As a young boy, I was taught in high school that hacking was cool.
So what I was essentially doing was, I compromised the confidentiality of their proprietary software to advance my agenda of becoming the best at breaking through the lock.
The perfect PIN is not four digits and not associated with your life, like an old telephone number. It’s something easy for you to remember and hard for other people to guess.
My argument is not that I shouldn’t have been punished, but that the punishment didn’t fit the crime.
My primary goal of hacking was the intellectual curiosity, the seduction of adventure.
We have problems with our physical security, operational security through to management.
So the ethic I was taught in school resulted in the path I chose in my life following school.
I could have evaded the FBI a lot longer if I had been able to control my passion for hacking.
Of course I’m sure half the people there hate me and half the people like me.
The intent of the individuals who created the DDoS attacks has nothing to do with hacking, and they are vandals, not hackers.
I went to prison for my hacking. Now people hire me to do the same things I went to prison for, but in a legal and beneficial way.
But have you ever felt that something was so good it couldn’t possibly last?
The maximum sentence was twenty years for each free phone call. Twenty years for each call! I was facing a worst-case scenario of 460 years.
One noted software libertarian, Richard Stallman, even refused to protect his account with a password.
If we had ever met in person, I would have given her a kiss to thank her for all the wonderful help she gave me. Ann, if you read this, your kiss is waiting.
The difference can be summed up in one word: authorization. I don’t need authorization to get in. It’s the word that instantly transforms me from the World’s Most Wanted Hacker to one of the Most Wanted Security Experts in the world. Just like magic.
There isn’t any loving, romantic way to put this: I told Bonnie we needed to get married so she couldn’t testify against me, and also so she could visit me if I landed in jail, which was looking like the way things were headed.
Anyone who thinks that security products alone offer true security is settling for the illusion of security.
A typical call in one of my routines went like this: Me: What city, please? Caller: Providence. Me: What is the name, please? Caller: John Norton. Me: Is this a business or a residence? Caller: Residence. Me: The number is 836, 5 one-half 66. At this point the caller was usually either baffled or indignant. Caller: How do I dial one-half?! Me: Go pick up a new phone that has uh-half on it. The reactions I got were hilarious.
Every hacker is to some extent a rebel who lives by different standards and enjoys beating the system.
In the midst of this culture of openness and sharing, we need to think carefully about the information we’re volunteering to the world. Sometimes the world is listening.