The VanLug Tech Culture Project is a collection of quality information addressing topics of interest to technical professionals in biographical, documentary, or fictional forms. Many of these programs and movies were originally developed by mainstream television and movie studios and others by independent producers. Many of these topics are sensitive and controversial, although VanLUG does not endorse any particular set of ideas or opinions. We are interested in presenting information about these topics rather than in instructing members how to engage in marginal or illegal activities. We believe that professionals and aspiring professionals need to be well informed and have easy, open access to many such kinds of general knowledge, and be free to come to their own conclusions. If you have material you’d like to add to our project, please contact us. And in the meantime, enjoy.
* Bruce Schneier: “NSA Surveillance and What To Do About It”.
One of the world’s most respected security researchers discusses the scope and nature of the international surveillance problem and the solutions needed to restore balance to the Internet.
NSA Surveillance and What To Do About It
* Tim Berners-Lee: “A Magna Carta for the Web”
The father of the World Wide Web argues for a rights based Magna Carta for the Internet to offset many of it’s downsides. “Theres a battle ahead. Eroding net neutrality, filter bubbles and centralizing corporate control all threaten the webs wide-open spaces. Its up to users to fight for the rights to access and openness. The question is, What kind of Internet do we want?”
A Magna Carta for the Web
* Jacob Appelbaum: The NSA
A Detailed Expose of NSA Programs, Tools, Malware and Techniques.
A Detailed Expose of NSA Programs
* “Inside the Dark Web” – a BBC documentary
Surveillance, privacy, encryption, TOR, Silk Road, Bit Coin, Passports.
Inside the Dark Web
* ACLU: Christopher Soghoian: “Back Doors, Government Hacking, and the Next Crypto Wars.”
Background to Government Crypto. Clipper Chip. PGP. HTTPS. Widespread adoption of encryption. Shift to telco access. Lawful requests for data. Plain text and the relationship to advertising. Surveillance reform movement. Gmail policies. Going dark. Back Doors. Secrecy. Government hacking. FinFisher and Hacking Team. Remote Operations Unit. Individually tailored solutions. Hacking and Malware. Next crypto wars.
Tools for end to end encryption. Skype and Microsoft. Legal covert surveillance. Silent Circle and Spider Oak. Lavabit. Shift to key access. Adapting to new pseudo power threat models. Strong resistance to coercion.
Back Doors, Government Hacking, and the Next Crypto Wars
* Jacob Appelbaum and “The TOR Network”
Why privacy and anonymity are important and the way in which The Onion Router is an essential piece of the solution. Debunks many of the negative myths surrounding TOR.
The TOR Network
* “The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz”
A biographical film depicting the life of American computer programmer, writer, political organizer, and Internet activist Aaron Swartz.
The Internet’s Own Boy
* EFF: Kurt Opsahl, Senior Staff Attorney. “Through a PRISM Darkly – Everything We Know About NSA Spying”.
Background information about NSA programs and legal frameworks and justifications for their programs. Detailed information about what the different programs do. What to do about it. 13 principles for international spying. UN resolutions. necessaryandproportional.net. Complaints. Hearings. Https everywhere.
Through a PRISM Darkly
* “Algorithm: The Hacker Movie”
A computer hacker discovers a mysterious government computer program. He breaks into the program and is thrust into a surveillance revolution.
Algorithm
* Chaos Computer Conference: “The Militarization of the Internet”
The discovery and analysis of FinFisher’s FinSpy and Hacking Team exploits. The video ad for Galieo Systems is especially revealing.
The Militarization of the Internet
* EFF’s Eva Galperin: “The Internet Doesn’t Need Another Security Guide: Creating Internet Privacy and Security Resources That Don’t Suck”
An excellent introductory metaguide to guides and resources that allow you to protect yourself online and ensure your privacy and security, from data dealers and governments of all sorts. Tor AND Https.
The Internet Doesn’t Need Another Security Guide
* Discovery: “Top Secret: National Security Agency”
A documentary that looks inside the NSA and its history.
National Security Agency
* SIGINT 2013: Hans-Jorg Kreowski and Deitrich Meyer-Ebrecht
“Revolution in Military Affairs”.
The digitization of military affairs and the restructuring of the basic military outlook around ICT to redefine our understanding of war. History of the relationship between the military and computing technology. Ethics of dual-use nature of tech. Civil tech driving development of new forms of military tech with an eye to replacing conventional weapons with drones, robots and other types of tech. Remote management of digital weapons. Machine ethics and artificial conscience. The merging of security and military objectives. The emergence of undercover warfare and cyberwarfare. War is no longer for defense. FIFF. Cyberpeace.
Revolution in Military Affairs
* Frontline, May13, 2014: “U.S. Secrets: Classified Intelligence, CIA, FBI, NSA, Secret Service, Edward Snowden”.
An in depth, documentary look at the Snowden revelations and the issues he has raised.
U.S. Secrets
* “Edward Snowden Speaks to World Affairs Conference 2015”
An interview with Edward Snowden.
Edward Snowden – World Affairs
* NOVA: “The Spy Factory”
A documentary look at the NSA prior to 911 and it’s failure to understand or act upon the intelligence it had gathered regarding Al Queda. The beginnings of NSA domestic surveillance and data gathering and the difference between data and intelligence.
