2600. Hacker Quarterly

Berglund Authority Level 3

by Jeffrey Barlow <barlowj@pacificu.edu>
Editor, Interface

2600. The Hacker Quarterly
2600 Enterprises, Inc. http://www.2600.com/

This is, we think, the first serial publication, a quarterly, that we have chosen to review. In general, we assume that our audience is probably already familiar with the usual periodicals relevant to understanding the Internet, and that each reader has long since found his or her favorites. However, we think it safe to assume that 2600 is an exception in this regard. It is a quarterly publication edited by "hackers" which consists largely of content from other hackers, both "white hats" (those who are presumed to be largely interested in protecting security and the health of the Internet) and "black hats" (those who pride themselves on their abilities to break into others' systems, often for harmful or illegal purposes).

We have some doubts about reviewing this publication; in some schools, mere possession of it is sufficient evidence of malicious intent for the authorities to revoke the reader's access privileges. But we note that in our labs, the issues are read repeatedly and new ones awaited with high interest. We admit that much of the magazine is well beyond our own level of understanding. Some articles appear not to be written in English at all but in some obscure program code or machine language.

Nor is 2600 easy to find. Barnes & Noble seems to be the only large outlet that regularly shelves it. But the letters in each issue usually have outraged submissions detailing the difficulty of locating it even there, stories of sabotage by postal authorities, etc., etc. It is, in short, a controversial publication even in its own pages.

Its editorial line can easily be typified as left radical---it comes down squarely in favor of individual access to information vis-à-vis the restrictions of the Patriot Act, for example. While the editors continually caution against illegal activities in favor of constructive ones, some of the letters and articles are thinly veiled lessons in how to intrude into everything from corporate computer systems to public terminals and retail checkout devices. An ongoing concern is a "Free Kevin" campaign, referring to Kevin Mitnick, the arch-hacker who has gone into legend and lore. See: http://www.kevinmitnick.com/ for additional information, or see our own review of Mitnick, Kevin D, and William L. Simon, The Art of Deception, Controlling the Human Element of Security, Indianapolis, Indiana: Wiley Publishing, 2002. at: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2003/05/mitnick.php.

The roots of the magazine lie in the community of early phone freaks, those who learned to access telecommunications without charge. One of their traditions is to publish, on the back cover, photographs of odd payphones encountered around the world.

But there are good reasons for reading 2600, particularly if you are in charge of network security or in charge of those who are. Article after article warns of holes in common programs and networks and gives good advice on how to quickly and cheaply protect them. The editorials, while often somewhat extreme, do uncover important developments in the ongoing struggle between security and access to the Internet. See the table of contents of the current issue at: http://store.2600.com/spring2004.html.

We think that any of our readers could benefit from picking up a copy, if only for the insight that it offers into a huge extended community (better, communities) of those who are extremely interested in the arcane details of computer communications. And if you are concerned about computer security, it probably should be considered mandatory reading. At the Berglund Center we bought back issues for the last several years as well as subscribing.