Phrack
Encyclopedia
Phrack is an ezine written by and for hackers
first published November 17, 1985. Described by Fyodor as "the best, and by far the longest running hacker zine," 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 computer security professionals.
Originally covering subjects related to phreaking
and telephone system hacking, anarchy
and cracking
, the articles also cover a wide range of topics including computer
and physical security
, hacking, cryptography
and international news.
Phrack "has had its finger on the pulse of hacker culture
", and is considered both a handbook and a manifesto for hackers.
". The founding editors of the magazine, known by the pseudonyms "Taran King" and "Knight Lightning", edited most of the first 30 editions. Editions were originally released onto the Metal Shop bulletin board system
, where Taran King was a sysop
, and widely mirrored
by other boards.
During its first 10 years of publication, Phrack has been largely associated with the telecommunications fraud, providing material for phreakers
and informing about arrests in this community through the Phrack World News feature articles. Along with the release of articles such as Smashing The Stack For Fun And Profit and the editorship of daemon9/route in 1996, Phrack became more computer security
oriented and closer to the now given definition of hacking
.
emergency response systems. This document, copied from a BellSouth
computer, played a major part in a series of Secret Service
raids called Operation Sundevil
and featured in Bruce Sterling
's book The Hacker Crackdown
. Phrack's editor, Knight Lightning, was arrested and charged with access device fraud and transportation of stolen property. The proceedings which ensued are known formally as United States v. Riggs
, named for Knight Lightning's co-defendant Robert Riggs.
The E911 document was an administrative document describing which parts of the organization are responsible for what parts of the E911 system.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
filed an amicus brief supporting Knight Lightning, and helped to get the case dropped by introducing a witness who showed that Bellcore was selling more detailed documentation to the E911 system for as little as $13 to anyone who asked. The E911 document had been valued by the prosecution at over $80,000. The case was then dropped.
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.
in late December 1989 few weeks after issue #30 was released, some attempts were made to resurrect Phrack under the editorship of Doc Holiday and Crimson Death. However, the lack of consent from the original editor to accept this Phrack Classic led to a new editorship for issue #33 by Dispater under the name Diet Phrack until issue #41.
Despite having acted as an informant against a member of a rival board
after his arrest in March 1991, issue #42 is released under the editorship of Erik Bloodaxe
in 1992. This new editorial staff makes Phrack legal and the magazine obtained an ISSN number from the Library of Congress. In September 1994, the first Phrack website appeared with release #46, containing all the files from the previous issues.
With the growing use of Internet and interest in computer security, 1996 marks a new era in Phrack magazine which become more computer security
oriented. The editorship is handed to route along with voyager until 2001. During this period, the Phrack website was defaced
several times.
Since 2001 Phrack is edited under the alias Phrackstaff and then The Circle of Lost Hackers as there is no editor acting as a chief editor for the magazine releases anymore. During the period from 2001 to 2005, a group referring itself as the Phrack High Council, "proud supporters of Project Mayhem", protested against the supposed white hat
behavior of certain members of the Phrackstaff and of some previous editorial staff members mainly on the Full-Disclosure mailing list. However none of their files were actually incorporated in the official Phrack magazine as it had been the case after the Phrack Classic/Diet Phrack controversy.
In 2005, a former editor took the initiative to announce "the end of Phrack" despite a new team of editor had formed. This announce generated, as intended, quite some noise around issue #63. However, this announce was actually more about the end of some major German/Austrian hacking groups such as TESO
from which some of the 2001 to 2005 staff was originating.
Issues of Phrack are divided in volumes, covering 1 or more years of publication.
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 Defcon refused to fulfil the order once they realized that they were printing a Hacking book. Two University of Arizona
students filled the gap and printed between 100 and 200 copies of Phrack 63 in time for release at Defcon 13.
Copies of Phrack 63 distributed at Defcon 13 are each stamped with a "serial" number on the inside of the last page. It is believed that there are 100 numbered copies of Phrack 63 distributed at Defcon. All copies were hand cut and bound, unnumbered copies may be unreleased "extras", or may have cutting errors that deemed them unfit for distribution.
