have Windows that you exit or shut down to get into a real DOS prompt (unless you're running Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or later versions). Once at the MS- DOS prompt, run through the below example, this example is perfectly fine to run on any PC Computer running MS-DOS / Windows and will not harm anything. Type debug and press enter. This should get you to a - (small dash). This is the debug prompt. At the - type d40:00 and press enter; this will return several lines of information. After the feedback you will be back to the debug prompt. To exit out of debug type q and press enter. This will return you back to the MS-DOS prompt. In some of the below debug routines you will notice that a "g" is typed, then "q". G tells the computer that the code type is not self executing and must be run at this point. If completed, the program will return Program Terminated Normally which indicates you can now quit from the debug program. TESTING PORTS

The below debug routine will check the ports of the computer to allow you to know if ports are being detected or not. Type debug to get to the "-" Type D40:0 You should get several lines; however, the first line is the only important line, which should read the following: 0040:0000 F8 03 F8 02 E8 03 E8 02 - 78 03 78 02 BC 03 F8 03 F8 02 E8 03 E8 02 78 03 78 02 BC 03 COM1 COM2 COM3 COM4 LPT1 LPT2 LPT3 The above graph shows you what the feed back means as far as port, so if you see F8 03, this would be an indication that COM1 is being detected; if you see 00 00, this is an indication that it is not being detected, which could mean that hardware is bad or that it is disabled inCMOS Once you have finished looking at the information, type Q and press enter to get out of Debug.

CLEAR CMOS

The below debug routine will clear CMOS, BIOS, Passwords, Settings, Viruses, and other items residing in the CMOS. During this process you may get returned characters which are an indication that the string has gone in, if you by chance get ERROR ensure that you have typed the line in correctly, if not retype. Ensure that you do not skip any lines, that it is ALL typed in correctly to help prevent problems. Before running this Debug routine also ensure that you have read the above disclaimer. After typing debug you will get "-" which is were you can begin by typing A and pressing enter. A <ENTER> MOV AX,0 <ENTER> MOV AX,CX <ENTER> OUT 70,AL <ENTER> MOV AX,0 <ENTER> OUT 71,AL <ENTER> INC CX <ENTER> CMP CX,100 <ENTER> JB 103 <ENTER> INT 20 <ENTER> <ENTER> Note: Nothing is typed on this line G <ENTER> By pressing G this will execute the above script, ensure you have read and agree to the above disclaimer. Q <ENTER> Then reboot and you will get a Setup Checksum Error. Go into setup, correct all the incorrect values, time, date...

JOYSTICK TEST

This test will test to see if your Joystick is present or not. Type debug from the DOS prompt once at the "-". Type i201 If you get a FF response attempt hold one of the main buttons on your joystick, and while holding the button down type i201 and see if a different response is given, each button on the joystick should return a different response. However, some special joysticks, such as the Microsoft Sidewinder, which has more than 4-5 buttons, may not return a response for all extra buttons because these buttons are generally controlled through software. If a FF is still given on each of the buttons on the game paddle or joystick, it is a good possibility that either the Joystick and or the Joystick port is bad. If possible, attempt these steps with another known working joystick. However, if you are receiving different responses when pressing and holding the keys on the joystick, the computer hardware is working properly. Type q and press enter to quit out of debug.

ERASING SECTOR 2

Before doing the below routine ensure that you have read our disclaimer and that you're sure that this is safe to do on your hard drive. Some computer hard drive manufacturers may void your warranty if this routine is ran or in some situations this can cause damage to the hard drive. This routine is useful in clearing DDO and unknown partitions. If this routine completes successfully it will erase everything in Sector 2. In the below debug routine, only type what is in bold from line 3 to 9, you will get a response if typed in properly. If you get a response continue to type the bold text as shown below in the below example. A:\>debug -FCS:200 400 0<enter> -ACS:100<enter> -xxxx:0100 mov ax,302<enter> -xxxx:0103 mov bx,200<enter> -xxxx:0106 mov cx,2<enter> -xxxx:0109 mov dx, 80<enter> -xxxx:010a int 13<enter> -xxxx:010c int 20<enter> -xxxx:0110 <enter>(without typing anything) -g <enter> Program terminated normally. -q <enter>

