Preface
For Teenagers (Adults can read this too.)
Keep it legal. That is the first thing I have to tell you. You can keep it legal and do lots of stuff. Amazing stuff. Super computer guru stuff. If you are good, you can even make money doing it1. But, keep it legal. For not a lot of money, even for free, you can get old computers, computers left on the street; use free open source software and build your own network. Real live, legitimate, super star hackers do it. You can too. I will discuss how to do these things. But, keep it legal.
You can quite legally do all the hacking you want on a lot of open source projects. Find bugs. Hack operating systems—of your own computers. Post your findings. Get kudus. Be noticed. If you wish to pursue cyber security as a career, when you go looking for a job; you will have an impressive portfolio.
If you feel a burning need to hack into someone else’s network and computer. Preferably a three lettered governmental agency, I will offer you a legal suggestion. You can even get $100,000- for your college tuition, should you succeed. That beats college loans or selling your butt to the U.S. Army for 4 years! The FBI has a computer somewhere, on a network, that has a file on it. Retrieve it. Tell the FBI how you did it. Collect your reward or engineering prize. Whatever you feel like calling it. Maybe they will give you a job! Come on! How cool would that be!
I will give you one clue: A simple phishing attack with an email with an executable Trojan Horse virus attachment; won’t work. If you don’t know what that means, you will by the time you have finished reading this book. That is all I will tell you about that particular hacking project.
Consider this your first hacking assignment. Find out everything you can about the FBI’s offer. The reward. Is there still a reward? Find out how to collect your reward. I mean really, do you want go through all that work and not get paid? Maybe the FBI has rescinded their offer? Maybe you need parental permission to collect? Figure out where the server is. Figure out its IP address. Find out what attacks other people launched. Did they succeed or fail? Come up with an attack and keep on trying!
There is a suggestion implied in this book. I will discuss certain technologies and hacking strategies, that should enable you to try and succeed at this hacking project.
As far as I know, this computer has never been hacked and the reward never collected. Now, that would be something really outstanding to put on your college or job application! Definitely would look fantastic on a resume.
As for the age restriction, this is important. Some companies are up front, that they will not pay minors for a “bug bounty”. The company may offer a reward to researchers who find bugs in their software but, only to adults, 18 years or over. This FBI reward, as far as I know, is available to minors. If you are under 18 and find a way in, you can collect.
The Pentagon has started a new program, “Hack the Pentagon”. This program requires U.S. citizenship or the right to work in the U.S. and a social security number. I did not see an age requirement in their registration announcement. That may change.
It is worthy to go onto such sites and review past posts as to what was and what was not considered worthy of paying a bounty. Also, reviewing past submissions will teach you a lot! Oh yeah, and how cool would it be to have “hacked the Pentagon”!
Do not try to hack a foreign nation’s computer network. Do not try to hack a foreign company’s or bank’s computer network. It is just as illegal and hacking a domestic company or bank. That will bring you lots of trouble.
Think a moment. Do you really want to start WWIII by hacking some foreign country’s bank or power grid? Do you think the FBI will let you start WWIII? They will put all their resources into finding you; stopping you and arresting you2 3.
Ask yourself this, ‘Do your parents have lots of money to spend on your legal defense?’ ‘Will they?’ I know a guy, who was in a riot at his high school dance. He was arrested. His father who had immigrated to the U.S. from communist China and survived the cultural revolution, refused to pay the $10- to bail his son out. He wanted his son to stay the night in jail and think about what he had done.
I also know a guy who just associated with hackers who hacked into a network and disrupted an FBI investigation. Since the FBI couldn’t arrest the real hackers, because they were under 18, the FBI arrested their associate for discussing with the hackers how networks work. Even though, he had no idea what the hackers were hacking. He got out of it after spending some money on lawyers. A harrowing experience. Do you want to go through that?
Ever heard of Chris Rouland? Google him. Famous hacker. He hacked into the Pentagon. Instead of arresting him, they offered him a deal. Work for us and we won’t prosecute you. Think you’re that good? Think they’ll offer you a deal? Rethink your position.
I know a guy who got involved in money laundering. Laundered millions. Got arrested along with his cohorts. His partner got a lawyer, who was paid $100K for the day. The lawyer arranged a plea bargain. Think you can afford that? Do you have what to offer for a deal? I don’t think so.
You can have serious trouble from hacking. It is a crime. Serious jail. Serious probation. Future job prospects are nil. Chances of getting a good job are have been zero. Forget about ever getting a government job. Maybe as a freelance computer consultant you will be able to make a decent living. Or, you’ll be flipping burgers or working on the computers in daddy’s office.