Issue 63 told readers to "expect a new release," and on May 27, 2007, issue 64 was released by a new board of editors referring to themselves as "The Circle of Lost Hackers". (TCLH). TCLH eventually released issue #65 of Phrack on April 11, 2008. On June 11, 2009, TCLH released another issue of Phrack, bringing the count up to 66. On March 15, 2010, it was announced that the 67th issue would be released on July 11, yet it was later postponed.
Having an article published in Phrack is seen as prestigious by hackers, and often allowed access to more sources of information.
In addition to technical articles, Phrack also provided a focus for news and gossip among the hacker community.
In the 1990 National Computer Security Conference, Sheldon Zenner and Dorothy Denning suggested that Phrack articles contained the same factual content in computer and security magazines, but differed in tone.
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
first published November 17, 1985. Described by Fyodor as "the best, and by far the longest running hacker zine," 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 computer security professionals.
Originally covering subjects related to phreaking
Phreaking
Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. As telephone networks have become computerized, phreaking has become closely...
and telephone system hacking, anarchy
Anarchy
Anarchy , has more than one colloquial definition. In the United States, the term "anarchy" typically is meant to refer to a society which lacks publicly recognized government or violently enforced political authority...
and cracking
Cracking
Cracking may refer to:* Cracking, the formation of a fracture or partial fracture in a solid material* Fluid catalytic cracking, a catalytic process widely used in oil refineries for cracking large hydrocarbon molecules into smaller molecules...
, the articles also cover a wide range of topics including computer
Computer security
Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
and physical security
Physical security
Physical security describes measures that are designed to deny access to unauthorized personnel from physically accessing a building, facility, resource, or stored information; and guidance on how to design structures to resist potentially hostile acts...
, hacking, cryptography
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
and international news.
Phrack "has had its finger on the pulse of hacker culture
Hacker culture
A hacker is a member of the computer programmer subculture originated in the 1960s in the United States academia, in particular around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 's Tech Model Railroad Club and MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory...
", and is considered both a handbook and a manifesto for hackers.
History
Phrack, first released on November 17, 1985, takes its name from the words "phreak" and "hackHacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
". The founding editors of the magazine, known by the pseudonyms "Taran King" and "Knight Lightning", edited most of the first 30 editions. Editions were originally released onto the Metal Shop bulletin board system
Bulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
, where Taran King was a sysop
SysOp
A sysop is an administrator of a multi-user computer system, such as a bulletin board system or an online service virtual community. It may also be used to refer to administrators of other Internet-based network services....
, and widely mirrored
Mirror (computing)
In computing, a mirror is an exact copy of a data set. On the Internet, a mirror site is an exact copy of another Internet site.Mirror sites are most commonly used to provide multiple sources of the same information, and are of particular value as a way of providing reliable access to large downloads...
by other boards.
During its first 10 years of publication, Phrack has been largely associated with the telecommunications fraud, providing material for phreakers
Phreaking
Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. As telephone networks have become computerized, phreaking has become closely...
and informing about arrests in this community through the Phrack World News feature articles. Along with the release of articles such as Smashing The Stack For Fun And Profit and the editorship of daemon9/route in 1996, Phrack became more computer security
Computer security
Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
oriented and closer to the now given definition of hacking
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
.
Arrest of Knight Lightning
The 24th issue of Phrack, released February 1989, included a document relating to the workings of Enhanced 911Enhanced 911
Enhanced 911, E-911 or E911 in North America is one example of the modern evolution of telecommunications based system meant as an easy way to link people experiencing an emergency with the public resources that can help. The dial-three-digits concept first originated in the United Kingdom in 1937....
emergency response systems. This document, copied from a BellSouth
BellSouth
BellSouth Corporation is an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after the U.S...
computer, played a major part in a series of Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
raids called Operation Sundevil
Operation Sundevil
Operation Sundevil was a 1990 nation-wide United States Secret Service crackdown on "illegal computer hacking activities." It involved raids in approximately fifteen different cities and resulted in three arrests and the confiscation of computers, the contents of electronic bulletin board systems ,...
and featured in Bruce Sterling
Bruce Sterling
Michael Bruce Sterling is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre.-Writings:...