ERASE ALL HDD INFORMATION

This debug routine is used to erase all partition information on the hard disk drive and is only recommend for experienced users or users who are unable to delete the partition information through fdisk. In the below debug routine, only type what is in bold from line 3 to 8, you will get a response if typed in properly. If you get a response continue to type the bold text as shown below in the below example. A:\>debug <enter> -F 200 L1000 0 <enter> -A CS:100 <enter> xxxx:0100 MOV AX,301 <enter> xxxx:0103 MOV BX,200 <enter> xxxx:0106 MOV CX,1 <enter> xxxx:0109 MOV DX,80 <enter> (80 for hd 0 or 81 for hd 1 ) xxxx:010C INT 13 <enter> xxxx:010E INT 20 <enter> xxxx:0110 <enter> -g <enter> Program terminated normally -q<enter> Once this debug routine is complete, reboot computer and all partitions should be erased. Before anything can be installed back onto the computer you must run Fdisk and recreate the partition as well as format the hard disk drive.

ERASE HDD AND CLEAR CMOS

Before doing the below routine ensure that you read our disclaimer as well as are sure that this is safe to do on your hard drive. Some computer hard drive manufacturers may void your warranty or this may cause damage to the hard drive when doing the below example. This routine is useful in clearing DDO and removing possible viruses. If this routine completes successfully it will erase everything from your Hard Drive as well as your reset your CMOS values. In the below debug routine, only type what is in bold from line 3 to 17, you will get a response if typed in properly. If you get a response continue to type the bold text as shown below in the below example. A:\>debug <enter> -fcs:200 400 0 <enter> -acs:100 <enter> -xxxx:0100 mov ax, 0 <enter> -xxxx:0103 mov ax, cx <enter> -xxxx:0105 out 70, al <enter> -xxxx:0107 mov ax, 0 <enter> -xxxx:010a out 71,al <enter> -xxxx:010c inc cx <enter> -xxxx:010d cmp cx,100 <enter> -xxxx:0111 jb 103 <enter> -xxxx:0113 mov ax,302 <enter> -xxxx:0116 mov bx,200 <enter> -xxxx:0119 mov cx,1 <enter> -xxxx:011c mov dx,80 <enter> -xxxx:011f int 13 <enter> -xxxx:012l int 20 <enter> -xxxx:0123 <enter> (without typing anything.) -g <enter> program terminated normally If you are doing this debug routine to clear out a possible virus turn off your computer and wait and turn back on. -q <enter> Once back at DOS, reboot your computer When your computer comes back on from doing the above you will get an error message as booting up the computer, such as "Invalid Configuration". You must enter CMOS and set the time and date, save, and reboot again. Once rebooted, you will then need to run fdisk and recreate the partitions. Once created, you will then need to format the hard drive and proceed as normal.

DISCHARGE OLD LAPTOP BATTERIES

The below debug routine is used for older laptop batteries (i.e. batteries made from 1990-1992), we do not recommend using this routine on any newer laptop batteries or any NiMH batteries N DPDISCHG.COM <Enter> A <Enter> MOV DX,01E8 <Enter> MOV AL,F9 <Enter> OUT DX,AL <Enter> INT 20 <Enter> <Enter> RCX <Enter> 10 <Enter> W <Enter> Q <Enter> This will write dpdischg.com to the current directory. To run this utility type dpdischg.

REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER

Implement this debug routine to reboot your computer. DEBUG E 40:72 34 12 RCS FFFF RIP 0000 G To create a batch file that reboots your computer without having to type the above command each time, use the below example. GOTO BEGIN E 40:72 34 12 RCS FFFF RIP 0000 G :BEGIN DEBUG < REBOOT.BAT

CREATE A SLEEP FILE

This file allows your computer to sleep for a specified amount of time. This file is not dangerous in any way; if typed improperly, more than likely the file will just not work. Type Debug You should get a "-" begin typing the below information; after each line you may get a response, do not press enter and type the next line after the response. N SLEEP.COM A 100 MOV SI,0082 MOV AX,[SI] XCHG AH,AL XOR AX,3030 MOV BL,AL MOV AL,0A MUL AH ADD AX,BX MOV SI,AX MOV AH,2C INT 21 MOV BL,DH MOV AX,SI AAM OR AX,3030 XCHG AH,AL MOV [0160],AX MOV AH,09 MOV DX,0160 INT 21 MOV AH,06 MOV DL,FF INT 21 JZ 014C OR AL,AL JNZ 013F MOV AH,08 INT 21 MOV AL,FF MOV DX,016C PUSH AX MOV AH,09 INT 21 POP AX MOV AH,4C INT 21 MOV AH,2C INT 21 CMP BL,DH JZ 012D MOV BL,DH DEC SI JNZ 011A SUB AL,AL MOV DX,016C JMP 0142 DB "XX SECONDS", D, 24 DB " ", D, A, 24 RCX 79 W Q Tip: You may cut and paste the above test into a notepad document and save the file with a .scr extension. Once saved from DOS, type debug < name of scrSLEEP.COM. which should create the file; should be created

CHECK BIOS DATE

The below debug routine is to check the date of your BIOS. All BIOS dates on PC compatible computers is stored at memory address FFFF5h. To display the date of your BIOS do the following: At the C:\> type debug - d FFFF:5 L 8 After typing the above command you should receive a string similar to: FFFF:0000 30 34 2F-33 30 2F 39 38 4/30/98 The 4/30/98 would be the date of your computer BIOS.

VIDEO CARD TYPE

The below debug routine will list the type of video card within your computer. This is an excellent way of determining the chipset on the card or the card within your computer without opening the computer. At the C:\> type debug -d c000:0040 After typing the above command you should receive several lines of text similar to: C000:0040 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ C000:0050 E9 63 7B 00 B4 10 49 27 - E9 FE 2B E9 F7 2B 50 4D .c{...I'..+..+PM C000:0060 49 44 58 00 5B 00 00 00 - 00 A0 00 B0 00 B8 00 C0 IDX.[........... C000:0070 00 5B 53 54 42 20 6E 56 - 49 44 49 41 20 54 4E 54 .[STB nVIDIA TNT C000:0080 20 76 65 72 2E 20 31 2E - 31 30 20 0D 0A 00 1B 43 ver. 1.10 ....C C000:0090 6F 70 79 72 69 67 68 74 - 28 43 29 31 39 39 38 20 opyright(C)1998 C000:00A0 53 54 42 20 53 79 73 74 - 65 6D 73 20 49 6E 63 0D STB Systems Inc. C000:00B0 0A 00 22 6C 2C 0A 01 00 - C3 50 24 7F E8 60 36 58 .."1,....P$..'6X As you can pick out in the above dump, this gives you enough information to determine the make and the year made on the video card. On line 4 you can see the make of this video card, which in this case is a N VIDIA TNT which would be the Riva TNT chipset. The next line you notice the version of the card and finally the line thereafter is the copyright or the year manufactured, generally. If you are unable to capture any information which sounds like the video card, you can also type -d c000:0090

How to trace an IP of remote system (web+messenger)

Introduction::

Welcome to another rahulhackingarticles tutorial.
In here I have figure out some very easy but cool ways to trace out the geographical location and various other infos like ISP details etc of a remote computer using its IP.
Well I guess its one of the most important must learn manul for boys out there if you want to impress your friends particularly gals whom you’ll meet online in a chat room and tell them their geographical locations and ISP details and make them surprised and impressed J.
In the practical execution of this manual you don’t have to work much as it is very simple only you have to use your brain to understand some symbols and some format of expressions and use your IQ to execute things the right way.

