The No-Tech Hacker

Forbes ^ | February 29, 2008 | Andy Greenberg

[Squantos]

Oh he’s humble enough.....he ain’t like Slim at all.......:o)

[hiredhand]

More information is stolen by social engineering and "soft" techniques (such as used by this guy) than all the high tech hacks. People are probably the best way to get information. People just want to "talk".

In our "natural form", people on this planet only ever want to do three things...

1. Be heard.
2. Be seen.
3. Have sex.


Being seen and heard can generally be summarized as being noticed, and of course most people combine the three and part of the proof is that pornography is prolific on the net and is a huge money maker... but that's digressing.

"Most" people really do want to give away "secrets". They want to be "heard". They want for the hearer to think something about them. I've noted that the exception to this is "usually" (but not always) information security professionals who have personally witnessed (or experienced!) the repercussions of giving away sensitive information! Intel operatives are another (generally speaking) closed mouthed bunch. Spilling the beans in that world will cause mountains of grief.

Hackers who operate purely by technical means are probably their own worst enemies. It's as if they want to get caught so they can talk about how they did it. Then when they do get caught (and they're often times VERY easy to catch :-), they tell you ALL about how they did it!

I'm with you...I like this guy. :-)

[hiredhand]

Computer tanning booth...

I WISH I had a computer tanning booth today! I used to think it was cool that our organization all relocated into three big interconnected buildings on a 17 acre campus....that is until I was assigned a project that spanned all three buildings! SHEESH!

When I close my eyes, all I see is orange and yellow fiber optic cables...single mode, and multi mode...LC, and SC type connectors...patch panels, media converters, SFP fiber gigabit modules on Cisco switchgear, miles and miles of CAT-5 and 6 cabling.

I'm hoping I don't "do" this in my sleep tonight. I still have to label everything tomorrow.

...anyway...that's why I've been scarce. :-)

[Fiddlstix]

*I* am a REAL hacker. Always have been, that “criminal” stuff is a bunch of lies, like “militias are bad”, all made up by media

Yep. I recall first hearing the word "hacker" way back in the late 1970's - early 1980's. Somewhere in that time frame.
"Hacker" was a kind of "badge of honor" way back in the day, if memory serves.
Later the MSM made the word "hacker" into a "dirty word".

[antiRepublicrat]

Uses of "hacker" often annoy me, depending on how the it's done, usually by the clueless or someone with an agenda.

I've found it's easiest to explain to people by telling them to imagine the guy who was always under the hood of his 68 Camaro trying to learn everything about how it works and trying to squeeze every last ounce of power out of it. Stick him at a computer instead of under the car, and you call him a hacker.

Of course, with his talents I'm sure he could hotwire a Camaro in 15 seconds to steal it, or chop it to be resold, but that's just a matter of how is talents are used.

[whd23]

I wonder how much more successful a hot babe in a tight skirt would be doing this job?

In the tech company I work at, not well at all. See we male engineers have scoped out all of the ladies (the very few ladies, sadly) who work in the building. So we pretty much know all of them on sight. :)

[SAWB]

v qb abg xabj junh ebg13 vf, ohg v ybir gur fzryy bs n tbbq ehofgvghgvba pvcure va gur zbravat.

[ConservativeWarrior]

v qb abg xabj junh ebg13 vf, ohg v ybir gur fzryy bs n tbbq ehofgvghgvba pvcure va gur zbravat.

Neither do I.

[Rick.Donaldson]

Of course, with his talents I'm sure he could hotwire a Camaro in 15 seconds to steal it, or chop it to be resold, but that's just a matter of how is talents are used.

I'm originally from Detroit. :) I bet I can hotwire a car too. lol. Then again, my background is "electronics". I've been "learning electronics" since I was 9 years old. I repaired my first radio (a tube shortwave given to me by a neighbor to "play with" because he was going to throw it away). I'm almost 51 now. I'd say that having built many of my own radios, and I built my first computer is 1977, I'm a "true hacker". Unfortunately these days, I don't get to play around or tinker with things like I used to. Now I keep things running here like Scotty on Star Trek haha.

[DBrow]

Me too. \/\/007!!!

[Notary Sojac]

My favorite story concerns the security tester who scattered 100 USB jumpdrives in a company's parking lot.

By the next day, over half of them had been plugged into desktops and were happily relaying keylogged information to the testers...

[DBrow]

“Unfortunately these days, I don’t get to play around or tinker with things “

Modern packaging, like SOT and flip chips, have made amateur projects expensive. Who can spin a board with spacing for the tiny parts without spending $$? Etching is too big.

[Rick.Donaldson]

yep