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Hacking: The Complete Documentation

• This category contains 17 Papers
• The last paper was added on 2007-03-26 (YYYY-MM-DD)

Approaching Zero - The Extraordinary Underworld of Hackers, Phreakers, Virus Writers, And Keyboard Criminals

Published on 1993, by Paul Mungo, Bryan Glough, ©Paul Mungo, Bryan Glough.

Fry Guy watched the computer screen as the cursor blinked. Beside him a small electronic box chattered through a call routine, the numbers clicking audibly as each of the eleven digits of the phone number was dialed. Then the box made a shrill, electronic whistle, which meant that the call had gone through; Fry Guy's computer had been connected to another system hundreds of miles away. The cursor blinked again, and the screen suddenly changed. WELCOME TO CREDIT SYSTEMS OF AMERICA, it read, and below that, the cursor pulsed beside the prompt: ENTER ACCOUNT NUMBER.

Brief History of Hackerdom (A)

Published on August 25, 2000, by Eric Steven Raymond, ©Eric Steven Raymond.

I explore the origins of the hacker culture, including prehistory among the Real Programmers, the glory days of the MIT hackers, and how the early ARPAnet nurtured the first network nation. I describe the early rise and eventual stagnation of Unix^TM, the new hope from Finland, and how the last true hacker' became the next generation's patriarch. I sketch the way Linux^TM and the mainstreaming of the Internet brought the hacker culture from the fringes of public consciousness to its current prominence.

Cathedral and the Bazaar (The)

Published on September 11, 2000, by Eric Steven Raymond, ©Eric Steven Raymond.

I anatomize a successful open-source project, fetchmail, that was run as a deliberate test of the surprising theories about software engineering suggested by the history of Linux™. I discuss these theories in terms of two fundamentally different development styles, the "cathedral" model of most of the commercial world versus the "bazaar" model of the Linux™ world. I show that these models derive from opposing assumptions about the nature of the software-debugging task. I then make a sustained argument from the Linux™ experience for the proposition that Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow'', suggest productive analogies with other self-correcting systems of selfish agents, and conclude with some exploration of the implications of this insight for the future of software.

Copyright Does Not Exist

Published on 1994, by Linus Walleij, ©Linus Walleij.

This book is about currents of thought in literature, technology, music, film, law and ideology. It was written after I realized that if I didn't write it, somebody else would. It was also written because I wanted all of the nice hackers in Sweden to be aware of, and educated about, their historical and ideological heritage. Finally, the work has been written with an air of popular science, to make it somewhat easier to understand (although the last statement can probably be debated; some chapters are considerably more difficult and technical than others).

Cyber Attacks During the War on Terrorism: A Predictive Analysis

Published on September 22, 2001, by Michael A. Vatis, ©Dartmouth College.

This report analyzes the possibility of cyber attacks against U.S. and allied information infrastructures in response to anticipated military strikes against terrorists and nation-state sponsors. While many have speculated about the possibility for such cyber attacks, this report provides a detailed, fact-based assessment of the situation. It examines recent trends and precedents and sets out in detail the potential types, targets, and sources of cyber attacks that we should be prepared for. It also makes concrete recommendations for protective actions.

Digital Zapatismo

Published on 1998, by Ricardo Dominguez, ©Ricardo Dominguez.

Zapatismo has infected the political body of Mexico’s perfect dictatorship since January 1, 1994. This polyspacial movement for a radical democracy based on the Mayan legacies of dialogue ripped into the electronic fabric not as InfoWar--but as virtual actions for real peace in the real communities of Chiapas. As of September 1997 reports of The Mexican military training and arming paramilitary groups with the intent of moving the low-intensity war to higher level began to circulate among the Zapatista Network. It took the massacres at Acteal to focus the world on something that was already known--the constant tragedy of late-capital.

HACKER CRACKDOWN (THE) - Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier

Published on January 01, 1994, by Bruce Sterling, ©Bruce Sterling.

This is a book about cops, and wild teenage whiz- kids, and lawyers, and hairy-eyed anarchists, and industrial technicians, and hippies, and high-tech millionaires, and game hobbyists, and computer security experts, and Secret Service agents, and grifters, and thieves.

Hacker's Encyclopedia

Published on 1997, by Logik Bomb, ©Logik Bomb.

Dedicated to all those who disseminate information, forbidden or otherwise. Also, I should note that a few of these entries are taken from "A Complete List of Hacker Slang and Other Things," Version 1C, by Casual, Bloodwing and Crusader; this doc started out as an unofficial update. However, I've updated, altered, expanded, re-written and otherwise torn apart the original document, so I'd be surprised if you could find any vestiges of the original file left

Hackers: a study of a technoculture

Published on June 18, 1997, by Paul Taylor, ©Paul Taylor.

"Hackers" is based upon 4 years PhD research conducted from 1989-1993 at the University of Edinburgh. The research focussed upon 3 main groups: the Computer Underground (CU); the Computer Security Industry (CSI); and the academic community. Additional information was obtained from government officials, journalists etc.

Hacking Lexicon

Published on November 11, 2001, by Robert Graham, Robert Graham.

This document clarifies many of the terms used within the context of information security (infosec). My goal is not to define/explain terms, but clarify key points and dispel misconceptions. It is not a jargon file.

Hacking: The Basics

Published on 2001-04-04, by Martin Poulin, ©SANS Institute.

