I know it’s been a while since I posted anything, but this past week has just been really crazy. I moved into a new apartment, I am going on vacation next week which I had to prepare for. It has just been really insane. I cannot wait until I am on Myrtle Beach. It will be a blast.
So I picked up the latest issue of 2600 over the weekend. Oh boy, is it a good issue. However, someone wrote a letter that was a little upsetting. He was questioning why the editors always answer repetitive questions and articles, and why they “waste space” in their magazine telling people over and over again how to submit letters, articles, etc. I wrote a letter to the magazine with this response, which explains what “hacking” really means:
“This is in response to MS3FGX’s letter in 24:2. The editors at 2600 are doing a fine job with the magazine and their website. You should realize that there is a lot of work that has to be done between each issue. I know that four months seems like a lot of time for only a 70 page magazine, but I would not be surprised to find out that it is actually very difficult for them to do what they do.
You need to remember that hacking is not merely an action that a person does on a computer. It is a state of mind; a way of thinking. You say that they waste space in their magazine answering repeat questions and they probably get a lot of duplicate articles. Yes, they do repeat a lot of the same questions and yes, I am sure they get tons of duplicate articles. However, I do not see this as a bad thing.
First I will discuss the questions. People of all ages and life styles read this magazine. There are people that do not have an Internet connection (as farfetched as that may sound, it is true). Or they may not know of the 2600 website, or don’t know how to search for it. So if the editor’s post answers to frequently asked questions on their website, and poor 14-year old Billy doesn’t have an Internet connection, how is he supposed to get his question answered if the editors refuse to answer it in the magazine? He won’t, and a question not being answered is never a good thing.
The other thing about having all the information provided on the website goes back to my statement that hacking is not an action, but a way of thinking. If all the information on how to do things, proper formatting, electrical schematics are spoon fed to us, how are we supposed to hack? Hacking is the search for information to try and find a better way of accomplishing a goal. Whether that is to get an iPod to snag all the passwords off a computer, or finding a different road home when the normal one you travel on is closed down for construction. As far as articles go, I really don’t think the editors mind if you send in a banner or not. If you do, and it can be formatted to their magazine, I am sure they will use it. If not, then maybe they will find one of their own. Who knows unless you either ask, or try?
I have been using Linux for the last 4 years. Not until just recently though have I been really trying to learn how to manage a Linux box. You can’t learn how to properly administrate a Linux box by reading a book, or by always being given the answers. I have used Fedora, Ubuntu, Red Hat, and SuSE. None of which really let you learn how the OS works, because a lot of functions are done for you. A week ago as of writing this, I switched to Slackware 12.0. The reason for this is because it will give me the opportunity to actually learn Linux, because hardly anything is done for you. Actually, applications work better and faster if you compile the source code yourself, rather than running an installer. Some people don’t need to know how to fully administrate a Linux distro, and that is fine. But for the people who want to learn how to do things in Linux at the command line, you don’t learn unless you do.
Regarding the complaint about not knowing what topics were posted before, everything has been. I have only been reading this magazine regularly for the last three years, which are only 12 issues. If I remember correctly, out of those 12 issues, there have been FOUR articles about some sort of Wi-Fi hacking. Whether it was breaking the WPA code, or Wardriving, the topic of Wi-Fi intrusion has been talked about a lot. The reason is, as technology changes and gets better, the way of accomplishing things you want to do with that technology changes. Do you think that for the last 23 years this magazine has been published there hasn’t been a MULTITUDE of duplicate topics? Look at all the articles there have been on social engineering. The reason for this is twofold.
First, let’s think of poor 14-year old Billy again. In the Spring 2005 issue, magnetic stripe reading was discussed, but Billy doesn’t pick up his first 2600 until a later issue. Meanwhile, someone submits an article on magnetic stripe reading, and while being innovative, and different from the article in the Spring 2005 issue, the editors reject the article because they are following a new “no duplicate article” policy. Or maybe the author of this article goes to 2600’s website and sees that magnetic stripe reading was already published, so he decides not to submit it in fear that the editors will reject the article. Either way, Bill is now denied information because people are afraid to print the same thing twice.
This of course brings me to my second point: there is always something different in each article even if the topic has been covered before, because again, technology changes every day. I read the article in the Spring 2005 issue, and I did it. I made my own magnetic stripe reader. There is a casino – that will remain nameless – that uses a gift card system to manage the information of customer’s balances. I went to this casino, and tested my stripe reader on their card. When I outputted the data, I was able to see where the balance was stored, and I was able to change that amount. I only went from having $40 on the card, to $45 and I took the card back to the casino to cash out. I wanted to see if they would be able to notice that I went from having $40 on the card to $45 without even gambling. They didn’t, and I made a fast five bucks. A year later I did the same thing, and almost got my ass arrested when they couldn’t match up the data on the card with the game logs on their servers. So if I were to write an article on this topic, should it be rejected on the basis that it was discussed already, even though the original article is no longer accurate for this situation? I think not.
Information should never be kept from anyone, but there should not only be one way of obtaining it either. This magazine has been published for the last 23 years. They must be doing a lot of things right to survive the troubles that they have probably had to go through. Remember, hacking is not just an action that is done on a computer; it is a way of thinking. Once again, editors of 2600, thank you for putting out such a fine publication and keep doing what you are doing. I look forward to reading all the future articles on Wi-Fi intrusion and social engineering. Hack on!”
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