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Hacker Group L0pht Making a Comeback

angry tapir writes "The news report begins with shots of a tense space shuttle launch. Engineers hunch over computer banks and techno music pounds in the background. There is a countdown, a lift-off, and then you see a young man in a black T-shirt and sunglasses, apparently reporting from 'space.' This is the Hacker News Network, and after a decade offline it is lifting off again, this time with a quirky brand of video reports about security. Hacker News Network is one of the side projects of the Boston-based hacker collective known as L0pht Heavy Industries. They're the guys who famously told the US Congress that they could take down the Internet in about 30 minutes, and who helped invent the way that security bugs are reported to computer companies."

110 comments

  1. Are they relevant? by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Once upon a time these guys were the baddest of the badasses. But nowadays Russia, China, and North Korea have become real threats.

    What can a group of guys in Boston do that could rival Russian hackers?

    1. Re:Are they relevant? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      What can a group of guys in Boston do that could rival Russian hackers?

      tea party?

    2. Re:Are they relevant? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Mate, Bostonians are what you get when you mix pirates and ninjas. Chuck Norris is scared of Boston. Last time they threw a Tea Party they instigated the overthrow of the largest empire in history! A few blokes from Boston are enough to wipe out the Third Reich, Mossad, Chuck Norris and the SBS all in an afternoon.

      Regards,
            Phil

    3. Re:Are they relevant? by pikine · · Score: 1

      Consider that they were the black hats forefathers who inspired the hackers in Russian and China, I think their limit is not whether they can do it or not, but it's what they end up doing that matters.

      --
      I once had a signature.
    4. Re:Are they relevant? by hedwards · · Score: 5, Funny

      Tea bagging?

    5. Re:Are they relevant? by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 1

      Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

      I can't recall any Russians who were able to paralyze an entire city in fear with nothing but an amusing comic book character. It rivals something Chuck Norris could do.

      Or maybe the Boston PD is a bunch of scared little pussies. Naaah, nobody would believe THAT.

      --
      Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
    6. Re:Are they relevant? by sharkey · · Score: 4, Funny

      Baloney. Chuck Norris knows Boston's fatal weakness!

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
    7. Re:Are they relevant? by theillien · · Score: 1

      I love how people like to cite this as a means to insult Boston and its citizens. Because, ya know, *everyone* knows who the Mooninites are and should just assume that unidentifiable objects with their likenesses are all safe and fluffy. And god forbid the city from where flights of 9/11 took off be fucking paranoid of something like that happening again.

    8. Re:Are they relevant? by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 1

      Wow, another dumbass from Boston who can't tell the difference between a cop and a citizen.

      Just for you, I'll expand my criticism, which if you could read you would notice was directed towards the Boston PD, to the entire populus of the Boston metropolitan area.

      Every person in Boston is a dumbass, afraid of the blinking lights.

      If I'm going to get accused of generalizing about the entire city, I may as well make the generalization. If there's one thing I hate, it's being wrongly accused.

      --
      Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
    9. Re:Are they relevant? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      True and with less phat

    10. Re:Are they relevant? by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 1

      And just to rub it in...

      http://www.liquidmatrix.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/screencap.png

      Apparently Boston can't tell if it's a computer virus or a tornado. It must be the same effect that causes them to believe that their women are good looking.

      --
      Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
    11. Re:Are they relevant? by Macfox · · Score: 1

      If I had mod points, you'd get them.

      --
      Area51 - We are watching...
    12. Re:Are they relevant? by Fred_A · · Score: 1

      http://www.liquidmatrix.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/screencap.png

      Apparently Boston can't tell if it's a computer virus or a tornado.

      What if it's a virus that makes your computer bomb ?
      (I don't think you can still get the Mac to display the bomb thingie though)

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    13. Re:Are they relevant? by laejoh · · Score: 1

      Pfff, they'd reply with a lemon party... Then what?

    14. Re:Are they relevant? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apparently they can find the worst video player on the Internet, and barely get it working.

    15. Re:Are they relevant? by FredFredrickson · · Score: 2, Informative

      Hilarious.

      For those who don't get the reference.. This link will help.

      --
      Belief? Hope? Preference?The Existential Vortex
  2. Sung to the theme, "Welcome back Kotter" by slicenglide · · Score: 1

    Welcome back... welcome back... Wel-come BAAAACK!" -Cha!

    --
    John Walsh once found me while looking for some other kid. He was not amused.
  3. Hmmm... by Colourspace · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Assuming these guys are 'white hats', and they are not _necessarily_ the most able or l337 hax0rs out there, then why has someone not already attempted to take the internet down in 30 minutes already? For, say, 1 million dollars? I call hubris..