An intrusion can be defined as an attempt to break into or misuse a computer system. The word "misuse" is broad, and can mean something as severe as stealing confidential data, or something as minor as misusing your email system for spam. Today, both the Internet and corporate intranets are simply crawling with people from all walks of life who are continuously trying to test the security of various systems and networks. Some of these people are seeking some sort of intellectual high, while others are fueled by more treacherous motives such as revenge or stealing for profit. In any event, no intrusion is innocent and no intrusion is benign. There is no silver bullet available out there that will totally secure our networks and systems. The only thing we can do as IT professionals is to make sure that all of the doors are locked, that the alarm is turned on, and to educate ourselves on what to look for. The primary focus of this practical paper is to educate the less security-conscious IT professionals and end-users on exactly who is out there, and what they are doing to get in. By attempting to establish this baseline of security knowledge, we extend the arm of IT security to include those who present the greatest danger today: the uneducated user.

Hacktivists or Cyberterrorists? The Changing Media Discourse on Hacking

Published on 2002-09-19, by Sandor Vegh, ©First Monday.

This paper scrutinizes the language of government reports and news media sources to shed light on their role in forming a negative image of politically motivated hacking in general, and online political activism, in particular. It is argued that the mass media’s portrayal of hacking conveniently fits the elite’s strategy to form a popular consensus in a way that supports the elite’s crusade under different pretexts to eradicate hacking, an activity that may potentially threaten the dominant order.

Homesteading the Noosphere

Published on August 24, 2000, by Eric Steven Raymond, ©Eric Steven Raymond.

After observing a contradiction between the official ideology defined by open-source licenses and the actual behavior of hackers, I examine the actual customs that regulate the ownership and control of open-source software. I show that they imply an underlying theory of property rights homologous to the Lockean theory of land tenure. I then relate that to an analysis of the hacker culture as a gift culture' in which participants compete for prestige by giving time, energy, and creativity away. Finally, I examine the consequences of this analysis for conflict resolution in the culture, and develop some prescriptive implications.

How To Become A Hacker

Published on August 15, 2002, by Eric Steven Raymond, ©Eric Steven Raymond.

As editor of the Jargon File and author of a few other well-known documents of similar nature, I often get email requests from enthusiastic network newbies asking (in effect) "how can I learn to be a wizardly hacker?". Oddly enough there don't seem to be any other FAQs or web documents that address this vital question, so here's mine.

Steal this book

Published on 1971, by Abbie Hoffman, ©Pirate editions.

It's perhaps fitting that I write this introduction in jail- that graduate school of survival. Here you learn how to use toothpaste as glue, fashion a shiv out of a spoon and build intricate communication networks. Here too, you learn the only rehabilitation possible-hatred of oppression.

Steal This Book is, in a way, a manual of survival in the prison that is Amerika. It preaches jailbreak. It shows you where exactly how to place the dynamite that will destroy the walls. The first section-SURVIVE!-lays out a potential action program for our new Nation. The chapter headings spell out the demands for a free society. A community where the technology produces goods and services for whoever needs them, come who may. It calls on the Robin Hoods of Santa Barbara Forest to steal from the robber barons who own the castles of capitalism. It implies that the reader already is "ideologically set," in that he understands corporate feudalism as the only robbery worthy of being called "crime," for it is committed against the people as a whole. Whether the ways it describes to rip-off shit are legal or illegal is irrelevant. The dictionary of law is written by the bosses of order. Our moral dictionary says no heisting from each other. To steal from a brother or sister is evil. To not steal from the institutions that are the pillars of the Pig Empire is equally immoral.

Community within our Nation, chaos in theirs; that is the message of SURVIVE!

The Magic Cauldron

Published on August 25, 2000, by Eric Steven Raymond, ©Eric Steven Raymond.

This essay analyzes the evolving economic substrate of the open-source phenomenon. I first explode some prevalent myths about the funding of program development and the price structure of software. I then present a game-theory analysis of the stability of open-source cooperation. I present nine models for sustainable funding of open-source development; two non-profit, seven for-profit. I then continue to develop a qualitative theory of when it is economically rational for software to be closed. I then examine some novel additional mechanisms the market is now inventing to fund for-profit open-source development, including the reinvention of the patronage system and task markets. I conclude with some tentative predictions of the future.

Who is Jerry Rubin, the co-founder of the Yippies?

Published on 2002, by Jason McManus, ©PageWise, Inc.

Jerry C. Rubin was perhaps the most outlandish figure to ever defended American civil liberties. A revolutionary and anti-war activist, his voice and zany stunts were heard and seen throughout the world. Rubin was a master of media sensationalism, exposing American injustice through outrageous spectacles and whimsical press conferences. His outrageousness and free style made him a household name, and soon every politician's worst nightmare.

Jerry Rubin was born July 14th, 1938 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father, Bob Rubin, was a high school drop-out from New York who became a Cincinnati bread deliverer and union representative. His mother, Esther, was a college graduate who worked as a nurse's aide, but threw off her career to become a full-time housewife. He had a younger brother named Gil.

After high school, Rubin became a sports editor at Cincinnati's "Post and Times Star." Rubin attended one year at Oberlin College and then transferred to the University of Cincinnati, where he received a major in sociology. Rubin continued a promising career in journalism, interviewing many celebrities and professional sports figures.