's book The Hacker Crackdown
The Hacker Crackdown
The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier is a work of nonfiction by Bruce Sterling first published in 1992.The book discusses watershed events in the hacker subculture in the early 1990s...
. Phrack's editor, Knight Lightning, was arrested and charged with access device fraud and transportation of stolen property. The proceedings which ensued are known formally as United States v. Riggs
United States v. Riggs
In United States v. Riggs, the government of the United States prosecuted Robert Riggs and Craig Neidorf for obtaining unauthorized access to and subsequently disseminating a file held on BellSouth's computers. The file, referred to as the E911 file, gave information regarding BellSouth's products...
, named for Knight Lightning's co-defendant Robert Riggs.
The E911 document was an administrative document describing which parts of the organization are responsible for what parts of the E911 system.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
filed an amicus brief supporting Knight Lightning, and helped to get the case dropped by introducing a witness who showed that Bellcore was selling more detailed documentation to the E911 system for as little as $13 to anyone who asked. The E911 document had been valued by the prosecution at over $80,000. The case was then dropped.
Phrack also showed up in the two part Operation Moon Witch storyline, published in 1992's The Hacker Files
The Hacker Files
The Hacker Files is a twelve issue DC Comics mini-series published from August 1992 to July 1993. It was written by Lewis Shiner and illustrated by Tom Sutton.-Publication history:...
by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, a story based on Operation Sundevil.
Publications
After the arrest of Knight Lightning, and the shutdown of Phrack by the US Secret ServiceUnited States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
in late December 1989 few weeks after issue #30 was released, some attempts were made to resurrect Phrack under the editorship of Doc Holiday and Crimson Death. However, the lack of consent from the original editor to accept this Phrack Classic led to a new editorship for issue #33 by Dispater under the name Diet Phrack until issue #41.
Despite having acted as an informant against a member of a rival board
Great Hacker War
The Great Hacker War was a purported 1990–1991 conflict between the Masters of Deception and an unsanctioned splinter faction of the older guard hacker group Legion of Doom , and some smaller subsidiary groups...
after his arrest in March 1991, issue #42 is released under the editorship of Erik Bloodaxe
Erik Bloodaxe (hacker)
Chris Goggans, who used the name Erik Bloodaxe in honor of the Viking king Eric I of Norway, is a founding member of the Legion of Doom group, and a former editor of Phrack Magazine...
in 1992. This new editorial staff makes Phrack legal and the magazine obtained an ISSN number from the Library of Congress. In September 1994, the first Phrack website appeared with release #46, containing all the files from the previous issues.
With the growing use of Internet and interest in computer security, 1996 marks a new era in Phrack magazine which become more computer security
Computer security
Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
oriented. The editorship is handed to route along with voyager until 2001. During this period, the Phrack website was defaced
Website defacement
A website defacement is an attack on a website that changes the visual appearance of the site or a webpage. These are typically the work of system crackers, who break into a web server and replace the hosted website with one of their own....
several times.
Since 2001 Phrack is edited under the alias Phrackstaff and then The Circle of Lost Hackers as there is no editor acting as a chief editor for the magazine releases anymore. During the period from 2001 to 2005, a group referring itself as the Phrack High Council, "proud supporters of Project Mayhem", protested against the supposed white hat
White hat
The term "white hat" in Internet slang refers to an ethical hacker, or a computer security expert, who specializes in penetration testing and in other testing methodologies to ensure the security of an organization's information systems...
behavior of certain members of the Phrackstaff and of some previous editorial staff members mainly on the Full-Disclosure mailing list. However none of their files were actually incorporated in the official Phrack magazine as it had been the case after the Phrack Classic/Diet Phrack controversy.
In 2005, a former editor took the initiative to announce "the end of Phrack" despite a new team of editor had formed. This announce generated, as intended, quite some noise around issue #63. However, this announce was actually more about the end of some major German/Austrian hacking groups such as TESO
TESO
TESO was a famous hacker group, which originated in Austria and quickly became international. It was active from 1998 to 2004, and during its peak around 2000, it was responsible for a significant share of the exploits on the bugtraq mailing list.- History :...
from which some of the 2001 to 2005 staff was originating.
