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Everyone Is A Hacker In Training
An anonymous reader writes "Michal Zalewski was recently interviewed by O'Reilly's Onlamp. During the interview, he stated a belief that hacking is a state of mind. From the article: 'I don't think that (good) hackers have any special, hardwired mental abilities or specific personality traits, and I do believe you can easily learn to think like a hacker, even when you come from a different background.'" The interview goes on to discuss the overall need for better security in protocols and communications.
This sounds absurd. A hacker isn't a mentality, it's a set of actions. I may think like a mass murderer, but until I do it, it doesn't mean much, does it?
MacroHard - Boning you in a big way! (TM)
Hacking is a state of mind, but not in the typical sense of the word hacker. This book defines hacker as one who delights in solving problems in interesting ways, and I think *that* is a state of mind more than breaking into someone else's machine.
In my mind, all a "hacker" is an explorer, or a social engineer that was bored. ;)
People use hack like they use fuck.
So are you a black-hat or white-hat fucker?
Because neither the article nor the summary make it clear, Michal Zalewski is a Polish author and hacker who has a book named Silence on the Wire: A Field Guide to Passive Reconnaissance and Indirect Attacks published by No Starch Press and sold at your favorite bookstores.
O'Reilly has an online profile of Michal:
well, everyone may be suited to be a hacker in training, but only those people with the desire to make the most of their "computing experience", the desire to know more and do more with it will actually follow through with it...
--- "To ignore race and sex is racist and sexist!" -- Jesse Jackson
I fail to see anything of particular interest in the observation, although Suzuki might well disagree with me.
As I've already posted I consider Suzuki a bit slow on the uptake. The point is obvious.
KFG
As an enlightened, modern parent, I try to be as involved as possible in the lives of my six children. I encourage them to join team sports. I attend their teen parties with them to ensure no drinking or alcohol is on the premises. I keep a fatherly eye on the CDs they listen to and the shows they watch, the company they keep and the books they read. You could say I'm a model parent. My children have never failed to make me proud, and I can say without the slightest embellishment that I have the finest family in the USA.
Two years ago, my wife Carol and I decided that our children's education would not be complete without some grounding in modern computers. To this end, we bought our children a brand new Compaq to learn with. The kids had a lot of fun using the handful of application programs we'd bought, such as Adobe's Photoshop and Microsoft's Word, and my wife and I were pleased that our gift was received so well. Our son Peter was most entranced by the device, and became quite a pro at surfing the net. When Peter began to spend whole days on the machine, I became concerned, but Carol advised me to calm down, and that it was only a passing phase. I was content to bow to her experience as a mother, until our youngest daughter, Cindy, charged into the living room one night to blurt out: "Peter is a computer hacker!"
As you can imagine, I was amazed. A computer hacker in my own house! I began to monitor my son's habits, to make certain that Cindy wasn't just telling stories, as she is prone to doing at times.
After a few days of investigation, and some research into computer hacking, I confronted Peter with the evidence. I'm afraid to say, this was the only time I have ever been truly disappointed in one of my children. We raised them to be honest and to have integrity, and Peter betrayed the principles we tried to encourage in him, when he refused point blank to admit to his activities. His denials continued for hours, and in the end, I was left with no choice but to ban him from using the computer until he is old enough to be responsible for his actions.
After going through this ordeal with my own family, I was left pondering how I could best help others in similar situations. I'd gained a lot of knowledge over those few days regarding hackers. It's only right that I provide that information to other parents, in the hope that they will be able to tell if their children are being drawn into the world of hacking. Perhaps other parents will be able to steer their sons back onto the straight and narrow before extreme measures need to be employed.
To this end, I have decided to publish the top ten signs that your son is a hacker. I advise any parents to read this list carefully and if their son matches the profile, they should take action. A smart parent will first try to reason with their son, before resorting to groundings, or even spanking. I pride myself that I have never had to spank a child, and I hope this guide will help other parents to put a halt to their son's misbehaviour before a spanking becomes necessary.
1. Has your son asked you to change ISPs?
Most American families use trusted and responsible Internet Service Providers, such as AOL. These providers have a strict "No Hacking" policy, and take careful measures to ensure that your internet experience is enjoyable, educational and above all legal. If your child is becoming a hacker, one of his first steps will be to request a change to a more hacker friendly provider.
