Dance of Shadows

In the ethereal realm where bits and bytes pirouette, hackers, — those modern-day sorcerers — weave spells that transcend the ordinary. Armed with languages like Python, Perl, PHP and arcane JavaScript, they navigate the digital cosmos, probing, and unlocking the secrets that lie veiled in the tapestry of networks. Behold the tools they wield, are instruments of both creation and destruction, from the sacred to the profane.

In the sacred arsenal of ethical hacking tools, the dance begins with Invicti and Fortify Web Inspect, guardians of web sanctums. They scrutinize the labyrinthine codes, seeking vulnerabilities with an ethical gaze. Cain & Abel, an enigma in its own right, whispers into the ears of cryptographic secrets, unraveling the knots of security protocols.

The Network Mapper, Nmap, dons the cloak of a phantom, mapping the unseen terrain of networks, while Nessus, the vigilant sentinel, scans for the faintest echoes of weakness. Nikto, a poetic vigilante, surveys web servers with a discerning eye, unraveling the threads that may lead to digital Pandora's boxes. Kismet and NetStumbler, the ethereal wanderers, roam the airwaves, unraveling the secrets that linger in the currents.

Acunetix and Netsparker, architects of digital fortresses, wield their prowess to shield the sacred domains from malevolent gazes. Intruder, a mischievous sprite, dances on the edges, seeking chinks in armor, while Metasploit, the shape-shifter, crafts exploits that transcend the ordinary.

And in the midnight symphony, Aircrack-Ng emerges, a spectral conductor orchestrating the dissonance of wireless networks, revealing the vulnerabilities that flutter in the unseen air.

In this dance of shadows, we encounter two archetypes - the White Hat and the Black Hat. The White Hat, the virtuous guardian, dons the mantle of ethical hacking, defending the digital realms against nefarious forces. The Black Hat, the elusive trickster, navigates the shadows with malicious intent, seeking to exploit weaknesses for personal gain.

But why, in this dance between light and shadow, do we need these hackers? For in the ever-expanding digital tapestry, vulnerabilities lurk like phantoms in the night. The network, a delicate ecosystem, demands guardians to ensure its integrity. The hacker, a dual-faced Janus, plays the role of both villain and hero, revealing the chasms that may lead to calamity or guiding the way toward fortified horizons.

So, let us not cast judgment upon the hackers, but rather, seek to understand their dance. In their whispers of code and shadowy exploits, lies the echo of our collective vulnerabilities. In the labyrinth of networks, the need for the hacker emerges as an intrinsic melody, urging us to fortify our digital bastions and navigate the cosmic dance between chaos and order.

HACKER MENTALITY

HACKER MENTALITY

Hackers are thinkers. They visualize what others can't. They see the world differently. They are super curious. They tinker with things in order to understand them.  They hunger for knowledge that interest them. Einstein was a tinkerer, a preoccupied thinker, so much so that his teachers said that he won't amount to anything. Yet, we all know what his intellectual contribution was to the global society. He saw the world differently and he could have been absolutely wealthy but his interests weren't monetary.  Likewise Tesla a was a tinkerer totally preoccupied by his interests having time for nothing else because he saw the world differently. He could have been stinking rich but be chose the art of tinkering over money. They wanted to empower the masses and create a better future for all. They were eccentric men, yet there are loads of people today that are wired like Einstein and Tesla, even share their eccentricity, though they may not be as intelligent or perhaps even more so.

Albert Einstein, tinkerer, hacker, scientist.

 The masses call these people hackers and nerds. Yep, Nerds...  a derogatory term used by the masses to talk down on them as if they are inferior. But quite the contrary. These hackers and nerds are the ones who brought them the bicycle, the internal combustion engine, electricity, the telephone system, the computer, the internet, the smartphone, satellite TV, and so much more. Without the nerds where would the masses be technologically?  Professor Tim Berners-Lee conceptualize URIs, HTTP and HTML the invented the World Wide Web. James Gosling developer of  the Java Programming language. Linus Torvalds  is the creator of the Linux kernel and its principal developer, and the list goes on. Realistically is was never about the money for them  but rather the sharing of knowledge to empower others.