    1. Re:Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Probably because the valued cost of the downtime as measured by the courts would be in the trillions for all internet based companies out there, guaranteeing yourself a place in the hall of fame for dumbest hackers to ever cause an internet outage and executed.

    2. Re:Hmmm... by Colourspace · · Score: 2, Funny

      BadAnalogyGuy has just posted something similar... I *swear* it wasn't there when I posted...

    3. Re:Hmmm... by Colourspace · · Score: 2, Insightful

      l0pht may well be intelligent enough to realise that very fact, which is very true. But it might not mean the same to a bunch of North Korean/Chinese/Russian hackers, who might not have anything to lose and want to cause maximum disruption. Hell, they might even think they are so good/out of jurisdiction of the relevent authorities they don't care about anything except maximum disruption. What's your point again?

    4. Re:Hmmm... by Celeste+R · · Score: 1

      There's how many Evil Scientists bent on destroying the world around?

      Most people just want money; money that keeps coming.

      --
      There are no perfect answers, only the right questions. More questions at http://foresightandhindsight.blogspot.com/
    5. Re:Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When are we going to get over the whole white hat, grey hat, black hat thing? It's lame. The fact is that some people can "hack" and others can't. How those people choose to use their talents is up to them, hopefully.

    6. Re:Hmmm... by hedwards · · Score: 1

      As opposed to the system we have now where they all do what various law enforcement agencies want?

    7. Re:Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The internet is global enough that just about every country's economy is tied in to it. There would be no where you are untouchable, if you were to do this.

    8. Re:Hmmm... by ImYourVirus · · Score: 1

      The Moon?

      --
      Why is common sense called that if it's not common?
    9. Re:Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Assuming these guys are 'white hats', and they are not _necessarily_ the most able or l337 hax0rs out there, then why has someone not already attempted to take the internet down in 30 minutes already? For, say, 1 million dollars? I call hubris..

      I am fairly sure the BGP vulnerabilities demonstrated last yeart at defcon (or was it the year before) just how easily large swaths of the internets can be taken down with very little effort. This might have been what l0ft had in mind when they made this statement.

    10. Re:Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rockets are cheap compared to what you'd have done, you'd need to stay mobile on the moon... without an extensive infrastructure (like what you would have just destroyed) that would be neigh to impossible.

    11. Re:Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Clearly the most skilled hackers in the world _!would_ call attention to themselves with a product launch for security videos.

      Well.. hubris aside, the threat of a lifetime spent in prison is somehow enough to stop them from doing so 'just for fun'.

      One million dollars? Ha. You're going to need at least double that just for lawyers. That's like offering 50mil for bin laden. Ridiculous.

      So they'd take down the internet, waste all their preparation, know-how, resources, and go to jail. I fail to see the 'step 4: profit.'

    12. Re:Hmmm... by augahyde · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Assuming these guys are 'white hats', and they are not _necessarily_ the most able or l337 hax0rs out there, then why has someone not already attempted to take the internet down in 30 minutes already? For, say, 1 million dollars? I call hubris..

      The statement was made in 1998 when security was extremely lax with a majority of the hacking community residing in the west.

    13. Re:Hmmm... by Eternauta3k · · Score: 3, Funny

      that would be neigh to impossible.

      And yet I can't see where the horses come in

      --
      Yeah. Would you choose a neurosurgeon who pokes around people's brains in his spare time? I wouldn't.
    14. Re:Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In my day, that was how we were going to get the moon. Get off my lawn!

    15. Re:Hmmm... by tcr · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Heh.. the Russians might just be out for revenge.

      Interesting article about how the CIA took advantage of the fact that the USSR had given up on domestic computer systems development, and had taken to cloning IBM and Dec gear.
      From examples spiked with malware....
      Excerpt:
       
       

      In the early 1980s, the Russians were constructing a trans-Siberian oil pipeline, and needed an automated system to properly manage it. Softening attitudes allowed them to legitimately purchase older models of computers on the open market. They then approached the American authorities for permission to buy the necessary software. When the US refused, the KGB stole the application.


      However, the software they stole had been doctored to go haywire after a while. It would open valves unexpectedly and set pressures too high for the pipeline's welds. When the explosion came, US seismologists measured the blast at three kilotons.

      --


      Information wants to be beer.
    16. Re:Hmmm... by theillien · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Probably because even when talking in front of Congress, hackers are going to prone to puffing their chests out in order to make themselves seem more 1337 than the next group.