I would advise all parents to refuse this request. One of the reasons your son is interested in switching providers is to get away from AOL's child safety filter. This filter is vital to any parent who wants his son to enjoy the internet without the endangering him through exposure to "adult" content. It is best to stick with the protection AOL provides, rather than using a home-based solution. If your son is becoming a hacker, he will be able to circumvent any home-based measures with surprising ease, using information gleaned from variou
Quoting from Wikipedia:-
"The Manifesto states that hackers choose to hack because it is a way for them to learn, because they are frustrated and bored in school. It also expresses the satori of a hacker realizing his potential in the realm of computers."
95% of all sigs are made up.
There is no skill involved in hitting things, just as there is no skill involved in running a "script". However even with a script and a punch you can still bring harm.
With training you can learn how and where to hit someone to inflict pain, debilitate them, or kill them. Just like anyone with an iota of programming knowledge can shutdown a server, destroy the data on it, or bring down entire networks.
Like martial arts, thankfully those that do know how to kill someone with their hands and those that do know how to do malicious things with a computer, do not do them. Anyone can write a virus, and knowing programming I know that you could make a very nasty virus to do very nasty things.
But that doesn't happen. Usually what happens is those who might know the tools of the trade or a few moves don't have the discipline. They lack the ability to know that "you can" is different than "you should".
However, there is no kung-fu quality of knowing how to "hack". There is a quality to knowing how a computer works, how they can be exploited, and how they can be repaired. It's the knowledge of computers that will get a person to a point in which they can contribute to the community, sometimes make money, and sometimes just get noticed.
Then there's the smeg-heads who are the l33tz0r hax0rts d00dz that ... don't get it.
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
I agree that it's not always something specifically mental in that some people simply can do it and some simply can't (but some do have more natural talent). I disagree about personality traits.
I think good hackers tend to be obessive about what they hack - meaning that they eat, drink, and sleep the subject they are good at hacking at.
A lot of people these days tend to try to learn (too) many things and turn out to be more of a jack of all trades than an expert in a single subject (thinking of all those programmers who have to learn a new language everyother week) or simply can't concentrate on any one thing for longer than 5 minutes at a time.
This is my issue with college - many of which try to teach a wide variety of subject to a student that really only wants a specific degree (say in Math or Science related) - studies have shown that people tend to remember less than 15-20% of what they learned in school/college several years after attending so why force something that will only be forgotten later for lack of interest?
Genius - 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. Morale: Prize Intensity over Extensity.
A genius that probably can't be replicated in everybody is a renaissance man who can excel in multiple non-related subjects - like Leonardo Davinci. But that still took some type of concentrated obsession.
From what I understand, a good "hacker" in the sense that he uses the word should probably be:
- Attentive to detail.
- Patient.
Finding bugs in software requires a lot of patience and attention to detail because often times you have to manipulate time and memory to get what you want..over and over and over again.
That said, FINDING bugs is tricky. Using or modifiying a POC off of bugtraq is not so hard.
I shouldn't have any trouble finding recruits for my secret invincible army of death-hackers
It's a word that was spread around and adopted like 80's cocain. It's like so many other words that have little place in just about ANY conversation. It's a label, dynamic, It means three things to two people based on what the forth person heard. I hope it dies...
But it's probibly just going to help sell more security software...
I think hacking really is a thirst for knowledge. Since the advent of the internet search engine, anyone can now freely research a topic. Why should hacking be limited to computers?
It is easier for someone to become a bad hacker these days. I think what divides the good from the bad is the fear of being caught, perhaps the good hackers know that the log file is forever watching.
In the true sense of hacker, someone sitting in front of a computer all waking hours does not have to be producing anything of worth.
Why UNIX?
Hacking is an art.... You don't just wake up one morning calling yourself a hacker. It takes years upon years to even learn the necessary skills. And "hacker" is a word that other people call you after you have proven yourself knowledgible in certain areas.
Not everyone can have the title hacker, its a name that you earn because you are very good in your line of work, not because your a wannabee and want to be called a cool name. Of course they all start out as wannabees anyway, but many never go through with their quest for knowledge and understanding.
And for you media-freaks out there, hacker does not mean breaking into another person/business's computer unauthorized, that would be a cracker. The media has tainted the word into something unwanted and looked down upon when it really means something very good (who doesnt like the quest for knowledge?).
10 years ago hacker was a dirty word. To many people today, a hacker still is a dirty word. It is someone who breaks into systems, either their own or those owned by others, and snoops around. For example, is there a better description of the people who hacked the playstaions with mod chips so pirated games can be played?
