To Travis
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IamLEAM1983
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3710
- Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
- Location: Quebec, Canada
To Travis
Did you use to run with a hacking group or a collective of some kind?
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IamLEAM1983
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3710
- Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
- Location: Quebec, Canada
As Travis
"Like a lot of hackers, I got my start on bulletin boards. If you can call that a collective, then I was with a group calling itself Echo. We shared codebases for anything from trainers to Trojans, we lent CPU cycles to one another or pooled our resources on a single project - but I wouldn't call them a group. We were a bunch of kids out of the Script Kiddie years, interspersed with a couple of real geniuses who we all knew wouldn't stick around nosing in dark corners of the corporate Web forever. If you're smart and actually have aspirations of having a fucking livelihood, you don't hack for a living. You market your skills to the big security firms out there. Kaspersky, Norton, Goliath, whichever.
Thing is, some kids in Echo were really into this whole post-Occupy Anarchy shit. A lot of 'em would stick footers in their code with stuff like Information should be free or Knowledge is power. Others, like me, were just curious. We got a kick out of it.
There's more that, well, you could see they were headed for Black Hat territory. Stashing cash, taking jobs and not caring who took the fall after they logged out... Stack 'em with the same morons who designed the worst Worms of the last ten years and who won't ever have any concrete justification beyond I did it 'cause I could. They turn hypocritical, sometimes, and say they're doing it to further their native country's military agenda...
Echo's changed a lot since my days. Computers are getting stronger, code assemblers are all the rage in the Kiddie scene, so they just know to point a compiler in the right direction and sit there, waiting for their render farms to crap out the next Melissa or to design the one exploit that's going to net them anything between bragging rights to a job with the NSA or the FSB. Less and less people get out of the Script Kiddie years, and we're edging closer to the mythical idea of the uber-app you'd stick on your cell phone and that you'd use to fuck with anything that has a Wi-Fi or satellite signal.
They're almost crazy with the idea of omnipotent hacker hardware being a near-possibility, but if their native coding environment pops a vein and pulls a General Protection Fault, they're boned. Priorities are getting fucked, and it makes me sound like an older coot than freaking Aldergard."
Thing is, some kids in Echo were really into this whole post-Occupy Anarchy shit. A lot of 'em would stick footers in their code with stuff like Information should be free or Knowledge is power. Others, like me, were just curious. We got a kick out of it.
There's more that, well, you could see they were headed for Black Hat territory. Stashing cash, taking jobs and not caring who took the fall after they logged out... Stack 'em with the same morons who designed the worst Worms of the last ten years and who won't ever have any concrete justification beyond I did it 'cause I could. They turn hypocritical, sometimes, and say they're doing it to further their native country's military agenda...
Echo's changed a lot since my days. Computers are getting stronger, code assemblers are all the rage in the Kiddie scene, so they just know to point a compiler in the right direction and sit there, waiting for their render farms to crap out the next Melissa or to design the one exploit that's going to net them anything between bragging rights to a job with the NSA or the FSB. Less and less people get out of the Script Kiddie years, and we're edging closer to the mythical idea of the uber-app you'd stick on your cell phone and that you'd use to fuck with anything that has a Wi-Fi or satellite signal.
They're almost crazy with the idea of omnipotent hacker hardware being a near-possibility, but if their native coding environment pops a vein and pulls a General Protection Fault, they're boned. Priorities are getting fucked, and it makes me sound like an older coot than freaking Aldergard."
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Karl the Mad
- Posts: 1260
- Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 4:27 am
- Location: Oregon
As Preston
"Feel like I could add something to this. So yeah.
Anyway. All that video game stuff? Mostly bullshit. Get more hacking done with a ballcap, a clipboard and a boiler suit than you'd ever get with fancy apps. This mythical uber-app? Maybe, maybe not, but it's like Travis said. General Protection Fault? You're screwed. Can't remote access? You're screwed.