What is IP and how to get the IP of a remote system::

Getting the IP or Internet Protocol of a remote system is the most important and the first step of hacking into it. Probably it is the first thing a hacker do to get info for researching on a system. Well IP is a unique number assigned to each computer on a network. It is this unique address which represents the system on the network. Generally the IP of a particular system changes each time you log on to the network by dialing to your ISP and it is assigned to you by your ISP. IP of a system which is always on the network remains generally the same. Generally those kind of systems are most likely to suffer a hacking attack because of its stable IP. Using IP you can even execute system commands on the victim’s computer.
Lets take the example of the following IP address: 202.144.49.110 Now the first part, the numbers before the first decimal i.e. 209 is the Network number or the Network Prefix.. This means that it identifies the number of the network in which the host is. The second part i.e. 144 is the Host Number that is it identifies the number of the host within the Network. This means that in the same Network, the network number is same. In order to provide flexibility in the size of the Network, here are different classes of IP addresses:

Address Class Dotted Decimal Notation Ranges
Class A ( /8 Prefixes) 1.xxx.xxx.xxx through 126.xxx.xxx.xxx
Class B ( /16 Prefixes) 128.0.xxx.xxx through 191.255.xxx.xxx
Class C ( /24 Prefixes) 192.0.0.xxx through 223.255.255.xxx

The various classes will be clearer after reading the next few lines.

Each Class A Network Address contains a 8 bit Network Prefix followed by a 24-bit host number. They are considered to be primitive. They are referred to as "/8''s" or just "8's" as they have an 8-bit Network prefix.
In a Class B Network Address there is a 16 bit Network Prefix followed by a 16-bit Host number. It is referred to as "16's".

A class C Network address contains a 24-bit Network Prefix and a 8 bit Host number. It is referred to as
"24's" and is commonly used by most ISP's.

Due to the growing size of the Internet the Network Administrators faced many problems. The Internet routing tables were beginning to grow and now the administrators had to request another network number from the Internet before a new network could be installed at their site. This is where sub-netting came in.

Now if your ISP is a big one and if it provides you with dynamic IP addresses then you will most probably see that whenever you log on to the net, your IP address will have the same first 24 bits and only the last 8 bits will keep changing. This is due to the fact that when sub-netting comes in then the IP Addresses structure becomes:

xxx.xxx.zzz.yyy

where the first 2 parts are Network Prefix numbers and the zzz is the Subnet number and the yyy is the host number. So you are always connected to the same Subnet within the same Network. As a result the first 3 parts will remain the same and only the last part i.e. yyy is variable.
***********************

For Example, if say an ISP xyz is given the IP: 203.98.12.xx Network address then you can be awarded any IP, whose first three fields are 203.98.12. Get it?

So, basically this means that each ISP has a particular range in which to allocate all its subscribers. Or in other words, all subscribers or all people connected to the internet using the same ISP, will have to be in this range. This in effect would mean that all people using the same ISP are likely to have the same first three fields of their IP Addresses.

This means that if you have done a lot of (By this I really mean a lot) of research, then you could figure out which ISP a person is using by simply looking at his IP. The ISP name could then be used to figure out the city and the country of the person. Right? Let me take an example to stress as to how cumbersome but easy (once the research is done) the above method can be.

In my country, say there are three main ISP’s:

ISP Name Network Address Allotted

ISP I 203.94.47.xx
ISP II 202.92.12.xx
ISP III 203.91.35.xx

Now, if I get to know the IP of an e-pal of mine, and it reads: 203.91.35.12, then I can pretty easily figure out that he uses ISP III to connect to the internet. Right? You might say that any idiot would be able to do this. Well, yes and no. You see, the above method of finding out the ISP of a person was successful only because we already had the ISP and Network Address Allotted list with us. So, what my point is, that the above method can be successful only after a lot of research and experimentation. And, I do think such research can be helpful sometimes.

Also, this would not work, if you take it all on in larger scale. What if the IP that you have belongs to someone living in a remote igloo in the North Pole? You could not possibly get the Network Addresses of all the ISP’s in the world, could you? If yes please send it to me J.

