#joseph hacker

[drolesdedalesalbumphoto]

L'épisode "Vive la mariée".

[charliethecandyeater]

Something other than what I'm supposed to be working on this way comes

Yes there are supposed to be parallels between how Cylinda looks and how motherboard looks.

Cylinda Boltz! And THEE Hacker! Her Hiero (because his name is Hieronymous and sometimes she just calls him Hiero for sure)

AND ONCE AGAIN, BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, cylinder has the same voice as Marcus Fenix from the Gears of War games. The exact same voice. I will keep mentioning this.

I doth hope I cooked a swell meal with this 👀

[would-they-listen-to-that]

Could I get a selfship playlist for The Hacker, From Cyberchase if that's still running :0?

‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚🎧⊹♡ anon. anon you don't understand how excited i was to get this ask. Cyberchase was THE show! ...mod should be a lot better at math considering how much Cyberchase she watched growing up

Trouble - Elvis Presley

Júrame - Andrea Bocelli

Isn't She Lovely? - Stevie Wonder

Sugar, Sugar - The Archies

My Girl - The Temptations

Silly Love Songs - Wings

Can't Fight this Feeling - REO Speedwagon

Can't Get You Out of My Head - Kylie Minogue

Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis

Always Be My Baby - Mariah Carey

thanks for dialing in!

[starleska]

Wait, we're allowed to make blorbo suggestions :0????? I have a suggestion (One of my own blorbos, a very obscure one at that!) The Hacker, from the PBS kids show Cyberchase. Even if you don't blorbo him, I'm sure you'd find his antics amusing

hell YEAH you can make blorbo suggestions, i love it when people do!!! 🙈💖 we've been running #f/o suggestions on this blog here for years, and some of the deranged characters people have submitted have become full-blown fixations for me and others - tremendous fun 😂

OHHHHH look at this handsome baddie omg!!!! 🙈💖💖 hello Hieronymous Joseph Hacker, one of the coolest names i've ever heard in my LIFE 😂😂 i've never seen this show, but you've reawakened my partner's fond memories of Cyberchase and i am terribly charmed by it and its lovely villain. what do you mean he's voiced by Christopher Lloyd?! oh bless him, he's so wound up all of the time...for understandable reasons!! personally, i think Hacker should be allowed to commit all of the Internet crimes that he likes with impunity. you can hold hands and torrent together 😉💖 what fantastic taste you have anon!!!

[cyberstudious]

Books for Learning Cybersecurity

I created this post for the Studyblr Masterpost Jam, check out the tag for more cool masterposts from folks in the studyblr community!

I'll admit that I've mostly used online resources and courses so far, but these are the handful of books that I've read and recommend!

Books About Cybersecurity History

The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll: the story of how one man noticed an odd error in a computer at UC Berkely and traced it back to an international hacking scheme. a very fun & interesting read.

Cult of the Dead Cow by Joseph Menn: a look into hacker culture and how few people took computer security seriously at the beginning, and an exploration of how cybersecurity often becomes deeply and uncomfortably intertwined with geopolitics.

Books to Learn Cybersecurity

Practical Malware Analysis by Michael Sikorski and Andrew Honig: an oldie but a goodie for getting into malware analysis. I'm currently in the middle of working through this one and having a great time.

Serious Cryptography by Jean-Philippe Aumasson: a detailed guide for understanding the nuts and bolts of cryptography (the 2nd edition is coming out this month, so it might be worth checking out the newer version).

Cybersecurity Foundations Textbooks

Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (7th edition) by Kurose & Ross: this was the textbook we used in the computer networks class I took in college - I think this book does a good job of explaining how the internet works and breaking concepts down to the lowest level.

Operating System Concepts (10th edition) by Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne: this is the textbook from my operating systems course. This is a good book to go through if you want to learn how a computer Really Works.

Books I Haven't Read (Yet) - But I Know They'll Be Good

Cybersecurity Books from No Starch Press - many books have free chapters posted here that you can read as a preview!

Books by Bruce Schneier - books on society, technology, and cryptography

[mr-laveau]

A little NeXus Lore Tidbit

Here's some canonical info we know about some listeners + added lore about them that you won't get from the audios, directly from the discord:

Hot Shot - has a pair of strong arms, aether, visually defies gender norms in their appearance, secretive, asks a lot of questions, orphan, preference for earth elemental magic, smart and athletic but not very active in sports

Cher - has one arm, also secretive, does not have a green thumb, protective alpha, empathetic to a degree and is an artist who can still draw alright because they hadn't lost their dominant hand

Pet - smoker, just moved out of their home to New Orleans, best friends with a dog shifter, drifter telepath, now a vampire and was actually a very good cook

Sherlock - sneaky, mischievous, strategic, put together, a vampire who's over a century old, works as a freelance night guard and has actually family in new Orleans they don't talk to

Bud - Shape shifter, more withdrawn but can be firm, was bullied in AMP for a time, senior year student, works as a teacher's aid and has a custom coffee order that's too long for any person to actually think it's sane.

