Phreaking COSMOS

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    COSMOS is Bell's computer for handling information on customer lines,

special services on lines, and orders to change line equipment, disconnect

lines, etc.  COSMOS stands for Computerized System for Mainframe Operations. It

is based on the UNIX operating system and, depending upon the COSMOS and upon

your access, has some, many, or no UNIX standard commands.  COSMOS is powerful,

but there is no reason to be afraid of it.  This article will give some of the

basic, pertinent info on how users get in, account format, and a few other

goodies.



                            Password Identification

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    To get onto COSMOS you need a dialup, account, password, and wire center

(WC).  Wire centers are two letter codes that tell what section of the COSMOS

you are in.  There are different WC's f or different areas and groups of

exchanges.  Examples are PB, SR, LK, et c. Sometimes there are accounts that

have no password; obviously such accounts are the easiest to hack.



                                Checking It Out

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    Let's suppose you have a COSMOS number which you obtained one way or

another.  The first thing to do would be to make sure it is really a COSMOS

system, not some other Bell or AT&T computer.  To do this, you would call it

and connect your modem,, then hit some returns until you got a response. It

should say:



 ';LOGIN:' or 'NAME:'.

    If you enter some garbage it should say:

'PASSWORD:'.

    If you hit a return and it says 'WC?', it is a COSMOS system.  If it says

something like 'TA%' then you're in business.  If it doesn't do any of the

above, then it is either some other  kind of system, or, if you're not getting

anything at all, the dialup has  probably gone bad.



                                  Getting In

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    COSMOS has certain accounts that are  usually on the system, one of which

might not have a password.  They consist of ROOT (most powerful and almost

always on the system), SYS (second most  powerful, still many privileges), BIN

(a little less power), PREOP (a little less), and COSMOS (hardly any

privileges, like a normal user).  The way to tell if they have passwords is by

entering accounts at the ';LOGIN:' or ' NAME:' prompt, and if it jumps straight

to 'WC?', all you need is a WC to get in.  But suppose all of the accounts have

passwords?  You have two choices. You  can try to hack the password and WC to

one of the above accounts.  I won't deal with this method, as is

self-explanatory.  Or you can do something I  find much easier...call the

COSMOS during business hours and hope that someone forgot to log off. Keep

calling until when you connect and hit return until you get a 'WC%' prompt.

'WC' is the WC that the account you found is currently in. You are now in!



                           What to Do while on-line

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    The first thing you want to do is write down the WC you are in. Only on our

first login it is a good idea to print everything or dump everything to a

buffer.



                                   Commands

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'WCFLDS'(!)     : Should list all WC's.

'WHO'           : Should print everyone currently logged on the system, giving

some accounts.

'TTY'           : Tells what terminal port you are on.

'WHERE'         : Should tell the location of the COSMOS installation.

'WHAT'          : Tells what version of COSNIX, COSMOS's operating system, it

is.

'LS *'          : Prints all the files you  have access to.

'CD /dir'       : Connects you to the directory '/dir'.

'CAT filename ' : Prints the file 'filename'.

'Q'             : Quits the editor.

CTRL- Y.        : Logs off

'TAT'           : Sometimes prints a little help file.

'ISH'           : Check someone's telefone #, type 'ISH' at the COSMOS 'WC%'

prompt. Then type.

'HTN XXX-XXXX'  : (Hunt Telephone Number) to tell you about the local number

you are interested in.



'CAT /ETC/PASSWD': Prints out the password file, if you have access. The

passwords are almost always encrypted, but you get a  list of all the accounts.

If you are lucky, one of the lines will have two colons after the account name.

This means there is no prompt from the ';LOGIN:' or 'NAME:' prompts when you

enter that account.



To run a file just type the name followed by a return.



   When the system gives you a '-', you type a '.', and it will type all kinds

of info on the phone number you entered (in Bell abbreviations, of course).  If

it is not a good exchange, it will say something to that effect.  You type a

period to end the ISH.

   If you wish to learn more information about COSMOS, find yourself a COSMOS

manual or look at future issues of 2600.  A UNIX manual would also be helpful

for standard UNIX commands.