Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] 31337 kiddies, security story (other side),self-defense, and ran ge shooting

[Michael <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Mon, 2 Apr 2001, Deterding, Brent D (UMC-Student) wrote:

> No joke. At LEAST run War-FTPD or something . . . :) Seriously, people were
> like "I can't figure it out." That was before my linux days. so War-FTP was
> pretty 'leet then. hehe Hey, it got me into computers and networks way back
> when, so I consider all those experiences well worth it. 

Exactly one reason I'm against using legal action against people for
running port scans and other minor stuff. If you never learn to think like
a bad guy you'll suck at being a good guy. I usda love writing computer
viruses (virii was the original term before being normalized for media
coverage) and it helped get me into programming and AI. I also did some
hacking stuff which was taught to me by a hacker friend that ended up
working for the government when he got out of college.

> Although, on a serious note. I hung out with some not-so-good people in high
> school (online only). When it went too far (like just morally reprehensible
> stuff) I blew the whistle on them, to their strong retaliation against my
> family and I. Since I knew what they did and how they did it I could protect
> us; but it made daily life kind of crappy for a long time. These people were
> good and used social engineering to it's worst possible extent. Tried to
> fake hospital visits, psychologists records, credit cards, phone cards,
> plain o harassment (work, home, phone, school, you name it), and the
> standard internet harassment (web pages, telling everyone they could find
> all about me and my family with instructions to harass). It got pretty
> nasty. hehe My parents had just seen this 60 minutes special and went "Do
> you have the internet? You don't do "chat rooms" do you?". Try explaining
> IRC to that. A few weeks later a few suits show up and want to pin this
> entire groups 4-year history of a list of felonies on me. Yeah, that was
> fun. Loads. Now, when existing technology couldn't do anything to track
> these people you can imagine how much fun this was. So, after going through
> that for a few years and having it tear up my family pretty badly I got
> nailed for an FTP site. Yeah, that was another fun one. 

True. Luckily my parents were so used to me being utterly weird they
wern't really surprised by anything and pretty much lost interest long
before I got into hacking etc.. my years as a pyromaniac probably were
more disturbing.. my favorite retort was people sending me dead animals
and such by US mail. Nobody ever really tried any serious revenge on me
but then I never really told on anyone. That and since I sponsored 'find a
new way to kill me' and 'send me your panties and i'll dress in drag' type
events on my sites I would assume people figured most types of attacks on
me were useless. Being a total nut can be a really good form of security.

> So when I'm "overly-paranoid" it's because I've been on both sides and know
> how these people think and what they can do. So I'm really-big on security,
> ESPECIALLY physical security (of myself). I may be a scrawny white boy, but
> it's probably not a good idea to mess with me. Just because I'm smart and
> very aware and have multiple defensive measures to protect myself against
> pretty much anything from any weapon and any range (well, OK - you could
> snipe me). 

I'm very paranoid and have this whole cynical X-Files thing going on
probably because of that. Luckily I'm a large scary guy who grew up in a
family that thought highly of knowing how to use firearms, knives, etc and
I was paranoid and always thought the government was out to kill me when I
was in highschool so I learned a lot about explosives and was really into
things like easily hidden thrown weapons (knife throwing, star throwing,
etc). I'm relaxed enough now that I usually don't bother carrying any
weapons anymore but I probably still know quite a few ways to hurt
people. I was never any good at martial arts (I guess my zen was
wrong.. and when I first took lessons I was the only child in the
class.) but usda love kickboxing and fencing. Since I grew so fast my
balance went all to hell which fucked up a lot of that stuff for me but
it'd be fun to learn again.
 
> Speaking of weapons. My new hobby is range shooting (no I don't carry nor do
> I plan on doing so). Last Sat. after Security Essentials I went to Target
> Masters down on RangeLine. Now, in IL they make you have a FOID (Firearms
> Owners ID) that is registered. Plus when you go to a range you have to show
> it, sign a long rules/reg/disclaimer form (every time), and then they make
> sure you know proper safety. I go into Range Masters and they just handed me
> a gun (Glock 17 9mm), ammo, safety goggles and ears, and let me go. They
> asked to see my ID because my credit card says "Ask for ID." Now, I'm big on
> the 2nd amendment and against big brother in general, but come on! Now, if
> you just tried to run out with the stuff you'd be shot dead before you got
> away, but just letting anyone in is plain stupid. Seriously, go try it; it's
> a ways down Rangeline. They'll hand anyone a weapon and ammo. 

I always liked guns and especially crossbows. Seriously trying to keep
people from buying a gun is useless. You can build a basic and very usable
gun in a couple hours if you have access to a metal shop. Hell you could
make something like a blackpowder pistol which works just fine for robbing
a 7/11 and nobody would have any way to trace where it came from. I'm sure
the cops would find it an interesting case at least. Robbing people with
guns that fire great big metal slugs or grapeshot. :)

> Anyway, I'm going back to sharpening knifes, listening to cadences, and
> target shooting while watching my IDS with a watchful eye and a shotgun on
> my lap . . . hahaha j/k

I keep thinking of designing a robot that can identify and target threats
and blow them away. Would be interesting to add to a server room. Or go
with an easier design and use a flame thrower (rememeber that aussie car
alarm with the flame thrower built in?) to torch the intruders. :)

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