Trouble - daemon turned werewolf, rough around the edges, withdrawn, stubborn and does not like being touched without permission

Liege - talented liar, gaslight, gatekeep girl boss(gn), has committed several crimes, telepath, canonically has no issues with murder or blackmail, seems to know things about the criminal underworld and they have a bunch of playing cards they keep on hand to play solitaire

Seaweed Brains - shape shifter drifter, has not yet been fully registered, reckless, studied marine archeology in college, experimental, loves horror books and has a hard time putting names to faces if they're not close to someone

Angel - hacker, hard ass but cares, very intelligent, has a righteous streak, is pretty well known online and owns too many hoodies to make this look healthy

Best friend - dog shifter, has been a part of the garroway pacl for a while, protective, loyal, tough & intimidating and is a gym rat-or dog

Rascal - troublemaker, adventurous, solid leadership qualities, pretty down with cases of murder, married, most seen with a handkerchief over their mouth wild west bandit style and they are more fashionable than Joseph as shown by the many cowboy hats they keep on hand

Genius - stubborn, incredibly smart, does not know how to take no for an answer, loyal to a fault, not reckless all the time, daring, does not realize their own circumstances until it hits them like a brick, inventor and does know how to fire a gun because of their brother

Doll - married, loyal to a massive fault, ex-cop, very empathetic, community oriented, idealistic in some sense and they are an avid reader who prefers historical romance and non-fiction

Tanker - scientist, earth elemental, smart but also a bit of an ass, mischievous, does not hold themself in high enough regard or their achievements and is well learned in boxing

[kanekocribs]

KANEKO’S CRIB NOTES LXV: SEVEN SEAS OF CRIBS

Halloween is on the approach, and what could this mean? Tricks, treats? Skeletons, witches, draculae? A child's laughter sounding lightly through the autumn leaves? No, it doesn't mean any of that GARBAGE- it's time for the annual outing of KANEKO'S CRIB NOTES! Please enjoy this smattering of delirious cribs that will make you think "damn, that's the thing that the other thing is based on".

NEZHA: The modern pop sensibility of Soul Hackers is on display in Nezha's Astro Boy inspired design, drawing a parallel between the two "rebuilt" child heroes. It's evident from the twin spikes and whatever the fuck that is, you know, his metallic underwear I suppose.

CHERUB: Following the probably erroneously designated 'Ophanim' from SMTII, and playing on Kaneko's documented fascination with angelkind as spacecraft, this Devil Summoner take on Cherub pushes the concept even further, borrowing a look from the cover of ancient alien classic The Spaceships of Ezekiel by Joseph F. Blumrich. Compare the cover to the Japanese edition that Kaneko was more likely familiar with!

SERAPH: The composition of Seraph's four heads and crossed arms is a likely homage to the iconic cover of 1974's Queen II. Slap that shit on your dorm room wall for a change!

TITANIA: Titania's appearance in SMTII is a slightly embellished take on this Brian Froud illustration of the ghostly Glaistig of Scotland. Thanks to Psiguy for originally sharing this ID from @yen_den, based on a post uploaded to the @theavalonians twitter account!

FIONN MAC CUMHAILL: In the spirit of equanimity, a last addition to the DOI'S CRIB NOTES series: Fionn Mac Cumhaill appears to be inspired by the dress of legendary illustrator J.C. Leyendecker's 'Cu Chulainn Riding His Chariot Into Battle' (1911), from the rectangular pattern of his mail-coat down to the telltale 'X' meander that runs along the fringe of either cloak.

[atelieronthemoon]

omg I can't believe you answered my question so fast, thank you!!!! 🩷.....I have tons more but I'll control myself and not ask all of them lmao.

Ok so we already know Daeho loves dogs right??.....What would the other guy's favorite animal be?????(I have a strong suspension Roman's will be some kind of bird bc of Flutter Birdy loll)

(Make sure to eat and stay hydrated!!!! As much as we want the full game, we also want you to stay healthy and not overwork yourself!!!🩷)

I try to answer as soon as I can 🥺 And send your questions! I'll go through them one by one 💌 💕

*looks at Daeho's pet dogs and his puppy-like personality* Yes, Daeho very much likes dogs 😆

Actually... Roman's a cat person haha. Exhibit A: he calls you "kitten" 😏

Oliver's favourite are rabbits! So being trapped by an evil rabbit hacker overlord hurts his soul.

