In the world of hackers and hacking I’m not far above (maybe) the script kiddie level of knowledge, but I’m always happy to poke around with a packet sniffer and other tools to learn a thing or two. It’s been a long, long time since I would consider myself anything other than a white hat hacker (okay a little gray, but not black), but that doesn’t mean that I’m not above learning the dark arts for good.
Computer security is something people are becoming more aware of, but we’re still not at a good level of safe practice. Take a recent trip to a local coffee place…
Trying the Our Town cafe (thx to @bluelimemedia). WiFi is strong, but open & with default AP name. Plus someone is using bitorrent.
link: Twitter / Tris Hussey: Trying the Our Town cafe ( …
Although I know the default settings for that router make-model to test if they left admin open, I didn’t mess with it. While I was behind my own SOCKS5 proxy—Geek to Live: Encrypt your web browsing session (with an SSH SOCKS proxy) – Cygwin – Lifehacker—there were people doing banking and other things all around me. Not to mention the person running a P2P client…
I learned this from a little packet sniffing, which I was doing to ensure that my traffic was being encrypted, not to find anything anything others were doing. I’ve been doing a good bit of this learning and testing, just to see how I can improve my own safety. I think, however, we should do more. I think we should teach (I would like to learn) hacking for good. Marc Maiffret is one of a number of black hats turned white and I believe his example is one that should be emulated:
For Marc Maiffret, the turning point in his life came when–at the age of 17–he woke up to an FBI agent pointing a gun at his head. A runaway and high school dropout, he had just returned home and landed his first professional job using his computer skills for the good of companies instead of for mischief. But his past was still catching up to his present. Young, articulate, and outspoken, Maiffret went on to become a celebrity hacker wunderkind, testifying before Congress on security issues, featured in cover stories in numerous magazines and newspapers, appearing in MTV’s “True Life: I’m a Hacker,” and being named one of People Magazine’s 30 People Under 30.
link: Marc Maiffret–the quick rise of a teen hacker (Q&A) | InSecurity Complex – CNET News
I know this is (and should be) controversial. Hacking skills, like being able to pick a lock, are things that can be used as much for bad as good. However, I hope that some of my screencasts for Using WordPress will open people’s eyes at how insecure some of the things they do online are and how easy it is to fix them.
Maybe this is a pipe dream, but until then, I’ll keep using my SOCKS proxy other tools to watch my back when I’m away from home.
Update: This is not the kind of learning hacking in school I was talking about—Police Called After 9-year-old Steals Password – PCWorld.
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