When I was in school, bad was "hacker", good was "analytical thinker". The difference is, the analytical thinker will not break into systems, they will use what they own, both physically and with licenses. The hacker does not care about licenses.
There is one other example. A friend I know runs a forum using software he purchased. Someone hacked his forum and left a PM for him describing how they got in, and what the vulnerabilities are. Should that "hacker" be arrested? He clearly broke into something he did not own. But in todays age, that hacker might say "I was trying to help". Even if the original person who owned the forum was not asking for help. An analytical thinker would never try and "test" a website.
I think the best description of a hacker is someone who can't avoid temptation. They will mess with stuff they don't own the rights to just because it is so irresistable to them. Hackers are social bandits.
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
I don't want to block off any particular sect, so I fuck EVERYTHING THAT MOVES.
/.er
--Average
I think that you can consider yourself a hacker based on lots of things. You could throw together a quick software hack to help you get something done, or you could embark on a reality hacking campaign to play with the minds of thousands of people. You can beat out the man by hacking your CVS camcorder for fun, or you could attempt to make your own nigh-vision scope.
Hacking is what you make of it; it's as simple as that.
It helps when I tell myself: I am good enough to hack, smart enough to hack, and gosh darn it, people appreciate it when I steal their credit card histories and sell them to the Russian underground!
I can see what means, but as always, it comes out wrong.
I know for a fact there are (intelligent) people that no matter HOW hard they try, they cannot program - it is just literally impossible for them, they just cannot grasp the concept. Maybe this is to do with the way some people's mind works or not, I don't know, but it has something to do with it.
Now to the 'hacker' bit. Anybody that can/does understand programming/concept is only one step away from being a 'hacker' (not a _cracker_ !). It is the next step after learning the base, and 'hacking' is the logical next step to learn more.
But as I said, not everybody has the ability, willing or unwillingly.
"Scientists have proof without certainty; Creationists have certainty without proof" -Ashley Montagu
I used to be a self-proclaimed hacker. Key word being 'used'.
I can't remember when it started, but the word 'hacker' has changed its meaning. It used to mean someone who 'thinks outsid eof the box' - solves problems in a new way. It used to mean someone who would improve things by writing their own code/making their own hardware. Crackers used to be people who would 'crack' security codes etc. to illegally gain access to a computer.
Somehow 'hacker' is now a synonym for cracker. I propose 'hacker' is rostored to its former glory and a new word is instated to mean cracker; 'h4x0r' or 'script kiddy (or 'skiddy' for short)'.
It would certainly make things simpler.
Everyone Is A Hacker In Training
Way to go getting everyone on the fucking terrorist watch list in America.
"Hacking" has truly become just a cool word, like "shnizzle", reinvented by those who wanted to learn about something they didn't know. Just get a CE/EE degree--nuff said.
Biology plays a significant role in one's abilities, perhaps 95%. I could do bike training for 10 hours a day 10 years and not be anywhere near Lans Armstrong's abilities in that area.
XML UI Browser/Platform
I just run snort with the acid front-end. I just grep the logs and take advantage of who-ever is scanning my box[infected with Codered, UPnP or what-ever] my english sucks but my zulu rocks
...and one flew over the cuckoo's nest.
You didn't think about it, but there you are: responsible for killing a whole bunch of people!
Mass Murderer?
Blar.
I've always thought of the word hacker as being a clever, knowledgeable, well-rounded programmer. I've really got no idea, but this seems like where the word would have originated from...I mean anyone who can really get into debugging, finding exploits, and reading hex would be a hacker.
But the media has really managed to screw up this word, and now nobody seems to know what it means. It can mean knowledgeable/evil or constructive/deconstuctive at the same time. And that seems to be the reason why we've made two labels, white hat or black hat hackers...
Well what the hell are crackers then? Wasn't crackers the word were using to describe the black hats? Or are the black-hats only out for personal gain, and the crackers are are only out to destroy whatever they can? Are those the right terms now?
And then there's the social engineers, people that can talk someone out of their info, or get them to do any number of things without using any technical ability. I guess you could consider these people to be hackers...but they're Social Engineers, we have an entire word for that now...
But to answer the question, no...by my definition you can't be a hacker without being a programmer.
Care and Feeding of your Hacker
The following list is an attempt to cover some of the issues that will invariably come up when people without previous experience of the hacker community try to hire a hacker. This FAQ is intended for free distribution, and may be copied as desired. It is in an early revision. If you wish to modify the FAQ, or distribute it for publication, please contact the author. The author is seebs@plethora.net. The official distribution site (as of revision 0.05) is "http://www.plethora.net/~seebs/faqs/hacker.html".
