A (Hacker's) Mind is a Terrible Mind to Waste --------------------------------------------- Taken from Unixworld, March 1993 issue, page 136 by Gary Andrew Poole So this is what it feels like to be a Star. Inside their hotel room, Doc Holiday and Erik Bloodaxe-only the most famous computer hackers alive-drink beer, dub a Traci Lords video, and talk about Computer Turf Wars. There's a thong of desperately hip teenages knocking on the door but Bloodaxe, a 23 year old longhair and Hoilday, who's 21 and resembles Beverly Hills 90210's Luke Perry, just take deeper, more nervous drags on the Marlboro's. "We're not good role models," says Holiday. "We're just hackers." That's not not good enough for the 150 wannabes convened for, yes, a hacker's conference at a Houston motel. Some of the attendes were dropped by their parents earlier. All are drunk. Suddenly, life isn't so easy for the bright kids who are clamoring for their idols. Until about a year ago, the hackers code was simple: Don't steal data for profit or destroy information. True, hacking was illegal. It was also pretty harmless. But as criminals discovered the value of hacking, and as the federal government-spurred by corporations-waged war against hackers, a Dark Side emerged. Youngers who once looked at bank records for the pure joy of it may now find themselves bullied by bad influences who want them to do it for profit. And that sometimes leads to prison. Meet Cap'n Crunch. He's a 49 year old hacker and cult figure hanging around with the kids who shows signs of one too many prison stints. A grey bearded gnome, he sits on the floor in a near fetal position read Asimov, making occasional nervous sounds, and gnawing his fingers until they're a scabby red. "I had to show my cellmates things" he warns. "It's a university for crime. I had to teach my 'classes' to survive" Will the new hacking generation end up gnawingon their fingers amid a bunch of post-pubescents? They just might. Today they're you basic bright, harmless teens. (The hotel manager did try to kick the group out for urinating on a wall and setting up a local area network in one room, which blew out the hotel's power). But they have a skill that can make them lots of money...illegally. Unfortunately, they can't make money legally. Take the young hacker's group called MoD, or Masters of Deception (Holiday and Bloodaxe's archenemies), which stole and resold data from TRW Information Services and Trans Union Corp. One MoD'er went to jail. Other Dark Siders blackmail corporations: "Pay or I'll crash your system." All told, the FBI estimates annual losses from computer related crime range from $500 million to $5 billion. And it's increasing. "Sometimes its sooo easy to break in that it's sick," says one 15 year old. Now Corporate America has a no-brainer choice: Work with these kids today, or let criminal types influence them. Which brings us back to Holiday and Bloodaxe, hiding from their precocious, directionless fans. The Stars say they are reformed hackers, and the people best suited to combat the Dark Siders. Unfortunately, they complain they've been blacklisted by corporations, which are by and large turned off by their past. More than a year ago, Bloodaxe and Holiday-who also go by the names Chris Goggans and Scott Chasin respectively-tried to go legit by starting a security company called Comsec. The sales pitch? They would break into your company's computer system and show you the security holes. "I love that look of panic on an executive's face," smiles Bloodaxe. They say Comsec was oh-so-close to signing some "big-money" contracts. But the computer security experts started warning companies that Holiday and Bloodaxe were former members of the infamous hacking gang, the Legion of Doom. It makes sense: as a CIO, would you want to let recently reformed outlaws into your system, much less pay them for it? The company folded, but its principles hope the increase in computer-related corporate coporate espionage will help revive it. But as criminal hacking flourishes, heroes like Bloodaxe and Holiday- who are in a position to combat the Dark Side and exert a positive influence on the young, restless and directionless-are rapidly going nowwhere. Today, Holiday does some consulting, and Bloodaxe is a customer support representative for a PC company. "I tell custmoers how to format DOS floppy disks!" he says, frustrated, he eyes widening. "Do you know what a kick in the face that is? My ego is crushed." "You know what would make me the happiest guy on Earth?" he asks. "Just a room somewhere with a couple SPARC's, two phone lines, some food, and a license to hack." Sadly, nobody's biting. He takes a drag on his cigarette, frowns, and opens the door, but the kids have gone away.