Travis might have grown up on bulletin boards, learning his stuff online; I got my start when I was sixteen and trying to figure out just what the fuck to do with my life. All those internet classes and fancy degrees felt like useless paper, my parents were gone and someone was contesting the will, keeping me away from what was mine. Long story short, I learned the easiest way to get a password is to beat up the guy until he gives it to you himself; the most secure protection possible is to unplug from the internet and yank out the wireless ports. Failing that? Pull the fucking plug.
But that's not entirely practical, is it? I had my Script Kiddie days after I learned the intricacies of Social Engineering in Chimera Row. After I found myself neck-deep in Hope's underbelly, with nothing to do but fight tooth and nail for what's mine. Or what I wanted to be mine.
These days? People say the internet is about to develop sentience; so-called "hackers" are just throwing code bots at every security system in their way and thinking they're the next Kevin Mitnick or Frank Pritchard. But the best way is still the Adam Jensen approach, if you ask me. Namely, do it yourself; get the floor plans from public archives, clip on your IT badge, pull your cap down and go through every drawer and post-it note until you've got the username and password to the master controller. Nine times out of ten, physical security is half-asleep, and a few spiked dog treats handle the four-legged guards quite well. Or if you've got time, go through a temp agency and bribe them to put your doctored resume at the top of the list. Safer in the long run, and the agency takes the flak if it goes south.
And as for that one time out of ten? Be ready to cut a deal, is all I have to say."
Anyway. All that video game stuff? Mostly bullshit. Get more hacking done with a ballcap, a clipboard and a boiler suit than you'd ever get with fancy apps. This mythical uber-app? Maybe, maybe not, but it's like Travis said. General Protection Fault? You're screwed. Can't remote access? You're screwed.
Travis might have grown up on bulletin boards, learning his stuff online; I got my start when I was sixteen and trying to figure out just what the fuck to do with my life. All those internet classes and fancy degrees felt like useless paper, my parents were gone and someone was contesting the will, keeping me away from what was mine. Long story short, I learned the easiest way to get a password is to beat up the guy until he gives it to you himself; the most secure protection possible is to unplug from the internet and yank out the wireless ports. Failing that? Pull the fucking plug.
But that's not entirely practical, is it? I had my Script Kiddie days after I learned the intricacies of Social Engineering in Chimera Row. After I found myself neck-deep in Hope's underbelly, with nothing to do but fight tooth and nail for what's mine. Or what I wanted to be mine.
These days? People say the internet is about to develop sentience; so-called "hackers" are just throwing code bots at every security system in their way and thinking they're the next Kevin Mitnick or Frank Pritchard. But the best way is still the Adam Jensen approach, if you ask me. Namely, do it yourself; get the floor plans from public archives, clip on your IT badge, pull your cap down and go through every drawer and post-it note until you've got the username and password to the master controller. Nine times out of ten, physical security is half-asleep, and a few spiked dog treats handle the four-legged guards quite well. Or if you've got time, go through a temp agency and bribe them to put your doctored resume at the top of the list. Safer in the long run, and the agency takes the flak if it goes south.
And as for that one time out of ten? Be ready to cut a deal, is all I have to say."
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IamLEAM1983
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3710
- Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
- Location: Quebec, Canada
As Travis
"I would've ended up doing all that myself, yeah - but Wyvern kinda swooped in and, well, I got drafted into this quasi-Matrixverse Operator role, over time. I'd be out there with a gun and a fake badge and whatever else, sure, but the Boss wants me at my desk and with a GPS lock stuck to either Katherine or Earl or the Shieldies. I don't need guns when I have Wyvern's Ops division just one SMS away and when I have enough resources to case a joint with all of the above before anything gets started.
I stick to the gun range, though, and the Boss also wants me to stick to cardio and basic hand-to-hand know-how. You never know. A lot of my assigned employees in the I.T. department figure they just gotta fuel the brains and that they can let the rest to go all flabby. That's their prerogative and I don't think some hypothetically pissed-off demigod or immortal or whatever would go after UNIX kernel nerds when there's a freakin' Wyrm at the CEO's desk - but they're taking chances.