Joseph favours chill animals, like sloths hahaha

For some reason, when I picture Ivan's favourite animal, I see a hedgehog. That would be an adorable image ngl 🥺

[mariacallous]

A young technologist known online as “Big Balls,” who works for Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has access to sensitive US government systems. But his professional and online history call into question whether he would pass the background check typically required to obtain security clearances, security experts tell WIRED.

Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old high school graduate, established at least five different companies in the last four years, with entities registered in Connecticut, Delaware, and the United Kingdom, most of which were not listed on his now-deleted LinkedIn profile. Coristine also briefly worked in 2022 at Path Network, a network monitoring firm known for hiring reformed black-hat hackers. Someone using a Telegram handle tied to Coristine also solicited a cyberattack-for-hire service later that year.

Coristine did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

One of the companies Coristine founded, Tesla.Sexy LLC, was set up in 2021, when he would have been around 16 years old. Coristine is listed as the founder and CEO of the company, according to business records reviewed by WIRED.

Tesla.Sexy LLC controls dozens of web domains, including at least two Russian-registered domains. One of those domains, which is still active, offers a service called Helfie, which is an AI bot for Discord servers targeting the Russian market.While the operation of a Russian website would not violate US sanctions preventing Americans doing business with Russian companies, it could potentially be a factor in a security clearance review.

"Foreign connections, whether it's foreign contacts with friends or domain names registered in foreign countries, would be flagged by any agency during the security investigation process," Joseph Shelzi, a former US Army intelligence officer who held security clearance for a decade and managed the security clearance of other units under his command, tells WIRED.

A longtime former US intelligence analyst, who requested anonymity to speak on sensitive topics, agrees. “There's little chance that he could have passed a background check for privileged access to government systems,” they allege.

Another domain under Coristine’s control is faster.pw. The website is currently inactive, but an archived version from October 25, 2022 shows content in Chinese that stated the service helped provide “multiple encrypted cross-border networks.”

Prior to joining DOGE, Coristine worked for several months of 2024 at Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain implant startup, and, as WIRED previously reported, is now listed in Office of Personnel Management records as an “expert” at that agency, which oversees personnel matters for the federal government. Employees of the General Services Administration say he also joined calls where they were made to justify their jobs and to review code they’ve written.

Other elements of Coristine’s personal record reviewed by WIRED, government security experts say, would also raise questions about obtaining security clearances necessary to access privileged government data. These same experts further wonder about the vetting process for DOGE staff—and, given Coristine’s history, whether he underwent any such background check.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about what level of clearance, if any, Corisitine has, and if so, how it was granted.

At Path Network, Coristine worked as a systems engineer from April to June of 2022, according to his now-deleted LinkedIn resume. Path has at times listed as employees Eric Taylor, also known as Cosmo the God, a well-known former cybercriminal and member of the hacker group UGNazis, as well as Matthew Flannery, an Australian convicted hacker whom police allege was a member of the hacker group LulzSec. It’s unclear whether Coristine worked at Path concurrently with those hackers, and WIRED found no evidence that either Coristine or other Path employees engaged in illegal activity while at the company.

“If I was doing the background investigation on him, I would probably have recommended against hiring him for the work he’s doing,” says EJ Hilbert, a former FBI agent who also briefly served as the CEO of Path Network prior to Coristine’s employment there. “I’m not opposed to the idea of cleaning up the government. But I am questioning the people that are doing it.”

Potential concerns about Coristine extend beyond his work history. Archived Telegram messages shared with WIRED show that, in November 2022, a person using the handle “JoeyCrafter” posted to a Telegram channel focused on so-called distributed denial of service, or DDOS, cyberattacks that bombard victim sites with junk traffic to knock them offline. In his messages, JoeyCrafter—which records from Discord, Telegram, and the networking protocol BGP indicate was a handle used by Coristine—writes that he’s “looking for a capable, powerful and reliable L7” that accepts Bitcoin payments. That line, in the context of a DDOS-for-hire Telegram channel, suggests he was looking for someone who could carry out a layer 7 attack, a certain form of DDOS. A DDOS-for-hire service with the name Dstat.cc was seized in a multi-national law enforcement operation last year.

The JoeyCrafter Telegram account had previously used the name “Rivage,” a name linked to Coristine on Discord and at Path, according to Path internal communications shared with WIRED. Both the Rivage Discord and Telegram accounts at times promoted Coristine’s DiamondCDN startup. It’s not clear whether the JoeyCrafter message was followed by an actual DDOS attack. (In the internal messages among Path staff, a question is asked about Rivage, at which point an individual clarifies they are speaking about "Edward".)

"It does depend on which government agency is sponsoring your security clearance request, but everything that you've just mentioned would absolutely raise red flags during the investigative process," Shelzi, the former US Army intelligence officer says. He adds that a secret security clearance could be completed in as little as 50 days while a top secret security clearance could take anywhere from 90 days to a year to complete.

