PHRACK Final 122
lbolla writes ""...a glorious era comes to an end. #63 will be _our_ last PHRACK RELEASE -- ever...
Phrackstaff is pleased to bring you _our_ last ever call for papers for the final release of phrack.
We are preparing for a hardcover and ezine release at a major hacker convention near you!
We ask everyone to submit a paper. Great care will be taken to ensure that only the best articles make it into PHRACK FINAL.""
Re:Well.. (Score:1, Funny)
Re:WTF (Score:4, Informative)
I hate it when you have to use "www".
Re:WTF (Score:1)
Re:WTF (Score:2)
Actually 10 syllables -- >dubaya dubaya dubaya dot".
Re:WWW is 666 (Score:2, Funny)
Re:WTF (Score:2)
Uh... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Uh... (Score:2)
It happened once before.
An extra bit for their issue counter... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:An extra bit for their issue counter... (Score:2)
Re:An extra bit for their issue counter... (Score:3, Funny)
Issues up to:
340282366920938463463374607431768211455
Re:An extra bit for their issue counter... (Score:2)
_their_ last release (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:_their_ last release (Score:3, Funny)
Er, wait ...
Re:_their_ last release (Score:3, Funny)
Who? (Score:2, Interesting)
But, uh, isn't it a little past their time? What has Phrack done, y'know, since people started using the internet instead of phone lines?
No, I'm really asking, because my workplace proxy blocks phrack.org.
--grendel drago
Re:Who? (Score:2)
Re:Who? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Who? (Score:4, Interesting)
One thing that turned me away from Phrack a while back (around Y2K-ish?) was the total lack of editing and their focus on newbish-related topics. Older copies of the e-zine contained a plethora of articles on advanced computer security topics, and were very well-written. Looking through the last few issues of Phrack it's painfully obvious that's not the case anymore. Current articles are geared towards script kiddies and are written in broken english.
Of course maybe I'm just biased because I fell out of the "underground" scene around the time that the accessability of Phrack-related information became magnitudes easier to obtain and the scarcity factor was lost.
Re:Who? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Who? (Score:3, Interesting)
I think a big part of the problem is that computer security research has gone mainstream. It's now very common to see Usenix's ;login: or the ACM's Communications packed full of new research. Bet
But what if... (Score:2)
--grendel drago
Re:Who? (Score:2)
Someone doesn't understand the "retirement" concept.
"Rumored" return? I don't know about that. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:"Rumored" return? I don't know about that. (Score:3, Insightful)
Url (Score:2)
(That, or we are too un-1337 to actually have a dns-entry that forwards to www)
too bad... (Score:2, Funny)
That time of the year all ready? (Score:1, Flamebait)
Grab for attention? (Score:1)
Check the cover of #62 (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Check the cover of #62 (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Check the cover of #62 (Score:1, Insightful)
Man, people who like Budweiser much be hairy palmed, sex-starved, sad sack porno hounds because every commercial I see has young women all over the place.
Ah man! I realized there are tons of sex-sells ads. Everyone except me must be hairy palmed, sex-starved, sad sack porno hounds.
Good thing I think women suck. I never want to see one nekkid again. Yuck.
Pfffft, moron.
Re:Check the cover of #62 (Score:2, Insightful)
Obligatory Spaceballs quote (Score:1, Funny)
It's Mega Maid. She gone from suck to blow.
OMFG!!! (Score:1, Funny)
SummerCon (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:SummerCon (Score:2)
Re:SummerCon (Score:2)
Gone....for the moment (Score:5, Interesting)
what happened to them? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Gone....for the moment (Score:5, Interesting)
"Operation Sundevil", an attempt to crackdown on the Legion of Doom cracking and phreaking group, happened. Craig Neidorf (Knight Lightning), was indicted, subjected to search and seizures by the US Secret Service, brought to a jury trial and finally had all charges dropped by the prosecution. He's kept a pretty low profile ever since, or at least has been a lot more careful with covering his tracks. Taran King appears to have been spooked and dropped out of the scene around the same time, or is also being a lot more careful.