Keep it legal.
Also, I have seen a lot of what goes on in court. It isn’t pretty, fair or even remotely resemble justice. I wouldn’t risk it and don’t recommend you do either.
The Cops. This is a profile of the police. This will not be very flattering to the police (or other law enforcement). This as well as the section on prosecutors and judges was a tough call to include or not. But, you need to know this. If I can’t reason with you and convince you that you should be law abiding, perhaps I can scare you. Not that I get my jollies from inflicting pain. Just the opposite. I wish to help you avoid pain.
Number 1. There are 3 basic reasons why people become police.
It’s a job type. Do your 15 or 30 years of “service” without getting shot or crippled. Maybe get a good gig filling out paperwork. Retire with a nice pension. If you come across trouble, call for backup.
Truth, Justice & America types. (Law & Order types for the non-Americans who haven’t a clue.) These kind may try to do some social work, big brother stuff, PAL (Police Athletic League) and so on. They deserve our respect for putting themselves in danger to protect others.
Then, there is the bully, abusive maniac looking for a legal justification for his abusiveness—who slipped through the cracks and psych exams trying to weed out the whackos.
I can’t tell you the distribution; How many of each kind there is percentage-wise. But, these are the 3 main kind of cops.
Number 2. The profile of the police is very similar to the profile of criminals4. Criminals have “a coffee cigarette personality”5. So, do the police.
Let me list a few of the qualities, which I will soon explain in detail: Arrogant know-it-alls; Liars; Abusive Bullies; Can’t be trusted; Believe the ends justify the means; No Conscience. The footnote discusses the anti-social behavior.
Number 3. In plain English, they are not smart.6 7 8 They are not Sherlock Holmes’es. They are not great detectives. In fact, this was finally leaked to the public, in irrefutable court documents, when the police asserted their right to refuse to hire people who are too intelligent.
What does this mean to you? Why am I telling you this?
If you are the smart kid and have been bullied by the football team, the police are like the football team, on steroids, with guns, the law on their side, almost infinite funds to fund their harassment of you, and no constraints, no boundaries. They are paid to harass you. You don’t want to get on their bad side.
These are people with mega inferiority complexes, who assuage their feelings of intellectual inferiority by abusing the smart. You are their target.
They lie. Did I mention that?
What this means in practical terms is, you can’t trust them They will twist what you say to convict you and make you appear a criminal. Even if they know it is a lie. They will slander and libel you in public without any conscience.9 10
They will lie to you in effort to gain false trust so you will confess to them. They will lie about you. They will lie in court, under oath. I have seen it all.
They justify their lying because they are only lying to liars anyway. They justify their criminal behavior, because they are only screwing criminals anyway.
Having worked with off duty cops, doing security, I have heard the confessions about barging into residences without a warrant and telling the judge, “The door was open.” This is real. I have heard cops say, “Who is the judge gonna believe, me in uniform or some lowlife guy…”. This is real.
A lot of them only care about their “collar”, scoring points and making their arrest. How legit the arrest is; how correct the arrest is; if they have gotten the right guy, is not on the top of their list. Unless, it becomes obvious, that you are really the wrong the person.
This is of course, the worse case scenario. But, it happens often enough, especially when you are the target. Nevertheless, as anti-police as these statements are, we can not live in a society without police. Or; people would just abuse and take advantage of others. Having police is important to the safety of society and; they can’t be a bunch of nice guys.
The Prosecuters.
They lie. They feel they are above the law. They break the law all the time without any consequences what-so-ever. Their attitude about taking outrageous and ridiculous actions in court in total violation of the law is, “You don’t like it? File a motion.” Which, not only costs you money, but fat chance of getting anywhere. Again, I have seen this personally.
As an example from the prosecution of hackers, the prosecutor in Kevin Mitnick’s case said, “Kevin Mitnick could whistle into a telephone and set off a nuclear missle.” Nothing ever happened to the prosecutor for making that factually ridiculous statement—which is fraud and misrepresentation upon the court; intentional malicious slander to bias the judge – but, the judge accepted that nonsense!11
There are many who consider a good lawyer, a lawyer who wins his cases. Yes, there’s merit to that. Many “good” lawyers do so, by taking questionable actions in presenting their cases. Hence, the expression, “Lawyer Liar.”
There is another definition of good lawyer. This is the definition I prefer. I have seen this, although not as often as I’d like. A good lawyer promotes staying out of court as well as negotiation and settlement vs. coercion and extortion. The lawyers in court, especially the D.A. and U.S. Attorney are on the coercion and extortion side more than less.
The Judges.