DISCLAIMER: The author is a hacker. Bias is inevitable.
This document is copyright 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999 Peter Seebach. Unaltered distribution is permitted.
Revision 0.05 - Last modified September 28, 1999
Questions and Answers:
Section 0: Basic understanding.
0.0: Won't my hacker break into my computer and steal my trade secrets?
No. Hackers aren't, contrary to media reporting, the people who break into computers. Those are crackers. Hackers are people who enjoy playing with computers. Your hacker may occasionally circumvent security measures, but this is not malicious; she just does it when the security is in her way, or because she's curious.
0.1: Was it a good idea to hire a hacker?
It depends on the job. A hacker can be dramatically more effective than a non-hacker at a job, or dramatically less effective. Jobs where hackers are particularly good are:
* Systems administration
* Programming
* Design
Jobs where hackers are particularly bad are:
* Data entry
More generally, a job that requires fast and unexpected changes, significant skill, and is not very repetitive will be one a hacker will excel at. Repetitive, simple jobs are a waste of a good hacker, and will make your hacker bored and frustrated. No one works well bored and frustrated.
The good news is, if you get a hacker on something he particularly likes, you will frequently see performance on the order of five to ten times what a "normal" worker would produce. This is not consistent, and you shouldn't expect to see it all the time, but it will happen. This is most visible on particularly difficult tasks.
0.2: How should I manage my hacker?
The same way you herd cats. It can be a bit confusing; they're not like most other workers. Don't worry! Your hacker is likely to be willing to suggest answers to problems, if asked. Most hackers are nearly self-managing.
0.3: Wait, you just said "10 times", didn't you? You're not serious, right?
Actually, I said "ten times". And yes, I am serious; a hacker on a roll may be able to produce, in a period of a few months, something that a small development group (say, 7-8 people) would have a hard time getting together over a year. He also may not. Your mileage will vary.
IBM used to report that certain programmers might be as much as 100 times as productive as other workers, or more. This kind of thing happens.
0.4: I don't understand this at all. This is confusing. Is there a book on this?
Not yet. In the meantime, check out The New Hacker's Dictionary (references below; also known as "the jargon file"), in particular some of the appendices. The entire work is full of clarifications and details of how hackers think.
Section 1: Social issues
1.0: My hacker doesn't fit in well with our corporate society. She seems to do her work well, but she's not really making many friends.
This is common. Your hacker may not have found any people aro
and often things that don't move... --average /.er
What makes you think that because you did something first means your efforts were any more sincere, valid, or superior to the efforts of the mainstream?
We had candles before we had lightbulbs, but I see you've hopped on the Electricity Bandwagon with the rest of us. Tool.
No, Soldier....
hackers rode roller-blades, drank jolt, and out-smarted the F.B.I. when they steal the garbage files from Gibsons...
(For a contrasting point of view, see Paul Graham's essay on Great Hackers.)
I'm inclined to agree that hacking is a state of mind. But it seems that only a certain kind of temperment is drawn to cultivate that state of mind. In practical terms, therefore, personality matters greatly.
From long observation, I would have to say that most people don't know -- and don't want to know -- how things work. In fact, many people have developed quite elaborate defenses against knowing, strange though it may seem to the hacker mind. These people will claim that they don't have time, or that it's risky, or that it's more cost-effective to pay someone else, or that they don't see why it all has to be so hard, et cetera. Hackers seem notably disinclined to raise such objections.
I'm not sure that hackers, as a group, are naturally drawn to rigor and formalism any more than the general population, but most of them seem at least willing to go there if the situation calls for it. Hackers might prefer to immediately start prying the covers off stuff, but if that doesn't work, the more committed ones tend to have no problem reading manuals, circuit diagrams, or assembler code if that's what it takes.
Hackers seem to be well represented by the Myers-Briggs INTJ and INTP personality types. On the other hand, this combination (introverted, intuitive, thinker) is rare in the general population. Most people wouldn't dream of taking the covers off a new piece of gear. To them, it would be far safer not to know than to risk voiding the warranty.
My point is that neither position is objectively more correct than the other. It's a question of what you subjectively value. So yes, I suppose that anyone could, in principle, learn to think like a hacker. After all, it's not like there's any secret to what's involved. And we live in a highly technological era, where it would seem to make excellent sense to cultivate that way of thinking. But I don't see it happening.
Parity: What to do when the weekend comes.
