I'm a Convicted Hacker and Ex Prisoner - Ask Me Anything

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Oh yeah that stuff is defiantly fake.

Not even NSA or other big companies have stuff like this?

When I look at the pictures, I think they are definitely makeable if you wanted.

Reply 221

lou_100

On a scale of 1 to 10, how proud are your parents?

Reply 222

cascadingstylez

Original post by sbj

Not even NSA or other big companies have stuff like this?

When I look at the pictures, I think they are definitely makeable if you wanted.

Nah, it's all Hollywood effects. Those graphics are useless. Giant mind maps can be used for a graphical representation of large data, they often look cool, but all the stuff in Hollywood movies is just effects to make it all look cool. In reality it's nothing like that.

Much of what hackers do is on the Terminal. Or by using penetration testing tools or operating systems such as Backtrack or Kali. I've never seen these sorts of visual effects being used by hackers.

The closest a hacker gets to these sorts of effects are desktop backgrounds. If you have multiple terminals open, or use tmux, the data on screen can look visually appealing. That's about as good as it gets.

Screenshot_2012-07-13-03-53-16.png136.1KB

Reply 223

cascadingstylez

Original post by lou_100

On a scale of 1 to 10, how proud are your parents?

On the whole they are very proud of me. I'd say a 10. Not for the hacking, but because of what I have achieved in life overall.

To also add, when I was released from prison I found out I had Testicle Cancer, so all the worry I put them through whilst I was in prison, they also worried because of the Cancer. I grew very close to my Mom through prison and Cancer.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 224

cascadingstylez

Original post by sbj

When you watch them using softwares, programms, scripts, they have this specific GUI style. I guess just made up by Hollywood, but still it would be interesting if "nerds" have their own GUI, futuristic lookings.

Or see the images below.

Some of those images below are real. The "Access Granted" stuff is a bit over the top. The Terminal is a regular Linux/Unix Terminal with a modified theme.

Reply 225

sbj

Original post by cascadingstylez

Some of those images below are real. The "Access Granted" stuff is a bit over the top. The Terminal is a regular Linux/Unix Terminal with a modified theme.

Alright, thank you for your answers. Very nice of you.

Reply 226

johnh1983

Anything similar to the below ever happen to you? :tongue:

[video="youtube;rUY8HysBzsE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUY8HysBzsE[/video]

I'm obviously joking, but did you ever receiving any sort of really out there offers or have any kind of an "interview process" that was noteworthy?

Reply 227

johnh1983

Original post by Raylan Givens

What I find more amazing is the amount of people totally oblivious to it. Its both amazing and frightening.

Certainly is, and goes far beyond just social networking sites into legitimate and ethical business tactics too. Like someone using that rewards card for that $5.00 off a purchase of $100.00+ or free concert at the Casino.

The company is more than happy to give that person a reason to come in their door because they know their purchasing habits and the margins they make off them.

Reply 228

precious maro

if you do know about Stephen watt, whats your opinion on his entire case and the $171.5 million he has to pay in restitution

Reply 229

The_Internet

Original post by sbj

- Is real hacking like in movies?

- And why do they have in movies different looking surfaces? Real?

- Let's say you know one of the following languages (Java, C++ or PHP). What else do you need to know to be able to crack or hack things?

Not the OP but I think I can answer here as well.I work in another industu doing networking and that also ties in a bit with security as well

Any way tv shows tend to throw a lot of jargon to try and baffle the viewer ie: every thing has a mainframe supposedly... Or according to TV any way

There a clip on my signature which I found pretty funny

Lots of tech blunders all over TV/film

The funniest one was when I think the entire police forces network was being "hacked" on cdi and to counter attack the people there were sending code back to counter attack and then they had around 2 people to the same keyboard

And someone fixes this by pulling the plug on a PC

Yeah that PC is now offline but what about the rest of the network.. And you can't just send the entire network offline

Ive gone a little serious with this :tongue:

Also Hollywood will have you believe you can zoom in to someone walking about in a crystal clear HD image

Many organisations would actually be utilising Google Earth or similar

The technology isnt as advanced as they like us to think

Also case in point - I'm working for a large organisation and honestly I'm doing a lot of spreadsheet work for auditing etc...

Reply 230

The_Internet

Original post by sbj

(massive exagerration)

Reply 231

miser

Original post by de_monies

Also Hollywood will have you believe you can zoom in to someone walking about in a crystal clear HD image

My favourite is where they have a low-res image and have the computer 'enhance' it multiple times so you can see the person's face or read a number plate.

