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Mitnick Calls for Hacker Stories
ram writes "Famed hacker and master social engineer Kevin Mitnick has been commissioned to write a new book following the success of his first text The Art of Deception. The new book, tentatively titled 'The Art of Intrusion' will tell the stories of real hacks, with the names of attackers obscured to protect them from the authorities and their victims. Mitnick has called on retired hackers to come forward with their stories, offering a $500 (283) prize for the best story that makes it into the book, and a $200 payment for all stories that make the final draft."
because he was held without a trial for so long.... and eh, in the mid 90's people in the phreaking/hacking community decided to rally behind him. that part, i don't remember the specifics of. also, he was one of the first publicly discussed (newsmedia, websites) individuals banned from computer or electronic device use. funny sidenote, in highschool several years back, i was testing innoculate's latest patches for the school (without telling the network admin bumblehead), and i ended up being banned from touching all electronics at school nearly indefinitely! they wouldn't even let me troubleshoot a printer or a vcr... fools. it was funny though, and i was the first such case in the school district. go figure.
Personally, I could see this turn of events coming. Having read books such as Cyberpunk and Takedown and watched that doco "Freedom Downtime" I've drawn the conclusion that Kevin appears to be more "misguided" than dangerous and also more "attention seeking" than a model hacker for script kiddies to chase after.
:)
I must admit though, I would be _very_ interested to read this book when it hits the press
So, if someone breaks the law, and then tells you about it afterwards (but before they're brought to justice) doesn't that make you (in legal terms) an accessory after the fact?
Visit CryptoGnome in his home.
Setup a Machine and they can hack into it to submit their stories.
;P
This way if they are good enough not to be traced, the chances are good they actually did something real. It also removes most of the possible "script kiddies" submittions
Sanity is a majority vote.
Unfortunantly, he is rather busy at the moment.
I would send him an email and tell him about it, but I don't think he's gonna be answering anything electronic for a little while.
No, this is not a joke. Yes, this is a real friend of mine. And yes, I am probably a rat bastard for posting this on here. However, he did some of this from *home*!
Jesus eppie, I thought you knew better than that!
I guess the reason I am posting this is for all those of you who think that "thrill hacking" for fun, and not doing any real damage, will just get you a slap on the wrist if you are caught. Bet thats what eppie thought.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order- Ed Howdershelt Via Tass
I'm an active penetration tester, have been for some years. I can tell you now that from all the testing i've completed (including lots of clients in the financial sector and govt.) I wouldnt even be entertaining the idea of remotely telling anonymous tale stories. The risk is just too great. And for a measily $200?
Give me a break.
When you've proven to a client that millions could potentially be stolen, the last thing you'd want to do is discuss it in a book, anonymously or not.
Running from the authorities using his advanced level of hacking skill, creating new IDs and such as he went, having stolen the data for the intellectual thrill of it, not for financial gain, then improperly held by a vengeful government... That's a classic tale. I don't know if it's a true story, but that was the popular perception at one point.
In the 18th century, there was, in England, an absolute adoration of the highwayman. There were courteous highwaymen like Dick Turpin, whose victims had only this regret: that they could not have met him under other circumstances and been friends. There were brutal highwaymen, like Jack Sheppard, who was noted for his violence and for escaping Newgate with fetters on his limbs. There were gallant highwaymen, like Claude Duval, whose arrest was supposedly mourned by women across the country.
Other countries and that and other times have had the same respect for any bold thief. John Dillinger is the best modern example.
And as for getting caught, the populace believes that if you live bravely enough as a criminal, you WILL eventually get caught. That's really the basis of the admiration. If you could simply escape the government by being strong enough, as in the 1200s, you'd only be feared as a danger to all. It's the assurance of eventual capture that gives living on the edge its glamour. This, in particular, applies to Mitnick where it wouldn't to a mere modern carjacker, because we know the carjackers aren't caught. There are so many muggers and rapist and straight-up burglars who prey on the populace directly and succeed that we can't respect them. We fear them. A bank robber or a hacker can go after the big score, the wealth of the very rich, and leave us entertained participants.
There are, of course, plenty of major criminal hackers who do get away with it, as with any other crime, hackers we never hear about because they stayed safe, played it smart all the way. Some of them may be reading this now. Hi boys... you're assumed to be mean of spirit, not to have aimed high enough to get caught, mere embezzling rats or at most a sort of criminal investment banker. How does that feel?
Eventually the statute of limitations will start to run out on modern hackers who have done some pretty cool things, and we'll start to read the full stories of the ones who did go for the big score and get away with it in the Net age, just as we now revere some of the early phreakers who dared and won. Until then, the successful hacker will remain the province of fiction.
It's also interesting to note that in the 19th century, it was felt that the effect of the poems and plays about thieves had the same deleterious effect that comic books, rock music and video games were later held to have.
This post is reacher for 600 words, though, and beyond this I might as well write a properly-researched article, so I'll leave it here.
I may have posted this link some time ago, but I think it's worth a repost. "Underground" by Suelette Dreyfus is, to me, a very interesting book looking at the hacking/cracking culture of the mid 1980's.
It follows the stories of several hackers/crackers in Australia, Germany, and the United States. To me, it really reads more like an ethnographic anthropological study, than about hacks per se. But I found it very interesting. And best of all, the entire book is available for free:
http://www.underground-book.com/
in a download version.
jeff
Look this stuff is just crazy.
I used to be very involved in the scene years ago under many names: juuri, syy, ^_, y, y-windoze and on and on. Mitnick was not this legendary figure people are making him out to be. Those who were around then know of others who did much more than him and got away with a fuckload more. Thinking he is using this as smokescreen is giving him some status as legendary.
The truth of the matter is most hackers absolutely paled in comparison to stuff done by the phreaks of the 80s. Even before the rise of the script kids there was very little original stuff going on. One person would figure something out and use it for a few months before trading it to someone else and then it would enter the scene.
You guys need to understand back then yp was everywhere and insecure, nfs was completely exploitable in many ways, telnet daemons were retarded (-fr00t anyone?), hosts abounded with +s in the hosts.equiv, firewalls didn't exist, source routing still worked and on and on. Even back then secured hosts were easily comprimised by finding a single account on a badly secured host, just like today.
It always pains me on slashdot when these articles come up and people fall all over themselves to heap praise on people like Mitnick who were nothing more than petty opportunists with a good sense of trading. Mitnick getting caught also ended a lot of the fun for many of on networks; most people don't recall the extreme lockdown that went into effect on well.com and other community sites of the time.
--- I do not moderate.
Actually, I learned how to dial the telephone by whistling and vocalizing two different notes at the same time. I used to amaze my friends by dialing for pizza using only my voice and whistle. It's a wierd kind of whistle but with loads of practice and careful listening to and copying a standard touch tone telephone, I think anyone could do it.
Never underestimate the power of a geek with no social life.
And that's the ONLY thing I will admit to. Note non-anonymous post.