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Friday, September 16, 2011
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Hackers... a legend
Hackers are a very diverse bunch, a group simultaneously blamed with causing billions of dollars in damages as well as credited with the development of the World Wide Web and the founding of major tech companies. In this very article I test the theory that truth is better than fiction by introducing you folks to some of the most famous nefarious hackers of all time to let you decide for yourself...! So read on...
ONEJonathan James:
James gained notoriety when he became the first juvenile to be sent to prison for hacking. He was sentenced at 18 years old. His major intrusions targeted high-profile organizations. He installed a backdoor into a Defense Threat Reduction Agency server. The DTRA iz an agency of the Department of Defense charged with reducing the threat to the U.S. and its allies form nuclear, biological, chemical, conventional and special weapons. The backdoor he created enabled him to view sensitive emails and capture employee username and passwords.
James also cracked into NASA computers, stealing software worth approximately $1.7 million. According to the department of justice, “The software supported the International Space Station’s physical environment, including control of the temperature and humidity within the living space.” NASA was forced to shut-down its computer systems, ultimately racking up a $41,000 cost. James explained that he downloaded the code to supplement his studies on C programming, but contended, “The code itself was crappy… certainly not worth $1.7 million like they claimed.”
Given the extent of his intrusions, if James, had been an adult he likely would have served at least 10 years. Instead he was banned form recreational computer use and was slated to serve a six-month sentence under house arrest with probation. However, he served six months in prison for violation of people. Today, James asserts that he’s learned his lesson and might start a computer security company. Good luck James !
TWO
Adrian Lamo:
Lamo’s claim to fame iz his break-ins at major organizations like The New York Times and Microsoft. Dubbed the “homeless-hacker”, he used internet connections at cyber cafés, coffee shops (interesting right?) and libraries to do his intrusions. In a profile article, “He Hacks by Day, Squats by Night,” Lamo reflects, ”I have a laptop in Pittsburgh, a change of clothes in D.C. It kind of redefines the term multi-jurisdictional.”
Lamo’s intrusions consisted mainly of penetration testing, in which he found flaws in security, exploited them and then informed companies of their shortcomings. His hits include Yahoo!, Bank of America, Citigroup and Cingular. When white head hackers are hired by companies to do penetration testing, it’s legal. What Lamo did iz not. When he broke into The New York Times’ intranet, things got serious. He added himself to a list of experts and viewed personal information on contributors, including Social Security numbers. Lamo also hacked into The Times’ LexisNexis account to research high-profile subject matter. For him intrusion at The New York Times, Lamo was ordered to pay approximately $65,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to six months of home confinement and two years of probation, which expired January 2007. Lamo iz currently working as an award-winning journalist and public speaker. Hats off to ya Lamo...
THREE
Kevin Mitnick:
A self-proclaimed “hacker poster boy”, Mitnick went through a highly publicized pursuit by authorities. His mischief was hyped by the media but his actual offences may be less notable than his notoriety suggests. The Department of Justice describes him as “the most wanted computer criminal in United States history”. His exploits were detailed in two movies: Freedom Downtime and Takedown.
Mitnick had a bit of hacking experience before committing the offences that made him famous. He started out exploiting the Los Angeles bus punch card system to get free rides. Then, like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, dabbled in phone phreaking. Although, there were numerous offences, Mitnick was ultimately convicted fro breaking into the Digital Equipment Corporation’s computer network and stealing software.
Mitnick’s mischief got serious when he went on a two and half year “coast-to-coast hacking spree.” The CNN article, “Legendary computer hacker releazed from prison”, explains that “he hacked into computers, stole corporate secrets, scrambled phone networks and broke into the national defense warning system.” He then hacked into computer expert and fellow hacker Tsutomu Shimomura’s home computer, which led to his undoing. Today, Mitnick has been able to move past his role as a black hat hacker and become a productive member of society. He served five years, about 8 months of it in solitary confinement, and iz now a computer security consultant, author and speaker. Carry on dude ..
ONEJonathan James:
James gained notoriety when he became the first juvenile to be sent to prison for hacking. He was sentenced at 18 years old. His major intrusions targeted high-profile organizations. He installed a backdoor into a Defense Threat Reduction Agency server. The DTRA iz an agency of the Department of Defense charged with reducing the threat to the U.S. and its allies form nuclear, biological, chemical, conventional and special weapons. The backdoor he created enabled him to view sensitive emails and capture employee username and passwords.
