tracking down hackers?
 

Is it possible to track down the exact location of a hacker? I mean right were these ^&&*%&^ sit? I know the FBI probably can but can an average Joe do this?

Also, what laws are available to punish these a-holes? I was looking on YouTube and this guy was showing how to hack a vbulletin forum. First, he looked like a complete ass and talked like he was on drugs so obviously he's a looser but why does YouTube even allow this? Isn't this illegal?

This just really gets under my skin.

It isn't illegal to talk about it or even demonstrate it. As a private forums provider, it might not even be illegal for someone to hack your system as by default the only personally identifiable information is the user's email address, which isn't considered private. You'd be able to instigate a civil suit though.

Roughly you can track them to the ISP by their IP address. If you are able to secure a civil subpoena from a judge, you can have the ISP disclose the user of that IP address at the time of the intrusion. However that doesn't mean the attack originated from that IP address. It could be a zombie computer.

Dont believe what you see on TV programmes, you cant just trace every IP address to a real address in the way they do. :)

What's so bad about hackers? If it wasn't for hackers. You would not have Linux ;)

Unless you mean crackers? No it's not that simple, well OK it could be.. if their a "script kiddie".

I believe he's referring to those who use their "knowledge" for criminal acts. Not for people who "hack" software legally.


And I know 4chan.org tracked down that kid who abused his cat and posted it on youtube. Link They got him arrested, so obviously you can do something with the right information. The problem is obtaining the correct information. (The best I've seen with an IP address is tracking the person to a town/city.)

Look at ads when you visit certain websites. They'll have the town I'm in and advertise local shops or whatever.

I'm not going to comment much but recently I had a site hacked, tracked them best I could and learned a lot in the process, best bet is to spend time taking preventative measures instead of wasting time for revenge, I actually had fun going through a copy of all the FTP files and the database to see how they did it and corrected the problem files.

Like I said, learn how to prevent not take revenge, even if you know how to do some harm it's like some f-d up lawsuits where the burglar breaks in, you shoot him he sues you and now owns your house... you might take action and the hackers host may take action against you. A lot to think about when considering this and if you can justify something once think about the future it has to be like I said, prevented and not justified.

S-MAN

I completely agree with taking preventative measures, but I can see why they want revenge. And I think your analogy is a little off. If someone breaks into your house (hacks your site), then you shoot them in the knee (call their hosting company and ISP and have them shut down). It doesn't kill them (because they can always get back online) but it still shows that you will defend yourself if messed with.

Of course, this still isn't a perfect analogy, because in real life you make sure you kill the burglar (dead people can't sue), but you get the idea.

Can't I just find them and shove the mouse where the sun doesn't shine..... Better yet, a full body wax? :D

You should not class these people as hackers - because they not the same.
These people are known as script kiddies and should be shown the contempt they deserve.
Instead call them ScriptKids as most of them use pre-made scripts to do the job.
A real hacker would not waste his time on hacking a vb forum - is bigger fish out there.

Russian hackers are supposedly the best hackers in the world from what I have heard. I really cannot see the point in hacking a VB forum when like the guy above me said they could be hacking bigger and better things.

Pointless hacking a VB Forum it's pointless really hacking anything.

I know I never know why people would hack forums? I mean what is there to gain?

A lot of script kiddies (Because those are the people who will go after your site, unless they have some issue with your community), will hack the site for the IP addresses, emails, and other contact information (From the database).

The niche my main site is in, about all my competitors were hit by the same hacking group, as the guy who ran it was stealing all their financial information by social engineering support for their email provider and/or figuring out their secret questions.

that kid from 4chan wasn't caught by hackers. there were clues in the video that allowed people to figure out who he was. he wasn't a hacker either. its not hard to use proxys and make your IP very hard to track.

I was hacked recently and the guys continues to email me demanding I pay for this and that, that I send him $100USD and just continues to demand payment from things otherwise he will hack and delete everything again - I don't know what I can do about it.

well contact the police as its basically blackmail.
Dont ever give them money - just walk away.You should always have a backup so you can start afresh on another host.

oh God!
It would be nice if you could knock on their door as they're posting stuff online and say "are you [username] on my forum?" .... and when he says yeah ... punch him as hard as you can! :D