Nicola Tesla ... whose ideas were usurped by Edison, much like
Zuckerberg usurped Jarkko Oikarinen's IRC and turned it into Facebook.

Admittedly some of these master minds opted for the money. Wasniak didn't but his partner Jobbs did. Tim Paterson the inventor and originator of MSDOS didn't but Bill did, making him one of the riches men in the world. IRC was an amazing app designed by Jarkko Oikarinen which since the days of inception  was free, gratis and verniet. A sucker like Zuckerberg copied IRC added some bells and whistles called it Facebook and became stinking rich in the process. These are the sellouts. Money motivated them above the art of hacking  and sharing,  not desiring equality but disparities in wealth, to the point that the world's wealthiest 5%  is sitting with 95% of the global wealth and the remaining  95% of the masses share in the 5%. Disgraceful! Many of them having made their fortunes on the backs of child labour (Apple, Microsoft & Samsung) in their supply chains, adding to the already enormous Third World Debt Crisis.

The above passage gives the impression that hackers and nerds are all male, but this is certainly not the case. I have encountered that "chica" who could show me a thing or two when it comes to high-tech. As a whole, hackers are rebellious by nature, non conformists, often loners preferring the company of computers over people. They prefer  to do their own thing, and not be bogged down by a 9 to 5. They cannot see themselves as obedient Zombies who conform to the system by subjecting their income to the trinkets of society. You know... that prestigious car that gives others the impression that you are "all that", though they are knee deep in arse mousse because of debt. That pretentious house  with the swimming pool and entertainment area with which to lure friends to impress. Those life, car and household insurances that were all grudge purchase anyway, which they endure under great strain because the Jones' have them. That expensive lifetime gym membership that's costing them an arm and a leg which they hardly use, except as a conversation piece.  Not forgetting the maxed out credit cards that they constantly juggle not to embarress the arse mousse out of your families. Slave to the system with debt as the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. Dept up to their freaking eyeballs.

That's what gets these obedient slave,  Zombies jumping out of bed at an unruly hour of the morning, braving the traffic to get to work on time to earn that measly salary that they are unhappy with to pay for the trinkets that they don't really need which they were enticed into by the system even though it's not what they really wanted   in the first place. They are spokes in the  system and getting out is most difficult hence its best not to get into the system in the first place. That's why hackers keep it real and therefore don't deserve the negative connotations attached to the term. Admittedly there are angry hackers who tend to be anarchists,  evil enough to destroy the establishments, but you have those types in all walks of society. Then their are wannabe hackers ... the script kiddies (crackers) who gave hackers the bad name by hacking into networks haphazardly because they lack real hacker knowledge. This hacker stigma has led to the White hat, Black hat, blah, blah blah by those who wants to label everything.  The cybersecurity problem of today doesn't lie with the hackers but falls squarely the shoulders of operating system manufacturers who couldn't design  a secure system in the first place. And secondly on the heads of the dumb asses corporates employ to guard their networks who don't know enough to hack their way out of a wet paper bag.

GETTING PAID TO HACK

GETTING PAID TO HACK

During most of 2014 numerous hacking stories made it to the head lines of several newspapers. Data worth millions of dollars were stolen, websites were defaced and confidential client data was released to the general public. These acts drove fear into the hearts of Governments and fortune 500 companies, to the point that Tech Companies like Google, Tesla, Facebook, Apple and several other incentivized hackers and hacker crews to attempt to breach their computer network security, in exchange for a handsome payout should they be successful. Movies like Hackers and Blackhat, and TV series like Mr Robot,, NCIS, Criminal Minds and Continuum only served to entice White Hat and Grey Hat hacker squads to go "Black hat" and chase the bounty. However the objective of these companies were to identify weaknesses in the network security and plug it after getting feedback from hackers as to how they got in. Well that happens when they hire the wrong ITC people and especially network administrators with mediocre hacking skills.