In any case, there doesn't seem to be much on the pair since the end of the crackdown started by Operation Sundevil in the early 1990's. Perhaps this "final" issue of Phrack should include a "Where are they now?" article on past editors and other once prominent members of the Phrack community. Then again, given the number of convictions that were successful, that's not very likely to make for a very upbeat article about hacking to go out on, is it?
Re:Gone....for the moment (Score:2)
Re:Gone....for the moment (Score:3, Informative)
If by "got off" you mean got $100,000 in debt in lawyers fees before the government finally dropped the charges, then yeah.
Re:Gone....for the moment (Score:2)
For those with a few hours to spare and a desire to learn what happened back in 1990 with Operation Sundevil, Phrack, the feds, etc. etc. - read The Hacker Crackdown, by Bruce Sterling, available at http://www.chri [chriswaltrip.com]
Re:Gone....for the moment (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Gone....for the moment (Score:2, Interesting)
If you know how to get hold of any of the above, please let me know!
Re:Gone....for the moment (Score:1)
Yes, I have... you make it sound as if google is the answer to all questions. Are you aware of its limitations? Especially when it comes to people who do not participate "on the net" except for an occasional email exchange via their ISP account?
Another problem is the useless garbage you have to sort through when all you have is a name. For an example of this, type "Lew Payne" into google and see
People still read phrak? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:People still read phrak? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:People still read phrak? (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.phrack.org/show.php?p=62&a=6 [phrack.org]
http://www.phrack.org/show.php?p=62&a=12 [phrack.org]
http://www.phrack.org/show.php?p=62&a=13 [phrack.org]
http://www.phrack.org/show.php?p=54&a=7 [phrack.org]
GP clearly must be kidding.
Re:People still read phrak? (Score:1)
Ah, the joys of confusion.
Re:People still read phrak? (Score:2)
This, you post on Slashdot.
Comedy gold.
Issue #63? (Score:1)
why? phracking is considered terrorism nowadays (Score:4, Insightful)
- hacking
- phreaking
- spying
- carding
- reverse engineering
- anarchy
- conspiracy
could all get you labeled as a terrorist, charged by the DMCA, and in general land you in GITMO. The homeland security bill and other draconian laws are the reason why this will be the last Phreak ezine. This is because all the good hackers have gone underground (any of these themes remind you of Farenheit 451?).
It's sad when the free exchange of information, ideas, and determining security exploits outside of anonymity could get you into lots of trouble.
Re:why? phracking is considered terrorism nowadays (Score:2)
According to the Navy [navy.mil] it's "NAVSTA GTMO", capitalized. So "GTMO" is correct, "gitmo" as the pronunctiation of GTMO is correct, but "GITMO" is wrong.
Now, who pissed in my Cheerios?
Wow... af 4 months old dupe... (Score:4, Informative)
Acetylene Balloon Bomb (Score:4, Insightful)
http://www.phrack.org/show.php?p=1&a=7 [phrack.org]
In it, the poster spells out a recipe for an acetylene balloon bomb. Fill up a plastic bag with acetylene, put some rocks in it, put some of those little fun-spans in it, then throw it out the window... Always cracks me up when I think about some fucktard throwing fun-snaps into a bag filled with rocks and acetylene/oxygen...
Maybe it's because of articles like this that PHRACK is dead.
Re:Acetylene Balloon Bomb (Score:5, Funny)
It is because of articles like this that PHRACK's readers are dead ;-)
Re:Acetylene Balloon Bomb (Score:2)
Re:Acetylene Balloon Bomb (Score:3, Interesting)
Pshaw -- everyone knows to ignore their bomb making advice. It is Phrack's Blackjack advice [phrack.org] you should follow:
But in all seriousness -- Phrack rocks. I released [phrack.org] my Nmap Security Scanner [insecure.org] in P51 and OS detection [insecure.org] in P54. I wish they wouldn't cal
Re:Acetylene Balloon Bomb (Score:1)
In other news, congrats on both of your papers, while both slightly dated these days they comprise of core ideas and methodologies of less-dated techniques today. Regardless of where you stand on the subject, you are proof of the concept of an educated and able whitehat, cheers and thanks.
