A Sociology of Hackers

Hackingcomputer intrusions come not from random, obsessed individuals but from a community that offers networks and support

History• Early 1970s technologies that

allowed people to use decentered, distributed networks of computers to communicate with each other were developed

• Late 1970s a means by which the different networks of computers could be, in turn, connected to each other was developed, the Internet, and a worldwide network of computers became a reality

• Early 1990s a new means of organizing and accessing information contained on computer networks was developed that utilized multi-media "point and click" methods, the World Wide Web

First hack(1996) report of a computer raid on Citibank that netted around $10 million

demonstrates the significance of hacking, because of the amount of money involved, and the fact of a community that supports hacking

the expertise to gain unauthorized control of computerized deposits was developed by a group of Russian hackers who, demonstrating one of the popular self-representations of hackers, were uninterested in taking financial advantage

hacker ethic: exploration not robbery

drunk and depressed, one of the hackers sold the secrets for $100 and two bottles of vodka, allowing organized criminals to gain the expertise to steal $10 million

Defining a hack

To gain unauthorized access to a computer, via another computer and communications links, a password can be guessed, randomly generated or stolen (either by physically acquiring it or by electronically capturing it).

Three principles that define a good hack

1. Simplicity: the act has to be simple but impressive

2. Mastery: however simple it is the act must derive from a sophisticated technical expertise

3. Illicit: the act must be against some legal, institutional or even just perceived rules

idea of a hack can therefore be applied to other acts than computer intrusion

stealing free telephone time “it depends on how you do it, the thing is that you've got your guys that think up these things, they consider the technological elements of a phone-booth, and the they think, "Hey wait a minute, if I do this, this could work," so as an experiment, they cut the wire and it works, now they're hackers. Okay, so it's been published, so Joe Bloggs reads this and says, "hey, great, I have to phone my folks up in Australia," so he goes out, cuts the wire, makes phone calls. He's a stupid ignoramus, yeah?” (Ralph, Dutch hacker, interview)

Citibank hack technical possibility was developed by a group of hackers, who then passed the information for virtually no personal gain to computer literate criminals who, in turn, utilized this knowledge to perform the robbery. The criminals did not perpetrate a hack and would not be considered part of the hacking community, though their crime depended on hacking

Hacker Handbook Hugo Cornwall

a recreational and educational sport. . . . Every hacker I have ever come across has been quite clear about where the fun lies: it is in developing an understanding of a system and finally producing the skills and tools to defeat it. In the vast majority of cases, the process of "getting in" is much more satisfying than what is discovered in the protected computer files

The HackA hack is an event that has an original moment and though it can be copied, it loses its status as a hack the more it is copied and the more closely it is copied. Further, the good hack is the object-in-itself that hackers seek, not the result of the hack. This is important as it explains why hackers could create the expertise to steal vast sums of money but not use it. It also explains the often noted claim that hackers usually do not alter or damage the systems they intrude upon, unless that intrusion is necessary to perform the hack.

Aim is the hack