Coristine’s online history, including a LinkedIn account where he calls himself Big Balls, has disappeared recently. He also previously used an account on X with the username @edwardbigballer. The account had a bio that read: “Technology. Arsenal. Golden State Warriors. Space Travel.”

Prior to using the @edwardbigballer username, Coristine was linked to an account featuring the screenname “Steven French” featuring a picture of what appears to be Humpty Dumpty smoking a cigar. In multiple posts from 2020 and 2021, the account can be seen responding to posts from Musk. Coristine’s X account is currently set to private.

Davi Ottenheimer, a longtime security operations and compliance manager, says many factors about Coristine’s employment history and online footprint could raise questions about his ability to obtain security clearance.

“Limited real work experience is a risk,” says Ottenheimer, as an example. “Plus his handle is literally Big Balls.”

[behindblueeyesrpg]

[liste des faceclaims réservés]

— behind blue eyes.

a,b,c

adrien sahores — si la rose alexa demie — wasted comets andrew garfield — faithfully anouchka gauthier — rattlesnake. billie eilish — nevra carla guetta cohen — léa charleen weiss — rainbow stars charles leclerc — davidou charlie hunnam — mars christina nadin — mikrokosmos cindy kimberly — néréide. cooper koch — absolem

d,e,f

daniela garza — lachrymarum danika pieenar — blue. david alexander flinn — nonameforyou dove cameron — cheryl drew starkey — sidesnack ellis iyayi — ness emilio sakraya — ariesfelis evan mock — dulapeep francisca gomes — lakostas freya walton — lumos solem

g,h,i

grace van patten — bliss gracie abrams — desert bleu harris dickinson — anaïs ian fonz — lavoice

j,k,l

jacob elordi — samhain jacob rott — mayumi/clémence jade distinguin — astræa jeon jungkook — fatigay jessica alexander — alli joseph quinn — evermore kaden hammond — ivory keith powers — prince naveen kim jennie — midnight shadow kim taehyung — astrhal kim yeri — tempted laetitia casta — adé lalisa manoban — mannie lea elui — hemera lexi sonnett — salvìa louis baines — hoodwink.

m,n,o

madelyn cline — endlesslove. matthew noszka — doflamingo meeya dugied — vampyllia. nadia lee cohen — themuseparadox nathan niehaus — anakinough nicholas alexander chavez — ησησ nicola peltz beckham — jawbreaker.

p,q,r

park chaeyoung [rosé] — oxymore paul mescal — meuf géniale pierre garnier — loredana rachael lange — rage. rachel bilson — mixsy-cute rudy pankow — marie

s,t,u,v

sabrina carpenter — lattee. sam corlett — rascal shanina shaik — bluemoon sydney sweeney — clem tamika fawcett — bluemoon vinnie hacker — deathless saints. viv may — anne-constance

w,x,y,z

yumi nu — saturne

[krjpalmer]

ROM October 1977

While the scanned copy of this issue online has handwriting on its table of contents mentioning some pages are missing including the cover story, the excerpts from Joseph Weizenbaum's Computer Power and Human Reason do get to his infamous description of "the compulsive programmer," recognizable as the "hacker" first famous at MIT. The back cover was a Radio Shack ad for the TRS-80.

[stopitbehaveyourself]

Kind of long. Ranting about the ST fandom because I need to get this out of my system.

What I'm about to say doesn't really matter as such, because there's about 5 people here who I've somewhat befriended here anyway. But I'm done with this fandom and the people in this fandom. Not all of them, but a lot of them anyway.

The hatred, the absurdity, the creepiness, the toxicity. It's too much. I got into this fandom because I adored jamie (and I still do. Always will.) I've never really met him but from what I've seen, he's sweet, kind, and REALLY TALENTED. So as much as I'll continue to follow him, I've decided to part ways with this fandom. Through the blog anyway. Maybe being a silent fan was always the better option, because having this blog (and a now inactive page on Instagram) has burst my bubble.

When I say this fandom, I mean the ST fandom as a whole. Not just the jamie fandom. Where do I even get started?

Hating Millie Bobby Brown for talking too much and being too loud and rude when she was a literal child. As if you guys were real mature kids who'd behave at a press conference if you played a big character in a big fucking show.

All the hate grace van dien recieved for simply addressing the chemistry she thought Chrissy had with Eddie. Calling her obsessed with joseph- her actual real life friend- on a blog/page dedicated to Joseph Quinn - who probably doesn't know you exist. Who's more obsessed here? You're allowed to have a celeb crush or simp over a fictional crush or whatever but learn to separate reality from fiction and stop hating and hurting real people over fictional characters.

