MAC129 / MED102

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Overview

Origins ‘Golden Age’ Criminality Hacktivism today?

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Jim Thomas (2005) ‘The moral ambiguity of social control in cyberspace: a retro-assessment of the ‘golden age’ of hacking’

Paul Taylor (2005) ‘From hackers to hacktivists: speed bumps on the global superhighway?’

Both in New Media & Society, Vol 7, No 53

Hackers Wanted (aka Can You Hack It?)

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Click

From then to today…

Nissenbaum (2004: 196) claims hackers were once seen as: ‘ardent (if quirky) programmers capable

of brilliant, unorthodox feats of machine manipulation’

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Origins…

1946 Tech Model

Railway Club Massachusetts

Institute of Technology (MIT)

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Steve Wozniak clip

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Robert Bickford (1990) defined a hacker as ‘any person who derives joy from

discovering ways to circumvent limitations.’

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Sherry Turkle (1984: 232) defined the hack as being: ‘the Holy Grail. It is a concept which

exists independently of the computer and can best be presented through an example using another technology complex enough to support its own version of hacking and hackers’

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Phone-Phreaking

John Draper (aka Captain Crunch) The Woz and The Blue Box

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1980s…

Hierarchies develop

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Elite hackers

lamerz

Trophies

‘Computer Underground’ (Meyer, 1989)

Darknets?

Hackers began to be perceived as ‘cultural deviants, law-breaking miscreants or renegade sociopaths’ (Thomas, 2005: 603).

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“A subtle modification about p0f [passive OS fingerprinting] which [sic] made me finding documents that I wasn't supposed to find. Some years ago, I had a period when each month I tried to focus on the security of one country. One of those countries was South-Korea where I owned a big ISP [Internet service provider]. After spending some time to figure out how I could leave the DMZ [a ‘neutral’ network zone] and enter in the LAN [local area network], I succeed thanks to a cisco modification (I like default passwords). Once in the LAN and after hiding my activity (userland > kernelland), I installed a slightly modification of p0f.”

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Phrack editor…

Phrack editor… “The purpose if this version was to scan

automatically all the windows box found on the network, mount shared folders and list all files in these folders. Nothing fantastic. But one of the computers scanned contained a lot of files about the other Korea... North Korea. And trust me, there were files that I wasn't supposed to find. I couldn't believe it. I could do the evil guy and try to sell these files for money, but I had (and I still have) a hacker ethic. So I simply added a text file on the desktop to warn the user of the "flaw". After that I left the network and I didn't come back. It was more than 5 years ago so don't ask me the name of the ISP I can't remember”

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Golden Age of Hacking (1980-1990)

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High profile arrests

1982 – Roscoe gang (associates of Kevin Mitnick)

1983 – Inner Circle 1984 – ‘414s’

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Publications

1984 - 2600: The Hacker Quarterly 1985 - Phrack 1987 - Legion of Doom/H Technical

Journal 1988 - P/Hun 1989 - PIRATE 1990 - Computer underground

Digest (aka CuD)

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Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) Plover-Net Swap Shop Private Sector Demon Roach

Underground Ripco Metal Shop The Phoenix

Project Black Ice

The Mentor Phiber Optik Dr Ripco Taran King Hatchet Molly Terminus

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IRC

Jarkko Oikarinen 1988 ASCII chatrooms

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Ethical Hacking?

Mantra of ‘knowledge wants to be free’ (Stewart Brand)

Founder of the WELL

Moral imperative to spread info and prevent secrecy (Barlow, 1994)

Cyber-Robin Hood!21

Ethical Hacking?

1. Reject the notion businesses are the only groups entitled to technology

2. Hacking was central to freedom and resistance to corporate oppression

3. High costs of equipment meant hacking and phreaking were essential for spreading computer literacy

(‘Doctor Crash’, 1986)

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A noble pursuit?

It is a full time hobby, taking countless hours per week to learn, experiment and execute the art of penetrating multi-user computers: Why do hackers spend a good portion of their time hacking? Some might say it is scientific curiosity, others that it is for mental stimulation. But the true roots of hacker motives run much deeper than that. In this file I will describe the underlying motives of the aware hackers, make known the connections between Hacking, Phreaking, Carding and Anarchy and make known the ‘techno-revolution’ which is laying seeds in the mind of every hacker . . . If you need a tutorial on how to perform any of the above stated methods [of hacking], please read a [Phrack] file on it. And whatever you do, continue the fight. Whether you know it or not, if you are a hacker, you are a revolutionary. [D]on’t worry, you’re on the right side. (‘Doctor Crash’, 1986)

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Criminality

Hacking as a ‘moral panic’ Mass media pivotal in changing the

meaning of the term ‘hacker’

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Media witch-hunts

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Police raids

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Craig ‘Knight Lightning’ Neidorf

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1990s onwards

First internet worm released in 1988 (!) by Robert Morris

Hacking became synonymous with computer crime

May 2007 – Estonia hacked – Russia? June 2010 – Stuxnet worm in Iran –

Israel?

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Hacktivism

Hackers with a political conscious Subverting big business or corrupt

authorities Criminal or moral?

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