That's pretty much what Mr. Zalewski said. He specified that a hacker was a "skillful, passionate enthusiast" as opposed to someone who approached what they did as simply "just a job." Of course, he's speaking in the context of computers, but i doubt he'd be offended if that term was stretched into other areas of study/work. That's just my two cents.
(i didn't have a good referral link to put here, so i'll just leave this)
I wonder what makes them say that? Maybe I can find out from their other writings. Hm, if I don't like what they wrote there, maybe I can write them a message, and get them to think differently. Maybe they'll even say something different!
--
make install -not war
Even though he states that (good) hackers have any special, hardwired mental abilities, I disagree.
From the article: What I wanted to achieve is to show how to think creatively and see problems that go beyond textbook examples
This is exactly what I've always thought good hacking was all about - creative problem solving. I agree that good hackers go beyond a textbook or class work in order to solve problems, but I also think this is an ability that some have and others just don't. Good problem solvers can be found way beyond IT. It's the same as people that are considered good "handymen", for lack of a better term. Give them a problem, be it move some heavy furniture or fix something that's broken and they'll come up with a creative solution, even though it initially looked impossible to solve. I'll even bet that some hackers are considered good "handymen" around their neighborhood.
Criminal? Come on, it is barely vandalism. Unless you're writing a worm and causes some major downtime, "hacking" is hardly anything bad. The only reason "hackers" get so much attention is because of movies, and people who get pissed off when their computer crashes. Your hunk-of-junk Dell isn't worth sending some guy sitting in his parent's basement to prison over in any way whatsoever.
Not flaming really, and not directed at anybody... Just saying that people seem to be a little out-of-perspective when dealing with computers.
In most computing circles hacker is a term for sharp/hadcore coder. I don't know what you're on about.
Mmmmmm, I like to play dress up.
Yes, I can certainly see the teenaged girl with "Hottie" embroidered on her ass cracking my Ubuntu box.
To a noob, root is like a gay bar...and he's wearing assless chaps
OK, it doesn't work, but this guy was just asking for something like this.
This sig no verb.
'I do believe you can easily learn to think like a hacker, even when you come from a different background.'
I fully believe that statment. I also believe it is the background that you come from, the morals you hold and your beliefs that will determine the outcome of what you do with the knowledge when you learn to think like a hacker.
I also very fully beleive in the following statement:
The difference between hackers and people who just deal with computers for a living, 9 to 5, is quite simple--hackers share a genuine passion for this stuff, they learn and analyze computers just for fun, and hence can more readily see beyond the taught problems and scenarios, invent or explore.
So many people deal with computers day in and day out, but when they leave the office, they go home and never think twice about it. The word hacker is not what makes the person who does the hacking "good" or "bad". Hacking is the skill. It come from being the ones that come home form work and go nostop learning, playing and understanding computers. It's what you do with the knowledge that makes the person a "good" or a "bad" person - one that hacks - or in todays terms, a "good" or "bad" hacker.
"Hacker" is nothing more than a label saying you have the skills. Unfortunately the people today do not understand its not the "hacking" is neither good or bad, it's what you do with the skills. Its equivilant to saying someone is a Doctor. The term doctor would be the label. The "good" or "bad" part would be what the person does with those skills.
If only more and more people could understand - and ESPECIALLY THE MEDIA - could get it through their thick skulls that its not being a hacker that is wrong. It is doing the wrong things with the knowledge you gain FROM being one.
The passion, the interest, and the ability to think outside the box, and the ambition IS a state of thinking. Therefore hacking would in my opinion definatly be the state of mind ;)
ps.. I wonder what would happen if the media reported the farmers that have a passion for growing the best plants and tomatoes, beans and other produce.. Agricultural Hackers? Do you think that would change the meaning of a farmer to the public :)
If you think about it, there's not much of a challenge to it, it's actually trivial. a) You have all the time in the world. b) You have something ABSOLUTE to refer to (the STATIC system you are hacking). c) Anyone can do it if they bothered.
It's ridiculously easy with open source software, where anyone with programming knowledge can re-use the same exploit methods without effort. But I gotta say, some of the methods used are clever, but they are few and far between, and once they're out everyone can copy them, and does.
Writing secure software, now THAT's worthy of being called a challenge.
Well usually a soldier knows what he is doing.
I think my argument is flawed...I believe Murder requires intent. Otherwise it would be homocide?
Blar.
What if you only kill one very large person?
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
This sounds about right to me.