The Hacker in Mr Robot

In September, a  bounty of  $1 million was publicly offered to anyone who could successfully hack the latest versions of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 9.1 and 9.2b, on a new iPhone or iPad. The rules stated that the iPhone hack must “be achievable remotely, reliably, silently, and without requiring any user interaction, other than visiting a web page or reading a text message”.  Only Google Chrome and Apple’s own Safari browsers were allowed to be used for the hack.  On Monday 2 November,  security company Zerodium  announced that they have agreed to pay out that seven-figure sum to the hacker crew who successfully developed a technique that can hack any iPhone or iPad and can trick them into visiting a carefully crafted web site. Two hackers teams have been actively working on the challenge both keeping their eyes on the prize. But only hacker crew  managed to develop  a complete remote jailbreak however the second team  may qualify for a partial bounty. Zerodium will brief Apple on the exploit so that the holes in the iOS  can be plugged. The procedures of this hack is especially valuable, given that government agencies including the NSA and CIA have had difficulty hacking into iPhones.

Europe’s Chaos Computer Club is very disappointed that Apple rejected the group’s streaming video app. The Apple app would've allowed interested parties to watch  the  Chaos Communications Congress event talks in real time. But it turns out the Apple is still pissed because members of the conference had previously hacked iOS. Apple claims they don’t want to help spread the hacking word even though  fellow hacker Steve Wasniak and co-founder of Apple was part of the “white hat” hacker community.  Shame on you Apple for depriving the hacker community and denying the principals upon which Apple was built. However the conference live streams are available on both the Chaos Computer Club’s official website and on YouTube and still accessible to Apple users.

Electric caremaker Tesla Motors invited hackers to try to breach their vehicle's systems and offered hackers attending the SyScan conference in Beijing $10,000 earlier this month if they could hack and control its electric Model S sedan. A "white hats" hacking crew from Zhejiang University was awarded $1,700  for their efforts because they didn't achieve the goal within the specified time frame even though they gained access. After the hackers explain how they did, Tesla patched many of the vulnerabilities to make the Tesla a safer car.

The all electric Tesla car

Wauconda's website was hacked on Friday 30 October or sometime during the past weekend  The hackers  or hacker replaced much of the onsite municipal information  by anti-American and anti-Israeli photographs and pro-Islam messages. Turns out Doug Maxeiner the village Administrator was quite offended by the image of the burning U.S. flag but its more likely that he is his pissed because he got hacked and couldn't do anything about it. Blaming the hack on their web hosting company in Charleston inability to block them because he believes the hacker or hackers achieved accessed the website through the ISP's system. Wauconda police are aware of the hacking who was also asked to notify the FBI of the incident. The Mayor said this also happened to the Wauconda police website and ads that it was also done a radical Islamist group. That's sander and without proof it could be anyone, perhaps even the Pope. 

Anonymous Hacker crew Philippines wearing Guy Fawkes Masks

Anonymous Philippines, is an anti-government hacking crew with a mission to “fight for freedom, truth, and justice” and their  latest victim is non other than the Ku Klux Klan. A hacking campaign dubbed "Operation KKK" with the sole intent to  harass members of the racist group online, embarrass and intimidate then and shame them  publicly.  "Anonymous"  have released two lists of alleged KKK members retrieved from a KKK database. The "Anonymous" crew  have previously targeted  the electronics giant Sony, the Church of Scientology, the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church. Earlier this year, the "Anonymous" crew hacked and defaced 20 government websites seeking justice for the 44 fallen policemen at the Mamasapano incident. Last September, they did the same thing to the National Telecommunications Commissions (NTC) website. They are known to wear Guy Fawkes masks in public and instigated the "Million Mask March" planed for November 5, 2015--Guy Fawkes Day.  Anonymous claimed responsibility for breaking into the social media twitter account of Maine on Tuesday morning to get access to her 2.4 million followers and inform them all of the "Million Mask March".

KKK lighting up a cross with gasoline.