    17. Re:Hmmm... by nashv · · Score: 1

      I am going out a limb here, but could it be 'conscience' ? Hackers, even black hats, will attack only that which they see as evil. I think there is a pretty good consensus that the internet as a whole, is not evil - in fact, it is the most liberating force in our times. Hackers owe their existence to it, and could be observing a self-preservative moral code. Or it could be simply that its too easy. Hackers seek a challenge, and if , as they claim, all it takes them is 30 minutes, perhaps its not worth all the trouble ?

      --
      Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
    18. Re:Hmmm... by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      Because usually, this gets you shot. And I think you can be as cool a l33t h4x0r as you want. If you are a stain on the walls, it does not matter, does it? ^^

      I say, if the government would sign something, stating that they would get away with it, with some UN guarantee backing it... *Then* you could see people attempting this.

      Oh, and back when they said it, the security of the internet was a complete joke compared to now. One botnet trojan/virus from today could wipe the whole net from back then without problems. :)

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    19. Re:Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Assuming these guys are 'white hats', and they are not _necessarily_ the most able or l337 hax0rs out there, then why has someone not already attempted to take the internet down in 30 minutes already? For, say, 1 million dollars? I call hubris..

      They were referring to a bug they found in Cisco's IOS, related to BGP annoucements. Yes, they could easily have done it, at the time, given the right access... which I'm guessing they probably had.

      I don't have a link handy, but there was a router over in the Ukraine some months back that messed up & took down a bunch of ISP's who were still running routers that weren't patched. I don't remember all the details, some kind of overflow technique that each router would happily relay along and then crash. But pretty much everyone has had that fixed now.

    20. Re:Hmmm... by Sigma+7 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I am going out a limb here, but could it be 'conscience' ? Hackers, even black hats, will attack only that which they see as evil.

      More like they're not willing to attack a target they perceive as critical to their operation.

      For example, a hacker may find it funny to send something via the Border Gateway Protocol to disable access to Youtube; other hackers might consider this good, since it encouraged productivity. If he instead disables the entire Internet via BGP, he cripples himself and can't do much until the problem is recovered. Said hacker won't be able to brag about taking out the Internet, since no computer enthusiast likes critical infrastructure being taken out.

      If a hacker accidentally took out an internet when trying to demonstrate something believed to be harmless (e.g. the Morris Worm), then that's okay. We all make mistakes and gain experience not to do it a third time.

    21. Re:Hmmm... by tibman · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      Stories like those make me love the US gov. How cool is that, seriously? To plan something like that? That's Dr. Evil's genius plans being paid for by the US gov and aimed at other nations. As long as the plans are are targeted at problems and not just for evil's sake, i'd say keep it up!

      --
      http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
    22. Re:Hmmm... by lorenlal · · Score: 1

      Because how do you make money off of it? You just take everything down and... profit?

      Let's face it. The internet is much more profitable for your hacker group if you keep it running and allow your bots, and spam generators, and everything else to communicate with each other and report back your earning reports.

      Now, some yahoo could go ahead and launch the attack, but that would require use of one of those botnets, and then you'd have to answer to a lot of angry Russians. Last I checked, they don't have to worry about those "criminal justice" thingies.

    23. Re:Hmmm... by ahabswhale · · Score: 1

      lol...can't track them with a dead internet (besides the fact that they wouldn't be stupid enough to do it from their own machines in the first place). If they could pull it off, they could easily get away with it unless they were stupid enough to brag about it.

      --
      Are agnostics skeptical of unicorns too?
    24. Re:Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not the original comment poster,
      I don't see anything flamebait about this post. Is someone pissed off because its praising the US government for once?

  4. Anti-Sec by improfane · · Score: 1

    The Anti-Sec folks won't like this!

    I reported a MySQL security bug to a recent Slashdot front page and got a 'Thanks - looking into it'. Not sure it has been fixed yet. This gives me no right to publish it anywhere if you ask me. Not yet anyway.

    --
    Slashdot needs Geekcode | Can anyone recommend any good SCIFI? My tastes: Foundation, Startide Rising, CITY, Ringworld,
    1. Re:Anti-Sec by Darkness404 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But you -do- have that right, you just don't feel like using it. That is what happens with freedom, even though I have pretty much every right to fill this post with random links to Goatse, penis jokes and conspiracy theories about how 9/11 was planed by Jewish people, I choose not to. Same with you, you have, and should have every right to publish it, you just choose not to.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    2. Re:Anti-Sec by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      9/11 was planed by Jewish people

      The WTC was planed. 9/11 was *planned*.

    3. Re:Anti-Sec by fedxone-v86 · · Score: 1

      The Antisec guys just have a problem with "security experts" who earn their living by doing nothing but posting exploits (without contacting anyone but Secunia) and generally spreading fear.

      I haven't really understood their views on non-disclosure but my guess is they'd rather have no disclosure at all than the farce that is full disclosure.

