One night, at around 1:30 a.m., the Treacherous Den BBS received a visit from a hacker. The hacker tried logging in a few times using my handle, The Knightmare.
The sysop of the system, my friend DR dendryte, was sitting there watching the hacker go at it unsuccessfully until finally he pressed the function key which brought the two of them to chat mode. The following is a transcript of the ensuing conversation, copied exactly as it appeared in the sysop's printout, but with
unnecessary carriage returns removed. [My own comments are in brackets, like this.]
SysOp wants to Chat!
This is DR dendryte, Who RU?
this is Knightmair i Forgot my password. Log me on.
[At this point, DR dendryte knew for certain he was dealing with an impostor. He knew that I never called that late at night, and that I would never for-get my password, considering that it was the same password I'd been using for several years.
DR den-dryte, however, decided to play along.]
How Did you forget your password??!
I dont know it just slipped my mind. i guess! I can't just give out passwords like that you don't have to you can just log me in.
If you're really The Knightmare then tell me, what is your REAL NAME?
[A pause, and them]
don't you trust your own best friend & co-sysop?
come on
i cant beleive you!!!!!
You are definitely NOT The Knightmare...
[Here DR dendryte was referring to the hacker's bad spelling and grammar; DR dendryte knew that I am meticulous in my on-line chat writing.]
he never makes stupid spelling mistakes like that, or uses bad grammar or
[Here, both are trying to type at once. DR dendryte lets the cracker speak:]
That does igt! I don't want to be your friend anymore! just delete me off the BBS.
If you are really who you say you are, let's go voice!
[That is, DR dendryte is asking the hacker to turn off his modem and pick up the telephone - go voice.]
i Don't believv you don't trust me
GO VOICE
Theres no phone in the room..
Sure there is! On the bookshelf next to you!
It broke
HA!! You should have said, "WHAT book-shelf?" There IS no bookshelf in the room!
HA HA HA HA HA A
+++
[Click.]
The next day, when DR dendryte told me this story I said, "You should have told him, 'I AM The Knightmare!' That would've really embarrassed him!"
Impersonations of this kind might work, but only if you are already intimately familiar with the person you are attempting to impersonate. In this instance, the hacker chose to login as me, correctly assuming that I would not be at the sysop's home at midnight. Perhaps the hacker also supposed that DR dendryte would be asleep.
It seem's to me that a ruse like this is more likely to work on a large corporate computer, where no-body knows each other and workers may not have the great love for their computer system that sysops have for theirs.