Knowing Joseph Quinn is a private person and yet so many people disrespecting his privacy at any chance they get.

The hate Eduardo Franco gets for talking too much or for his looks.

And an endless list of toxic things in the jamie fandom alone. (I probably missed out on plenty other shit that happened in the ST fandom in general because I wasn't ever involved with it in detail)

Jamie being asked to sign a marriage certificate by a fan. Even if it was fake, if he says he's uncomfortable you STOP. Just because you paid for an autograph doesn't mean you're entitled to get whatever you ask for. He has the right to deny, and when he does, you respect his boundaries and back the fuck off. You don't ask him for a refund when he doesn't even handle that shit.

Overanalysing everything he/the person he is around says/does. Breaking news: everything a person does doesn't have to have a masterplan behind it. They're people. Let them fucking breathe.

Leaking his music even when he specifically asked not to. Support his work ethically maybe?

The recent hacking: Jamie specifically asked not to engage and yet people went on and engaged and were surprised when they got blocked. It's common sense that sending hate to a hacker won't actually make them stop hacking when they have the option to simply block you. By pissing the hacker off you only make Jamie's work more difficult. Sit back and let him handle things by himself maybe? He's an adult with a good enough team who can sort the hacking out for him.

Shipping characters, having a celebrity crush, indulging in fanfictions. It's normal. But keep it to yourself maybe? Nobody wants to see a stranger on the internet showing them their sexual fantasies with them. Try imagining yourself in his shoes, it's uncomfortable as fuck. He is too polite to point it out directly, but some of y'all don't get the fucking hint when he indirectly expresses his discomfort, do you? You pass it off as a joke.

I could specifically list down at least 5 more things but they'd be an attack to specific people and I don't want to get into an argument with anyone or genuinely attack anyone personally either.

All I'm saying is that this fandom is fucked. I miss the times I was oblivious to all the drama going on, but my bubble has burst now, and I can no more look at a video/post related to stranger things and not remember the negativity attached to it. I need to get my head clear at least for now. So I call quits. Maybe I'll return some day but I hope it's not anytime soon. It doesn't matter anyway, apart from the few friends I made here. But I had to say this. It was in my system for way too long.

Please don't spread hate x

[thedollydiaries]

more random cod headcanons

tw: mentions of self harm, references to OG ghost backstory, angst :)

141 tried to do group therapy together

but they ended up making the therapist cry and the four of them had to awkwardly comfort the therapist

ghost hates therapy with a passion but goes anyway

soap did the tide pod challenge

price lost it at him in the med bay when he found out

"johnny it's a plastic capsule of LAUNDRY DETERGENT!"

"yummy colours🥰"

ghost used to sh on his face

love how i just give yall a bunch of sweet stuff and then BOOM ANGST HEADCANON outta nowhere :)

i feel like he suffers from severe facial dysmorphia, especially after covering his face for so long

sweet pie gang: soap, könig, price

savoury pie gang: ghost and gaz

couldnt care less, just likes pie: horangi

ghost hates coffee but pretends to like it to seem cool (he's actually drinking coffee crisp hot chocolate)

horangi listens to ayesha erotica

he is also a RAGING bisexual (strong lean towards men)

laswell refers to the 141 as her boys, she loves to embarrass them like a mom would

soap and ghost are ATTROCIOUS at cooking

price is pretty good at it, can make quite a lot but struggles with a few harder recipes (and also somehow cannot make instant noodles)

gaz is a GOD in the kitchen but he hates cooking

soap is not allowed in the kitchen alone, once set the kitchen in fire trying to get a glass of water

awkward day on base when that happened

"sorry, can't go into the kitchen, the explosions specialist set it on fire trying to get a drink"

soap listens to classic rock and metal only (and katy perry but he will never admit it)

gaz listens to (shocking literally everyone on the team) music from the 40's, 50's and 60's. he listens to some modern music but he just ADORES the vintage music, especially jazz.

gaz and soap also like therapy

like genuinely enjoy it

gaz has to hype himself up before his appointments though

soap hypes the therapist up

price is neutral, he'd prefer to just smoke and drink to deal with his problems but understands that talking about them with a professional is the best option

ghost, as mentioned before, hates therapy with a burning passion but goes anyway

mostly because he knows he will be put on probation if he doesn't

but also because he knows that he needs the help even if he doesn't want to admit it

also after one of his first month of going to all his appointments that month without skipping one at all, price told simon he was proud of him and now he uses that as motiva to go to his appointments

price knows how to use technology in the weirdest ways

can operate a drone but cannot for the life of him figure out QR codes

a pretty decent hacker but do NOT ask him what any text slang aside from "lol" and "lmao" is. he does not know.