All judges are lawyers. So, anything wrong with a lawyer is wrong with a judge. They are the bottom of their classes from law school. They are on a power trip too. They have no accountability for breaking the law. Again, I have seen this, several times, where judges simply ignore procedure and the rules of the court.
They are probably clueless about technology. But, that is changing. However, if it is too technical, chances are, they don’t know what it is all about, and will rely on “expert” testimony. What this means too you, as a juvenile, is, that that it is hard for them to discern, tell the difference between “criminal mischief”, if you thought you were just pulling a prank vs. you wanted to do damage. And, the exaggerations of the prosecution against you, will make sense to the judge.
Example. Let’s say you let the air out of someone’s tires. It’s annoying. Can cause a loss of money. Wastes someone’s time. Doesn’t damage the property, the car. You didn’t slash the tires, right? This a judge can understand and deal with. Give an appropriate sentence. Hopefully, a sentence that will teach not to mess with people.
Let’s up the ante. You let out the air on the tires of a loaded truck. You are interfering with a business. You are causing a loss of money, profit, business, customers and sales. More severe. Still, something a judge understands and; the judge understands that you probably don’t realize just how much damage you caused.
Translate that into computer tech and the judge probably won’t get the severity of the crime or the depth or your misunderstanding.
For example. You blow out a server. You think you just blew out a server. But, the server hosts 100s if not 1000s of web pages. How many businesses did you make fail? How much loss in profit was there? There are real ways to calculate real answers to these questions. Guaranteed the prosecution is not going to use a real way and calculate a real answer. The prosecution is going to pull a rabbit out of it’s hat and exaggerate. You will not be allowed to defend yourself. All of a sudden, you will be so stupid. A genius hacker. But, idiot logician in your defense.
Even so, the real misunderstanding is the judgment of the child’s misunderstanding of prank vs. malicious, intentional vandalism to destroy a business. Unfortunately for you, the judge doesn’t get it.
You see, one of the shortcomings of our society is, that if you are a smart kid, people think you are an adult with a full blown sense of responsibility. It doesn’t work that way. You are kid. But, because of prejudices, you will be treated unrealistically.
Judges are people, with prejudices.
Good judges must be deliberate. They must allow you to speak. They must listen to both sides. They must review the evidence. If you watch some popular judge shows on TV, you won’t be seeing deliberation by some of the most popular and powerful judges.
Good judges must follow the rules of the court. They must abide by their own laws. They must have a sense of humility. Their goal must be to try and protect society. They must try to be fair.
“Activist” judges, who make their own laws up in the court room, possess none of the qualities that good judges should have. The courts are riddled with activist judges. You don’t want to be dealing with these wicked people. These are bullies in black robes justifying their bullying in the name of the law and social justice.
The Courts. Are far more political than you realize. Decisions are not made based upon facts and evidence. They only let the jury see what they want the jury to see. If they have a political motivation for making you a scapegoat—they will.
Game theory is a branch of math, which can be called a social science. Game theory studies the strategies of games and how to win. This has been applied to social situations. One of the games developed is called the “Dove and Hawks”. The peaceniks, nice guys vs. the bullies. The end result is, you don’t want to get involved with the hawks. The cost of recovery is too expensive. Avoid the cops and the courts. The cost is very high, if not too high.
More important than your choices are the consequences of your choices. You have a whole life ahead of you. Make the most of it. Some mistakes will follow you your whole life long.
Don’t be a hero. Don’t chase after windmills or apparitions. Don’t be suckered or manipulated into causes. Please, allow me to explain.
Phil Zimmerman, a champion of privacy and free speech, wrote PGP. PGP is a form of encryption. I will talk about it more in the chapter on encryption. He had a goal to provide encrypted email to everyone. The authorities were not very happy with that.
The FBI, the police, the military, everyone wanted to be able to read people’s email if they wanted to.
Phil Zimmerman became a champion for citizen’s electronic privacy. He pushed the envelope. He did things for which he was threatened with criminal prosecution. He did things that were questionably legal. He challenged the law and authority. He was prepared to be arrested. I assume he had funds ready for lawyers to go to court and mount Constitutional challenges to the laws. Also, he had support, friends, sympathizers, believers in his cause, admirers.
All of this is good and has its time and place. I too am a privacy advocate. As I will explain elsewhere, I favor strong encryption for civilians. I agree with Phil Zimmerman, that we all use envelopes, have locks on our doors, have private conversations and we are not hiding anything wrong. However, for this and other issues, remember, for you, the time is not now. Now, you are a teenager. Wait until you are an adult to fight such battles.
