# Please say this guy is lying.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 21, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924 "2008-11-21T22:52:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mordwynd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mordwynd)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/1 "2008-11-21T22:52:45Z")
A guy in one of my classes was talking to another kid, when I hear he says he made an IP changer that changes his IP every 30 minutes and if someone is trying to track him, it changes it every 5 minutes. Not only this, he claims to have hacked people through online games and shut their computers down. In addition, he also counterhacked someone trying to hack him and made his computer tell him, “You fucked with the wrong person” every hour.
Bullshit, right?
---
### Author:  [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/2 "2008-11-21T23:00:54Z")
> [@Mordwynd](#):
>
> Bullshit, right?
Ah yup.
---
### Author:  [@Spectralist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectralist)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/3 "2008-11-21T23:05:45Z")
Bullshit indeed. For one thing he cant change his IP all willy-nilly like that. He can request a new IP from his ISP but his ISP would probably look into/suspend his account if he was doing that very frequently. Or if it’s anything like mine just keep giving him the same IP.
The rest of it might be technically possible but it’d be _very_ unlikely to even come across a game where that kind of hack would be possible. And very difficult to manage if you did.
---
### Author:  [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/4 "2008-11-22T00:01:50Z")
He could theoretically do everything he said if he is a truly badass hacker.
He could do the IP address thing with something like [BackTrack](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BackTrack).
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/5 "2008-11-22T02:27:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> A guy in one of my classes was talking to another kid, when I hear he says he made an IP changer that changes his IP every 30 minutes and if someone is trying to track him, it changes it every 5 minutes. Not only this, he claims to have hacked people through online games and shut their computers down. In addition, he also counterhacked someone trying to hack him and made his computer tell him, “You fucked with the wrong person” every hour.
>
> Bullshit, right?
So it’s computers now? Back in my day, we use to tell each other bullshit about how we did it with a cheerleader and her hot cousin - at the same time!
---
### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/6 "2008-11-22T02:29:30Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#):
>
> He could theoretically do everything he said if he is a truly badass hacker.
>
> He could do the IP address thing with something like [BackTrack](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BackTrack).
Please explain how running a Linux distribution would allow you to constantly change your publicly-routable IP, without the cooperation of your upstream provider.
---
### Author:  [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/7 "2008-11-22T02:32:08Z")
He’s full of shit. I’m pretty sure that anyone actually capable of doing this would not be bragging about it verbally, and also would not have done so in language understandable to non-techs. Aptitude in computers tends to come at the expense of socials skills.
---
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/8 "2008-11-22T02:36:48Z")
Well, he could change his private IP address as often as he likes, if he is behind a router. Maybe that’s what he means…
---
### Author:  [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/9 "2008-11-22T02:38:42Z")
> [@friedo](#):
>
> Please explain how running a Linux distribution would allow you to constantly change your publicly-routable IP, without the cooperation of your upstream provider.
From the [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BackTrack) link:
> [@](#):
>
> BackTrack’s functionality further increases with the arrangement of each tool in 16 categories. The tool categories are as follows -
>
> ```
> * Enumeration
> * Exploit Archives
> * Scanners
> * Password Attacks
> * Fuzzers
> * **Spoofing**
> * Sniffers
> * Tunneling
> * Wireless Tools
> * Bluetooth
> * Cisco Tools
> * Database Tools
> * Forensic Tools
> * BackTrack Services
> * Reversing
> * Misc
>
> ```
I would say that the spoofing tool would enable you to somehow alter ip.
I haven’t personally used it to do this, but I have it on good authority that you could do it if you had the necessary knowledge and skills.
And I agree with **Captain Carrot** , if this guy _could_ do it, he wouldn’t be bragging about it like that.
---
### Author:  [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/10 "2008-11-22T02:43:51Z")
I’ve found that the truly bad ass hackerz don’t brag. They just quietly use their mad skillz. My gut says you’ve found a script kiddie. Script kiddies, for those unfamiliar with the term, are people with relatively little computer skill but who have acquired a number of useful programs from real hackers.
Tomorrow, I’ll be seeing IT guys **Cleophus** and **Meros**. They taught me what root access is. I’ll bring this thread to their attention.
---
### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/11 "2008-11-22T03:15:09Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#):
>
> I would say that the spoofing tool would enable you to somehow alter ip.
I wouldn’t. [Spoofing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_spoofing) makes it look like traffic coming from your computer is coming from somewhere else. It doesn’t do anything to change what your IP address is, because that’s not under your control.
My guess is that this guy has a spoofer of some kind and thinks that he’s altering his IP address. That’s a little less than 1337.
---
### Author:  [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/12 "2008-11-22T03:48:32Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#):
>
> My guess is that this guy has a spoofer of some kind and thinks that he’s altering his IP address. That’s a little less than 1337.
Indeed.
Bottom line, the guy’s a braggart.
---
### Author:  [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/13 "2008-11-22T03:50:32Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#):
>
> My guess is that this guy has a spoofer of some kind and thinks that he’s altering his IP address. That’s a little less than 1337.
Sounds like a script kiddie to me. There are alot of utilities out there that can be used in the right combination to do bad things. Several of the things he mentioned could easily be done via virus. The whole hack/counterhack thing sounds like a crock of pure shit to me. Its not like they are furiously typing back and forth or something.
I know one “scary hacker” type. He doesent talk about it much, he dosent have a regular job or business that I am aware of, and he is a great resource for computer security Q’s.
In many ways…I don’t want to know what he does for a living.
---
### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/14 "2008-11-22T04:02:51Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#):
>
> I would say that the spoofing tool would enable you to somehow alter ip.
Then you do not know what spoofing is.
---
### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/15 "2008-11-22T04:28:28Z")
If you had a big list of open proxy servers, you could swap through them regularly. Course your internet would be as slow as hell, and probably most proxy servers are permanently banned from being able to access any fun sites on the planet.
---
### Author:  [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/16 "2008-11-22T06:00:52Z")
agree, the guy’s a tool.
Believe me, I was a script kiddie back in my day. I could program a bit, but not enough to do anything meaningful, just take scripts more talented people had made and made small changes so they’d better suit my needs (which were generally limited to pranks on friends, mind. Nothing amazingly technical). Actually hacking into another computer over a game server would be very difficult, not impossible I don’t think, but no one who could do that would be bragging about it at their local high school (though I guess you could be in college?)
---
### Author:  [@Mordwynd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mordwynd)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2008, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-say-this-guy-is-lying/473924/17 "2008-11-22T08:33:30Z")
This spoofing thing sounds like what he could’ve meant, but he’s just an idiot. And I’m in high school. I’m glad you guys all agree and I’m very interested about what the IT guys have to say.