If you like me, you thought a good hacker must have arsenal of sophisticated instruments, the story of Adrian Lamo turns your brain.
Windows 98, Internet Explorer and Notepad. That’s all.
With these 3 basic tools, this type has managed to penetrate the network of Microsoft, Yahoo and New York Times. And while others developed complex malware, it was shown that the defect remained the defect regardless of your tools. Here’s a story ”Hacker homeless“A mixture of technical engineering, social uncertainty and human tragedy in a cocktail that would make the writers of the robot pale.
Adrian Lamo in autumn 2004 – photo: Wikimedia Commons
A few days ago I looked at the story of Adrian Alfonso Lamo Atwood, born on February 20, 1981 in Malden, Massachusetts. Since childhood, this boy shows absorbing curiosity for technology. His father Mario and his mother Mary work in technology, but Adrian’s school career looks like an obstacle track. Between studies in Bogota (where his father lived) and San Francisco, he never won his diploma, but Adrian learns himself, about work, hacking his Commodore 64 It offers his parents. It was on this legendary machine that took his first steps: Hack of Video Games, manipulation of viruses on floppy disks and even by phone. Argh!
Above all, what makes Adrian unique is his lifestyle. Around his 20th anniversary he accepted a nomadic lifestyle that earns him his nickname “Hacker homeless“The guy travels around the United States by Greyhound bus, sleeping in squats, abandoned buildings or sofas of friends, and his table is a cyber library, a university library or any place with a web connection.
His gear? Old man Toshiba Which is missing 7 keys (yes, seven!), But which is largely for its digital exploitation. As we say, it’s a bit “complicated”, but it works!
In addition, the philosophy of Lamo contrasts with the image of a harmful hacker mediated by Hollywood. It defines itself as a “gray hat”, that is, someone who infiltrates systems, so that he does not hurt but warns. Its method is always the same: find shortcomings over Poorly configured proxy serversOffer free of charge to fix them, and if the company refuses, warn the media to force awareness. The approach that would be a black hat smile, but which was revolutionary at the beginning of 2000.
However, Lamo’s exploitation is impressive. In 2001 he dealt with all the big boxes: excite@Home in May, Yahoo in September, Microsoft in October, MCI Worldcom in November, SBC America in December. It even changes articles about Yahoo newspapers to prove the vulnerability of the system and what it describes as “general apathy of readers”. Strike media genius!
So how does the largest technology company with a rotten laptop hack? Lamo finds that these companies have activated remote access to their internal networks via web proxy. Anyone who knows the Internet address and the port number of proxy can go through internal stocks and network resources. It’s completely crazy, but it’s the reality of time. With Microsoft even approaches Sensitive source code And faithful to his philosophy, he directly contacts society to report errors.
But it is with the New York Times that Lamo will hit his most amazing blow. 26 February 2002 entered the internal network of newspapers. The guy is added to the database of professional sources with number (415) 505-hack and his field of expertise: “Computer hackering, national security, news communication“Better! It also creates 5 fictitious Lexisnexis accounts (for a legal research tool) through Times account and conduct 3,000 research in 3 months, generating about $ 300,000 in costs. Only in February 2002 these accounts represent 18% of all newspaper research.
The FBI survey takes 15 months. Adrian becomes a hunted man, but refuses to hide. September 9, 2003, voluntarily went to the American marshal Sacramenta. In January 2004 he confessed. His sentence: 2 years of freedom under supervision, including 6 months allocated at home plus $ 65,000 to hurt. A relatively mild sanction that reflects the non -destructive nature of her actions.
Then the history of Lamo completely switched in May 2010. This month Bradley Manning (now Chelsea Manning) contacted him via encrypted Bradley Manning (now Chelsea Manning). Lamo can’t decrypt them, but invite him to talk to AOL Instant Messenger. Manning uses a pseudonym “Bradass87” and between the 21st and 25th May reveals that they have downloaded hundreds of thousands of classified documents and transferred them to Wikileaks. Diplomatic cables, video Baghdad’s “collateral murder”, military relations & mildew; Manning has just done the biggest escape in American history. And he admits Lamo as a priest. Wololo Wololo!
Chelsea Manning in 2017 – Photo: Tim Travers Hawkins (CC by -sa 4.0)
Only Lamo is not a confessor. After contact Uber from Vigilant Project and Tim Webster from the contraintelligence of the army, he will make a decision that will change everything: to condemn manning on the FBI. His justification? “” “”The needs of the largest number prevail over the needs of a single“Explains the PBS front line. Utilitary logic that does not pass in the hacker community at all.
The reaction is immediate and brutal. At the Earth Hackers Conference in 2010, Lamo Huer, which deals with a “balance”, spilled to it. The threats of death are raining. Andrew Blake, his friend, testifies: “People hated him. He could no longer join under his real name without receiving hate news.“Chelsea Manning will be sentenced to 35 years in prison before switching Obama in 2017. Manning does not surprise him:”I’ve never had a resentment against Adrian. I’m more angry with the government that used it.»
The last years of Adriana have been marked by degradation. At the age of 35 he walks with a wand, brought weight, suffers from chronic back problems. On 14 March 2018, her body discovered senior flats Shadybrook Shadybrook of Wichit in Kansas. The apartment has a complete disorder: garbage bins, dirty dishes, pills and pills everywhere. Even more mysterious, and Sticker stuck to the left thigh Under his clothes: “Adrian Lamo, Auxiliary Director, Projecvigilant, 70 Bates Street, NW, Washington, DC.»
The complete autopsy does not reveal anything. County County Center Sedgwick County Center declares: “No cause of final death cannot be identified.“The medical investigator cannot even reject the murder hypothesis. The police claim to be” nothing suspicious “but the questions persist. The secret of the sticker will be partially solved by Andrew Blak: The address corresponds to the place where he briefly experienced. Blake an interpreter like ”joke or signal sent by his old friend“But why was Adrian prepared his death? Want to leave a message?
I can tell you that Adriana Lamo’s heritage is complex and contradictory. On one side embodied the ideal Ethical hacker : Use your skills to improve security, reveal mistakes without understanding them. Its craft methods have shown that it is not necessary to have sophisticated tools. On the other hand, his decision to terminate manning remains very controversial. Some consider this to be responsible patriotism, others the basic betrayal of the hacker values.
And his mysterious death adds an almost romantic dimension. Adrian Lamo, who spent his life revealing the secrets of others, takes his own to the grave. Became embarrassing? Has his knowledge of Manning’s matter became a goal? Or is it just a tragic end to a person who has been worn years of chaotic life?
Adrian Lamo will remain as a perfect incarnation of the paradoxes of our digital era: an ethical hacker who has become a decline, technical engineering living in uncertainty, the defender of security violated the confidence of the whole community.
Sources: NPR – Mysterious death hacker who turned in Chelsea Manning, Department of Justice – Adrian Lamo Charge, PBS Frontline, Wikipedia – Adrian Lamo
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