doesn't know that emojis have different meanings depending on context

once said "simon's in the hospital😭" i the TF141 group chat, gaz and soap thought that he was laughing at simon

soap got arrested in croatia on a mission once because he committed arson

kate had to bail him out and he got an earful on being a pyromaniac and arsonist

price just told him to restrict his fire setting to the battlefield

valeria has a medusa tattoo, it's under her chest on her sternum (iykyk)

ghost was tempted to get a medusa tattoo but decided against it because he views it more as a symbol of strength for women (really afab/fem aligned in general) who have suffered through that kind of assault and that it would be wrong to take that from them

he got a tattoo inspired by medusa instead

ghost has his on his hip

he was orginally going to get it on his left ribcage but when the artist was placing the stencil he almost had a panic attack and they both decided a different placement would be better

könig has tattoos for his siblings and his mother (mama's booooyyyyy🗣️)

ghost also has tattoos for his mother, tommy, joseph and even one for beth

is there a male version of a barracks bunny?

because that's horangi, that man is fucking EVERYONE or getting fucked, depends on his mood that night

idk i feel like sometimes they all watch like family guy or bob's burgers together sometimes during their downtime

soap's fav bob's burgers character is gene

price's is teddy

gaz's is tina

ghost's is both louise and bob

könig's is linda

horangi's is mort and kuchi kopi

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Open Circuits

I'm kickstarting the audiobook for "The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation," a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and make a new, good internet that picks up where the old, good internet left off. It's a DRM-free book, which means Audible won't carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

Every trip to Defcon – the massive annual hacker-con in Las Vegas – is a delight. Partly it's the familiar – seeing old friends, getting updates on hacks of years gone by. But mostly, it's the surprises, the things you never anticipated. Defcon never fails to surprise.

I got back from Vegas yesterday and I've just unpacking my suitcase, and with it, the tangible evidence of Defcon's cave of wonders. My gear bag has a new essential: Hak5's malicious cable detector, a little USB gizmo that lights up if it detects surreptitious malicious activity, even as it interdicts those nasty payloads:

https://shop.hak5.org/collections/omg-row2/products/malicious-cable-detector-by-o-mg

(In case you're wondering if it's really possible to craft a malicious USB cable that injects badware into your computer and is visually indistinguishable from a regular cable, the answer is a resounding yes, and of course, Hak5 sells those cables, with a variety of USB tips:)

https://shop.hak5.org/collections/omg-row2/products/omg-cable

But merch is only a sideshow. The real action is in the conference rooms, where hackers update you on the pursuit of their obsessions. These are such beautiful weirdos who pursue knowledge to ridiculous extremes, untangling gnarly hairballs just to follow a thread to its origin point.

For the second year in a row, I caught a presentation from Joseph Gabay about his work on warshopping: slicing up shopping cart wheels and haunting shopping mall parking lots during resurfacing to figure out how the anti-theft mechanism that stops your cart from leaving the parking lot works:

https://www.begaydocrime.com/

And of course, I got to give one of those presentations, "An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification," to a packed house. What a thrill! It was livestreamed, and if you missed it, you'll be able to catch it on Defcon's Youtube page as soon as they upload it (they've got a lot of uploading to do!):

https://www.youtube.com/@DEFCONConference/videos

After my talk, I went back to the No Starch Press booth for a book signing – which was amazing, so many beautiful hackers, plus I got to share a signing table with Micah Lee. As I was leaving, Bill Pollock slipped me a giant hardcover art-book, and said, "You're gonna love this."

I did. The book is Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components, by Windell Oskay and Eric Schlaepfer, and it is a drop-dead gorgeous collection of photos of electronic components, painstakingly cross-sectioned and polished:

The photos illustrate layperson-friendly explanations of what each component does, how it is constructed, and why. Perhaps you've pondered a circuit board and wondered about the colorful, candy-shaped components soldered to it. It's natural to assume that these are indivisible, abstract functional units, a thing that is best understood as a reliable and deterministic brick that can be used to construct a specific kind of wall.

But peering inside these sealed packages reveals another world, a miniature land where things get simpler – and more complex. Inside these blobs of resin are snips of wire, plugs of wax, simple screws, fine sheets of metal in stacks, wafers of plain ceramic, springs and screws.

Truly, quantity has a quality all its own. Miniaturize these assemblies and produce them at unimaginable scale and the simple, legible components turn into mystical black boxes that only the most dedicated study can reveal. Like every magician's trick, the unfathomable effect is built up through the precise repetition of something very simple.

A prolonged study of Open Circuits reveals something important about the hacker aesthetic, a collection of graphic design, fashion and industrial design conventions that begins with this realization: that the crisp lines of digital logic can be decomposed into blobby, probabilistic lumps of metal, plastic, and even wax.

