are random bytes of memory. NTLM Like GateKeeper, NTLM and NTLMPassport were implemented as SASL authentication mechanisms as defined in the IRCX protocol. NTLM Authentication was not available to be used by the MSN Chat Control, and the only known client implementation is in the MSN Chat Admin Client, which is a very basic client that was created to be used by MSN Chat staff, based on the publicly available MS Chat version 2.5. NTLM credentials were not available to normal users. It is believed that MSN Chat staff used NTLM to authenticate, and that they authenticated through Microsoft's Active Directory. It is possible that MSN Chat staff were connected directly to Microsoft's network, or connected via a virtual private network (VPN). MSN Chat staff also had the ability to login via the less secure USER/PASS method documented in RFC 1459. This was used heavily with the official chat bots, as it required no knowledge of SASL authentication mechanisms. Passport GateKeeperPassport and NTLMPassport were extensions to the GateKeeper and NTLM authentication mechanisms. The Passport extensions allowed the user to identify with a '.net Passport' (later known as a Windows Live Passport, now known as a Microsoft Passport). When a client attempted to register using a passport authentication extension, instead of receiving the usual asterisks to indicate that authentication is successful (as noted in IRCX drafts), they would be presented with a further subsequent authentication command, with only the string 'OK' as a parameter. The user would then send back an authentication command without the header, using two variables known as PassportTicket and PassportProfile (taken from the browser cookies MSPAuth and MSPProf) to identify themselves. Both variables were preceded by a string representation of an 8 digit hex number indicating the length of the variable, and must be presented in the correct order. When using GateKeeperPassport, the GUID specified after the GateKeeper hash should be a null GUID - Literally \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0. Example PassportTicket and PassportProfile being sent: AUTH GateKeeperPassport S :0000000EPassportTicket0000000FPassportProfile\r\n Whilst it is assumed the same format is used with NTLMPassport, it can not be confirmed as NTLMPassport usage has not been witnessed. Active MSN Chat staff were using NTLM and were considered Guests, although the Guest prefix ">" was not enforced, instead a "'" prefix was used, which is noted to be a Unicode nickname prefix in the IRCX Drafts. User levels MSN Chat had the following user levels: