368 DEAR HACKER

368 DEAR HACKER

Dear 2600:

I don’t think it’s a writer of the magazine anymore that hacked me... however, the person is a member of 2600 in some way. I’d really prefer to avoid the police or a confrontation in that way. I did a whois on the domain and couldn’t get an abuse email so I sent it here. It’s that some- one is hacking me and opening many windows on my machine and I want it to stop. They found out I had Knoppix on my computer....

anonymous (again)

No, it’s OK really. Sometimes a head-on confrontation is the only way to deal with such matters. These people need to be taught a lesson, after all. Leaving windows open on a machine is an invitation to burglary and there’s nothing funny about that. So we’ll await the authorities and then lead them to the “member of 2600” that is making your life so miserable. Considering we don’t actually have members, it shouldn’t take long at all to get this resolved.

Dear 2600:

I was reading my recent copy of 2600 and I noticed the article about hacking your hospital bed. I took a deep breath and thought “OK, just learn to try something new, it might be worth it.” Before I got past the first paragraph, I wound up banging my head on the wall so hard I started to draw blood and fainted. Wouldn’t you know it,

I wound up in the exact same hospital bed that was in the article. I was wondering if you could re-send me a copy of 2600 so I could learn how to hack this thing.

Actually, that was sarcasm. The real reason I write this letter is to tell you to stop whining about the media’s portrayal of hackers being an unknown widespread group of powerful rogue users able to globally bring down communications, banking, warfare, and governmental agencies just with a simple double-click. If they found out that you are a bunch of nerds writing articles about hacking hospital beds and heating control panels, well, it probably would not be good.

Erik S.

OUR BIGGEST FANS

Dear 2600: The reason I’m writing this letter is because what was once a well

renowned hacker organization, an organization once respected and even feared, is now, to many in the black hat and security world, a joke. I’m writing this not to offend or “hate on” 2600. I am writing a truth. A reason and a need to truly change.

I’m a person who lives in silence. A person who watches. For the past year I have held back from buying a 2600 magazine. Walking through Borders last week, I had to give in to my temptation and purchase the magazine. When buying a magazine, always use precaution. Call me paranoid, but my own situation is not one to be trifled with. To tell you the truth, writing this letter is taking a risk on my part. I’m too close to joining Club Fed. Anyway, the risk is nothing for what I’m about to share with you. This message, this distress call, is to all who read this.

Upon reading the 2600 winter edition, I grew excited just holding it in my hands. It smelled fresh from the printers. The ink gave a new shine and the paper felt brand new. When I started to read the first pages, I always try to comprehend the way others think when describ- ing their point of view of the world. Their perspective. “Finally!” I said to myself. “The information!”

There was something different this time. Something odd. I found myself already knowing the information. As I kept reading, I became humored with the objectives of hacking; what they were hacking. “Hacking Beer” and “Hacking Thy Self ”? I had a good laugh for a moment. Then I realized something. This isn’t the same 2600 I once knew. Like pages gathered in a book, I realized what the black hat hackers and the respected security professionals told me was slowly becoming truth. 2600 is not the respected and feared organization anymore. There was a time when, upon mentioning 2600, curious people asked what it was. Now, when talking about 2600, there is always a chuckle at the end of the sentence. Reading the magazine disappointed me. Not much for me to glean from.

Who I am? What gives me a right to say such things? I will educate you a bit of who I am so much so as not to overeducate you to the point