I also like it when the writers clearly have advisors, but then they don't listen to them. Like in 24, CTU apparently have a backdoor to the Blowfish cipher. There's no way laymen would know about Blowfish and backdoors to encryption routines, but likewise their advisors must have known the idea that CTU would have a backdoor to it would be highly unlikely.

Now what would have been nifty is if CTU had claimed to have a backdoor to DES, seeing as for a long time people were very suspicious that the NSA had pressured IBM to purposefully weaken it and add said backdoor. We know now that they didn't, but at least it would've made sense.

Reply 232

KimKallstrom

Original post by Andylol

Please please please do this over at Reddit as well, they will love you over there!

Why would OP need to go on Reddit?

He's already spent enough time with blokes who've never seen a woman for years when he was in prison.

Reply 233

KimKallstrom

Original post by yo radical one

How much can you deadlift?

OK now we're getting to the meat of the matter.

Reply 234

Motorbiker

Original post by cascadingstylez

I'm current working on a bulking regime at the moment, I can do 5 reps x 3 sets at 60kg. I could probably do 1 - 2 reps at 80kg if I was to really push.

Did you start lifting in prison?

In tv shows all people do in prison is work out...

What was the average day like in prison? (high security first then low?) e. G. 6am:wake up etc.

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Reply 235

great_surreal

Original post by cascadingstylez

No. Prison is nothing like films :tongue:

I know someone who went to prison once, and he told me that there were guys touching and flirting with him.

Reply 236

cascadingstylez

Original post by Motorbiker

I was lifting when I was about 16. My Dad is a body builder so I used to go to the gym with him as a kid and just chill. I got into to it when I was 16 but it was always something I did on and off. Never really built much size, just maintained fitness. I did a bit in the gym at prison, but gym time was limited and you had to book it so I got about 2 sessions a week.

So, the regular day in prison ....

Every prisoner needs to be out of bed for 8.30am. Nobody actually tells you this, but thankfully my cell mate told me. Doors are unlocked at 8.30am. Prison officers (nicknamed "screws/skrews") unlock each door with a key. Those who have work or education have to report to the end of the wing and wait for their education officers, or work officers, to come collect them.

If you don't go to education or work you remain in your cell. In prison you want to do education or work, otherwise you remain in your cell until 12.30pm. At 12.30pm they serve lunch. If you go to work, or education, you're brought back to the wing for 12.20pm so you can have your lunch. Lunch is served in the servery. Just like the servery you get at schools where your dished your meals. At lunch times it's generally cold sandwiches and/or soup. The sandwiches are not too bad to be honest. I went with the cheese. You get to choose a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar too, or fruit. The crisps and chocolate are the kind they sell in places like Lidl.

You take your lunch back to your cell, and everyone is locked away until 2pm. This is the perfect time to get a quick sleep in. Kills some time. Or, watch whatever mindless junk is on TV.

At 2pm cells are unlocked for those that go to work or do education. If you don't work, you're left in the cell. It's a bad thing if you don't work or go to education because you end up locked in your cell for 23 hours.

At 5pm you finish work or education and you go back to your cell and you're locked away. At 6.30pm everyone is unlocked for dinner. You take your blue plastic plate, and blue plastic bowl, down to the servery to get your food. Food is usually curry, goulash, chips, egg, breaded chicken etc. Nothing overly exciting. You get to choose a pudding too. Sometimes they have cake and custard, sometimes rice pudding, other times fruit, or just a chocolate bar.

You also collect your breakfast pack which is a small bag that contains 4 teabags, 4 sachets of sugar, a small packet of cereal (porridge or cornflakes mainly) and some coffee whiteners. You also collect a small carton of milk.

You're then locked away all night until the next morning. Some days we got let out at 7.30pm for an hour when you could play pool, or go have a cup of tea and a smoke with another prisoner. I used to play chess with some of the other chess players.

Let me make a note here, there were some damn good chess players in prison! I've played chess all my life and considered myself to be a good chess player, but there was this one guy that walked all over me. Nobody could beat him! His playing style was so aggressive.

And that was basically it. This was in the high security prison though. Medium and low security prisons are much different. I will detail them another time.

The food was crap. The quality of the meat is awful (if you'd even call it meat). I used to eat a loaf of bread with every dinner, just to ensure I didn't go hungry.

In the times when I didn't work I would read lots of books. I enjoyed reading. It took me away from prison and into the world of the book. I used to read from when I woke up, until I slept. I hated TV.