      --
      (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
    4. Re:Anti-Sec by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 1

      I haven't really understood their views on non-disclosure but my guess is they'd rather have no disclosure at all than the farce that is full disclosure.

      My guess is that they don't want people ruining their fun. It's a lot easier to have a bag of tricks if people aren't aware of what said tricks are.

    5. Re:Anti-Sec by fedxone-v86 · · Score: 1

      But what's more dangerous, the bag of tricks in the hands of a few skilled people or an open bulletin board with 0day-exploits for everyone?

      What makes this question even more complicated for me is that Secunia, the people who protect us from exploits if we pay them, is sponsoring this practice.

      --
      (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
    6. Re:Anti-Sec by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wooooooosh!

    7. Re:Anti-Sec by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But what's more dangerous, the bag of tricks in the hands of a few skilled people or an open bulletin board with 0day-exploits for everyone?

      What makes this question even more complicated for me is that Secunia, the people who protect us from exploits if we pay them, is sponsoring this practice.

      The bag of tricks in the hands of a few - hands down. What we're talking about here is carte blanc access in the hands of a select few. We have to trust that the motives of these few strangers will fall in line with ours. And then we have to trust that the "select few" will remain few. Eventually they won't in both cases. Individuals will use these exploits to cause damage. And knowledge of these exploits will spread until even the least trusted in the underground has access to it.

      We ran this gambit in the 80s. Exploits would become known within the underground. The most elite would share the knowledge amongst other inner-circle personalities. Eventually the exploit would slip to wider and wider distribution. Vendors would either be oblivious to the exploit or completely unmotivated to fix it. The general public would be oblivious to it or unmotivated to invoke any fixes a vendor might have provided. Until some amateur will do something damaging (intentional or not) with the information.

      An interesting thing to note is the nature of computer crime over the years. A good deal of it was the activities of the stereotypical exploring hacker / phreak. And there was always the insider looking for revenge or manipulating data to steal. However, there were also "classic" hackers making money manipulating systems to steal equipment. And the Mafia was a consumer of Blue Boxes.

      Today, the computer crime scene has expanded to provide ample opportunities to tempt the first individual willing to hand over an exploit. You can question Secunia's motives if you want. But you should be aware that there are others just as driven with much more sinister motives.

      I agree that 0day exploits on public bulletin boards breeds chaos. But it's very visible chaos. Many more people are aware of the issues presented by a publicly published vulnerability. And that gives it a better chance of being addressed and its effective life shortened.

      It would be better, of course, if the vulnerability never existed. But they tend to exist. There are 0days right now waiting to be discovered. The question is how long until they are discovered, by who, and how will they be used?

  5. hurray! by myfootsmells · · Score: 0

    hurray!

  6. Re:HACK THE PLANET!!! by killthepoor187 · · Score: 1

    Count Zero, IMO

  7. Pioneers of the glamourous geek lifestyle by Beefpatrol · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Those guys also were probably among the first to make it publically obvious that computer skills were not simply vehicles for the personal amusement of the socially inept. The press at the time always discussed how they had one apartment for themselves, and one next door for their gear. They made money being hackers, (in the old sense of the word -- not crackers.) I imagine that a substantial part of the sudden increase in society's respect for geeks, (maybe mostly their potential incomes,) was due to the glamorous press exposure l0pht received at that time. Perhaps Slashdot should thank them -- I'm not really sure. It will be interesting to see what this new l0pht is like.

    1. Re:Pioneers of the glamourous geek lifestyle by maxume · · Score: 0, Troll

      That's just stupid. Computer skills became more in demand because computers became more entrenched in society, and no, computers did not become more entrenched in society because the press did some articles about some guys that were smart.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    2. Re:Pioneers of the glamourous geek lifestyle by Beefpatrol · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You're right that computer skills became more in demand because computers became more entrenched in society. My main point was that geeks gained substantial social respect because the media published a bunch of stuff that glamorized geekdom. I didn't mean to imply that (social respect == ability to command more income). Geeks were already making money and their skills were already valuable. A lot of people didn't realize that at the time though. The prototype geeks the media used at the time were the l0pht guys. I think it mattered that they were independant -- they weren't working for a corporation or anything like that.

    3. Re:Pioneers of the glamourous geek lifestyle by maxume · · Score: 1

      That's clearer. Still, I expect Bill Gates has been much more of an ambassador (If I asked the 50 people that I am most closely related to what 'lopht' was, they would first think I was talking about a thing you put a bed on and then not have heard of the group, but most of them would know who Bill Gates is), and that much of the rest of it has been due to a simple increase in numbers of people who write software (and other similar tasks that go beyond the uses that the majority has for computers).