Well now I guess you have pretty good knowledge about what an IP is and what you can do by knowing the IP of a remote system. Now lets come to the point of finding out the IP of remote system.
Well you can easily figure out the IP of a remote system using the netstat utility available in the microsoft’s version of DOS. The netstat command shows the connections in which your system is engaged to and the ports they are using. Suppose you are checking your mail in hotmail and you want to find out the IP of msn. All you need to do is to open a dos window (command.com) and type netstat. You will see all the open connections of your system. There you will see something :

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP rahul:1031 64.4.xx.xx:80 ESTABLISHED

Now you got the IP address of hotmail ass 64.4.xx.xx .
Similarly you can figure out the IP address of most http or ftp connections.

To know your own IP type the following command in a dos windows
C:\netstat –n
[this commands converts the IP name into IP addresses]
this is what you will probably see on typing the above command :

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1031 194.1.129.227:21 ESTABLISHED
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1043 207.138.41.181:80 FIN_WAIT_2
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1053 203.94.243.71:110 TIME_WAIT
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1058 194.1.129.227:20 TIME_WAIT
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1069 203.94.243.71:110 TIME_WAIT
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1071 194.98.93.244:80 ESTABLISHED
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1078 203.94.243.71:110 TIME_WAIT

Here 203.xx.251.161 is your IP address.

Now lets clarify the format used by netstat :

Proto : It shows the type of protocol the connection with the remote system is using.
Here TCP (transmission control protocol) is the protocol used by my system to connect to other systems.

Local Address : It shows the local address ie the local IP. When the netstat command is executed without –n switch then the name of the local system is displayed and when the netstat is executed with –n switch then the IP of the local system is displayed. Here you can also find out the port used by the connection.
xxx.yyy.zzz.aaa:1024
in this format you will see the local address. Here 1024 is the port to which the remote system is connected in your system

Foreign Address :: It shows the IP address of the remote system to which your system is connected. In this case also if the netstat command is excuted with –n switch then you directly get the IP of the victim but if the netstat is executed without –n switch then you will get the address of the remote system. Something like

C:\netstat
Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP rahul:1031 msgr.lw4.gs681.hotmail.com:80 ESTABLISHED

Here msgr.lw4.gs681.hotmail.com is the address of the foreign system . putting this address in any IP lookup program and doing a whois lookup will reveal the IP of the remote system.

Note: The port to which your system is connected can be found from this in the same way as I have shown in the case of local address. The difference is that, this is the port of the remote system to which your computer is connected to.
Below I have produced a list of ports and popular services generally found to be running.
21 :: FTP port
80 :: http port
23 :: Telnet port

Note: If your execute the netstat command and find ports like 12345,27374 are open and are in use then make it sure that your sweat heart computer is infected with her boyfriend.. J J J J I mean your computer is infected with some sort of Trojan.
Below I have produced a list of commonly known Trojans and the ports they use by default. So if you find these ports open then get a good virus buster and get these stupid servers of the Trojans kicked out. Well if you want to play with these Trojan by keeping them in your computer but not letting them ruin your system performance then just disble it from the system registry run and they wont be loaded to memory each time when windows starts up[This trick doesn’t work for all Trojans].

Netbus :: 12345(TCP)
Subseven :: 27374(TCP)
Girl Friend :: 21554(TCP)
Back Oriface :: 31337 (UDP)

Well guys and gals I hope you are now well familiar with the term IP and what is the utility of IP in cyber world and how to get the IP of a remote system to which you are connected. I hope you find my writings very easy to undertstand. I know I lack the capacity of explaining myself but I try my level best to make things very easy and clear for you’ll.

How to get the IP of a remote system while chatting through msn messenger ::

This is a tutorial on how to get IP address from MSN messenger. This is actually
a really easy thing to do. It is not like going through the hard time and reversing
MSN messenger like many people think.
The IP address is only given when you accept or are sending a file through MSN
messenger. When you send IM's, the message is sent through the server thus hiding
your victims IP and your. But when you send a file or recieve a file, it is direct
connection between the two computers.
To obtain the IP accept a file transfer or send a file to the victim, when the file
sending is under way from the dos prompt type "netstat" without the quotation marks.
You should get a table like this:
Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP kick:1033 msgr-ns29.msgr.hotmail.com:1863 ESTABLISHED
TCP kick:1040 msgr-sb36.msgr.hotmail.com:1863 ESTABLISHED
TCP kick: <REMOTE HOST> ESTABLISHED
The top name in the list is the server's address for IMing. There could be many of
the second name in the list, as a new connection is made to the server for every
room you are IMing to. You are looking for the address of the remote host in
this table it may be something similar to "host63-7-102-226.ppp.cal.vsnl.com" or “203..64.90.6”.
without the quotation marks.
All you need to do now is to put this address in you IP lookup programe and get the IP of the remote system.