Every now and then, some hacker finds serious and critical flaws in airport security or; voting procedures12 or; some security breach and brings it to the attention of the authorities. If the hacker is lucky, the authorities ignore him or through the notification in the garbage. Unfortunately, we see more often, that arrests are made. Remember, you are showing the public, that professionals, in highly paid jobs, with lots of job benefits, pensions, etc. are incompetent and sleeping on the job. They will abuse their positions of power to demonize you to cover up their incompetency.
While there are those who may argue, that I am being over the top cynical, they have probably not seen the level and magnitude of adversity that I have seen. You should help people. That’s what I believe we are on this earth for. To help people. Yet, like choosing your friends, you have to be careful of whom you help and how. Some people don’t want your help. Some people don’t appreciate your help. Some people with take advantage of you or, even hurt you, for helping them. Do security research for those who want it and appreciate it.
Don’t be a hero.
Don’t be manipulated. By teachers, propaganda, causes, religions, your friends.
I am very much in favor of education and public education. Unfortunately, what passes for education is usually indoctrination. I feel if you are old enough to read this book; you know what I am talking about. You can see this argument in the news and read about in online news. It’s all over Facebook. When I was a teenager, there was the lawsuit about the song, “We Don’t Need No Education”. (Another Brick In The Wall, by Pink Floyd) You know about this subject already. But, how much do you know?
One insight I have is, you need to take charge of your education13. Most of the teenagers who will read this book are either smart or gifted. If you are gifted, it is an imperative, that you must take charge of your education14. You should find a mentor to help you take charge of your education. One of the things about studying this subject is, you will learn how to learn and how to take charge of your education.
It is most unfortunate that in the U.S. today, children are not taught how to think or debate. They aren’t really taught science—how to observe, develop a hypothesis and challenge accepted ideas. They are not taught opposing views. They are not given facts and asked to draw conclusions. Teachers give emotional arguments. If you would rather hear it from a Harvard professor, I refer you to Thomas Sowell’s Basic Economics. He discusses this issue a lot in several of his books.
Further, in my experience, any student who contradicts a teacher’s belief, especially with facts, particularly with facts that cause a fatal contradiction that totally refutes the teachers belief—woe unto that student.
You need to apply all this to the ideals and causes being presented to you. Are the facts real? Are there any facts being argued at all? Or, is it all emotion? Is there an opposing view? What is it? Why do they believe differently? Now, weight the facts. Consider both sides. If you question their beliefs or assertions and all they can do is insult you—they have neither facts nor logic to substantiate their argument. How knowledgeable are they? So, how right can they be? Maybe someone else can explain it to you. But, they certainly can not.
If you embark on this journey, you will meet a lot of people who are anti government. No government is perfect. There are violations of civil liberties and human rights by our government. I grew up in the 1960s when a lot of this came out and was discussed in the open. Yet, this is still a free country. Think carefully before you accept all these anti government statements from your new found friends.
You should make friends who share this interest with you. You need to network—make a human network. Have friends. Share what you are doing. Learn from others. Support each other’s efforts. Bask in the glory. Choose your friends wisely. Even wiser, choose what belief’s of theirs to accept.
I can testify that you can write scathing articles about Gen. Keith Alexander, former head of the NSA and not be arrested or; have your legs broken or; have any other adverse governmental action taken against you. The FBI might ask you to take done the article or; hide it. Third page of Google is dead. But, this is not communist Russia.
On the other hand, with what would appear as totally banal activities, I can talk about police violating their jurisdiction to harass people; police engineering false arrests; judges destroying the official record and evidence because the record evidences judges total disregard for the law and legal process in order to discriminate against people by abusing the courts as tools of extortion and gross violations of due process; bribery—all from first-hand knowledge.
This is a free country.
There is wrong. There is lots of wrong. But, it is still a free country. Think hard before swallowing hook, line and sinker the philosophies being pandered.
Another word of caution, very apropos at this point, consider the Internet like a great big encyclopedia—that has never been checked for facts. The Internet is great. You can learn a lot. Get facts. Get facts so easily. Get facts so easily on just about anything. But, there is no fact checking. There is no accountability for saying something that is not true. Opinions can be stated as fact without an ounce of truth to prop them up.
Basically, and in practicality, there is no accountability for slander, libel, cyber harassment, cyber fraud. No lawsuits or arrests. Ever heard of it in the news?
Even newspapers and magazines, regularly do not get the story right. They are cautious about slander and libel. They are targets for lawsuits and they still don’t get the stories right. Internet news is less worthy. Posts and individual blogs, websites, are very dubious. You need confirmation, proof, evidence.