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    4. Re:Pioneers of the glamourous geek lifestyle by Beefpatrol · · Score: 1

      You make a good point. People knew about the Microsoft millionaire phenomenon probably before l0pht. Perhaps I should say that the press coverage of l0pht inspired me more than Bill Gates. I've known quite a few people that did the "bunch of guys hacking on the same stuff in the same apartment which also happens to be where they live" thing. One group of people that I knew actually lived in the apartment next door to the hacking apartment. One of them is even famous, (for a geek,) for having done some things similar to what the l0pht guys did. He never mentioned specifically that he was inspired by them though. Maybe it is more accurate to say that the media coverage of l0pht showed geeks a glamorous way to use the skills they have to get social respect and money. (Show people why they should care about specific technical topics and offer related assistance for a fee.)

    5. Re:Pioneers of the glamourous geek lifestyle by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I imagine that a substantial part of the sudden increase in society's respect for geeks, (maybe mostly their potential incomes,) was due to the glamorous press exposure l0pht received at that time.

      Or maybe it's that whole Internet thing that was popping up around that time. The geeks became attractively rich. The tech stopped being black boxes hidden in white-floored, air-conditioned caves and became vehicles for wealth and ubiquitous services. And did I mention the geeks becoming attractively rich?

      I doubt "society" in general paid much attention to L0pht (beyond the attention the mysterious hacker "whiz kid" usually gets). There was already about a decade of exposure to the microcomputer and the concept that it would change our lives. And we had already seen ample exposure of the hacker to pop-culture (i.e. the movie War Games and T.V. show Whiz Kids). Mainstream society seemed sort of curious but not entirely impressed with the geek behind the curtain.

      But when the Internet dot-boom era began, money got everyone's attention. Suddenly the geek behind the curtain got much more interesting.

    6. Re:Pioneers of the glamourous geek lifestyle by Hurricane78 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Doesn't get me laid, though, does it?

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    7. Re:Pioneers of the glamourous geek lifestyle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would have been much more impressive with a four-digit UID.

      AC

    8. Re:Pioneers of the glamourous geek lifestyle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As long as that guy David Pollino isn't working there they should be okay. David worked at @Stake and he is real full of himself... A complete asshole.

  8. literature request by Trepidity · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Since I like history and dead-tree, anyone have a suggestion for a good book covering the history of these 1990s hacking/security/blackhat/whitehat/grayhat groups, and what you might call the fragmentation/dissolution of the underground? There's good material on the 80s, but much less on the 90s, it seems, despite a decade having passed.

    The only one I know of with more than a passing mention is a 20-page overview in Ch. 3 ("Hacking in the 1990s") of the book Hacker Culture (2003). Others?

    1. Re:literature request by Darkness404 · · Score: 5, Informative

      The book The Best of 2600, a Hacker Odyssey is pretty good. http://www.amazon.com/Best-2600-Hacker-Odyssey/dp/0470294191 . And while it might not have the scope you are looking for on the groups themselves, it does seem to give mention to every major event in hacker history since 1984 when the magazine was published. Plus its pretty recent being published just in July of 08.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    2. Re:literature request by fat_mike · · Score: 1

      Here:

      Out of the Inner Circle

      And here:

      The Hacker's Handbook

      I have both of these and they are excellent. The Bill Landreth book is the better one though.

    3. Re:literature request by Trepidity · · Score: 1

      While those look like good suggestions, they were both published in the 1980s, so I'm guessing they don't cover very much of the 1990s. =] I'll take a look at them for the 80s content, though; thanks.

    4. Re:literature request by sean_nestor · · Score: 1

      Since I like history and dead-tree, anyone have a suggestion for a good book covering the history of these 1990s hacking/security/blackhat/whitehat/grayhat groups, and what you might call the fragmentation/dissolution of the underground? There's good material on the 80s, but much less on the 90s, it seems, despite a decade having passed.

      The only one I know of with more than a passing mention is a 20-page overview in Ch. 3 ("Hacking in the 1990s") of the book Hacker Culture (2003). Others?

      Masters of Deception: The Gang that Rules Cyberspace comes to mind.

    5. Re:literature request by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks, just ordered it.

      AC

    6. Re:literature request by strat · · Score: 1

      It's centered around Kevin Mitnick's story, but Jonathan Littman's "The Fugitive Game" does cover a pretty interesting swath of both eras. It's considerably less histrionic than certain other works by people whom I wouldn't necessarily regard to be disinterested parties. It's well written and the depth of some of Mr. Littman's research warmed my heart.

      Suelette Dreyfus' "Underground" covers a fair amount of the 1990's as well. It's on Project Gutenberg, but worth owning a copy of if you want some perspective on the global scene.