Well 50%of the work is done now. Now you know how to get the IP of a remote system, so its time to trace it down and find some details about the IP.

Tracing an IP is quite simple. You can do it the easy way by using some sweet softwares like Visual Trace 6.0b
[ftp://ftp.visualware.com/pub/vr/vr.exe]
Neotrace
[http://www.neoworx.com/download/NTX325.exe]
or by our way ie. Using MS DOS or any other version of DOS.
Well I suggest you to use DOS and its tracert tool for tracing the IP cause using it will give you a clear conception about the art of tracing an IP and I guarantee that you will feel much satisfied on success than using a silly software. Furthur you will know how things work and how the IP is traced down and the different networks associated in this tracing process.

Let us take a look at tracert tool provided for DOS by Microsoft.
It is a very handy tool for peoples need to trace down an IP.
Just open any DOS windows and type tracert.

C:\windows>tracert

Usage: tracert [-d] [-h maximum_hops] [-j host-list] [-w timeout] target_name

Options:
-d Do not resolve addresses to hostnames.
-h maximum_hops Maximum number of hops to search for target.
-j host-list Loose source route along host-list.
-w timeout Wait timeout milliseconds for each reply.

You will now see a description of the tracert command and the switches associated with it.
Well these switches doesn’t makes much difference. All you can do is to increase the timeout in milliseconds by using –w switch if you are using a slow connection and the –d switch if you wish not resolve address to hostnames by default.
By default tracert performs a maximum of 30 hops trace. Using the –h switch you can specify the number of hops to perform.
Now its time for execution.
Let us trace down the IP yahoo.com [216.115.108.243]

TIP: If you have done a long research (I mean a lot) then simply looking at the IP you can figure out some info from it. For example the IP 203.90.68.8 indicates that the system is in India. In India IPs generally begin with 203 and 202

C:\WINDOWS>tracert yahoo.com

Tracing route to yahoo.com [216.115.108.243] over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 308 ms 142 ms 127 ms 203.94.246.35
2 140 ms 135 ms * 203.94.246.1
3 213 ms 134 ms 132 ms 203.94.255.33
4 134 ms 130 ms 129 ms 203.200.64.29
5 122 ms 135 ms 131 ms 203.200.87.75
6 141 ms 137 ms 121 ms 203.200.87.15
7 143 ms 170 ms 154 ms vsb-delhi-stm1.Bbone.vsnl.net.in [202.54.2.241]
8 565 ms 589 ms 568 ms if-7-0.bb8.NewYork.Teleglobe.net [207.45.198.65]
9 596 ms 584 ms 600 ms if-3-0.core2.NewYork.teleglobe.net [207.45.221.66]
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 703 ms 701 ms 719 ms if-3-0.core2.PaloAlto.Teleglobe.net [64.86.83.205]
12 694 ms 683 ms 681 ms if-6-1.core1.PaloAlto.Teleglobe.net [207.45.202.33]
13 656 ms 677 ms 700 ms ix-5-0.core1.PaloAlto.Teleglobe.net [207.45.196.90]
14 667 ms 673 ms 673 ms ge-1-3-0.msr1.pao.yahoo.com [216.115.100.150]
15 653 ms 673 ms 673 ms vl20.bas1.snv.yahoo.com [216.115.100.225]
16 666 ms 676 ms 674 ms yahoo.com [216.115.108.243]
Trace complete.

Note: Here I have traced yahoo.com. In place of yahoo.com you can give the IP of yahoo or any other IP you want to trace, the result will be the same.

