Growth of a Low-Tech Hacker (Winter, 1992-1993) ----------------------------------------------- By The Roving Eye About a year ago I wrote an article about the birth of a hacker in a low technology atmosphere. A lot has happened since then. For one thing, I have been able to meet with hackers from the area. For the other, I have been able to gain some hacking experience. These two combined have led me to appreciate a "problem that exists in our community" (pardon the sap). Hence this article. I find that a lot of newcomers to the field have no idea where to turn, hacking being no product of corporate America, which is blared across our TV screens every five minutes. Thus, if you are a newcomer, read this! You probably will not find much else! Hacking is first and foremost a time-consuming enterprise. It requires tireless devotion as well as relentless perseverance. This is why you will never beat that curious kid next door who started letting his curiosity take him places when he was too young to pay for 2600 out of his allowance. This is also why a newcomer finds it hard to get around in this neighborhood. If you are not serious about hacking and intend to let your "determination" quiver after six months, leave now. Hacking is not a hobby, it is something that stays with you for life. If you are serious, then there are very few gaps that you will not be able to fill in with hard work. But like everything else in life, it is also important to work smart. Here are some pointers that I have come up with from my own experience: 1. Definitions first. It will help you a lot if you define to yourself who you are, what you are interested in doing, what your goals and priorities are, what sacrifices you want to make, and what lines you are not willing to cross. In this respect, hacking is a discipline. You will waste a lot of time or feel rotten if you skip this most important step. I personally decided that I support the free flow of information, but I do not believe in even risking harm to others. I do not believe in following the law, but I do believe in living honestly. I believe in what is right, not what is just. 2. Stop doling out information now. Living in this society, almost every minute we announce ourselves to the world. Stop letting out information to the world. Unless absolutely necessary, use a false name. And don't reveal your social security number to every Tom, Dick, and Harry. I usually use two Hindi swear words, and not even Ma Bell had a problem issuing me a calling card. Can there be a more silly point than this to make? Yet this advice went unheeded and a boastful friend of mine is in big trouble. Arrogance is never worth it. 3. Get others working for you. This country is full of people waiting to give you stuff for free. Use them, abuse them, and you will even get thanked for it! Call the FCC and get put on their mailing list. And this does not apply only to the electronic frontier. Tourist offices will love to cover your walls with their awesome posters. The Fed would love to tell you everything the Wall Street Journal can tell you, and more, for free. You just have to appear to be corporate and know how to ask. 4. Use the easiest way. AT&T does not want you to know a lot of things. But for most of these, you need not break into their computer or even think of a great scheme. A little social engineering will do the trick. I called their 800 number and asked about ANI. They kept transferring me from office to office, until I got them to give me the number of the AT&T FIND service, an internal number that employees use to find out technical information. And they even paid for the calls I made to them. No blue boxing, nothing illegal. 5. Play on people's ignorance. If people weren't stupid, hacking would be nearly impossible. Try simple insecure passwords. Assume insecure networks and sites. I have even managed to get system access to a computer by logging in on Telnet as anonymous! Talk fast to the AT&T operator and tech support, and they will tell you the DTMF codes! Do not assume that these people have any brains at all! 6. Use all the legitimate resources you can lay your hands on. Learning UNIX out of a book will not teach you much about hacking, but it will give you the tools to your art. Approaching hacking without some of this kind of formal support is like trying to learn C by reading the comp.lang.c Usenet newsgroup. Learning UNIX security from a text will not only accelerate your progress, it will also make your skills valuable in the outside world. 7. Get a feel, and then get a plan. Perhaps I should have put this higher up in the list. But I purposely left it for down here. The above pointers should help you get an idea of our world. But then you must step out and do something for yourself. Play with an arm tied behind your back. Increase the challenges. But whatever you do, get a plan. I wasted a lot of time because I was doing some serious dabbling in stuff I could not give two hoots about. A plan helps one go right back to the definitions stage...where it all begins. 8. Work cheap. My poverty has proven to be my greatest asset. No one can afford Radio Shack, no matter how rich they may be. Not because RS is that expensive, but because the maxim of more money, more hot air holds very true here. The more money you plan to spend, the more bullshit you will be fed. If you buy cheap, you will learn more by doing things yourself. You will value your equipment. And you will have more of it. 9. Get friends...use the resources. Before I started reading 2600 and Phrack, I had no one to turn to with my problems, no one to guide or encourage me. Reinventing the wheel may have its virtues, but riding a sports car that you built from a kit is a lot more fun! 10. Review. If you want to get anything out of this for the long run, review what you have done. A present problem may have been solved in the past. Take account of what you have learned. Know where you stand. And bash on regardless.