#aol progs

[astropithecus]

Obituaries: Kevin Mitnick, hacker and fugitive turned security consultant, dies at 59

In 1995 I was 11, my favorite movie was The Net, and Kevin Mitnick - sitting in federal prison - was basically a folk hero. He wasn't allowed access to a phone, because the rumor was he could start a nuclear war by whistling modem tones into a receiver. To a kid that grew up watching WarGames that was effectively a superpower.

I spent the next few formative years learning to "hack" - not entirely because of Mitnick, but it couldn't have hurt. I was the textbook script kiddie, a tween with just enough knowledge to scrabble onto the shoulders of giants. My first forays into software development were via Visual Basic, making AOL "progs" to flood chat rooms and "punt" those bold enough to cross me (interestingly, there's good reason to think Mark Zuckerberg started out the same way).

In 1997, I noticed the local library's catalog computers were running a Telnet client connected to a public IP. I had learned the ins-and-outs of Telnet setting up a MUD server for me and my friends (when I see people play D&D over Discord I always wonder if there'd be a niche for a solid, modern MUD server to fill), so I signed out and then manually brute-forced the password to sign back in. I was looking over my shoulder, half-expecting to get escorted from the building, as if anyone was watching the catalog Telnet server that closely. I don't remember what the password ended up being, only that it was a single-case dictionary word - we were still a few years from a public awareness of password complexity - and I managed to guess it.

Now, with a few years of IT work behind me and a healthy whitehat interest in social engineering, I realize Mitnick probably would've just told a librarian the computer wasn't working and watched her type the password. Regardless, 13-year-old me was proud of his ingenuity. I took my newfound knowledge and used it to check what books were available at which library branch without leaving the house, one time I even put one hold until I could convince my mom to drive me there. Mostly I just enjoyed the thrill that I made it work. I wasn't experienced enough to consider using a proxy (or better yet, to not "hack" from my own computer) so I suppose I'm lucky I knew better than to take on anyone with better security than the local municipal library system. I don't think they ever even bothered to change the password. A few years later, they introduced a public website to do the same thing, because information wants to be free.

That was the aspect of "hacking" that I think has been lost in the intervening years. Hacking now is generally about profit - bitlocking data, demanding ransoms, swiping crypto wallets, harvesting credit card details, running scams, selling password hash tables. When it's not, it's about social activism; whistleblowing, leaking documents. Don't get me wrong, cyberdisruption is a valuable thread in the tapestry of civil disobedience, but Mitnick represented a different breed. He never launched a nuke, the "whistling into the phone" rumor was likely an intentional falsehood, vilification promoted by law enforcement, made plausible by the unusual abilities of a 1960's phreaker named Joybubbles. There was no agenda, no malice; there's not any indication Mitnick ever profited from any of his hacks (directly, at least - certainly the infamy helped his eventual IT security career). It was just an obsession with challenging yourself to accomplish things people assume are impossible, and the satisfaction of the eureka moment when it works. That spirit - so prevalent in hacker communities in the 80's and 90's and the phreaker circles that preceded them - has all but vanished from our public perception of hacking. The terms "hacker" and "hacking" themselves have become almost exclusively negative.

Probably just as well. Who needs more Mark Zuckerbergs?

Kevin Mitnick's business card, featuring a working punch-out lockpicking set

[aol-progs]

AOL in 93

[thenorthlines]

AoL organizes happiness progs

AoL organizes happiness progs

NL Correspondent Jammu Tawi, Apr 13 Art of Living founded by Padam Vibhushan Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, through its Jammu chapter has conducted The Happiness Programs for hundreds across Jammu region. From Jammu to Kathua to Udhampur , People in hundreds from all walks of life joined the happiness wave to learn the techniques for a happy, joyful and stress-free life throughout week to celebrate…

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