There is lots of free stuff on the Internet. Just exercise caution when reading it. Also beware, that a lot of this free stuff is “honeypots” – traps for viruses. The downloads install adware, spyware and viruses on your machine. Which, as a cyber security researcher, you should be aware of and learn how to deal with.
Some adult hackers have argued, in court no less, like little children, “I didn’t do anything.” They hacked into a system. Downloaded all the accounts, with their credit card information and feel “I didn’t do anything”. [Ghost in the Wires, by Kevin Mitnick]
There is a similar argument “just”. I “just” stole from someone who has so much, he/she won’t miss it. I “just” stole from people who could afford it. [Life at the bottom : the worldview that makes the underclass; by Dalrymple, Theodore; Chicago, 2001]
You have a room? Do you like it when someone comes in without knocking? Rummages through your stuff without permission? A kid brother or sister who “just” read what is in your diary? On your computer? He/She “didn’t do anything” did they? Get my point?
It is true that shoplifters can not be arrested for putting things in their pockets. They must walk out of the store with it. But, Kevin Mitnick did steal people’s credit card information. He didn’t charge anything with those credit card numbers. But, he did steal the information. His only real defense was to the severity of the charge.
How the prosecuting attorney general handled it and; how the judge accepted such non-sense from the U.S. Attorney is very relevant to my point of avoiding court. The prosecuting attorney said the ridiculous nonsensical argument that Kevin Mitnick could whistle into the phone and set off a nuclear missile. Which, the judge accepted and never admonished the U.S. Attorney for making such abject ridiculous arguments and perpetrating a fraud upon the court. This happens all the time in court. It costs defendants time and money. The prosecution knows this and does it on purpose to waste the defendant’s money so they can not afford to pay lawyers and defend themselves.
I have seen it. I know law clerks—lawyers who are assistants to judges—who say the same thing.
Do you really want to go through this?
Can you afford to go through this?
There was once a corrupt group of police, in NYC, who towed cars, under the pretense of being parked illegally, in tow away zones. Then, selling those cars illegally overseas. Their defense? ‘Oh, the insurance companies will pay the owners.’15
Do you own a car? If it happened to you, how would you feel? If you don’t own a car, but worked your butt off to buy one, probably a used one that you’d have to fix up, would it be O.K. with you if someone stole it because it was insured? I don’t think so. Get my drift?
Think again when someone tells you, or you think, what’s the big deal to taking one? They have so many. They won’t miss one or a ‘X’ amount of money or whatever.
Keep it legal.
Books. Books seem to becoming a bit of an old foggie thing. Or, for the artsy, chic, yuppy crowd. I know most students, even college students, don’t read the books. If you want to be a hacker, a really good hacker, I strongly suggest you get with the program and start reading books.
Of the many technologies that I have reviewed in my career, one was a library system. While evaluating the system, I interviewed the librarians who were involved in the purchase and use of the system. The head librarian used an interesting word for book—’monolith’. To anyone having done research, the meaning should be apparent.
We can put in search terms and get results. Small paragraphs or a wiki page will describe some basic facts about a subject. We all do this. Someone mentions something. You don’t have a clue. Type it into Google. Or, speak it even. “Siri, what’s a book?” This is ‘idea culling’.
Going into depth, discussing a subject, from all angles, evaluating evidence and opposing views, this is what books do.
Books also have a flow, a course. A beginning, middle and end. Knowledge is built up incrementally. Facts, subjects, pieces of knowledge can be correlated, sequenced and referenced. Prerequisites are found before the subject is discussed. Books are linear. The web is not. Books bring it all together for you. On the web, you have to pull it together.
Physically, there is also a difference in what the mind can absorb. Because of the size of the screen, the number of words that appear on the screen vs. the number of words that appear on the pages of an open book; your mind can absorb more—more words, bigger and more complex ideas—that require more words and facts—from a book.
I will be recommending several books. You should read them. There are books listed in the bibliography. You should read those books, about the subjects that interest you. Read.
Oh. Books are found in the library. The library is a good place to go to find information and learn. Oh yeah, it’s free!
Giving references and telling you to read is not a brush off. I know full well and eschew, disdain, denounce giving children a book to learn, instead of teaching. This is a bad teaching methodology (pedagogy). This is most prominent with teachers giving smart kids books to read instead of teaching them. “You’re smart. Here’s a book.” I suppose they teach artists to draw by giving them books? If that doesn’t sound ridiculous, you need to rethink your position. (See the footnotes above in regards to ‘taking charge of your education’.)
However, you do have to learn to learn for yourself and; I simply can’t teach you everything. Time, space and medium do not permit. Books are one of the best ways, if not the best way to preserver and transmit knowledge.