-ReK
md5sum -c reality.md5
reality: FAILED
md5sum: WARNING: 1 of 1 computed checksum did NOT match
I don't know how he can make this claim given the "walking on water" study that showed the top fraction of programmers were 4x as productive as the average one, and could do things the others could not no matter how much time they were given.
Now I'll grant you, many hackers are lame little shits who are in it not for any intellectual reasons...
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
I've worked in corporate IT for 6 years now. Majority of the users, and even those who consider themselves "power users", have simply memorized the steps necessary to log in, send e-mail, reply to e-mail, open and save an Office document, print, etc... They are not technical and they can't be trained to be technical. Let alone to think like hackers.
Hell, I've just gotten a support call from someone who couldn't find the backslash key on his keyboard!!! He was not able to log onto a site that required "domain\user" logon credentials. I used the Google images search to find a high res image of his laptop's keyboard (it took like 5 minutes of coaxing for him to finally give me the correct laptop's model number!) so I could tell him exactly where the key was. Using Google to find a pic of his keyboard is an example of hacker thinking that an average person is NEVER going to master.
I think Steven Levy does a pretty good job of describing what hackers are in his book "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution".
FalconShould there be a Law?
That's a shame, because the breaking into the other's machines definition for hacker is overwhelming the solving problems in interesting ways definition, and the latter is a rather beautiful and unique concept that doesn't seem to have another word to use.
Unfortunately I agree with this. The unfortunate part being that the meaning of "hacker" to too many people has become negative.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Homocide encompasses murder and manslaughter. Murder is with intent, manslaughter without.
amusing
Modems don't hack mainframes, people do.
"I don't think that (good) hackers have any special, hardwired mental abilities or specific personality traits, and I do believe you can easily learn to think like a hacker, even when you come from a different background." I think the whole idea of hacking is way over-credited, mainly by the hacking subculture itself... "hacker" is obviously just a label that describes a person who performs a certain set of actions, and people talk about it like its something special, like being a "jedi" or something.
Same planet. Different worlds.
you can't have manslaughter without laughter!
Taking what you said a step further, a hacker values "the Truth" above the comfort of others. That is, in my opinion, something respectable. Someone who values comfort above seeking the truth deserves neither.
So, I'm a stupid kid who was fooling around on a website of an organization with which I have some affiliation. I found a complete lack of security, and was able to post a picture of homestar along with some text outlining the problem to the page.
The organization found out it was me and threw me out. At my hearing, the CIO referred to the "Foxfire web browser" and asserted that I'd found some flaw in the "ColdFusion web server" (it was an Apache server, and it's being out-of-date had not been the method I used). I was blamed for the work they had to do to make the website secure. I was demonized as some evil computer-weilding criminal intent on destroying anything and everything in my path.
So, yeah. That's where things stand at the moment. Yay.
By the time you've rhymed one line, I've already busted ten; You rap in exponential time and I'm big-O of log(n).
I only mentioned college because I disagree with the approach most take - trying to cram multiple unrelated topics onto students (via requirements) instead of letting people get degrees by taking courses that are directly related to their field of interest.
You don't think students should take "unrelated" classes to their major? So education shouldn'r be balanced? I totally diagree though I do have problems or bones to pick with the educational system. An example deals with college, at one tyme I looked down on community or junior college but after attending one I now believe lower division classes should be taught in community colleges. Professors actually teach classes instead of graduate students teaching while profs do research. One of my favorite profs, I had him for calc, physics, and Pascal, wanted to teach. After getting his MS in Math and Physics he taught at a university in Gyana while in the Peace Corp. Then when he came back though he was offered jobs in industry and at universities he decided to teach at the community college I went to. And though at that tyme my major was computer engineering, I took several unrelated class, amoung them were theatre and dance. They gave me a break from having to concentrate on one thing and I enjoyed taking them.
FalconShould there be a Law?
I plan on doing just that on vacation.
I don't take hacking as being about only computers. To me a hack can be most any unusual trick like what phreaks did with phones. At one tyme, in the early 1900s writers and reporters were called hacks or hackers. Here's a website for Horse Hackers. This site, Expressions & Sayings, on etymology or the study of words says:
Hack-work
In Old English a hackney was an ordinary horse (i.e. not a thoroughbred) suitable for general use, especially for riding by ladies; the name may have come from Hackney in London, where horses used to be raised. Shortened to hack, the word is still in use for a horse of this kind. By the 16th century, a hackney had also become a horse available for hire: this enabled the word to become a metaphor for a person hired to do low-grade work. This contemptuous sense is found, again abbreviated to hack, in such terms as hack-work (drudgery) and hack-writer as well as in hack in the sense of 'low-grade journalist'. The modern meanings of hackneyed can readily be traced back to the idea of a hired horse worn out by overwork.