Now carefully looking at the results you can figure out many information about yahoo’s server [216.115.108.243]
First packets of data leave my ISP which is at 203.94.246.35 .Similarly you can find out the different routers through which the packets of data are send and received to and from the target system. Now take a look at the 13th line you’ll see that the router is in PaloAlto.Teleglobe.net from this you can easily figure out that the router is in Palo Alto. Now finally look at the target system ie. Yahoo’s server vl20.bas1.snv.yahoo.com . Now you got the address of yahoo’s server. Now put this address in any IP lookup programe and perform and reverse DNS lookup and you will get most of the info about this address,like the place where it is in.
Well another thing you can find out using the tracert tool is that the number of hops (routers) the target system is away from you. In case of tracerouting yahoo.com we find that the target system ie yahoo’s server is 16 hops away from my system. This indicates that there are 16 routers between my system and yahoo’s server.

Apart from tracing an IP you can find out many usefull details about the target system using the tracert tool.

Firewall Detection

While tracerouting a target system, if you get * as an output then it indicates timeout error. Now if you peform another tracerout to the same taeget system at some other time with a good connection and in this way few times more and if you always get * as the output then take it for sure that the target system is running a firewall which prevents sending of data packets from the target system.

Example

Some days ago I tried to tracert hotmail’s server in plain and simple way using tracert without any trick.This is what I found out :


c:\windows>tracert 64.4.53.7

Tracing route to lc2.law5.hotmail.com [64.4.53.7]

over a maximum of 30 hops:



1 * * * Request timed out.
2 161 ms 147 ms 85 ms 203.90.69.81
3 126 ms 261 ms 219 ms 203.90.66.9
4 121 ms 115 ms 228 ms delswp2.hclinfinet.com [203.90.66.133]
5 727 ms 725 ms 711 ms 203-195-147-250.now-india.net.in [203.195.147.250]
6 1006 ms 794 ms 952 ms core-fae-0-0.now-india.net.in [203.195.147.3]
7 826 ms 731 ms 819 ms 213.232.106.9
8 885 ms 744 ms 930 ms 213.166.3.209
9 851 ms 1020 ms 1080 ms 213.232.64.54
10 1448 ms 765 ms 1114 ms pos8-0.core2.London1.Level3.net [212.113.0.118]
11 748 ms 789 ms 750 ms ge-4-2-1.mp2.London1.Level3.net [212.187.131.146]
12 719 ms 733 ms 846 ms so-3-0-0.mp1.London2.Level3.net [212.187.128.46]
13 775 ms 890 ms 829 ms so-1-0-0.mp2.Weehawken1.Level3.net [212.187.128.138]
14 853 ms 852 ms 823 ms so-3-0-0.mp1.SanJose1.Level3.net [64.159.1.129]
15 889 ms 816 ms 803 ms so-7-0-0.gar1.SanJose1.Level3.net [64.159.1.74]
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.
Trace complete.

I performed the same tracert many times a day but concluded with the same result. This indicates that the systems after the router SanJose1.Level3.net has firewalls installed which prevents the outgoing of data packets.

Detecting Traceroute Attempts on your System

You can detect that an attacker is performing a traceroute on your system, if you see the following symptoms:

1. If you observe port scans on very high UDP ports. This symptom means that the attacker has performed a traceroute on your system. However, it could also mean a simply port scan. Either way, it signifies the fact that your system is being scanned.

2. If the packet-monitoring tool installed in your network, picks up several outgoing TTL-exceeding messages, then it is yet another sign that someone is doing a traceroute on your system.

3. If in these log files, you also observer an outgoing ICMP port unreachable error message, then it means that since a traceroute was done on your system and as the target system i.e. your system, was reached, it responded with this error message.

You can also find our more information on the attacker (if he performs a traceroute on your system) by simply studying the sniffer log files. If you observer the TTL values, then we can easily figure out the following information on the attacker by making use of OS detection techniques discussed earlier in this white paper:

1. The Operating System running on the attacker’s target system.
2. Number of hops away, the attacker is from you.