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A hacker in a white hat
From: InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 02:39:43 -0500
http://www.bergen.com/biz/hack2420000724.htm Monday, July 24, 2000 By ARIANA EUNJUNG CHA The Washington Post A recent news release describing Brian Martin awards him a most unusual title: ex-hacker. Martin, a thin young man with a wide smile, laughs at the characterization but doesn't dispute it. The security consultant says he used to run with a group of teens and twentysomethings in Denver who would spend their free time "hacking" (breaking into computer systems) and "phreaking" (breaking into phone systems) when they weren't frequenting clubs and bars. He was never caught. But a job teaching computer security at a community college turned him around. "After that, it was strictly nothing questionable," he says. That was more than six years ago. Today, Martin stands among the first generation of hackers now hitting their mid-twenties and thirties who have, as he puts it, "matured." Like Martin, many have become "white hat" hackers, and many of these now-benevolent computer mavens are now among the industry's most respected security professionals. In his spare time, Martin serves as an administrator for the popular Attrition.org security site, which maintains a list of Web site defacements and corrects errors in news reports about computer security issues. He acts as an informal mentor to young hackers who visit his site. He has also served as a consultant for the defense in the government's case against Kevin Mitnick, a hacker icon who made his name by breaking into large computer networks such as those of Novell, Sun Microsystems, and the University of Southern California. Martin was an independent security consultant for two years before moving to the Washington area to work for a consulting company. He says he considers himself lucky because his hobbies are the same as his work and he can't imagine doing anything else for a living. ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com --- To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of "SIGNOFF ISN".
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