[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       isn
Subject:    [ISN] Hackers: cyber saviours or snake-oil salesmen?
From:       William Knowles <wk () C4I ! ORG>
Date:       2000-04-17 17:36:07
[Download RAW message or body]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/000417-000007.html

Posted 17/04/2000 2:15pm by Kieren McCarthy

Surrounded by sycophantic applause and loud guffaws at weak jokes, a
strange, nervous twitch started to develop. Similar to entering the
Blue Oyster bar *, the Hackers Forum was not the kind of place an
old-style, cynical hack is welcome.

Up on stage at London's Olympia is "one of the strongest line-ups of
hacking experts ever assembled in the UK". In the audience, a mixture
of geeks, hacker wannabes and security firm employees.

Hackers have moved from being cyber-terrorists and malicious intruders
to modern saviours, knights of the e-table. As long as he doesn't
approve of the actual attacks, a hacker is a cult hero. Hackers are
the little men fighting back, two fingers up to multi-national
corporations - vive la revolution!

And being British, we buy into this underdog culture. They're raising
the security barrier, showing how huge firms just throw money at the
net without understanding it, they bring down porn sites when the
authorities are helpless to intervene. As one speaker quips: "We
should be making 'Thank a hacker' bumper stickers" (much laughter).

We're all very cosy. Typical "questions" are: "I'd just like to say
that I think your program is amazing"; "Why don't people understand
what you're trying to do?". All that's missing is some US-style
whooping. When someone interrupted the party to ask how they justify
their hacking software - free and used by hundreds of bored teenagers
everywhere - he is arrogantly interrupted: "They're called 'script
kiddies'."

"I don't give a 4xxx what you call them, I want to know how you
justify your actions" - that, at least, was what he wanted to say but
he'd never have made it out of the door alive.

The reality is, no matter what they say, media-friendly hackers and
those evil-nasty hackers wot do the damage are the same breed. They
learn the same skills in the same places, even if they are not driven
by exactly the same passions. That one goes in front of an audience
and says it is for the hacked company's own benefit is irrelevant.

In its way, hacking is the equivalent of graffiti artists in the 80s.
At first, graffiti was a manifestation of bored youth, then a cult
activity. Condemned, it reached the media, which then turned such
artists into celebrities and sparked off a million other graffiti
sprayers. It became an art form and virtual social acceptance was
assured.

This is where we are with hacking. With any luck, it will go the same
way as graffiti - the main players will fade, its impact will be put
into perspective and it will become nothing more than an irritation.

That said, it was difficult to hide a smirk when the workings of two
of the latest and greatest pieces of anti-hacking software (as
explained to The Reg by the companies' VPs at a trade show) were torn
to pieces by a hacker - within seconds.

* Blue Oyster bar - Leather-based gay bar from the Police Academy
series. A running gag was that people would enter a non-descript
backdoor to hide and then find themselves among a mass of gay bikers
who proceeded to dance the Tango with them.


*-------------------------------------------------*
"Communications without intelligence is noise;
Intelligence without communications is irrelevant."
Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
---------------------------------------------------
C4I Secure Solutions             http://www.c4i.org
*-------------------------------------------------*

ISN is sponsored by SecurityFocus.com
---
To unsubscribe email LISTSERV@SecurityFocus.com with a message body of
"SIGNOFF ISN".

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]