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List:       isn
Subject:    [ISN] Imaginary Gardens. Ego Tripping. May 20, 1998 (fwd)
From:       William Knowles <erehwon () dis ! org>
Date:       1998-05-21 11:14:17
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 11:37:06 -0500
From: Richard Thieme <rthieme@thiemeworks.com>
To: rthieme@thiemeworks.com
Subject: Imaginary Gardens. Ego Tripping. May 20, 1998

Ego Tripping
by Richard Thieme


Hackers apprehended by authorities often wanted their exploits to be
acknowledged. They showed trophies to their pals, basking in digital
clapping, and who can blame them? The respect of our peers matters much
more than anonymous applause. It's an anchor for an ego that wants to know
it has a home.

A 23 year-old Argentine hacker who used a Harvard computer to gain access
to military documents was caught when a government computer program
searched the computer for his telltale trademarks. The hacker called
himself "El Griton," the screamer. He had used the name years earlier on
another electronic bulletin board posted on the Internet.

He should have called himself Hush.

Our tracks in the melting snows of cyberspace remain visible in the right
goggles long after the tracks have vanished.

In the world of corporate espionage, "social engineering" often secures
more data than hacking. Social engineering means pretending to be someone
else, playing a role so well that others give you what you want. It's like
making a copy of a floppy and leaving the original intact. The information
doesn't even know it's missing, and the transaction is invisible.

El Griton was like a car with its panic button pushed, lights flashing and
horn honking,   his need for strokes the sign of an ego that had spread
like pancake batter across an IRC channel. 

Hackers that boast of their trophies are not the ones to fear. The ones to
fear are those who disappear into the digital system, as invisible as deer
in the woods, and use stolen data to build a Big Picture. That leverages an
advantage that no one knows they have. 

Knowing what knowledge makes a difference and how to use it is the key to
real power. But when we use it, we are less noticeable than ever. And the
trophies are inside, where only we can see them.


 

********************************************************************

Imaginary Gardens is a daily reflection on techno/spirituality --
the interaction between ourselves, computer technology, and the
ultimate concerns of our lives.

To subscribe to Imaginary Gardens, send email to
rthieme@thiemeworks.com with "subscribe gardens" in the body of
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of the message.

Imaginary Gardens and the weekly column, Islands in the
Clickstream, are archived at the ThiemeWorks web site at
http://www.thiemeworks.com.

Copyright 1998 Richard Thieme. All rights reserved. 

*********************************************************************



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