The Science of Password Cracking

A lot of ordinary computer users understand what a password is. It protects their sensitive data, and it is all they need to get access to a majority of accounts. It is that all-important word that will allow them to access their significant other's Facebook profile while they're away to make sure they haven't been cheating, and the pin number or pattern to their phone that betrays them access to their deepest, darkest secrets.

Not surprisingly, many people will resort to anything to gain access to someone's personal data, when properly motivated. All manner of excuses crop up as to why they are exonerated from any crime or guilt for doing so.

"I know he's cheating" or "I'm only doing it for a prank. I'm not hurting anybody."

Honestly, these are the cheapest, weakest excuses for invading someone's privacy. First of all, if you need to resort to betraying someone's privacy to determine whether you should trust them or not, you should already know by now that you have your answer. If you can't trust your significant other to be faithful, and they can't trust you to keep your nose out of their business, why are you with that person in the first place?

Now that that little slap in the head is over with...let's get on with this the real meat of this article.

Anonymous Reveals the 'Priorities' of the Trump Campaign in an Unexpected Way

Earlier this week, the Anonymous group posted a video in response to Donald Trump's campaign.

It is important to note that Anonymous is a very decentralized group that operates very freely and independently of any singular objective or governance. Nevertheless, it seems determined toward the same goal of ensuring the continued freedom of people across the world by attacking what they perceive as evil any way they can. Typically their methods involve Denial of Service to websites and organizations, or hacking centralized networks to achieve an end; however, this time, this was not the case.

On March 17, 2016, Anonymous announced that it had released private information on Donald Trump including his social security and personal cell phone numbers, as a means of inciting individuals to 'investigate' his campaign and past. The video also warns viewers that they are solely responsible for their actions in regards to what they do with the information.

Hacking your School

Intro

I'm assuming that you came to this thread looking for a tutorial on how to hack your school network. I'll start by introducing myself. I go by the pseudonym True Demon, and I'm a somewhat recognizable name in the hacker community. I've written a a book and several white-papers on the subject of computer security and penetration testing. On the outside, I am an IT and security consultant with five years of career experience and ten total years studying the art of computer intrusion. I have a modest collection of certifications, have worked as a network administrator, network design architect, network engineer, security analyst, penetration tester, and have managed both Windows and Linux servers.

One of my first jobs as a network administrator was as the Network Admin for a local school district near my home town. It boasted over 800 students and approximately 1,200 networked devices including wi-fi infrastructure, Windows 2008 and Linux Novell servers (state of the art, at the time), and the usual computers, student laptops, tablets, lab computers, thin-clients, and all types of other cool stuff.

Disecting The Hacker Manifesto

Conscience of a Hacker is an essay written by Lloyd Blankenship in 1986 under the pseudonym The Mentor. The Mentor was a member of the original hacker group known as the Legion of Doom, which was well known and is still one of the most recognized hacker groups in history.

Widely considered the most influential piece of literature on the hacker subculture, Conscience of a Hacker, which later became known as The Hacker's Manifesto, was written while Blankenship was serving a prison term and was published by the popular Phrack e-zine "Volume 7, Issue 3." The Hacker's Manifesto has made numerous appearances in several literature pieces and movies, including the movie Hackers (1995). It has been copy-pasted into numerous articles, white-papers, forum postings, boards, and all manner of internet publications.

But what does it really say?

Hacker Evolution: Explaining the hacker subculture

Enter Our World

There is a lot of mystery and mystique surrounding the origin of hackers both in history and their modern development. How do hackers get started? What kind of person does it take to become one? Where do they go to learn? Why do they do it?

This easily and frequently asked question is a difficult one to answer. The kind of person that becomes enthralled with the idea of bending the power of the computational engine to their whim is easy to find, but rarely do you encounter one with the right mindset who is determined enough to pursue the skills necessary to do it. Unlike the movies make it seem, hacking is not easy, it is not theatrical or dramatic, and it certainly isn't done by Hugh Jackman with a few bottles of wine and 8 randomly arranged computer monitors.

Hacking
 --the combined understanding of computer science, networking and hardware for the purpose of testing, subverting and bypassing electronic security--

 is an art-form that takes years of dedicated study and the patience of a saint.

Those looking to become masters of the trade of computer intrusion are in for a very long, frustrating journey, but a rewarding one, if dedicated to seeing it to the end.