Hackers and Computer Security
As with any group of people with a shared interest, hackers like to form clubs. Perhaps the most famous of these is the Chaos Computer Club, based in Berlin. It was a member of Chaos who during the 1980s was responsible for breaking into US military computers and selling the secrets to the Russians. This is not typical of their activities, however. For the most part they remain enthusiasts with a well-developed sense of curiosity - which can sometimes mutate into an equally well-developed sense of mission.
Hackers and Computer Security
Another of the famous computer security hacker clubs is the Cult of the Dead Cow. It claimed to perform a public service by looking for flaws in software. They would take a newly released Microsoft product and go and hammer at it from a technical point of view, and try to find the holes that might affect the people who use it. The Dead Cows found such a hole in every version of the Windows operating system, which potentially allows other people to spy on computers using those systems, or even remotely control them from the internet.
Hackers and Computer Security
Much concern regarding hackers surrounds the safety of using credit card details and other data security issues over the web. There was a case in the United States recently where a hacker broke into a website and stole thousands of card numbers. However, he was soon apprehended, and the truth remains that fraud is more likely to occur when using a credit card over the phone than on a secure website. Businesses at risk have taken to calling on counter-intelligence hackers, hardened computer experts who will test a company's systems to the limit in an attempt to find holes and, if they do, help to close them.
Hackers and Computer Security
On January 15, 1990, the information security of AT&T´s nationwide network was shut down for almost nine hours. Rumors immediately spread that the telecommunications giant had been hit by a hacker attack. Although it is now believed that the cause of the failure was an internal bug in the company´s computer system, that did not stop a nation wide crackdown on hackers that began only three days later. The series of investigations, searches and arrests that occurred in this period are often referred to collectively as Operation Sundevil.
Hackers and Computer Security
AKA Dark Dante, nationally-wanted computer security hacker Kevin Poulsen, spent 17 months on the lam during the early 1990´s, avoiding FBI charges for phone tampering. In one of his more creative exploits he jammed the calls to a radio prize line and was ´lucky´ enough to be the winner of a Porsche.
Hackers and Computer Security
Phone Phreak (someone who "hacks" the telephone system) John Draper took phreaking to another level. The focus of his work was not attempting to obtain free phone calls as others did, but rather to access and manipulate the computer security system which lay behind the phone to place even more complex calls with each new attempt, sending calls around the world, bouncing them off satellites only to ask a passerby at Victoria station how the weather was that morning.
Hackers and Computer Security
The popular conception of a hacker as a teenage boy hunched over his computer threatening information security and cracking firewalls was both reflected in and popularized by the 1983 movie War Games. Source: Cranky Critic Matthew Broderick played a juvenile computer genius who could break into his school´s computer system, book free flights to Paris, and push the world to the brink of global thermonuclear war, all while sitting in his room. Most importantly, his exploits won him the praise of a young Ally Sheedy. Some of the most notorious hackers cite this movie as their original inspiration.
Hackers and Computer Security
Part of gaining acceptance in the hacker community was adopting a handle, just as phreakers had done in the 1970s. Handles could be based on high-tech allusions or they could be darker and more violent. Nonetheless, lurking behind these grandiose names was often a young and rather isolated teenage boy. It remains true that the majority of hackers are male.
Hackers and Computer Security
Some hackers formed more cohesive communities or groups. One of the first was the 414 Group, named after an area code in Wisconsin. The most famous was the Legion of Doom, which sprung up in 1984 with a hacker named Lex Luthor at its helm. The group was based around an elite bulletin board dedicated to breaking computer security and information security safeguards. The core of the gang only consisted of about ten members although more were granted access to the board.
Hackers and Computer Security
As the popularity of hacking grew so too did the subculture. Bulletin Board Systems grew in profusion, although the top boards were very selective. These served as electronic meeting places, where hackers could exchange stories and techniques of compromising computer security. Access to a board would be granted or denied based on your technical proficiency or the fame of your exploits. Electronic newsletters also surfaced. One of the very first was "2600: The Hacker Quarterly", which started in 1984 and remains one of the most popular underground computer publications today.
Hackers and Computer Security
Prior to the advent of the personal computer, hacking was limited to the activity of phreaking or to those who had access to mainframe computers. As a result, internet security issues related to hacking were not a widespread phenomenon. In the early eighties, however, PCs finally made their entry into some homes in North America and Europe. The Commodore 64 was one of the more popular models and many hackers started their hacking careers on these machines. For a new generation of teenage boys, computers, games and hacking became a way of life.
Hackers and Computer Security
An increasing number of hackers in the late eighties were no longer satisfied with simply looking around at computers and their information security systems. Many were using their skills for more criminal pursuits. The distribution of pirated software and games was commonplace. Some of the early hackers who were strongly against damaging the systems they broke into, felt that a new generation had entered the scene, a generation that cared little for the principle of freedom of technology but were rather more interested in individual profit. True hackers began to separate themselves from what they termed crackers: a more derogatory term to identify this new group of hackers with more malicious intentions. However, this distinction has never been taken up by the media.