How to read. This may seem ridiculous. You are reading this. Of course you know how to read! Yes, you can read. But, there are different ways of reading and things to do that accompany reading, in order to better understand and retain the information you are reading.
First. If you see a word you don’t understand, look it up in the dictionary. Once upon a time, this meant getting up and walking over to the dictionary. Or, reading with a dictionary next to you. Now, you can just open the browser on your phone and google the definition of a word.
Many are of the philosophy that one should try to figure out what the word means, by the context and words around the word you don’t understand. I hold with those who believe this is a mistake. You can misinterpret the word. Look up the definition of the word.
In fact, I would encourage you to keep your own private dictionary of words from the books you read. Some of these words will begin to appear often as you read more. Having your own dictionary will make the lookup faster and help you fix those words in your mind.
Take notes on what you read or training videos that you watch.
Taking notes on videos sounds ok. That will help you remember and study what was on the video. But, it sounds absurd to take notes on what is in a book in front of you. Why would you take notes on this book? You have a copy! You can read it any time.
You should take notes because, by writing down ideas, you help remember them better. Also, by writing down, taking notes, in your own words, what you have read, you make yourself think about what you just read. If you can not explain an idea to someone else, it may not be clear to you yourself. Taking notes on what you read, in your words, clarifies to you, in your mind, what it is that you have read.
Also, you need to learn to explain things to others, including advanced concepts.
Tony Howell works in the scholarship Challenge project—a science competition for high schoolers; funded by Panasonic. He explained how he gets bright and genius kids to work with others. “I tell them that that’s a great thing you got there. Tell me about it. If you can’t, it doesn’t exist. Because you are the only one who knows about it.”
If you can’t write up a bug report and tell others what the security hole is, the bug—and your reward—don’t exist.
Training. “Here, watch me. Do as I do.” This is another big pedagogical, teaching mistake. I find this said either by totally unprofessional teachers or; teachers who have no clue about teaching or; arrogant control freaks. The best way to train is to show someone how to do the task. Then, to have the student do the task with a lot of supervision. Then, to have the student do the task with minimal supervision. Then, simply monitor the output of the task.
In his book, “Dave’s Way”, by David Thomas, he discusses this very issue in regards to training provided by franchises. Dave Thomas was not an educator. But, he did run a very successful franchise that trained lots of employees how to do lots of tasks. He got it right.
This is another exmaple of how, “Here’s a book.” is not a way to teach, even smart people. You do need simple, easy, clear instructions to follow. You need exercises and supervised practice of realistic scenarios. While I am not standing next to you, I will endeavor to do this with some walk throughs.
Showing Off vs. Showing Them Your Are Smart. Nobody likes being called stupid. In fact, nobody likes being made fun of, mocked, demeaned, degraded, bullied and so on. So, by the Golden Rule, in a bit more modern English: ‘Do not do to other people what you do not want them to do to you.’
Sounds simple. Yes? But, as Givon Zirkind has said at the beginning of many lectures, “Simple is NOT easy.’ There is a lot to know and think about how to treat others, the way you want to be treated. Let’s discuss that.
Do not show off. Do not brag.
If you are a smart kid, a fair assumption if you are reading this book and understanding it and; you are in an American public school; there is a good chance your are not being educated to your capacity. There is a good chance you are probably not being challenged.
Some school districts are better at this than others. Some States, like Florida and Colorado, with Colorado in the lead, are very good at dealing with smart students. Some, like New York State are abysmal failures at this.
In practical terms, what you have to realize from this is, that you are smart and; you innately, all by yourself, just by the way you are, you make other people feel stupid,
They are not accommodating you. They are not treating you the way they want to be treated. They are treating you as stupid and want you to be stupid. And, you don’t like it.
You sit bored in class. Reading one book, while the teaching is talking about the textbook—which you have already read and know. It’s not fair. Yes. It is not fair. But, do not learn to do bad things no matter who is doing it to you.
Use the Golden Rule. You do not like it when you are being treated as stupid. Do not intentionally or unintentionally treat others as stupid or; make them feel stupid.
Did you read Harry Potter? Watch the movie? Hermione. The insufferable know-it-all.
Even if you are not always raising your hand to answer the question, by virtue of the fact, that whenever they call on you, you know the answer, they feel stupid. They know you get A’s in class, while you sleep.
Bear that in mind, remember that, as you embark on learning this subject and keeping it legal.
