I have tried and tried to avoid writing anything on the plight of Gary McKinnon. In 2002 he hacked into systems run by the US military and NASA. This guy hacked into these systems as he hunted for evidence of UFOs. This is someone who had too much time on his hands and lacked the little voice in his head that says, “Hmm, you know Gary, you might want to rethink this one”. Well, no UFO evidence was to be found but, what he did find is a world of hurt. He was pinched a while back and now the Yanks want to get their hands on him. If he is convicted in the US he could face up to 60 years in the clink. This should serve as a cautionary tale for the younger folks who might be trying to find if the truth is out there. If you want to learn to hack a computer system do it in a controlled environement. Use a couple of systems that you can safely work with without the risk of the Feds kicking your door in. By that I mean…use your own. Now, there is also the option of using virtualization. There are products such as the up and coming Xen which is baked into SuSE 10. As well, VMWare now has a free version of their virtual server which is apparently their GSX product. Now, using a product like this you can construct an environment from which you can learn and try out hacking. Don’t, and I’m serious, don’t go after military or gov systems. I used to work on these systems (FBI, US Navy, US Department of Commerce, USPS to name a few) and trust me, they are watching. They may not be quick in hunting you down but, they are paying attention. It’s really not worth it, just ask Gary McKinnon.
And on the UFO front, we all know that aliens control the President. 😀
[tags]Hacker, Gary McKinnon, Virtualization, Xen, VMWare[/tags]
