L0pht Heavy Industries

L0pht Heavy Industries (pronounced “loft”) was one of the most influential hacker groups in history. Unlike many others, L0pht carefully cultivated a relationship with mass media, sold profitable products, started businesses, and even testified before the US Senate. Cris Thomas, aka Space Rogue, was one of the earliest members of the L0pht and he recently published a book chronicling the groups long and storied history called Space Rogue: How the Hackers Known As L0pht Changed the World. Today I sit down with Cris to discuss that history and the impacts that the L0pht and other hacker groups have had on all of us.

Interview Notes

• Space Rogue’s website: https://www.spacerogue.net/
• L0pht homepage: https://l0pht.com/ 
• L0phtCrack: https://www.l0phtcrack.com/ 
• Textfiles.com: http://textfiles.com/ 
• L0phy testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVJldn_MmMY 
• Charlie Rose “Hackers” interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbTkOuPv2fo 
• PicoCTF: https://www.picoctf.org/ 
• Hack the Box: https://help.hackthebox.com/en/articles/5200851-introduction-to-ctfs 

Further Info

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Table of Contents

Use these timestamps to jump to a particular section of the show.

• 0:00:23: Episode 400 coming soon!
• 0:01:16: Interview setup
• 0:03:49: Tell us about your book
• 0:04:52: What is your origin story? How’d you get into hacking?
• 0:08:15: How often did you meet your fellow hackers in person?
• 0:10:49: How did the L0pht get started?
• 0:15:39: What was the reaction when you “come out” as a hacker to friends and family?
• 0:20:02: How much did different hacker groups interact back in the day?
• 0:23:19: L0pht cultivated a relationship with the media – how did that affect the dynamic?
• 0:28:19: What’s the history behind the infamous L0phtCrack password tool?
• 0:35:36: What was it like testifying in front of the US Senate?
• 0:38:32: How did you get away with testifying under your hacker names?
• 0:45:29: How did Hacker News Network come to be?
• 0:52:06: How did we avoid a hacker cyber war against China in the late 90s?
• 0:57:15: Which of L0pht’s many achievements are you most proud of?
• 0:59:40: What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into cybersecurity?
• 1:05:39: What’s next for you?
• 1:06:23: Patron