I am not telling you to pretend to be stupid. I am not telling you not to do smart things. But, you have to be careful how and to whom you show what you know. In spite of what you have been told and the fantasies on TV, being smart is not the end all of power. “Power trumps intelligence every time.” [Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics]
Don’t show off! Even if you think you are not showing off, just by consistently, quickly having all the answers, people understand you are smart. Smart people are admired but, hated. [Understanding Human Nature, by Alfred Adler] It will get you into trouble and you will be treated meanly. There will be tremendous jealousy. You will be marginalized because, ‘You will do fine.’ You don’t need any help—ever. You can figure it out. You can’t figure out how to make a rainy day into a sunny day. But, you’ll be fine.
I am not telling you to act stupid or to lobotomize yourself. As they say, ‘if you have a gift, hide it’. Watching lots of TV is a lobotomy. A little TV viewing is ok. A lot, is a lobotomy Ever notice, how when parents don’t want to answer tough questions, they tell you to go watch TV? When they want to lobotomize you, so you shouldn’t do anything and use your brains, they will also tell you to watch or go play video games. Don’t fall for the trap.
Consider the words of Robert Maxwell, a former Member of Parliament, talking about smart children:
The important lesson for all to learn is that the achieving of their maximum must always be their aim and that character and determination count in the long run quite as much as anything else. Whether we like it or not, much of life is a battle and a struggle (even for the sons of the wealthy) and children must be taught to persevere and hold their own…there is a virtue in determined, consistent hard work and effort.
Even with effort, however, not everybody can achieve academic success and a parent whose children try hard but meet with little recognition should not feel disappointed. Unfortunately, clever children have become a status symbol for their parents, so that having a son with nine O-levels or an IQ of 140 is almost as good as having a second car or a swimming pool. This attitude is m ore than unfortunate, it is dangerous and damaging to the bright and the less-bright child, both of whom are forced more and more to the conclusion that nothing is really as important as academic success: that qualities of character, courage, persistence, determination, honesty, loyalty and self-discipline are not valued as highly as O-level passes…It is all too easy to equate an aristocracy of brains with a university degree… It is this false standard which contributes so much to the preservation of a class-consciousness which is so wasteful of the country’s talents.
PTSD. This is about those with a high IQ and a bit of an adjunct to keeping it illegal. If you are really smart, a genius, you will probably endure a lot of harassment. If you are not skipped a grade or two, as you should be, according to all studies, then, you will have difficulty socializing. Your socialization will be compounded by prejudices about genius and jealousy. All this makes for a lonely, humiliating life. Whatever you do, do not act or treat others the way you were treated! You do like it. Don’t do it to others.
Incessant abuse, even verbal abuse, causes the same dysfunction to the brain as hard core physical abuse such as beatings and rape. Having the kind of mind you have, working the way it does, incessant verbal and physical is even more traumatizing. Revenge is not the answer to peace. Far be it from me to be dismissive of abuse or deny justice but; Revenge will not stop the rages and feelings of worthlessness.
If you have rages, a.k.a flashbacks, about abuse; if you go into rages when ticed off, sniped, goaded, insulted, even with slight insults; you need professional help. Seek it out. Talk therapy does not help. &&& Except for very extreme cases, drugs are not the answer either. Even so, drugs are often only provisionally helpful. They are not curative. &&&
This is not to say that those who incite you have the right to abuse you and get a rise out of your being upset. They should be punished appropriately. But, in all likelihood, that isn’t going to happen. However, you need to remain whole. You need to remain whole so you can get on with your life; avoid the bad people and find good people to live with.
Parents & Other Adults. A suggestion and a word of caution. It’s all about presentation. If you tell your parents and friends, and the word spreads—the word will spread whether you try to or not—that you are a computer geek, hacker, studying hacking; then; a dark cloud will descend upon you. (See the comments at the end of the article cited above, about the 12 year old who gave Anonymous hacking information.)
However, if you tell your parents and friends, that you are studying to be a “cyber security researcher” or a “digital forensic analyst”; “when you grow up”; then, you will be a lot better off. That sounds so much more sophisticated and no one, very few people anyway, know what you are really mean by those words.
If you say to others enough times, “I am studying to be a cyber security researcher”; you will even start to believe it yourself. Most importantly, sooner or later, you will believe it. Which means, you will believe in yourself.
It’s a science experiment. Get it? All the books, computers, thumbnails, Internet, programming, math, music—it’s a science experiment.
Let me explain this in another way. Imagine if you will, please.
[** The following content is premium content and should be of interest to educators. **]
[** It is a play written for teenagers to dramatize the difference between the hacker vs. cyber security researcher path. **]
As Shakespeare said, “Life is but a play and we are all actors on the stage.” Yes. But, we can choose how we play our part. Sometimes, we can even choose our parts. However, how we act, is our choice. Which of the two plays would you rather be in?