      If you want insight into the history of the Internet or operating systems, look for anything by Peter Salus.

  9. Like some people say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OH NOES!

  10. Nice and all... by Thelasko · · Score: 1

    but can they record the thing in a room that doesn't have the acoustics of a tin can?

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    1. Re:Nice and all... by NeMon'ess · · Score: 1

      I'm sure they could, but the audio fits with the space-station backdrop. It also reminds me of the 1994 game Burn:Cycle.

  11. Just like your parent's timers by uberushaximus · · Score: 2, Funny

    30 minutes should be more than enough for anyone!

  12. Re:HACK THE PLANET!!! by uberushaximus · · Score: 1

    They're out in the pool, on the roof.

  13. Re:HACK THE PLANET!!! by Octogonal+Raven · · Score: 0

    Don't forget Lord Nikon and Cereal Killer.

    --
    In God we trust, all others we virus scan.
  14. North Korea? WTF??? by sgt_doom · · Score: 0

    W(here)TF did you come up with North Korea? Oh yeah, that memo passed you buy about the source of that last I-net run against gov sites originated in the United Kingdom? It was those scumball pols who claimed it originated in North Korea....you know, that SecDef Robert Gates, who used to boil cats when he was in his teens, and the guy with the father who also occupied the Secretary of Defense position. WTF ever happened to social mobility in the US of A, anyway?????

  15. First impression.. by Seth+Kriticos · · Score: 3, Informative

    I watched the last news video of them. Here is my impression:

    * They recreated the feel of the 80's hacker optic mixed with matrix in an endless loop
        (no, that was not a compliment)
    * 20 % of the show was advertisement (maybe more)
    * The news are mostly a summary on what you read here on security.slashdot.com
    * The tone of the show gets boring.. well, immediately

    The basic idea is nice, but the actual show is not that impressive. Could get better though..

  16. L0pht history by Animats · · Score: 4, Insightful

    L0pht Heavy Industries went corporate in 2000, and became "@Stake", which was acquired by Symantec in 2004, and disappeared into the Symantec empire.

    L0pht, founded in 1992, was itself a descendant of the Cult of the Dead Cow, founded in 1984 and still around, more or less.

    There have been various spinoffs and buybacks along the way, but it's been a while since cutting edge work came from that crowd.

    1. Re:L0pht history by inode_buddha · · Score: 1

      ISTR this also... good times, back then. Another one that I was interested in was +ORC (fravia). Slightly outdated nowdays, but still very educational.

      --
      C|N>K
    2. Re:L0pht history by SpyPlane · · Score: 1

      First thing I thought about when I saw this article was the CODC "The Cow"! I can remember staying up late reading the hundreds of text files they had on their site. Everything from phone phreaking, to atm hacking, to religion slamming, to top ten lists of humor. I think it is about time to go spend some time reading those texts again.

      --
      "We need a fourth law of Robotics: Stop Fingering My Wife"
  17. Wow! by sharkey · · Score: 1

    First L0pthcrack Rises Again and now L0pht themselves are back?!?! Such amazing times we live in.

    --

    --
    "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  18. My hat's kind of brownish... by argent · · Score: 1

    Maybe you could call it "tan" or "dun", I don't know. Keeps the sun out of my eyes, anyway. Isn't that what matters?

  19. circa MMIX ... by nitroyogi · · Score: 1

    Did anyone notice ... HNN's website has nicely formatted Google ads?!

  20. these guys work for/with the feds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    watch out

    1. Re:these guys work for/with the feds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      tidy your room little boy
      BEFORE TEH FEDS get you.

      *sigh*

  21. Wish they could bring back by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I wish they could bring back the fine articles Sercrity Portal used to have, in particular, "Ask Buffy, by Buffy Overflow". Great stuff there.

  22. Ugh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    So these are the posers that put a bit of faux repectability on crackers and a whole lot of smear on actual honestly creative hackers. Clearly, a whole lot of moxie and a bit of media savvy brings you quite a ways.

    Thanks so much guys.

    1. Re:Ugh. by strat · · Score: 1

      I think the term is "social skills."

  23. Remind me again... by icebike · · Score: 1

    Why in the world would one visit the web site?

    I try to avoid getting my oil changes at Joe's ChopShop and Used Parts emporium, and I avoid banking at Webegone Bank and Trust.

    Oh, sure, I'm sure these are the "whitehats".

    --
    Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    1. Re:Remind me again... by strat · · Score: 2

      Well knowing some of these folks personally (count the digits in my slashdot ID if you're wondering for how long)... perhaps because they have credible insights into the industry and technology, and secondarily because given some of their day jobs, it's exceedingly unlikely they'd choose to be affiliated overtly with a site that was malicious?

