Skull And Bones (And Warez) - Secret Societies of the Computer Underground (and why you should create one too)

Presented at BSidesLV 2014, Aug. 5, 2014, 11 a.m. (60 minutes)

Long ago, during the "Great Age of l33t", the digital oceans were traversed by notorious bands of pseudonymous ne'er-do-wells. These outlaw fleets, festooned with brightly-colored flags, laden with teenage pomposity and self-importance, roving their way into undiscovered territories . They took whatever they needed, but created many lasting works too. We will take you on a journey back in time, to experience what life was like during this pioneer era, with tall tales of life on the fringe, epic yarns of solidarity amongst outcasts,  and discuss how forming your own "Digital Outlaw Biker Club" may be a better idea than it ever was.

Presenters:

  • Databeast - Dictator for Life - Mercenary Logic
    Databeast discovered the underground by way of the computer demoscene in the late 80's . He founded the award-winning demoscene group "Nerve Axis" and was a member of many more lesser-known underground groups (the names of which have thankfully been lost to history). By day he works on game-changing DFIR projects; by night he's one of those drunken people in the 303 Tshirts you see wandering the halls of DEF CON. He misses the days when the questions in Hacker Jeopardy were actually about the history of hacking.
  • Cris Thomas / Space Rogue - Strategist - Tenable   as Space Rogue
    Space Rogue and his colleagues created the first security research think tank known as L0pht Heavy Industries and was a co-founder of the Internet security consultancy @Stake. While at L0pht Heavy Industries Space Rogue created the widely popular Hacker News Network, which quickly became a major resource on the Internet for daily information security news. Before HNN he ran the The Whacked Mac Archives, which at the time, was the largest and the most popular Macintosh security site on the Internet."

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