How About Those l33t d00dz?
When is the last time that you were just hanging around on IRC when you
encountered a very lame person. You know the type - they talk l1k3 7h1s;
they think that the fact that they just downloaded the newest ICQ flooder
naturally means that they now rule the world.
Most of you would probably have the same reaction that I used to: head
straight for ye olde kick/ban button. Wait. What if that person you are
about to kick could be crypto analyzing AES in six months? What if they
were destined to be the next one added to that large group of people who
found sendmail bugs? Who exactly are you kicking?
I run a hacking website that attracts exactly these types. I can't count
the number of times that I have received "Do you have the latest AOL
scroller?" through the feedback form. My good friend and site sysadmin
tells me that before we got the firewall, he had several users break in
and start by trying to "dir". However, I don't ignore these emails, and I
don't send back nasty "Go Away" notes.
Yes its hard, hell, nearly impossible to imagine, but this is the way that
a hacker today has to start out. These are not the kids who were as lucky
as us to have the BBS scene and accepting "Mentor"s to teach us. Anyone
who has the interest and the drive to learn about computers will be caught
by the media hype and will end up searching Altavista for "hacking".
When they do that, what do they find? Well--the last time I checked--I
came up number 5. I'll admit it: by the standards of sites like this,
mine is seriously lame. People constantly tell me: all these files are
for attacking. This violates any kind of hacker ethics that exist, and
they don't teach anyone anything. And they're right. So why do I keep
this page running? Specifically to attract those Altavista searchers.
Confused yet?
I run my site to get people interested. That is my goal. People come
here and they use these programs. I get 2000 hits a day from people who
want to nuke their friend off ICQ. They destroy, they wreak havoc, and
they generally cause a giant, unforgivable mess.
However--maybe once a week--I get an e-mail that asks "Is this all there
is? How can I go farther? I want to learn about computers, UN*X, etc. I
want to stop destroying and start creating knowledge." By sheer math,
that is 1 out of 14000 people, but it is still one person. I can guide
that person away from their little GUI world. That one in fourteen
thousand was ready to move on, and to expand themselves. Those that are
weeded out by this bandwidth-wasteful process have the desire and the
ability to learn. They all expand beyond my limited knowledge very fast.
Several have gone on to much better things. All of them have been well
worth my time.
So, you ask yourself, this letter started with some h^c&3r coming into my
IRC channel. I definitely don't have 14000 people doing this to *me* a
week, so why should I care if there are that few real possibilities out
there? My response is:
Can we afford to waste even a single questioning mind? The number of
people who would call themselves "hackers" has grown exponentially on the
'net in the last several years. The number of true hackers that adhere to
ethics and hack only for knowledge and not for publicity or bravado has
dropped drastically. Do those few who are left want their only legacy to
be a bunch of kids running around with WinNuke? If all the *real* hackers
out there don't get off their high horses and start teaching a new
generation, all that will be left eventually will be those "script
kiddies."
Even the newest hacker has read Mentor's Last
Words. Some of us know them by heart, and have spent time analyzing
how we can apply his writing to our actions. However, consider his name.
He called himself Mentor for a reason: he taught people. His values still
live on in some people, but his idea of raising the next generation is
being lost, and we *must* fight to keep it.