Shame (Score:1)
Another Era Death (Score:2, Insightful)
Remember all the innovative games? Remember when new things came out? Remember when you spent hours in the basement trying to trick it all into doing things it wasn't supposed to?
I do.
But those days are long gone. I think it's because you can do too much with cheap hardware now. There is n
Re:Another Era Death (Score:1)
That was fun! And it's still fun, but not really having the time to do it anymore!
Re:Another Era Death (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Another Era Death (Score:1, Funny)
No, I was out getting laid.
Put PHRACK in the schools (Score:3, Insightful)
It was in this way that I came to an understaning that technology is not read-only; not simply a malevolent behemoth controlled by presidents and CEO's to manipulate a passive citizenry; but is in fact waiting to be created and tinkered with by such inquiring minds as my (former) self. Although my initial motives may have been anti-social I have since been able to contribute to society in a way that is, on balance, positive. I hope PHRACK continues to inspire others in the same way.
That and Steven Levy's Hackers [gutenberg.org] probably saved me from a destiny as an ineffectual philosophy professor or some other brand of malcontent fat-assed intellectual.
Re:Put PHRACK in the schools (Score:3, Informative)
Replace phrack with 2600 and you have the story of the last 2 years of my life
Hackers is such an important book. It and The Soul of a New Machine.
Re:Put PHRACK in the schools (Score:2)
Hackers is my most loaned and most re-purchased book- which was a bitch when it was out of print for a few years. Once it cost me $128.00 from a univ. library (paperback edition!) after a friend borrowed it from me and didn't return it.
I was probably in 5th grade when the book came out and I got my first copy. At that age it gave me a lot support and confirmation that hackers (who were getting tons of bad press) were not all about BomBZ and crashing systems and such and most were more int
Being nostalgic (Score:3, Insightful)
Phrack conjures up memories--now viewed through rose colored glasses--of a time when computing, as well as the culture surrounding computers, seemed far more interesting then it is today. Late at night watching text files stream across a black and green 80 column monitor, being pumped to my beloved Apple
I remember sitting at my desk spitting Dr. Pepper through my nose reading text files on BBS systems from the likes of "The Cult of the Dead Cow", or the seminal "How to Have Fun in K-Mart", or viewing works of the Phrack variety on hacking, cracking, and security with immense curiosity. It was great, because this computer I had was giving me a window into a world populated with people who, in many respects, were just like me.
Then as the 80s turn to the 90s, I got my first shell account on the Internet, and traded love of BBS systems for IRC, Usenet and gopher. A few years later, hypertext markup hit, and com programs like Telemate, Procomm, or Qmodem quietly were replaced by Trumpet winsock.
It didn't take long for the Internet to catch on, and a few years later IRC and discussion boards turned from being meeting points for curious, likeminded nerds to massive bland playgrounds seemingly populated by the same kind of people I initially used computers for to help get away from.
Then again, maybe the olden days weren't really as great as I remember them.
phrack was a social engineering experiment... (Score:2)
I have no chance of getting an article accepted... (Score:2)
Slashdot - News for wanna-be h4x0rs. Stuff tha... (Score:1)
Gentoo fanboy alert! (Score:2)
Or, for alternatives, http://packages.gentoo.org/search/?sstring=phrack [gentoo.org]
Phrack's last issue was predicted at about #5 (Score:1)
It was a hell of a ride. Randy, Craig and John (Forest Ranger) were good friends. I hope they are doing well.
Another poster already said it, now most of the things we wrote about would be considered terrorism by the same folks who (oops) missed the REAL terrorists and later found that invoking the "T" word gets press coverage and unlimited fun