For this week’s challenge you’re going to connect to a remote server at overthewire.org using SSH (Secure Shell) and retreive a password (sounds cool dosn’t it?)
SSH is a secure way of connecting over a network in which the entire session including the password is encrypted. Encryption is just a fancy way of saying: if anyone gets access to your password, they won’t understand a thing!
(If you already know how to use SSH and the command line, skip to the challenge)
So before I tell you what your mission is, you need to understand how the command line works. If you’ve ever used a linux operating system, or even a Mac, you’ll notice there’s something called The Terminal. The terminal allows you to write text commands to carry out tasks instead of using the mouse. It’s a powerful way of controlling your computer. Here’s two articles to help you understand what the command line is all about (come back here when you’re finished reading them!)
Who needs a mouse? Learn to use the command line for almost anything!
Getting comfortable in the terminal
Now you know what a command line is and the amazing stuff you can do with it. (Assuming you read the article, of course). So here comes the exciting part:
1) Turn on your command line:
In order to use the command line on Mac or Linux, just turn on your terminal by clicking on Windows/Utilities/Terminal from the Finder.
In order to use the command line on Windows download and install a program called Putty:
(download the putty-0.63-installer.exe as shown in the picture below)
2) Using SSH on Windows and Mac
Mac:
In order to use SSH on a Linux or Mac just type: ssh user@server
Where user is the username of the computer and server can be the ip address of the computer you’re trying to access.
Windows:
To use SSH on a windows, turn on Putty and follow one of the following tutorials:
Written tutorial
Video tutorial
3) SSH into the zeroth level of bandit.labs.overthewire.org server: Bandit0
Before you do the actual challenge, access bandit0 using SSH.
This can be done by using bandit0 as the username and password and bandit.labs.overthewire.org as the server. Try it out and see if it works!
If you see the following, that means you’re in!
If you’ve come this far, I congratulate you.
Instructions on how to win each level are written at overthewire.org starting with Bandit0 - Bandit1
By “winning” each level, you gain the password for the next level.
The password for the next level is somewhere on the bandit.labs.overthewire.org server and you need to use your knowledge of the command line to find it.
Objective: “Win” till level three to retreive the password for level 4 and send it to eutechsociety@effat.edu.sa along with a screenshot of your command line.
(Note: you need both the password and the screenshot to be qualified)