James also cracked into NASA computers, stealing software worth approximately $1.7 million. According to the department of justice, “The software supported the International Space Station’s physical environment, including control of the temperature and humidity within the living space.” NASA was forced to shut-down its computer systems, ultimately racking up a $41,000 cost. James explained that he downloaded the code to supplement his studies on C programming, but contended, “The code itself was crappy… certainly not worth $1.7 million like they claimed.”
Given the extent of his intrusions, if James, had been an adult he likely would have served at least 10 years. Instead he was banned form recreational computer use and was slated to serve a six-month sentence under house arrest with probation. However, he served six months in prison for violation of people. Today, James asserts that he’s learned his lesson and might start a computer security company. Good luck James !
TWO
Adrian Lamo:
Lamo’s claim to fame iz his break-ins at major organizations like The New York Times and Microsoft. Dubbed the “homeless-hacker”, he used internet connections at cyber cafés, coffee shops (interesting right?) and libraries to do his intrusions. In a profile article, “He Hacks by Day, Squats by Night,” Lamo reflects, ”I have a laptop in Pittsburgh, a change of clothes in D.C. It kind of redefines the term multi-jurisdictional.”
Lamo’s intrusions consisted mainly of penetration testing, in which he found flaws in security, exploited them and then informed companies of their shortcomings. His hits include Yahoo!, Bank of America, Citigroup and Cingular. When white head hackers are hired by companies to do penetration testing, it’s legal. What Lamo did iz not. When he broke into The New York Times’ intranet, things got serious. He added himself to a list of experts and viewed personal information on contributors, including Social Security numbers. Lamo also hacked into The Times’ LexisNexis account to research high-profile subject matter. For him intrusion at The New York Times, Lamo was ordered to pay approximately $65,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to six months of home confinement and two years of probation, which expired January 2007. Lamo iz currently working as an award-winning journalist and public speaker. Hats off to ya Lamo...
THREE
Kevin Mitnick:
A self-proclaimed “hacker poster boy”, Mitnick went through a highly publicized pursuit by authorities. His mischief was hyped by the media but his actual offences may be less notable than his notoriety suggests. The Department of Justice describes him as “the most wanted computer criminal in United States history”. His exploits were detailed in two movies: Freedom Downtime and Takedown.
Mitnick had a bit of hacking experience before committing the offences that made him famous. He started out exploiting the Los Angeles bus punch card system to get free rides. Then, like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, dabbled in phone phreaking. Although, there were numerous offences, Mitnick was ultimately convicted fro breaking into the Digital Equipment Corporation’s computer network and stealing software.
Mitnick’s mischief got serious when he went on a two and half year “coast-to-coast hacking spree.” The CNN article, “Legendary computer hacker releazed from prison”, explains that “he hacked into computers, stole corporate secrets, scrambled phone networks and broke into the national defense warning system.” He then hacked into computer expert and fellow hacker Tsutomu Shimomura’s home computer, which led to his undoing. Today, Mitnick has been able to move past his role as a black hat hacker and become a productive member of society. He served five years, about 8 months of it in solitary confinement, and iz now a computer security consultant, author and speaker. Carry on dude ..
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Amazing Death Trivia Continued....
In 1355, when King Pedro of Portugal was crowned, he dug up his mistress to have her properly honored as queen. Loyal subjects bowed before the decorated corpse and had to kiss her hand. That was nice of him - most women can't even get their husbands to take them out to a simple dinner while they're alive ...
By law, all executed criminals in the U.S. have to have an autopsy to determine cause of death. I guess "He was executed by lethal injection" isn't good enough...
If you're planning on being cryogenically frozen, the ideal time to start the procedure is within 10 minutes of death.
The first recorded means of execution is stoning. It was usually a public participation sport, and it was considered bad form to hit the victim in the head. The preferred method was to keep the victim conscious and suffering for as long as possible from internal injuries and broken bones. Think that's horrible? They still do this in some countries. To women. Only.
Henry the VIII executed some 72,000 subjects. His favorite method was boiling people to death .