A Mentor. A mentor is a great thing to have. You should try and find one. Think it of it as finding an uncle or aunt. A mentor does not have to know the nitty gritty technical details of hacking and teach you hacking. A mentor is more of a life teacher.
A good mentor, like a good teacher, should be able to see your talents and what is good for you. A good mentor should encourage you, especially where you should go.
A mentor does not impose values or philosophies. A mentor does not tell you do the things they wished they had done.
A mentor helps you make your choices; guides you and helps you learn to guide yourself on the stream of life.
A mentor should be available.
There are many kinds of teachers. A common mistake is to think that just because someone knows something, therefore, they can teach it. This is far from the truth.
A good teacher knows the skill or knowledge and has an orderly step by step presentation or demonstration, from the fundamentals to the more advanced aspects. Each step is cumulative, adding to previous knowledge. At intervals, where a significant amount of skill has been shown or knowledge imparted, the student is then given small, manageable, controlled exercises to practice those skills or practice with that knowledge.
Explaining well, keeping things simple, keeping things orderly and logical, having a logical progression are all necessary parts of good teaching.
There are teachers who know a skill or particular knowledge and can teach “this”. Then, there are teachers, who can teach anything.
IMHO, a good teacher is one who recognizes your talents—even talents that you do not know about and; helps you bring them out. A mentor should do the same thing but, on a more personal level of how you should deal with yourself, others and life.
Sometimes, in school, you will find teachers, that you feel are excellent and will serve you well as a mentor. Even if you haven’t used that term or thought that thought, it is someone you can relate to; understands you and; has good advice. The problem with this in our school structure is, that students are with a teacher for a year and then gone. It takes that much time for the teacher to know the student! Then, the year is up! [Emile, by Rousseau]
If that scenario happens early on and the teacher remains in the school, as might be in high school, there is a chance for some mentoring. Unfortunately, that is not so common.
So, I encourage you to find a mentor. Your mentor should be invaluable to you in this endeavor. The benefits of a mentor will last you a lifetime.
Get a girlfriend. Most hackers are boys. &&& FBI analysis has shown that when these young men get married, they stop hacking. Marriage and kids will do that to you. I tell you to get a girlfriend because you shouldn’t miss out on life. Computers are good and fun. Please, have a life.
1This 10 Year Old Boys Becomes Youngest Bug Bounty Hunter, thehackernews.com/2016/05/youngest-hacker.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheHackersNews+(The+Hackers+News+-+Security+Blog)&_m=3n.009a.1233.bx0ao08q8s.pn7
2‘Mafiaboy’ breaks silence, paints ‘portrait of a hacker’, by Doug Gross, CNN, August 15, 2011; http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/08/15/mafiaboy.hacker/ – This story is a very interesting example of how one individual can leverage large resources owned by others to disrupt a network.
312-year-old Canadian boy admits to hacking police and government sites for Anonymous, by Lisa Vaas, October 26, 2013; https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/10/26/12-year-old-canadian-boy-admits-to-hacking-police-and-government-sites-for-anonymous/
4“there’s a response pattern–a quite famous one–known as a “4-9,” corresponding to elevations on the Psychopathic Deviate and Hypomania scales. We’re talking here about somebody who’s somewhat agitated or easily excitable, and who doesn’t have a lot of respect for society’s usual rules. Essentially, we’re talking about people with what we’d now usually diagnose as Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD).
The old story goes that there are two populations you find a lot of 4-9s in: incarcerated criminals, and police academy graduates.”
http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/59412-is-this-a-myth-police-and-criminal-psych-profiles/
5Dr. Bernard Jensen, RIP, made this statement in a lecture, discussing his internment for “curing cancer”.
6http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/19/weekinreview/ideas-trends-help-wanted-invoking-the-not-too-high-iq-test.html
9As an example, see Freakanomics, by Steven Levitt and the discussion of the famous incident in New York City, of the police stating a woman was repeatedly raped and stabbed as an indication that no one gives a damn. This was actually not true. The got calls but didn’t respond. The police also used the story as a cover to divert attention from their incompetency in a concurrent case.
10Mafiaboy, by Michael Calce has a discussion of this subject as it applied to his individual case.
11Ghost in the Wires, by Kevin Mitncik
12Hacker Arrested after Exposing Flaws in Voting Site
13The survival guide for parents of gifted kids : how to understand, live with and stick up for your gifted child; by Walker, Sally Yahnke; Minneapolis, MN; Free Spirit, 2002
14Other sites with good information and resources. http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/ & http://www.nagc.org/
15While this incident was reported in the newspapers, I heard it directly from a news photographer, who discovered the scam and confronted the commissioner about it.
Cyber Security 411 