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Hackers At Large, August 10-12
"HAL2001 is a camping event on campus of the University of Twente in the Netherlands. Connected with 15km UTP, 2km fiber, 50 wireless base stations and a 1GB uplink, we're providing 3000 people with probably the most stable hostile network ever.
"Talk to the experts on IPsec, IPv6, Multicast, and be part of the largest public deployment of IPsec and DNSSEC. There will be talks and workshops about GSM security, AI, Lawful and unlawful interception, digital safes, bank security, copy protection, biometrics, IP allocation, intellectual property and anonymity and even an RSI workshop.
"If you can truly celebrate the Internet and embrace new technologies, without forgetting your responsibility to tell others that new technologies come with new risks to the individual and to society as a whole, then this is the place to be this summer."
Damn, that's a different sort of "fat pipe" to the ones most tourists go to the Netherlands for :-)
Yes, hacking does not mean "breaking" into other computers. But this conference isn't about all that either. If you are the security person for your organization - think about this: it's an opportunity to have a level field with the kind of people who might know more about your systems' security than you.
If you are thinking of developing a new protocol (chat, vrml, etc...) and want to hear what others think about the possibilities of exploit you open yourself up to - think about it: (ditto from above).
Sure, the people you mention "hack" code. In that use of the term it's like the Dr. Pepper commercials: "I'm a hacker, he's a hacker, she's a hacker..." Do I write code: yes. Do I "hack" the code: yes. Have I ever broken into a system where I did not have permission ahead of time to go poking: no. Have I ever developed an application that could be used for evil: yes, but I did it to demonstrate how insecure my target protocol was. Am I a genuine threat to you, your credit card number, your dog's alpo dish: no. Am I thinking deeply about the neat jargon going to be passed around there: yes, I'd love to be a fly on the wall.
Unfortunitly most companies don't take computer security seriously enough to understand the value of conferences like this one. 2600 meetings under the stairs at the local subway might seem like a good way to loose your walet, but it might be a good way to learn what online places are vulverable and therefore not worth the risk of credit card transations...
Wheeeee
When people now talk about privacy on the net, they aren't referring to the traffic on the network, they are referring to corporates (usually American) selling your private details, which may have been required for a transaction, to all and sundry.
Here in the UK we have strong privacy laws, but our data still manages to flow from marketing company to marketing company.
I agree we should be very careful with the data we release to others (and not just via the Internet), but it's a fact of life to give out your phone & card details to someone you want to buy something for. The issue is that you should be protected from this company then using your details for something further than the actual sale!
ps: Wasn't Roscoe the Sheriff in the Dukes of Hazzard? git git git!!
While prostitution is indeed legal (as in most European countries), weed is not.
Technically speaking weed is illegal in Holland. Use however is tolerated and you can buy small amounts in coffee shops.
The cops in Holland follow the so called "Oportunitaetsprinzip (German, sorry wouldn't know the correct translation). This means in essence, that when a crime is considered chicken-shit, the cops have better things to do then fine you 50 Gilders because have two grams of grass in your posetion and should use their resources to go after really bad guys.
For the average visitor this doesn't matter much. She goes to a coffee shop, buys a baggy and puffs away. She should be aware however that in a strict sense this is not legal, and she shouldn't provoke authorities by smoking in front of the DAs office.
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
We're always hearing about how some fool decides to fill an exhibition center or university with crackers/hackers and do rediculous stuff with them like explain internet security or talk about IPv6. The very fact that they are hackers/crackers means they already know about this sort of thing. In fact, it's already been mentioned that no genuine crackers would ever be dumb enough to turn up to such an event.
So what we have here is a few lectures to a group of people who deem themselves "hackers" about stuff they most likely already understand.
This is almost as bad as the events where lecturers attempt to explain the Web And Its Possibilities to business executives who can't even use MS Word, let alone an interface that changes for every website they visit.
The web is not a secure place to be and it will never be "secure". The very nature of network communication relies on data being spread all over various subnets by switches and hubs, so anyone with a packet sniffer and a brain can break in. Decryption of cyphers is another matter, but I've yet to see a truly uncrackable cypher used on the web. If it can be decrypted at the other end, it can be decrypted along the way by a cracker.
Just to note; the word 'cracker' was put around by true hackers after undue media attention by dumb journalists who decided to adopt the word "hacker" to mean "someone who breaks into computer systems illegally". Therefore there is no true word for what is currently known as a cracker (other than perhaps "b*stard"), and no dictionary definition of the term. So there.
ghaa.