The ashes of astronomer Eugene Shoemaker were put aboard the 1999 Lunar Prospector flight and was "control" crashed into a crater to give him a moon burial.
William Kemmler was the first person to be executed in the electric chair in 1890, at Auburn Prison in New York. It was a disaster. The executioner had to administer several rounds of juice while Kemmler kicked, seared, smoked, thrashed and convulsed, finally dying after 8 minutes. An autopsy showed he literally cooked to death, from the inside out.
An eternal flame lamp at the tomb of a Buddhist priest in Nara, Japan has been tended to and kept burning for 1,133 years (2009)
From the 1850s to the 1880s, the most common reason for death among cowboys in the American West was being dragged by a horse while their foot was still caught in the stirrups. Then I guess someone noticed this and said, "Hey! We ought to be more careful!" So it stopped.
When Thomas Edison died in 1931, his pal Henry Ford trapped the inventor's last dying breath in a bottle.
King Cambyses of Persia (525 BC) marched 50,000 troops into the desert to attack Amun, on the Libyan border. A sandstorm of epic proportions boiled up and buried them all.
The leading cause of death to military personnel in US in peace time is drunk driving.
Murderers, on average, are 7.5 years younger than their victims.
The Viet Nam Memorial has the names of 38 people engraved on it who are listed as killed, but weren't.
Extreme cold is more lethal to humans than extreme heat. Cold makes you sleepy, and when you fall asleep, you die.
Actor Bela Lagosi was buried in his favorite Dracula cape.
Japanese factory worker Kenji Urada became the first known fatality 'caused by robot' in July, 1981, in a car plant.
It would take more than 2.5 minutes to fall from the top of Mt. Everest. Then you'd go --->S P L A T <---
It's a myth that there's a "curse of King Tut's tomb " and 'most ' of the people who were present at the opening of the tomb died swift, horrible deaths. Of the 22 present at it's opening, 21 were alive 10 years later.
In the 'old days' men and women used a Laff Riot of deadly substances for cosmetics, which would often lead to their insanity and death.
Lead was used for that pale white skin in the form of Lead white and Venetian Ceruse, which was absorbed into the skin, into the tissues and blood and caused acute lead poisoning.
Mercury, in the form of mercury sublimate or "Solman's Water" was used to remove warts and bleach freckles. Ditto.
Belladonna, a fatally toxic hallucinogen, was used to redden cheeks and lips.
It's said that most people who commit suicide 'arrange' it so the people/person they want to 'punish' or give a final "See I told you so" find the body.
Armadillos and humans are the only animals that get leprosy.
The most common animal people on their death beds or in death hallucinations/visions report seeing is a grey or black dog.
More men than women commit suicide over love affairs gone wrong. This clearly shows that Men are DITCHED :)
It is a myth that In the 20 years of the Great California Gold Rush (1849) lots of people were killed by Red Indians, actally about 300,000 died from disease and 362 were killed by Red Indians.
When Anne Boleyn was beheaded, so was her dog, Urian. Guess that showed her.
It's estimated that in one hour, Genghis Khan's army killed 1,748,000 people. Each of his men was ordered to kill as many people as they could until they dropped from exhaustion, and bring the ears of the victims to the officers for proof.
Chocolate is lethal to dogs. Doesn't take much.
Elephants have been known to die of broken hearts if a mate dies. They refuse to eat and will lay down, shedding tears until they starve to death. They refuse all human help.
Union General John Sedgewick was killed during the Battle of Spotsylvania on May 9, 1864 while sitting on his horse and making the comment that the confederate troops were so inept that they "couldn't hit an elephant from this dis - - - " Those were his last words.
Direct Dialing inspired by death -> Almon Strowger was one of two undertakers who worked in Kansas City in the 1800s. When a dear friend died, he thought it was pretty strange he hadn't been called by the family to take care of the funeral arrangements. It just so happened that the only telephone operator in Kansas City, who received and directed all the city's phone calls, was the other undertaker's wife. Hmmm.... Strowger didn't get mad, he got even. He invented the world's first automatic telephone exchange system (and the first dial phone) making it possible for people to dial numbers directly and not have to use operators. Take that.
By law, all executed criminals in the U.S. have to have an autopsy to determine cause of death. I guess "He was executed by lethal injection" isn't good enough...
If you're planning on being cryogenically frozen, the ideal time to start the procedure is within 10 minutes of death.
The first recorded means of execution is stoning. It was usually a public participation sport, and it was considered bad form to hit the victim in the head. The preferred method was to keep the victim conscious and suffering for as long as possible from internal injuries and broken bones. Think that's horrible? They still do this in some countries. To women. Only.
Henry the VIII executed some 72,000 subjects. His favorite method was boiling people to death .
The ashes of astronomer Eugene Shoemaker were put aboard the 1999 Lunar Prospector flight and was "control" crashed into a crater to give him a moon burial.
William Kemmler was the first person to be executed in the electric chair in 1890, at Auburn Prison in New York. It was a disaster. The executioner had to administer several rounds of juice while Kemmler kicked, seared, smoked, thrashed and convulsed, finally dying after 8 minutes. An autopsy showed he literally cooked to death, from the inside out.
An eternal flame lamp at the tomb of a Buddhist priest in Nara, Japan has been tended to and kept burning for 1,133 years (2009)
From the 1850s to the 1880s, the most common reason for death among cowboys in the American West was being dragged by a horse while their foot was still caught in the stirrups. Then I guess someone noticed this and said, "Hey! We ought to be more careful!" So it stopped.
When Thomas Edison died in 1931, his pal Henry Ford trapped the inventor's last dying breath in a bottle.
King Cambyses of Persia (525 BC) marched 50,000 troops into the desert to attack Amun, on the Libyan border. A sandstorm of epic proportions boiled up and buried them all.
The leading cause of death to military personnel in US in peace time is drunk driving.
Murderers, on average, are 7.5 years younger than their victims.
The Viet Nam Memorial has the names of 38 people engraved on it who are listed as killed, but weren't.
Extreme cold is more lethal to humans than extreme heat. Cold makes you sleepy, and when you fall asleep, you die.
Actor Bela Lagosi was buried in his favorite Dracula cape.
Japanese factory worker Kenji Urada became the first known fatality 'caused by robot' in July, 1981, in a car plant.
It would take more than 2.5 minutes to fall from the top of Mt. Everest. Then you'd go --->S P L A T <---
It's a myth that there's a "curse of King Tut's tomb " and 'most ' of the people who were present at the opening of the tomb died swift, horrible deaths. Of the 22 present at it's opening, 21 were alive 10 years later.
In the 'old days' men and women used a Laff Riot of deadly substances for cosmetics, which would often lead to their insanity and death.
Lead was used for that pale white skin in the form of Lead white and Venetian Ceruse, which was absorbed into the skin, into the tissues and blood and caused acute lead poisoning.
Mercury, in the form of mercury sublimate or "Solman's Water" was used to remove warts and bleach freckles. Ditto.
Belladonna, a fatally toxic hallucinogen, was used to redden cheeks and lips.
It's said that most people who commit suicide 'arrange' it so the people/person they want to 'punish' or give a final "See I told you so" find the body.
Armadillos and humans are the only animals that get leprosy.
The most common animal people on their death beds or in death hallucinations/visions report seeing is a grey or black dog.
More men than women commit suicide over love affairs gone wrong. This clearly shows that Men are DITCHED :)
It is a myth that In the 20 years of the Great California Gold Rush (1849) lots of people were killed by Red Indians, actally about 300,000 died from disease and 362 were killed by Red Indians.
When Anne Boleyn was beheaded, so was her dog, Urian. Guess that showed her.
It's estimated that in one hour, Genghis Khan's army killed 1,748,000 people. Each of his men was ordered to kill as many people as they could until they dropped from exhaustion, and bring the ears of the victims to the officers for proof.
Chocolate is lethal to dogs. Doesn't take much.
Elephants have been known to die of broken hearts if a mate dies. They refuse to eat and will lay down, shedding tears until they starve to death. They refuse all human help.
Union General John Sedgewick was killed during the Battle of Spotsylvania on May 9, 1864 while sitting on his horse and making the comment that the confederate troops were so inept that they "couldn't hit an elephant from this dis - - - " Those were his last words.
Direct Dialing inspired by death -> Almon Strowger was one of two undertakers who worked in Kansas City in the 1800s. When a dear friend died, he thought it was pretty strange he hadn't been called by the family to take care of the funeral arrangements. It just so happened that the only telephone operator in Kansas City, who received and directed all the city's phone calls, was the other undertaker's wife. Hmmm.... Strowger didn't get mad, he got even. He invented the world's first automatic telephone exchange system (and the first dial phone) making it possible for people to dial numbers directly and not have to use operators. Take that.
Amazing Death Trivia
Jerome Rodale, who founded The Rodale Press publishing house, was taping an interview on the Dick Cavett Talk show. He was bragging about how he was so healthy he'd live to be 100 when he slumped over, dead from a heart attack. The show was never broadcast to the public because it'd be kinda funny.
Pope Johann XII died at age 18 after being beaten to death by his lover's husband.
Jim Fixx, who wrote "The Complete Book of Running" and lectured about how running and a healthy diet would promote longevity, dropped dead from a heart attack while running. An autopsy revealed he had 3 massively blocked heart arteries.
In ancient Japan, it was thought that somewhere on the tail of a cat there was a single hair that would restore life to a dying person. Relatives would sometimes bring a cat to the dying person, letting them pluck a hair to try their luck. So they'd die anyway, but with a cat swatting their face with their claws...
It's impossible to kill yourself by holding your breath, so if a kid pulls that on you, say, "That's nice, dear. Go right ahead.."
Cosmic Irony - The person who wrote the famous song, "Keep the Home Fires Burning" burnt to death when their home caught fire.
In 1970, television newsman Chris Hubbock announced, "In keeping with Channel 40's policy of always bringing you the latest in gore and guts in living color, you're about to see another first - an attempted suicide". Then she pulled out a gun and fatally shot herself in the head.
Eric II, King of Denmark, died in 1104. He was known as Eric the Memorable. No one remembers why...
Nosophilia refers to those who get sexually aroused by the knowledge that a partner is terminally ill. They will even stake out support groups for those with terminal illness like others flock to dating services, pretending to have had a family member or friend that passed from the disease, which is why they're there "trying to learn". . Oh, so that's why they're so attentive and understanding!
Napoleon killed over a thousand people with a cough. In 1799 he was deciding whether to release 1,200 Turkish prisoners of war when he coughed and said, "Ma sacré toux!" (my darned cough) which sounded to officers like "Massacrez tous!" (Kill them all!). So they did.
Paul Revere was the fist person to ever identify a body by dental records. He recognized the dead man because of work he had done joining two teeth together with silver wire.
The most expensive funeral so far was that of Alexander the Great. It'd cost about $600,000,000 in today's money. One of the reasons was the building of a road from Babylon to Alexandria, big enough move a jewel studded hearse the size of a small building which was pulled by 64 horses. .
The French playwright Molière became sick and died while playing the role of a hypochondriac in his play "The Imaginary Invalid".
Necrosadism is sadistic acts on corpses for sexual arousal. Jeffrey Dahmer as well as most serial killers do this.
Mummies were so plentiful when first discovered that they were ground up and sold as fertilizer and put into medicines.
Mysophilia is the practice of ingesting the body fluids of corpses, particularly urine.
A few months before he got killed in a car accident, James Dean made a driver's safety TV ad in which he said, "Drive safely; the life you save may be mine".
Elvis and Charles Schultz were the #1 and #2 money earning dead people in 2002. Elvis made $31 million; Schultz made $9 million
Playwright Tennessee Williams died after choking on the cap of a bottle of eyedrops (one man wrote me to say he knew a woman who knew TW personally and that it had been an aspirin bottle cap). He was a habitual pill-taker and drunk, and in an impaired state he put the cap in his mouth, mistaking it for another pill. It got stuck; The End.
Mark Twain, born on a year Halley's Comet visited us, correctly predicted he would die the next time it came by.
It is a myth that the hair and nails grow after death ;the skin shrinks, giving the illusion of their growth.
Crematoria ovens heat typically to 1,100-1,300 F and will burn up a 180 lb. man in about an hour and a half. There's always bones and chunks left; everything is then ground up and those are the 'ashes' you get back.