It reminds me of George Dyson's brilliant memoir/history of computing, Turing's Cathedral, where he describes how he and the other children of the scientists building the first digital computers at the Princeton Institute spent their summers in the basement, hand-winding cores for the early colossi their parents were building on the floors above them:

https://memex.craphound.com/2012/03/12/george-dysons-history-of-the-computer-turings-cathedral/

You can see my hacker aesthetic photos in my Defcon 31 photo set:

https://www.flickr.com/search/?sort=date-taken-desc&safe_search=1&tags=defcon31&user_id=37996580417%40N01&view_all=1

In this video, Eric Schlaepfer illustrates the painstaking work that went into decomposing these tiny, precise components into their messy, analog subcomponents. It's pure hacker aesthetic, and it's mesmerizing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byKyJ0b04Lo

But Open Circuits isn't just an aesthetic journey, it's a technical one. After all, Oskay is co-founder of Evil Mad Scientist Labs, one of the defining places where hardware hackers gather to tear down, pick apart, mod, improve and destroy electronics. The accompanying text is a masterclass in the simple machines that combine together to make complex assemblies:

https://www.evilmadscientist.com/

Defcon is a reminder that the world only seems hermetically sealed and legible to authorized parties with clearance to crack open the box. From shopping cart wheels to thermal fuses, that illegibility is only a few millimeters thick. Sand away the glossy outer layer and you will find yourself in a weird land of wax-blobs, rough approximations, expedient choices and endless opportunities for delight and terror, mischief and care.

Back my anti-enshittification Kickstarter here!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/14/hidden-worlds/#making-the-invisible-visible-and-beautiful

[sixstringphonic]

DOGE Teen Owns ‘Tesla.Sexy LLC’ and Worked at Startup That Has Hired Convicted Hackers

Experts question whether Edward Coristine, a DOGE staffer who has gone by “Big Balls” online, would pass the background check typically required for access to sensitive US government systems.

February 6th 2025 - via WIRED

A young technologist known online as “Big Balls,” who works for Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has access to sensitive US government systems. But his professional and online history call into question whether he would pass the background check typically required to obtain security clearances, security experts tell WIRED.

Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old high school graduate, established at least five different companies in the last four years, with entities registered in Connecticut, Delaware, and the United Kingdom, most of which were not listed on his now-deleted LinkedIn profile. Coristine also briefly worked in 2022 at Path Network, a network monitoring firm known for hiring reformed blackhat hackers. Someone using a Telegram handle tied to Coristine also solicited a cyberattack-for-hire service later that year.

Coristine did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

One of the companies Coristine founded, Tesla.Sexy LLC, was set up in 2021, when he would have been around 16 years old. Coristine is listed as the founder and CEO of the company, according to business records reviewed by WIRED.

Tesla.Sexy LLC controls dozens of web domains, including at least two Russian-registered domains. One of those domains, which is still active, offers a service called Helfie, which is an AI bot for Discord servers targeting the Russian market. While the operation of a Russian website would not violate US sanctions preventing Americans doing business with Russian companies, it could potentially be a factor in a security clearance review.

"Foreign connections, whether it's foreign contacts with friends or domain names registered in foreign countries, would be flagged by any agency during the security investigation process," Joseph Shelzi, a former US Army intelligence officer who held security clearance for a decade and managed the security clearance of other units under his command, tells WIRED.

A longtime former US intelligence analyst, who requested anonymity to speak on sensitive topics, agrees. “There's little chance that he could have passed a background check for privileged access to government systems,” they allege.

Another domain under Coristine’s control is faster.pw. The website is currently inactive, but an archived version from October 25, 2022 shows content in Chinese that stated the service helped provide “multiple encrypted cross-border networks.”

Prior to joining DOGE, Coristine worked for several months of 2024 at Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain implant startup, and, as WIRED previously reported, is now listed in Office of Personnel Management records as an “expert” at that agency, which oversees personnel matters for the federal government. Employees of the General Services Administration say he also joined calls where they were made to justify their jobs and to review code they’ve written.

Other elements of Coristine’s personal record reviewed by WIRED, government security experts say, would also raise questions about obtaining security clearances necessary to access privileged government data. These same experts further wonder about the vetting process for DOGE staff—and, given Coristine’s history, whether he underwent any such background check.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about what level of clearance, if any, Corisitine has and, if so, how it was granted.

At Path Network, Coristine worked as a systems engineer from April to June of 2022, according to his now-deleted LinkedIn résumé. Path has at times listed as employees Eric Taylor, also known as Cosmo the God, a well-known former cybercriminal and member of the hacker group UGNazis, as well as Matthew Flannery, an Australian convicted hacker whom police allege was a member of the hacker group LulzSec. It’s unclear whether Coristine worked at Path concurrently with those hackers, and WIRED found no evidence that either Coristine or other Path employees engaged in illegal activity while at the company.