Issues of Phrack are divided in volumes, covering 1 or more years of publication.
| Volume | Year | Issues | Editors |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 1985-86 | #1 to #9 | Taran King Cheap Shades |
| 02 | 1987-88 | #10 to #24 | Taran King Knight Lightning Shooting Shark Elric of Imrryr Crimson Death |
| 03 | 1989-91 | #25 to #36 | Taran King Crimson Death Dispater |
| 04 | 1992-93 | #37 to #44 | Dispater Erik Bloodaxe |
| 05 | 1994 | #45 to #46 | Erik Bloodaxe |
| 06 | 1995 | #47 | Erik Bloodaxe |
| 07 | 1996-97 | #48 to #51 | Voyager daemon9/route |
| 08 | 1998 | #52 to #54 | route |
| 09 | 1999 | #55 | route |
| 10 | 2000 | #56 | route |
| 11 | 2001-05 | #57 to #63 | Phrackstaff |
| 12 | 2007-08 | #64 to #65 | The Circle of Lost Hackers |
| 13 | 2009-? | #66 to ? | The Circle of Lost Hackers |
Continuation after 2006
DEF CON
DEF CON is one of the world's largest annual computer hacker conventions, held every year in Las Vegas, Nevada...
and What the Hack
What the Hack
What The Hack was an outdoor hacker conference held in Liempde, Netherlands between the 28th and 31st of July, 2005. It is an event in a sequence that began with the Galactic Hacker Party in 1989, followed by Hacking at the End of the Universe in 1993, Hacking In Progress in 1997 and Hackers At...
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 Defcon refused to fulfil the order once they realized that they were printing a Hacking book. Two University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
students filled the gap and printed between 100 and 200 copies of Phrack 63 in time for release at Defcon 13.
Copies of Phrack 63 distributed at Defcon 13 are each stamped with a "serial" number on the inside of the last page. It is believed that there are 100 numbered copies of Phrack 63 distributed at Defcon. All copies were hand cut and bound, unnumbered copies may be unreleased "extras", or may have cutting errors that deemed them unfit for distribution.
Issue 63 told readers to "expect a new release," and on May 27, 2007, issue 64 was released by a new board of editors referring to themselves as "The Circle of Lost Hackers". (TCLH). TCLH eventually released issue #65 of Phrack on April 11, 2008. On June 11, 2009, TCLH released another issue of Phrack, bringing the count up to 66. On March 15, 2010, it was announced that the 67th issue would be released on July 11, yet it was later postponed.
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. Philes are submitted by members of the hacker underground community, and are reviewed by the editors.Having an article published in Phrack is seen as prestigious by hackers, and often allowed access to more sources of information.
In addition to technical articles, Phrack also provided a focus for news and gossip among the hacker community.
In the 1990 National Computer Security Conference, Sheldon Zenner and Dorothy Denning suggested that Phrack articles contained the same factual content in computer and security magazines, but differed in tone.
Notable articles
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.- Hacker ManifestoHacker ManifestoThe Conscience of a Hacker is a small essay written January 8, 1986 by a computer security hacker who went by the handle of The Mentor . It was written after the author's arrest, and first published in the underground hacker ezine Phrack in Volume One, Issue 7, Phile 3 of 10...
by The MentorLoyd BlankenshipLoyd Blankenship has been a well-known American computer hacker and writer since the 1970s, when he was a member of the hacker groups Extasyy Elite and Legion of Doom....
has been an inspiration to young hackers since the 1980s, was published in the 7th issue of Phrack. - Smashing The Stack For Fun And Profit by Aleph OneElias LevyElias Levy , was the moderator of the full disclosure vulnerability mailing list Bugtraq from May 14, 1996, until he stepped down on October 15, 2001. He was the CTO and co-founder of the computer security company SecurityFocus, which was acquired by Symantec on August 6, 2002...
, published in issue 49, is the "classic paper" on stack buffer overflows, partly responsible for popularizing the vulnerability.
Regular features
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.