The Cunard Line, which owns the Queen Elizabeth II, has a service by which relatives can book passage for deceased if they want to be buried at sea. Here in Chicago we just put them in a sack and throw them in the river. Much cheaper :)
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry is the first person to have their ashes put aboard a rocket and "buried" in space.
The word 'mausoleum' comes from the memorial tomb of Mausolus, ruler of Caria, who died in 353 B.C. When he died his wife had him cremated, mixed his ashes with water, and drank him. Cheers!
Pope Johann XII died at age 18 after being beaten to death by his lover's husband.
Jim Fixx, who wrote "The Complete Book of Running" and lectured about how running and a healthy diet would promote longevity, dropped dead from a heart attack while running. An autopsy revealed he had 3 massively blocked heart arteries.
In ancient Japan, it was thought that somewhere on the tail of a cat there was a single hair that would restore life to a dying person. Relatives would sometimes bring a cat to the dying person, letting them pluck a hair to try their luck. So they'd die anyway, but with a cat swatting their face with their claws...
It's impossible to kill yourself by holding your breath, so if a kid pulls that on you, say, "That's nice, dear. Go right ahead.."
Cosmic Irony - The person who wrote the famous song, "Keep the Home Fires Burning" burnt to death when their home caught fire.
In 1970, television newsman Chris Hubbock announced, "In keeping with Channel 40's policy of always bringing you the latest in gore and guts in living color, you're about to see another first - an attempted suicide". Then she pulled out a gun and fatally shot herself in the head.
Eric II, King of Denmark, died in 1104. He was known as Eric the Memorable. No one remembers why...
Nosophilia refers to those who get sexually aroused by the knowledge that a partner is terminally ill. They will even stake out support groups for those with terminal illness like others flock to dating services, pretending to have had a family member or friend that passed from the disease, which is why they're there "trying to learn". . Oh, so that's why they're so attentive and understanding!
Napoleon killed over a thousand people with a cough. In 1799 he was deciding whether to release 1,200 Turkish prisoners of war when he coughed and said, "Ma sacré toux!" (my darned cough) which sounded to officers like "Massacrez tous!" (Kill them all!). So they did.
Paul Revere was the fist person to ever identify a body by dental records. He recognized the dead man because of work he had done joining two teeth together with silver wire.
The most expensive funeral so far was that of Alexander the Great. It'd cost about $600,000,000 in today's money. One of the reasons was the building of a road from Babylon to Alexandria, big enough move a jewel studded hearse the size of a small building which was pulled by 64 horses. .
The French playwright Molière became sick and died while playing the role of a hypochondriac in his play "The Imaginary Invalid".
Necrosadism is sadistic acts on corpses for sexual arousal. Jeffrey Dahmer as well as most serial killers do this.
Mummies were so plentiful when first discovered that they were ground up and sold as fertilizer and put into medicines.
Mysophilia is the practice of ingesting the body fluids of corpses, particularly urine.
A few months before he got killed in a car accident, James Dean made a driver's safety TV ad in which he said, "Drive safely; the life you save may be mine".
Elvis and Charles Schultz were the #1 and #2 money earning dead people in 2002. Elvis made $31 million; Schultz made $9 million
Playwright Tennessee Williams died after choking on the cap of a bottle of eyedrops (one man wrote me to say he knew a woman who knew TW personally and that it had been an aspirin bottle cap). He was a habitual pill-taker and drunk, and in an impaired state he put the cap in his mouth, mistaking it for another pill. It got stuck; The End.
Mark Twain, born on a year Halley's Comet visited us, correctly predicted he would die the next time it came by.
It is a myth that the hair and nails grow after death ;the skin shrinks, giving the illusion of their growth.
Crematoria ovens heat typically to 1,100-1,300 F and will burn up a 180 lb. man in about an hour and a half. There's always bones and chunks left; everything is then ground up and those are the 'ashes' you get back.
The Cunard Line, which owns the Queen Elizabeth II, has a service by which relatives can book passage for deceased if they want to be buried at sea. Here in Chicago we just put them in a sack and throw them in the river. Much cheaper :)
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry is the first person to have their ashes put aboard a rocket and "buried" in space.
The word 'mausoleum' comes from the memorial tomb of Mausolus, ruler of Caria, who died in 353 B.C. When he died his wife had him cremated, mixed his ashes with water, and drank him. Cheers!
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