The Online Etymology Dictionary has more info going back to c.1300. I see at the bottum of the second entry it says that it was reputedly first used in computer programming at MIT in 1976 and goes on further:
Hack (v.) "illegally enter a computer system" is first recorded 1984.
FalconShould there be a Law?
There's a great quote in the DC Comics series, "The Hacker Files", where the protagonist says something to the effect of: "There are two things I hate - one is passwords, and the other is locks".
There most certainly IS a kung-fu quality to the hack. Here's an example for you; You can read a book on lockpicking - there's even a great classic reference, the MIT Guide to Lockpicking. It will explain all the theory behind basic pin tumbler locks, and make you very knowledgable of their exploits. Now, go buy the crappiest lock you can find and try to pick it.
(ignore the zen chapter in the lockpicking guide)
The innate "feel" of the systems that gives you the gut feeling on where to look for exploits; ways you can collide complex systems together to give you a desired result; etc etc etc are only gained through hundreds and thousands of hours spent playing and understanding intimiately the system in question.
..don't panic
I've noticed for a while that the term "hacker" is generally considered a vague, legendary and elusive title which supposedly only a very few godlike souls are ever able to attain or become worthy of. ESR seems to have led the charge in perpetuating this pretentious tripe, but it is a belief which sadly a great many people seem to be afflicted with.
How do I define a hacker myself? Someone who:-
(a) Has sufficient knowledge of a particular system/topic (and although use of the term normally applies to computer related areas, it has been colloquially lent to other fields) that they are able to employ a degree of intuition when solving problems in said area.
(b) Performs said problem solving in an improvisatory, rather than formal, manner.
(c) Has a tendency to develop solutions to problems which involve surrealistic associations. By that I mean that their solutions will involve combining objects, ideas, or processes which would not ordinarily go together.
Contrary to the common belief, this doesn't require being a god, either. It generally doesn't require too much more than at least a basic level of intelligence and familiarity with the area in question. So given that, yes, pretty much anyone who has any level of proficiency in anything could call themselves a hacker if they wished to do so.
ESR's claim of, "you're not a hacker until somebody else calls you one," implies to me that *he* anyway is somebody who forms his self-perception on the basis of other people's assessments...a rather questionable idea, to my mind.
I knew a guy who was arrested and sentanced to jail for one month, and 3 years probation, because he hacked into the school's library stystem. Why did he do it? Because the library had a start screen where the user could only access the card catalog over the internet, nothing else.
That's in part how I got into computers. That was when Rad Shack came out with the Trash, TRS80. The library at my school had terminals hooked up to the mainframe for the county's schools. With it students could search for colleges based on different criteria and that's all they were supposed to be used for. But a few of us figured out how to get out of the search program and were able to explore the system. Then I met some students from other high schools that were doing the same and we were able to come up with a way to chat with each other. Between this and programming in Basic on the Trash80 made me decide to major in Computer Engineering in college, it was between CE and Marine Science/Biology. I would of loved it if I could have combined the two somehow though.
And what about all the script kiddies? The ones who have no brains but found a place to download some tool to hack with? What should be done with them? If a script kidde uses a tool a hacker programmed, and that script kidde causes damage, who is responsible? Should the hacker be arrested for releasing the tool?
If anyone it's the script kiddies the authorities need to crack down on.
In my opinion, a hacker is a derogatory term. They are people who have little respect for others rights.
Falling for the mass media's distortion of what a hacker is. With how reporters use the words "hack" and "hacker" I wonder how they would like it if people started calling them hacks, which back in the early 1900s writers and reporters were called. I tell you if you really want to know what a computer hacker is you need to read Steve Levy's Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
Here's an excert from an interview with Richard Stallman:
DB: Is this what might be meant by the phrase the "Hacker Ethic?"
