Phrack

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Phrack logo used on Phrack's website.
Phrack logo used on Phrack's website.

Phrack is an underground ezine written by and for hackers first published November 17, 1985.[1] The magazine is open for contributions by anyone who desires to publish remarkable works or express original ideas on the topics of interest. It has a wide circulation which includes both hackers and the computer security professionals.[2]

Originally covering subjects related to phreaking and telephone system hacking, anarchy and kracking,[1] the articles also cover a wide range of topics including computer and physical security, hacking, cryptography and international news. It is considered both a handbook and a manifesto for hackers.[3]

Contents

[edit] History

Phrack, first released on November 17, 1985, takes its name from the words "phreak" and "hack".[4]. The founding editors of the magazine, known by the pseudonyms "Taran King" and "Knight Lightning", edited most of the first 30 editions.[5] Editions were originally released onto the Metal Shop bulletin board system, where Taran King was a sysop,[1] and widely mirrored by other boards.[4]

[edit] Change of editorial team

In 2005, it was announced that Phrack was to come to an end, with the 63rd issue as its last. To commemorate Phrack's final appearance, this issue was to be a hardback edition, released simultaneously at the DEF CON and What the Hack conventions on July 29. An e-zine version of the release followed on August 1. The European printer for the hardcopies of Phrack to be distributed at DEF CON refused to fulfill the order once they realized that they were printing a Hacking book. Two University of Arizona students filled the gap and printed 200 copies of Phrack in time for the convention.

Issue 63 told readers to "expect a new release,"[6] and on May 27, 2007, issue 64 was released by a new, younger generation of editors referring to themselves as "The Circle of Lost Hackers." (TCLH).[7]. TCLH eventually released issue #65 of Phrack on April 11, 2008.

[edit] Content

Phrack issues are released irregularly, and like academic publications issues are grouped into volumes. Each issue comprises a number of Philes: stand-alone text files of very technical or counter-cultural content. Individual Philes are written by many different contributors. These are sometimes edited by the Phrack Staff, who write the introduction and publish the magazine.

Phrack is especially popular due to the general high standard of the releases compared to other underground zines, but has made its reputation from a number of high-quality articles.

  • The Mentor's Hacker Manifesto, which has been an inspiration to young hackers since the 1980s, was published in the 7th issue of Phrack.
  • Aleph One's Smashing The Stack For Fun And Profit, published in issue 49, is the "classic paper"[8] on stack buffer overflows, partly responsible for popularizing the vulnerability.[9]

Several regular columns are present in most issues of Phrack, such as:

  • Prophile - the presentation of a very influential character from the hacking underground.
  • Loopback - answers to the most original (or stupid) emails received by the phrack staff.
  • Phrack World News - a compilation of reports on the latest counter-culture events.
  • International Scene - a compilation of testimonies from hackers all around the world focusing on national and international activities.

[edit] Legal action

Main article: Operation Sundevil

An article in the 24th issue relating to the workings of Enhanced 911 emergency response systems played a major part in the Secret Service raids called Operation Sundevil and featured in Bruce Sterling's book The Hacker Crackdown. Phrack also showed up in the two part Operation Moon Witch storyline, published in 1992's The Hacker Files by DC Comics, a story based on Operation Sundevil.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Taran King (1985-11-17), “Introduction”, Phrack (no. 1): 1, <http://phrack.org/issues.html?issue=1&id=1#article> 
  2. ^ Sturgeon, Will (2005-07-11). Long-lived hacker mag shuts down. CNet. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
  3. ^ Ward, Mark (2005-07-09). Key hacker magazine faces closure. BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
  4. ^ a b Sterling, Bruce (1993-11-01). "Part 2", The Hacker Crackdown. Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-56370-X. 
  5. ^ Phrack Staff (2002-12-28), “Introduction”, Phrack (no. 60): 1, <http://phrack.org/issues.html?issue=60&id=1#article> 
  6. ^ Phrack Staff (2005-08-01), “Introduction”, Phrack (no. 63): 1, <http://phrack.org/issues.html?issue=63&id=1#article> 
  7. ^ The Circle of Lost Hackers (2007-05-27), “Introduction”, Phrack (no. 64): 1, <http://phrack.org/issues.html?issue=64&id=1#article> 
  8. ^ Conry-Murray, Andrew (2005-07-04). Busted Buffer: How To Prevent It. InformationWeek. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
  9. ^ Barrett, Neil (2003-11-05). Worms: many unhappy returns. IT Week. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.

[edit] External links