      Just a thought.

  24. North Korea have become real threat? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stop reading press releases will you.

    Their the same caliber as the ones claiming genocide and WMD's to justify military intervention.

    Its like some people are still living the cold war era.

  25. Re:HACK THE PLANET!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pool's closed. Due to AIDS.

  26. Re:L0pht history and everyone else who posted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    cDc rocks... L0pht rocks... They have NEVER died. Just cause you are not taking the spotlight doesn't mean you are dead. They just did other things, but the same. No I will not elaborate.

    They inspired me. I have thus become a Linux Engineer, etc. They used to have a building with wires and antenae coming out of it.. and tell everyone we are hacking you and you cannot catch us..... Hey I am going to come into your house. I am warning you ahead of time, try and stop me all you want, you cannot find me. I am going to break the law and you cannot catch me coppers. Cause I got plan A thru infinity planned out. AND they have lived up to their boast.

    So all you naysayers and wannabees ... pffft.. Who are you??? You speak of the ELITE of the ELITE.

    And as regards to China, Russia, etc... haha... that argument is so flimsy its laughable. I'm not going to play all my cards... I'm not going to share inside info on things that I have but I will let my words stand as they are. But to your credit it is a plausible thought process and question.

    cDc and L0pht will never die.. like someone said they defeat Chuck Norris. Even when they have passed on.

  27. A url to reference in regards to my last post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://groups.google.com/group/soc.men/browse_thread/thread/2385ab653d66252/6cc421202f854b7b

    Disgusting... especially the "top 5":

    ----

    #1. Sanhedrin 59a: "Murdering Goyim (Gentiles) is like killing a wild
    animal."

    #2. Aboda Sarah 37a: "A Gentile girl who is three years old can be
    violated."

    #3. Yebamoth 11b: "Sexual intercourse with a little girl is permitted
    if she is three years of age."

    #4. Abodah Zara 26b: "Even the best of the Gentiles should be killed."

    #5. Yebamoth 98a: "All gentile children are animals."

    ----

    However, per Bernie Madoff + his ponzi schemes in the hedgefunds scandal, & then, topping that off w/ the Jew Rabbis in New Jersey being caught laundering monies this week also?

    Well - It only appears that only the TRUE NATURE of the people that hold the Jewish faith is being revealed... and, this time, by their actions (not just the words they profess to live by (via the quotes from their talmud above)).

    APK

    P.S.=> Unbelievable, yet true (per my post parent to this one)... but, explains a LOT, & STRAIGHT FROM THE JEWISH TALMUD no less! They call the rest of us animals & that it is "OK" to murder & kill + rape our kids?? Small wonder they head into an oven, everytime, & have been driven from every nation they invade & impoverish, all thru history - you can "mod me down", all you like, but it doesn't 'stand up' too well, vs. what is in the jew talmud itself, & especially in regards to the rest of us non-jews (even little kids, for God's sake!)... apk

  28. Re:L0pht history and everyone else who posted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    cool story bro

  29. 13 main/root DNS servers to take down only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "What can a group of guys in Boston do that could rival Russian hackers?" - by BadAnalogyGuy (945258) on Sunday July 26, @01:27PM (#28828129)

    There are only 13 root DNS servers out there, afaik, & this is the list of them:

    ----

    E-NASA Moffet Field CA
    F-ISC Woodside CA
    M-WIDE Kei o
    I-NORDU Stockholm
    K-LINX/RIPE London
    B-DISA-USC Marina delRey CA
    L-DISA-USC Marina delRey CA
    A-NSF-NSI Herndon VA
    C-PSI Herndon VA
    D-UMD College Park Maryland
    G-DISA-Boeing Vienna VA
    H-USArmy Aberdeen MD
    J-NSF-NSI Herndon VA

    ----

    AND?

    They DO in essence, control a LARGE part of the internet itself (for url-to-ip address name resolutions, & troubles in the Domain Name System were exposed the past year or two now by Dan Kaminsky, that ARE exploitable for purposes such as L0pht stated, when they told the U.S. Gov't. they could effectively "take down the internet in under 30 minutes" etc. et al).

    APK

    P.S.=> That? That's JUST "for starters", in reqards to your question... apk

    1. Re:13 main/root DNS servers to take down only by Crysm · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes, because no one has yet invented DNS caching.
      ...
      Oh wait.


      Yes, those servers are important, but they don't handle every single DNS lookup directly. They wouldn't be able to withstand that. Taking down those servers would only inconvenience people by temporarily preventing them from contacting domains that weren't in their DNS server's cache.