I got friendly with a few of the prison officers. They knew I was no threat to the prison. I was the geeky looking kid, in prison for some daft computer hacking. So I was no threat to them. Some used to leave my door slightly ajar as I was on the far end of the wing. It felt nice to have the door left open. It gives you that bit of freedom back.

I ended up with the highest paid job in the prison. I worked right next to the walls in the officers mess serving food to the officers. I worked from 6am till 5pm there, and didn't have to go back at 12.30pm when all the other prisoners did. I got to eat normal food and could cook it myself. This was a privilege we got for working there. I could drink normal tea/coffee/hot chocolate whenever I wanted. I also got to serve all the officers and the governor so I became a regular face to them and they helped me out in return for "extra" portions :tongue:

The officers mess was ran by an outside company who made a profit there, so giving them extra food was a good thing to the officers.

I was paid £25 a week for this, plus my £50 a week from family, gave me a total spend of £75 a week. That's rich in prison! We got to spend that on our weekly canteen orders. Every week you get a sheet of paper that has all the items available to order, and you spend whatever you have on your account (limited to £100 per prisoner). I used to order chocolates, biscuits, tobacco, toiletries, paper, pens, stamps, coffee, sugar, long life milk etc etc.

The canteen service is ran by DHL. They deliver it and hand it out to each cell on a Friday. Trust me, DHL make a very healthy profit in prisons!

And that's about it. If there's anything I've missed that you want to ask, feel free and I'll answer.

Forgive me if there's grammar, or spelling errors, I have parents round and I'm rushing to type.

Reply 237

cascadingstylez

Original post by great_surreal

I know someone who went to prison once, and he told me that there were guys touching and flirting with him.

I never once seen that happen in prison, or heard about it. There are gay people in prison, but they don't touch you up or even approach you. The gay community stick together in prison, as they do outside. Most are on the VP (vulnerable prisoner) wing and are not around normal prisoners anyway for their own safety.

Reply 238

John Stuart Mill

What sort of books did they have in the prison library? Fiction, self-help, academic?

Reply 239

cascadingstylez

My first night in prison was the worst. You walk through all the corridors after being brought in from court, and you end up on the wing. I arrived at the prison at about 5pm, and wasn't processed for an hour or so, and by the time I got onto the wing it was about 8pm. Everyone was locked away. There was a table on the wing, the sort you have in primary schools to eat dinner on, that was prepared for us late arrivals.

We got a jacket potato and a chocolate bar. Portions were tiny. We sat and ate our food then we were transferred to a holding cell where we were all stuffed into this cell until the officers had found us empty cells. We all chatted, had a smoke, and just sat there chilling out. I was scared stiff. Most of the people around me where drug addicts, I didn't question what they were in for, but you could tell by looking.

Someone asked me "Hey kid, what you in for". I responded "Computer hacking". The someone shouts "Lads we have a computer hacker". All attention was on me. Everyone was bombarding me with questions. One guy pulled me aside, gave me a smoke and asked if I knew about cell triangulation and if what the police had on him was hard evidence for a conviction. A very interesting chat. He was a big black bloke, the type you'd not approach in a dark alley. He said if I had any problems to come see him and he'd "sort them out".

Officers located us to cells and paired us up. I told the officer I had mental health issues and had to be in a cell on my own. This can work if you're gay, or have anger problems, but little did I know that for mental problems you HAVE to be with another person so they can look out for you. My attempt at getting a single cell failed.

My cell mate was in for robbing a lady's handbag. He was also a drug addict. Later I'd find him stealing my tobacco, pissing over the cell floor and being out of his head most of the time on methadone.

I spent a week on the "induction wing". Following that I was transferred to a normal wing amongst all sorts of criminals. Some for murder, some for huge drugs cases, others were in for tax evasion, money laundering, and a few other hackers. I was on a wing with a lot of public cases. The most famous was probably "Lord Edward Davenport". I spoke to him a lot. Oh and the RBS rouge trader Kweku Adoboli.

My second pad mate was in for manslaughter, but police had new evidence to convict him for murder. Probably one of the most genuine guys I'd come across in prison. He loved to read, hated TV and loved chess. So we got along like a house on fire. He used to own his own business on the out, but got caught up in a fight with a neighbour. The neighbour brought a weapon to his door, so he picked up a stick and killed him. He was clean though, and liked similar interests to me. He'd often help me out with cigarettes and coffee whilst I was waiting for my money to be transferred to my prison account.

I will leave it here for now. I think I'm boring you all :frown: