I've been part of the 'hacking scene' for around four years now, and I'm disgusted by what some
so-called hackers are doing these days. Groups with names like "milw0rm" and "Dist0rt" think that
hacking is about defacing web pages and destroying web sites. These childish little punks start
stupid little 'cyber wars' between their groups of crackers. They brag about their hacking skillz
on the pages that they crack, and all for what? For fame, of course.

Back when I was into hacking servers, I never once left my name/handle or any other evidence of
who I was on the server. I rarely ever changed web-pages (I did change a site run by a person I
know was committing mail fraud with the aid of his site), and I always made sure I had root if I
were going to modify anything. I always made sure the logs were wiped clean of my presence, and
when I was certain I couldn't be caught, I informed the system administrator of the security hole
that I used to get in through.

I know that four years is not a very long time, but in my four years, I've seen a lot change.
Yes, there are still newbies, those who want to learn, but are possibly on the wrong track, maybe
they're using tools like Back Orifice, just as many used e-mail bombers when I was new to the
scene. Groups like milw0rm seem to be made up of a bunch of immature kids that're having fun with
the exploits they found at rootshell.com, and are making idiots of themselves to the real hacking
community.

Nobody is perfect, but it seems that many of todays newbies are headed down a path to nowhere.
Hacking is not about defacing a web page, nor making a name for yourself. Hacking is about many
different things, learning about new operating systems, learning programming languages, learning
as much as you can about as many things as you can. Immerse yourself in a pool of technical data,
get some good books. Install Linux or *BSD. Learn, learn everything you can. Life is short, don't
waste your time fighting petty little wars and searching for fame. Being someone who's had a web
site with over a quarter-million hits, I can tell you, fame isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Go out and do what makes you happy. Don't worry about what anybody thinks. Go create something
that will be useful for people, don't destroy the hard work of others. If you find a security
hole in a server, notify the system administrator, and point them in the direction of how to fix
the hole. It's much more rewarding to help people than it is to destroy their work.

In closing, I hope this article has helped to open the eyes of people that're defacing web sites.
I hope you think about what I've said, and take it to heart. The craze over hacking web pages has
gone on far too long. Too much work has been destroyed. How would you feel if it were YOUR hard
work that was destroyed?

Anonymous
01-04-1999