      A more effective target would be to attack IXPs and prevent the traffic from flowing between Internet carriers. There are quite a lot of those, though, and it would be exceptionally difficult (bordering on impossible) to pull off.

    2. Re:13 main/root DNS servers to take down only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Yes, those servers are important, but they don't handle every single DNS lookup directly. They wouldn't be able to withstand that. Taking down those servers would only inconvenience people by temporarily preventing them from contacting domains that weren't in their DNS server's cache." - by Crysm (1410083) on Sunday July 26, @11:45PM (#28832839)

      Exactly... &, then DNS poison as many of the rest as possible (from the MAJOR carriers like Time Warner, Cox, Comcast, CableVision, & Verizon etc. et al) the L0pht group said they could take down the internet in under 30 minutes, but never said HOW LONG they could do it for... & my guess is, not that long, but, that they could be a real "pain in the you-know-what".

      APK

  30. bbs.l0pht.com by ubungy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    a comeback is logging into bbs.l0pht.com via p23. a comeback is chatting with razer or dark dante on darkcartel.com... a comeback is beigeboxing on ess. nostalgia is great, i live for it. but as for l0pht there is no 'comeback'. only born anew as something worthy to this 'generation'. what you got up your sleeve now?

  31. Hackers NEED the internet by djdevon3 · · Score: 1

    If they took down the internet what is there to hack (or forcefully provide incentive for code improvements)? Hardware and social engineering crap again? Not to mention all the completely inept script kiddies that depend on actually skilled coders to do their work for them. There's no way they would shoot themselves in the foot. D...U...H...

  32. More info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can just read the archives of 2600 here Gay Hackers

  33. Conficker, Slammer, Mytob and other M$ technologie by SgtChaireBourne · · Score: 1

    Because usually, this gets you shot. And I think you can be as cool a l33t h4x0r as you want. If you are a stain on the walls, it does not matter, does it? ^^

    I say, if the government would sign something, stating that they would get away with it, with some UN guarantee backing it... *Then* you could see people attempting this.

    Oh, and back when they said it, the security of the internet was a complete joke compared to now. One botnet trojan/virus from today could wipe the whole net from back then without problems. :)

    Not if you add "with a computer" to the activity. Look at a group we see injecting code known to be unsafe into airports, hospitals, schools and military sites. Not even an eyebrow is being raised, let alone a rifle scope. The military has been sitting on its hands while this group brings the infrastructure and parts of the economy to its knees. MSFT racketeering causes billions of dollars of damage each quarter.

    --
    Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
  34. Many mod downs but no denials by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://groups.google.com/group/soc.men/browse_thread/thread/2385ab653d66252/6cc421202f854b7b All the mod downs in the world don't seem to disprove what was written straight from the jewish talmud which only shows what the jews apparently think of the rest of humanity. Small wonder they are shunned throughout history and every place they migrate to like locusts and systematically impoverish and destroy since the beginning of time (or at least since the time of the Egyptians).

    The United States is now being used to fight their battles for them in the middle east (after they thieved their own relatives in the Arabic peoples, because both tribes descend from the same genetic tree no less, so, don't wonder why their own family in essence hates them more than anyone - nobody wanted them around in their nations after WWII, so who paid for that? The Palestinians).

    The U.S.A. is their last refuge now, and yet, they are attempting to plunder the U.S. dry also.

    Just as they have every other nation on the planet over the millenia, with 'gang up tactics' (e.g. german peoples experienced this at Jews' hands especially, when a german baker for instance had his business handed down father to son, for centuries, that is when the jews would move in and setup a competing bakery & neighboring villages' jews would underwrite the competing jew baker's costs, making his prices so low, that the german baker could not compete. When the german went out of business, the jews skyrocketed their prices way up past where they ever were before and this went on through all fields and professions, & this is the type of tactics they utilize in order to infest a nation & impoverish it).

    Their outright blatant propensity for thievery however, is clearly shown by the 5 Rabbis caught laundering monies illegally in Secaucus New Jersey the week of this very post, and Bernie Madoff, via the hedgefund scandal exposed last year. The European nations will have nothing to do with them because of what happened in Poland, Germany, & Russia, plus other nations in Europe. Now, see their latest thieveries in the U.S.A., & don't wonder too hard why nobody wants them around.

    It amazes me, because they have the opportunity to be better men through the acquisition of great wealth (often by less than honorable means), but never are. This is what does them in, every time, and in every nation, throughout all history.

    i.e. You can't ask a snake to not be a snake in other words, apparently.

    (Expecting them to be any different than they have always been is a mistake based on their history as a religion and peoples. A mistake that nations which host their presence makes and which that nation ultimately ends up paying for after it has been financially raped essentially).