I mean, I wouldn't target the five or six guys who just do maintenance stuff around the office server farms, so these guys can slack off as much as they fucking want. Our actual White Hats and cyber-security analysts, though? I tell them to keep up with their gun handling at the very least, and to honestly think about exercising that Second Amendment. We're the little guys who punch holes in the virtual hides of people so old they think candles are still neat. The last thing I wanna do is piss one of those off. My guys all know to fucking run if they so much as get warning shots from anything that has a couple centuries on 'em.
Knowing Aldergard, there's a pretty thorough system behind that, too. I ever have to cut my losses, Kuhn's gonna nuke my bank accounts and office credentials, and we have fail-safes lying in the back if that happens. He knows I'll have to pull a pretty serious disappearing act, and he knows I won't show my ugly mug until I'm damn well sure the dust has settled.
The one problem we have is that a lot of the old-timers don't rehearse these. 'Fire drills? Oh, sure. Lemme just grab my lunchbox right here, first! Basic Oshit, gotta run for my life situation? Eh. We've got a Black Dragon at the helm, what's the worst thing that could happen?'
It's frustrating. Joe Average is only ever gonna sue your ass if you make his bank account disappear. Joe Average the Akkadian who thinks clay tablets are cooler than the latest iPad? He's gonna sue your ass, then come looking for you and yours. If he finds anything or anyone; he'll drain it dry, burn it down and piss on the ashes while posting on Twitter about this being just another lazy Monday in Insanely Powerful Vampire Land.
The tech sector had it easier in the old days when DARPANET was a big ol' mortal flesh farm and most immortals figured ENIAC qualified as an exotic form of dark sorcery."
I stick to the gun range, though, and the Boss also wants me to stick to cardio and basic hand-to-hand know-how. You never know. A lot of my assigned employees in the I.T. department figure they just gotta fuel the brains and that they can let the rest to go all flabby. That's their prerogative and I don't think some hypothetically pissed-off demigod or immortal or whatever would go after UNIX kernel nerds when there's a freakin' Wyrm at the CEO's desk - but they're taking chances.
I mean, I wouldn't target the five or six guys who just do maintenance stuff around the office server farms, so these guys can slack off as much as they fucking want. Our actual White Hats and cyber-security analysts, though? I tell them to keep up with their gun handling at the very least, and to honestly think about exercising that Second Amendment. We're the little guys who punch holes in the virtual hides of people so old they think candles are still neat. The last thing I wanna do is piss one of those off. My guys all know to fucking run if they so much as get warning shots from anything that has a couple centuries on 'em.
Knowing Aldergard, there's a pretty thorough system behind that, too. I ever have to cut my losses, Kuhn's gonna nuke my bank accounts and office credentials, and we have fail-safes lying in the back if that happens. He knows I'll have to pull a pretty serious disappearing act, and he knows I won't show my ugly mug until I'm damn well sure the dust has settled.
The one problem we have is that a lot of the old-timers don't rehearse these. 'Fire drills? Oh, sure. Lemme just grab my lunchbox right here, first! Basic Oshit, gotta run for my life situation? Eh. We've got a Black Dragon at the helm, what's the worst thing that could happen?'
It's frustrating. Joe Average is only ever gonna sue your ass if you make his bank account disappear. Joe Average the Akkadian who thinks clay tablets are cooler than the latest iPad? He's gonna sue your ass, then come looking for you and yours. If he finds anything or anyone; he'll drain it dry, burn it down and piss on the ashes while posting on Twitter about this being just another lazy Monday in Insanely Powerful Vampire Land.
The tech sector had it easier in the old days when DARPANET was a big ol' mortal flesh farm and most immortals figured ENIAC qualified as an exotic form of dark sorcery."