hopes

NEW YORK--I feel much less secure after attending the Last HOPE conference this weekend.

Not only is my personal information at risk every time I log onto the Internet and use a cell phone headset or passport, but even my gym locker, bike, and home can easily be accessed with the proper tools and manual dexterity.

In the popular Lockpicking Village area at Last HOPE (Hackers on Planet), I watched guys twirl little pins in all types of locking devices. For some, it took less than a minute to get the locks to snap open. One lock picker even showed … Read more

NEW YORK--The typical image of a hacker is a kid hunched over his keyboard in the wee hours of the night staring at commands on his computer screen that unlock the secrets of the national government.

But, according to someone who knows better, the woman sitting next to you in the airport or Starbucks fiddling with her digital camera while you work on your company's confidential sales data could be just as dangerous.

One of the more fascinating talks at the Last HOPE hacker conference this weekend was by Johnny Long, a security researcher who hacks, writes books on … Read more

NEW YORK--Kevin Mitnick knows that the weakest link in any security system is the person holding the information.

As a young fugitive hacker, he went to jail for breaking into computer networks, mostly by using his cunning and persuasion than his tech skills. He was an early master of the science of social engineering--manipulating people into doing what you want, such as giving out passwords and other information that unlocks sensitive information on networks.

Mitnick and a panel of other hackers discussed their social engineering pranks and gave live demonstrations at the Live HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth) conference late … Read more

The Last HOPE conference, now being held in New York City, is as much for people interested in hacking the real world as it is for computer techies.

One such real world presentation on Friday was called "Undoing Complexity--From Paper Clips to Ball Point Pens." Despite the title, it was about hacking high-security electronic locks from Medeco. (The paper clip in the title is a reference to using one as a way of bypassing one type of security in Medeco locks.) The presentation was very well attended, SRO in a large room.

The presenters, Matt Fiddler and Marc Tobias, … Read more

NEW YORK--Using a laptop, cell phone headset, building access badge, credit cards, or even a passport can make you a walking target for data thieves and other criminals, a security expert warned at the Last HOPE hacker conference here late Friday.

In a frightening but entertaining session entitled "How do I Pwn Thee? Let me Count the Ways" (pwn is hacker speak for "own" or control), a hacker who goes by the alias "RenderMan" explained how most people are at risk and don't even know it.

By now most people probably know they … Read more

If there were ever a place for Defensive Computing, it's at a hacker conference.

So while attending the Last HOPE conference, a number of my previous postings came to mind.

First, there was the list of available Wi-Fi networks (see below) at the conference which, at times, showed four computer-to-computer networks (using the Windows XP terminology). These networks, also known as ad-hoc networks, are not governed by a router. While they may be set up on purpose, they are more likely to be accidental creations on the part of nontechnical computer users, or a purposeful trap set by someone … Read more

NEW YORK--Want to know how to build your own cell phone charger? How about putting an old-fashioned pay phone in your home to make voice over Internet calls?

A team of do-it-yourself technology gurus are creating a video series that will show you how to hack everyday gadgets to get more--and novel--uses out of them.

Limor Fried, who owns the Adafruit Industries electronics building business, and Phillip Torrone, senior editor at Make Magazine, are calling their series "Citizen Engineer." They debuted it at the Last HOPE conference here on Friday.

The video series demonstrates how to create the … Read more

Updated July 18, 7:52 AM PDT with more details about live radio broadcast

NEW YORK--From sessions on how-to create fluorescent mice and crack safes to discussions on losing your privacy in a taxi and complaints about Wikipedia, the Last HOPE conference starting here Friday has something for just about everyone.

The conference is the brainchild of Emmanuel Goldstein, aka Eric Corley, who publishes the notorious 2600 magazine. Corley has seen the community grow from its early days in the1980s with kids going to jail for breaking into the AT&T network, to millions of regular citizens skirting the … Read more

The seventh Hackers on Planet Earth conference, organized by 2600, starts Friday in New York. If you can't be at The Last HOPE, you can listen online.

Radio Statler (the hotel hosting the conference used to be called The Statler) will be broadcasting from radio.hope.net. The station will be live from 10 a.m. ET Friday until the close of the conference at 8 p.m. on Sunday.

There isn't a published schedule, most likely because there isn't an unpublished one, either. Plans are to stream the keynote presentations and other popular seminars, interview some … Read more