26 Jul
2001
26 Jul
'01
8:42 a.m.
Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap!
How would YOU feel if someone broke into your computer system and took
YOUR files to do whatever he felt like with? Or hacked your voicemail
system and listened to your messages?
I know your knee-jerk reaction... I don't have anything I care about
on my computer...
If your name, DOB, and SSN are ANYWHERE on your computer, a hacker can
steal your identity. A credit card number (perhaps from an letter you
typed in and FAXed to purchase something because you didn't want to
send your CC# across the internet)? Bank account numbers? ETrade
account numbers?
People who break into computers are criminals.
People who launch DDOS attacks are criminals.
Kevin Mitnick is a CONVICTED criminal, and has ADMITTED criminal
behaviour. I don't get teary-eyed thinking about the time he spent
in prison before the trial. He was a proven flight risk (he ran
away once, and hid out in Denver).
I wonder how Littman would react if someone broke into HIS system.
Clint
PS I daily have probe attacks on my DSL system from script kiddies
looking to add another machine to their DDOS attack farm.
On Thu, 26 Jul 2001, Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
I must say I was a bit surprised at how well done the show was. It wasn't
over-sensationalized at all. On the contrary, I thought it was very well
researched and did a good job of telling the stories and explaining the
technical stuff.
I was glad that they had more quotes from Jonathan Littman than from John
Markoff. Littman told Mitnick's story closer to what really was going on,
while Markoff stuck to his agenda of vilifying Mitnick, which he's spent
the better part of the last five years of his career doing. Markoff is
the kind of reporter I despise; one who attempts to make the news or mold
it in his view rather than simply report it.
But I don't think Mitnick's story is as rosy as he paints it either, and I
think he's spinning some revisionism on it. He's certainly got some
skeletons in his past that he's not owning up to.
Anyhoo, Draper's story is pretty much how I've heard it told before. He
really was just an unfortunate fall guy of sorts.
The warehouse where they filmed Draper is where my computers used to be
stored (well, a few still are, I'm not quite done moving yet :) There
were some shots of me typing on an Apple ][ (you may have noticed the
"CALL -151" on the screen at one point :) but you couldn't tell who it
was, just hands. The display of 1's and 0's that showed periodically was
generated on an Apple ][ as well (that is, by far, the acme of my career).
There was also some other stuff, like 6502 assembler scrolling by, and of
course the computers they showed rotating were all mine ;)
Well, that was fun. One to the next show: I'm providing some Altair
footage for a National Geographic special on computer history.
I'm also in the process of developing a documentary on the F14 flight
control computer, but that's a slow-going affair. Once the VCF's are over
for the year then I hope to kick that up into full gear.
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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