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December 1999 - Issue 1
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Whats In This Issue:
    # Halcon Hacker Valiant Gives QuadCon An Exclusive Interview And Some
      Special Tips In Trying To Prevent Your Machine From Being Hacked
    
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The Interview Of Valiant The Leader Of Halcon.  |   http://www.halcon.com.au
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BackGround:
Halcon was founded in 1993 as a Bulletin Board System and by 1996 had grown
to atleast ten members.  Still growing, in October 1996 the group took on
the name Halcon Technologies and in 1997 Valiant registered a business name,
allowing them to register the halcon.com.au domain name.  Although the group
was not widely known, on 22nd October 1999, Halcon was blamed for a massive
hack on the Australian Republican Movement website.  Despite denials and
misquotations, the story was covered by news outlets, an example of which is
at the following URL:

               http://www.halcon.com.au/arm0001.html
               
Following this incident, Halcon received massive amounts of publicity (most
of it was unwanted) and Valiant claims that Halcon has become the most
popular hacking group in Australia.  It currently has 24 members and thousands
of supporters.

Having been misquoted once, Valiant has since denied all interviews to the press,
including an offer from Channel Nine.  QuadCon is therefore proud to present
an exclusive, uncut interview with Valiant.

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The Interview
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QuadCon: If you were a system administrator of a newly installed slackware 
         linux machine and you had 20 minutes to secure it what would you do?

Valiant: Go to all the available sites (www.halcon.com.au/links.html) that
         cater for that, and quickly grab and install as many patches for 
         your software available.  Close all services (especially fingerd)
         that arn't needed, relocate telnet to a different port (I know it
         breaches RFC's, but fuck it.) and make sure that you don't
         adduser lamers.  :)

QuadCon: What is the most common thing to hack to gain access to?

Valiant: Fingerd is the most exploitable feature on machines, the good old 
         crackers highway.  Allthough these days it's neglected as a mode of 
         system penetration, also alot of sysadmins don't understand the point
         of finger anymore and remove it anyway.  As for hacking, the best
         method available that I remember overusing would be a buffer overflow
         in a certain software which makes calls to root.  Flood the software,
         bang, down it goes and you have root.  :)

QuadCon: Does the name Halcon have any relavence to you and why did you choose
         it for the name of the group?

Valiant: Halcon .. well, I chose that many years ago, so I can't really
         remember why it was chosen, other than that it sounds funky.  :P

QuadCon: How would you characterize the media coverage of you?

Valiant: Trivial and biased.  They just want an 'evil hacker genious' who 
         brags about how he hacked NASA, they don't really like me as 
         basically I won't brag, and I prefer to explain how idiotic the 
         consumers are for purchasing fucked computers, etc, and other 
         consumer related problems.

QuadCon: What do you think about hacks done in your name--for instance, the
         Australian Republican Movement hack?

Valiant: I wasn't expecting such media coverage on that topic, however they
         have no evidence against me, and I have yet to admit to even being 
         born at this point in time.  So fuck 'em all.  :)

QuadCon: What's the biggest misconception perpetuated by Hollywood 
         cybermovies? 

Valiant: There is no such thing as a hot female hacker named Acid Burn who has
         pert tits and lips that would look very nice wrapped around my hard 
         disk.  :)

QuadCon: In your own words, define hacker.

Valiant: There's two meanings.  I fall into both.  The code hacker, who lives
         to program and does it the hard way, and the system hacker, who loves
         finding exploitable features in systems to gain access, does so, 
         notifies the sysadmin and patches the hole.

QuadCon: What is your technical background. (Which platform do you prefer 
         PC/MAC? What is your online background? Do you do networking? Do you
         know programming languages,etc.)

Valiant: At the moment my prefered operating system is Windows 98 due it's
         usability and comprehensive system architecture, when it comes to
         personal use, for industrial things such as networking, I prefer any
         linux distribution.  I am a PC user, allthough I have a few old Apple
         Classics in my computer collection.  I've been using the internet
         through BBS gateways for ten or more years.  I network when I have
         to, but I used to work as a network engineer.  As for programming
         languages, I have a bad memory and generally have to 'relearn' things
         when I need them, however it's more a refresh than a relearn.  :)

QuadCon: I understand that hackers assume an online nickname to become known
         by - how did you acquire your nickname?

Valiant: I was seven years old when I logged onto a BBS using an audio coupler
         900 bps modem at a friends place.  It asked for a handle, Valiant was
         my current dungeons and dragons charracter, so I typed it in
         sheepishly.  I've been known by it ever since.  :) 

QuadCon: What do you portray system administrators are like?

Valiant: Fail-safe devices that take care of systems, that if programmed 
         correctly would never need human assistance.  :)

QuadCon: What do you think of ALOC, another aussie hacking group?

Valiant: Who?  :)

QuadCon: What currently is Halcon working on?

Valiant: Currently working on?  We're currently working on the ultimate 
         encyclopeadia of how to be slothenly and lazy.  :)

QuadCon: What would you like Halcon to be in the future?

Valiant: I don't know, that's a hard question really.  I never wanted it to be
         anything to begin with, time has just made it bigger than I ever 
         expected.  Back when I was a kid and it first started, I never really
         thought it would exceed a BBS group of users who were of the same 
         interests.  Now it's allmost like a religious cult for some.  :)

QuadCon: Who in the world do you dislike most?

Valiant: Anyone with an IQ under 110.  :)  100 is average, so I like people a
         tad over.  The others should be neutered and shot.  :)

QuadCon: Any last comments?

Valiant: I like being a cunt-rag.

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Special Thanks
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Valiant of Halcon         http://www.halcon.com.au

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Support Us
----------

Please support us - we are looking for a fast permanent unix box to host
a website with all our zines on. If you believe you can help see the contact
section below. Also if you know anyone who wants or deserves to be interviewed 
also see the contact section below.

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Contact
-------
I can be contacted on IRC irc.wiretapped.net or on the email address 
marena@iinet.net.au
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Copyright 1999 QuadCon


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