NEWSLETTER

Hacking was introduced to the mainstream by a magazine back in 1971, when they published an article about a Vietnam veteran who discovered that a free whistle, which he’d got in his Cap’n Crunch cereal box, could be blown down a public phone to obtain free calls. Today, hacking has become a very real subculture that’s seen many of those involved rack up years behind bars, as well as millions of dollars worth of damage to corporations and individuals who have fallen victim to the cyber thug.

A few months ago there was an incident in Melbourne whereby hundreds of subscribers to a specific mobile phone service (which provides updates on public transport times) received a message along the lines of: “Next time you catch the tram, your driver is going to kill you”. This was obviously the work of a mildly sophisticated hacker with a strange sense of humour and an abundance of spare time and while we have no idea how or why they did it, for some reason it stuck with us and became the inspiration for us speaking to this guy. We had heard about a monthly meeting held by some people who run The Hacker Quarterly magazine and figured we’d go along to see if they’d be all guarded monosyllabic responses, or keen to show off how deeply nerdy they actually are. Luckily, they fell somewhere in between and we eventually managed to drag Nitro away from his game of World of Warcraft and ply him with sufficient alcohol to get him talking.

Vice: How old were you when you started hacking?

Nitro: At 12 I had some interest and by 15 I was what you would consider a full-blown hacker—working in the industry and constantly involved in various hacking and phreaking activities.

What the hell is phreaking?

Phreaking is the art of hacking phones to get free calls and other fun things.

What’s the appeal for you?

Originally I just wanted to break stuff, but as I came to realise that there was more to it, I was driven to learn as much as I possibly could. By 15 it was a lifestyle more than a hobby and it became more about exposing corruption and promoting freedom of information and communication. I believe phone and Internet should be free for everyone in the world. Oh, I also saw the movie Hackers and wanted to out-do a wannabe hacker in high school. He ended up working on a fishing trawler.

Tell us about the virus your dad invented?

My father attended some computer course in the early 80s, when the end user had a lot more control of the hardware and you would often need to write your own software to do anything with the computer system. My dad wrote a virus which took control of the hard disk and would physically smash the heads inside the HDD from side to side really fast, causing major damage inside the drive.

Wow. How big is the hacking community in Australia?

The hacking community is all but dead I’m afraid. However with the way technology is expanding it won’t be too long before a new bunch of angry kids decide it’s time to carve up some computers.

What is the difference between what you call a script kiddie and a hacker?

Script kiddies use pre-written programs and scripts to gain access to servers or manipulate a piece of software or hardware to do what they want, whereas a hacker will just pick at anything until they find a hole, then slowly pry the hole open until it’s big enough to fit through.

What’s the difference between a ‘black hat’ and ‘white hat’ hacker?

A black hat is a hacker that likes to break stuff. A white hat is hacker that likes to break stuff but is too scared of the law so decided to go legit. They are also known as security experts.


TO BE CONTINUED:
IT’S IN THE COMPUTER | 1 | 2 |

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