Is Foolproof Really Foolproof?

By QVCxQM

Foolproof is a desktop security software used on Windows 9x platforms. Many

school districts across the world are taking it on as
their only form of internal security. Unfortunately, the name has falsely made
them believe that they are secure.

I was originally given the task of checking how secure this software was for my
school district while I was in my final year of high
school. Upon sitting down at the machine you will notice that it loads a boot
lock (won�t allow any "F" keys to be pressed unless a
password is entered and once you get to a Dos prompt you will notice that there
isn�t anything on the drives. If you break out a copy of
Fdisk you will see that the boot lock program has changed the partitions into
non-Dos partitions so they cannot be messed with). Once
you boot the computer into Windows the first thing this software does is load
itself into every part of memory that your computer will
allow. This allows the software to prevent the use of certain programs that are
specified in the settings by hogging all the memory
which will stop the it from loading because there is no memory left to bring the
program up. Another thing noticed is the wonderful little
lock program down in your taskbar telling you the machine is locked (Doesn�t this
just beg to be messed with?).

Now that I�ve given some background on the program, here comes the fun part. How
to get around it.

1. 32-bit Software protection

Foolproof is a 32-bit application. For some reason or another they didn�t program
any 16-bit protection. If Foolproof has been setup to
block the visibility of some network drives all you have to do is go into the
root of your windows folder and run �fileman.exe� (I realize
this is stupid, but you wouldn�t believe how many school districts leave this one
open). Once File Manager is open you should be able
to see and access all drives that you were locked out of in My Computer.

2. Password in plaintext?
This is another one I was never able to understand. If you are going to have such
a secure program, why can you take a memory
dump of the machine and find the password in plain text? I�m not sure if this one
works on newer versions, but on older versions you
just had to do a search in the memory and find �Foolpr� (that was another thing,
I don�t know if they thought it would be more secure if
they didn�t put the whole name or what, but that is how you find it). Usually
there are two passwords you want to find. The one to get in
and change settings, and a password to a higher access level then what the
machine boots up to.

3. Remove it
The best way to get rid of a program is to remove it. So this is how. When you
are first booting and the background to Windows first
comes up hit ctrl-alt-del (Must be before anything loads. Ex. Boot logo just
disappeared, background shows up, hit ctrl-alt-del). This will
bring up the Close Program dialog window. Now double click outside of the window
a couple of times really quickly until Task Manager
comes up (you will learn that Task Manager can be your best friend in many
situations. It may take you a couple of times to get Task
Manager up, but it will work eventually). From this point click on File and then
Run Application. Type in "deltree /y C:SSS" (this is the
default directory to Foolproof. You might want to do some looking around before
you decide this is the directory you want to completely
delete). At this point, some computers will freeze. It�s okay. Just hit ctrl-alt-
del again and close down Task Manager or whatever
non-responding applications are open. Once they are closed the deltree operation
should continue and delete the Foolproof directory
before the registry goes to load it. Once Windows finishes it�s loading process
(whether you have to login to the network first or not,
load the desktop and startup applications, etc.) will be when the .dll errors
will start happening. Write them down and remove them out
of the registry. Now Foolproof is removed far enough to allow you full access of
the local machine and whatever kind of network
access your user possesses on the network.

4. Bootlock
Remember earlier where I mentioned that it turns all partitions into
Non-Dos partitions? Well, lets have some fun with this. There are two ways that I
know of to remove Bootlock. First, if you have a copy
of Foolproof laying out on a shared network drive go grab it (it doesn�t matter
if it has custom settings in it or not. If it doesn�t have
custom settings in it, then why are you reading this?). Run the installer for
Foolproof. When it asks you if you wish to make an
emergency repair disk, say yes. Use this disk to get to a command prompt and then
type �FPMOD -R�. This should remove Bootlock
for you so you can now have access to the Dos layer of your computer if you boot
with a boot disk. The second way I know of getting
around Bootlock is also with a bootdisk. Make a bootdisk and put a copy of
fdisk.exe and ndd.exe (found in older version of Norton
Utilities. Make sure it is the Dos version) on it. Boot the computer with the
disk and Fdisk all the Non-Dos partitions. Exit out of Fdisk
and reboot with the disk still in the drive. Once you are back at the prompt
again run ndd.exe. It will scan all hard drives and then come
up asking you if you used to have a hard drive but you aren�t able to access it
now. Tell it yes and it should restore the partitions
without Bootlock.

5. Novell Client
If you are on a network where the Novell Netware Client is used, here is a good
one for you. When at the Novell login screen hit F1.
This brings up the wonderful help system for the Novell client. Like most people
that program help files, they are too lazy to take out the
features that aren�t needed. First go to File � Open. From this point find the
Foolproof directory (usually C:SSS) and rename it to
whatever you want. Exit out of the help system and login to the network. Once you
are at the desktop of your computer restart your
machine. When the computer boots back help you�ll get a couple of errors that
have to do with Foolproof, but Foolproof will be gone.
Do whatever you wish to do with Foolproof turned off and when you are done just
rename the directory back to its original name.
Wasn�t that simple?

I�m sure there are many more ways to get around this sorry excuse for security
software, but I haven�t had the time to try any new
methods. I figure if you got something that works, keep on using it till it
doesn�t. I might write another article in the future, but this will be
it for now. Greetz out to CyberArmy, Packetstorm, Sensimilla, Monkee, and all my
friends on Efnet.