“If I was doing the background investigation on him, I would probably have recommended against hiring him for the work he’s doing,” says EJ Hilbert, a former FBI agent who also briefly served as the CEO of Path Network prior to Coristine’s employment there. “I’m not opposed to the idea of cleaning up the government. But I am questioning the people that are doing it.”

Potential concerns about Coristine extend beyond his work history. Archived Telegram messages shared with WIRED show that, in November 2022, a person using the handle “JoeyCrafter” posted to a Telegram channel focused on so-called distributed denial of service (DDoS) cyberattacks that bombard victim sites with junk traffic to knock them offline. In his messages, JoeyCrafter—which records from Discord, Telegram, and the networking protocol BGP indicate was a handle used by Coristine—writes that he’s “looking for a capable, powerful and reliable L7” that accepts bitcoin payments. That line, in the context of a DDoS-for-hire Telegram channel, suggests he was looking for someone who could carry out a layer-7 attack, a certain form of DDoS. A DDoS-for-hire service with the name Dstat.cc was seized in a multinational law enforcement operation last year.

The JoeyCrafter Telegram account had previously used the name “Rivage,” a name linked to Coristine on Discord and at Path, according to Path internal communications shared with WIRED. Both the Rivage Discord and Telegram accounts at times promoted Coristine’s DiamondCDN startup. It’s not clear whether the JoeyCrafter message was followed by an actual DDoS attack. (In the internal messages among Path staff, a question is asked about Rivage, at which point an individual clarifies they are speaking about “Edward.”)

"It does depend on which government agency is sponsoring your security clearance request, but everything that you've just mentioned would absolutely raise red flags during the investigative process," says Shelzi, the former US Army intelligence officer. He adds that a secret security clearance could be completed in as little as 50 days, while a top-secret security clearance could take anywhere from 90 days to a year to complete.

Coristine’s online history, including a LinkedIn account where he calls himself Big Balls, has disappeared recently. He also previously used an account on X with the username @edwardbigballer. The account had a bio that read: “Technology. Arsenal. Golden State Warriors. Space Travel.”

Prior to using the @edwardbigballer username, Coristine was linked to an account featuring the screen name “Steven French” featuring a picture of what appears to be Humpty Dumpty smoking a cigar. In multiple posts from 2020 and 2021, the account can be seen responding to posts from Musk. Coristine’s X account is currently set to private.

Davi Ottenheimer, a longtime security operations and compliance manager, says many factors about Coristine’s employment history and online footprint could raise questions about his ability to obtain security clearance.

“Limited real work experience is a risk,” says Ottenheimer, as an example. “Plus his handle is literally Big Balls.”

[girlactionfigure]

⚪Monday - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

Erev Tisha b’Av - Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the month of Av (August 12-13, 2024), is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, on which we fast, deprive ourselves and pray. It is the culmination of the Three Weeks, a period of time during which we mark the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.  https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144575/jewish/What-Is-Tisha-BAv.htm

The 25 hour fast begins approx. 30 minutes before sundown.

▪️A HERO SOLDIER HAS FALLEN.. Omer Ginzberg, 19, from Kiryat Tivon, fell in battle in Gaza.  May his family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and may G-d avenge his blood!

▪️TERROR STOPPED?  A car loaded with an Arab crew and weapons was caught in Ashkelon.

▪️STRONG DEFENSIVE STATEMENTS BAD.. Joseph Borrell, the European Union's foreign minister, calls for sanctions to be imposed on MK’s Ben-Gvir and Smotrich: "inciting to commit war crimes”.

🔹Hezbollah has evacuated all of its known headquarters in southern Dahiya in Beirut per "Al-Jamhoriya”.

⭕Overnight, Hezbollah fired a barrage of some 30 rockets from Lebanon at the Western Galilee focused on Nahariya at 1:45 AM.

♦️Overnight, IDF forces operated early in the morning in the city of Jenin and arrested 2 fathers of terrorists in order to put pressure on them to turn themselves in. An exchange of fire developed between terrorists and IDF forces.

♦️HACK ATTACK.. Israeli hacker group Red Evils announced they are going to take down the Central Bank of Lebanon.

♦️COUNTER-TERROR OP.. overnight in Kfar Tal, near Shechem, as well as south Hebron.

🔸DEAL NEWS.. Otzma Yehudit leader MK Ben Gvir in a message to Netanyahu: We will withdraw from the government if the outline for the discussed deal is adopted.

.. The leaders of France, Germany and Great Britain warn Iran: "Avoid an attack that would endanger a deal”.