RS: Somewhat. Indeed, the hacker ethic, I should explain first of all who hackers are. In 1971 when I joined the staff of the MIT Artificial Intelligence lab, all of us who helped develop the operating system software, we called ourselves hackers. We were not breaking any laws, at least not in doing the hacking we were paid to do. We were developing software and we were having fun. Hacking refers to the spirit of fun in which we were developing software. The hacker ethic refers to the feelings of right and wrong, to the ethical ideas this community of people had -- that knowledge should be shared with other people who can benefit from it, and that important resources should be utilized rather than wasted. Back in those days computers were quite scarce, and one thing about our computer was it would execute about a third-of-a-million instructions every second, and it would do so whether there was any need to do so or not. If no one used these instructions, they would be wasted. So to have an administrator say, "well you people can use a computer and all the rest of you can't," means that if none of those officially authorized people wanted to use the machine that second, it would go to waste. For many hours every morning it would mostly go to waste. So we decided that was a shame. Anyone should be able to use it who could make use of it, rather than just throwing it away. In general we did not tolerate bureaucratic obstructionism. We felt, "this computer is here, it was bought by the public, it is here to advance human knowledge and do whatever is constructive and useful." So we felt it was better to let anyone at all use it -- to learn about programming, or do any other kind of work other than commercial activity.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Somehow 'hacker' is now a synonym for cracker. I propose 'hacker' is rostored to its former glory and a new word is instated to mean cracker; 'h4x0r' or 'script kiddy (or 'skiddy' for short)'.
It's my hope that if enough people correct those who use "hack" and "hacker" incorrectly then people will start to use it correctly. When I can I try to correct it myself, having done it a few tymes in this article thread. For those who have the wrong impression I recommend they read Steven Levy's book Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
FalconShould there be a Law?
my fist moves...oops sorry
She? Don't those of us who speak english use "he" or "they" when we do not know the sex of the person or people we are speaking about? Having to read "she" constantly in someones post makes me think someone's got a some kind of linguistic sexual repression protest agenda. Give that shit up.
Next up on tonight's news, a golf pro weighs in on sports physiology.
Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
In highschools its not hard to tell who's a what (hacker, cracker, scriptkiddie). Most of them are full of it, and just want to muck around with passwords. About 3 or 4 guys in my grade are all bragging because they can get hotmail or yahoo passwords. I might also point out here that they think they are Anarchists because they read the Anarchists Cookbook. Exactly.
And people wonder why I hate people my own age!
As kids we learn that it is not possible to go through a wall, unless you search and find a door.
My kid has dozens of weird ideas every day on how to bypass obstacles.
So how is that different from hacking?
natural born hackers!! yeah right jus like sayin everone is a natural born murderer
I think that the distinction is between: someone who inadvertently screws up a system, a script kiddie, and an actual hacker who does it for a purpose.
Not only "land of the free" but "land of the lawyers" who love a good old 1st amendment smackdown. Shihar 153932
Measure with a micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with an axe and if it doesn't fit .. .. use a larger hammer.
Insert
There is no doubt we need better security for internet users and companies that operate on the internet but hacking is not a state of mind it is a total sum of wrong or illegal actions.
High school is an odd place. People act like it's the high point of their lives, and for many, it is. The higher you climb, the later you reach you peak. It takes longer to become (say) an aquatic toxicologist than a cheerleader; and until that time, you'll just look like a kid with lots of books.
Most geeks and other deep thinkers don't finish exploring the fundamentals of their chosen field until well after high school or even undergrad. The deeper your search, the longer it takes to complete it, but the results are also longer lasting.
I met a lot of kids in my school who wanted to crack passwords. None of them grew up to be serious programmers; they wanted to play, not to learn. I wanted to learn. My mistake wasn't learning enough about my peers when I was younger; and it led to a lot of unnecessary unhappiness in my life.
Don't hate people your own age. They're just complex physical systems. Study them. Learn from them. They probably value things you don't, and think in boring, predicable ways. That's good. Learn to predict what they'll think, what they'll feel, what they'll claim, and what they'll really believe.
Learn what they value, why the value it, and how to predict what they will and won't do. Work out, honestly, not cynically, the probabilities that underlie their behaviour; how far they can be pushed; how likely they are to exaggerate; how likely they are to lie, to flatter, to fight. Figure out what influences tend to nudge them towards or away from certain behaviours -- hunger, mood, peer pressure, libido.
Understand how to get along with them and how not to get along with them. Learn the little things that they think are important, and the subtle social cues that betray their moods and opinions.
Know people. Know what they can be led to, and what they can't. They're a broken system, as systems go, but geeks have been building good systems out of broken parts for years, by compensating, error correcting, and generally building in redundancy and fault tolerance. The same things apply socially; learn them now, when you're still young enough to learn them by reflex.
Remember, it does get better!
Good luck!
--
An old geek who hated high school, too...