The Spy Factory
* Humour: DefCon 14: “Secrets of the Hollywood Hacker”
A light hearted look at hackers in the movies. Leet or Lame? You decide.
Hollywood Hackers
* History Channel: National Geographic: BBC Documentary
“Who are Hackers”
The rise and impact of Anonymous, in their own words.
Who are Hackers?
* Discovery Channel: “The Secret History of Hacking”
An early history of phone phreaking and hacking in the seventies and eighties. Draper, Wozniak, Mitnik, in their own words.
The Secret History of Hacking
* “Hackers Wanted”.
An in depth examination of the differences between hackers and crackers, and a lengthy discussion of information warfare and various threats to global security.
Hackers Wanted
* “In the Realm of the Hackers”
Early cracking in Australia – phoenix, electron, zardoz, Gene Spafford
In the Realm of the Hackers
* Discovery: “The True Story of the Internet”
The early history of Google, the beginnings of search and the commercial web, Yahoo, Excite, Goto, Overture, Don’t Be Evil, IPO, GooglePhobia.
The True Story of the Internet
* National Geographic: “Inside Google”
History of Google, Inside Google, Google expansion, Google culture, cloud computing, government data access, server farms, China, trust, privacy, NSLs, aardvark, friendfeed and facebook.
Inside Google
* Moment of Truth: Edward Snowden’s Speech
Interview with Edward Snowden on Moment of Truth in Aukland, New Zealand. Discussion of mass surveillance and the types of analysis performed by the NSA on email metadata and content.
Edward Snowden’s Speech
* SFU TED Talks: Edward Snowden: “Here’s How We Take Back the Internet”.
Discussion of solutions to the mass surveillance problem, encryption and an Internet Magna Carta as proposed by Tim Berners-Lee.
Here’s How We Take Back the Internet
* Doc-Zone: “Deluged by Data”
Are you a data addict? Infobese? In need of a digital diet? How much data is too much and what will our future relationships with information entail? From self monitoring to cyborgs.
Deluged By Data
* “Introduction to Quantum Computers”
A look at the physics behind quantum computing.
Introduction to Quantum Computers
* “World’s First Quantum Computer Has Been Invented”
Seth Lloyd at MIT claims to have invented the first quantum computer. Dubious. A good explanation of quantum theory though and how solving problems with a quantum computing differs from linear computing.
World’s First Quantum Computer Has Been Invented
* Tech MidWest: “The Future Of Quantum Computing”
Vern Brownell, D-Wave CEO delivers a presentation at Compute MidWest. This is a good general introduction to quantum computing, pulling a lot of ideas together – original concepts, quantum computing, D-Wave systems and the future of quantum computing.
The Future of Quantum Computing
PBS: Nova: What Can Quantum Computers Do?”
A look inside D-Wave’s commercial quantum computers, with a short explanation of how the technology works by Geordie Rose D-Wave’s founder.
What Can Quantum Computers Do?
* “D-Wave Quantum Computer Lab Facilities”
A short tour of the D-Wave Lab, a look at the D-Wave qubit tech and at what’s inside the D-Wave fridge.
D-Wave Quantum Computer Lab Facilities
* PBS: Nova: “D-Wave Quantum Computers”
Another look at D-Wave computers with Geordie Rose. Looking forward to nano-Kelvin temperatures. Martin Zwierlein at MIT and the Bose-Einstein condensate.
D-Wave Quantum Computers
* Compute Mid-West: “The Future of Quantum Computing”
Another look at D-Wave computing by Vern Brownell, CEO of D-Wave.
The Future of Quantum Computing
*”Surviving Progress”
A documentary look at the destiny of progress and improvement. Long term/Short term. Complexity/Scale. Technological cascade. The importance of “Why”. The importance of technology. Our finite planet. Third World debt.
Surviving Progress
* “AntiTrust” The movie.
A top computer science student joins a monopolistic corporation bent on world domination of digital communications. With the help of friends he exposes the murderous tactics of his demanding boss and open sources the code stolen from murdered programmers.
AntiTrust
* “Storm Watch: Code Hunter” The movie.
A young hacker with a criminal past is forced to return to crypto cracking by a character in a RPG in order to avoid being framed by those who want the Livewire file – the core of the Thunderhead weather weapon. But a rogue AI has other ideas.
Storm Watch: Code Hunter
* Tom Clancy’s Net Force: “Op Center”
A newly appointed head of the National Crisis Management Centre faces a trial by fire over stolen Russian nuclear weapons. Lame graphics.
Op Centre
* “Insecurity” The movie.
Two hackers Leon and Greg set out to download some files, but wind up diverted again and again as they try to avoid getting caught. Humorous look at social engineering and technical hacking on windows and linux. Lots of bad acting, melodrama and nihilistic self reflection.
Insecurity
* “The Net”. A movie.
Sandra Bullock stars as Angela Bennett, a security researcher targeted with identity theft by the Praetorieans, malevolent crackers bent upon cyberterrorism. Her expertise with viruses comes in handy.
The Net
* “Hackers: Outlaws and Angels”
A look at both black and white hats, defenders and crackers and their current projects. The Global Threat Centre, InfoWar, the CodeRed attack worm, Cold Fire, Eric Raymond, John Perry Barlow.
Outlaws and Angels
* “Hackers are People Too”
A neutral look at hacking from a broad and historical perspective extending beyond computers into the true nature of hacking as it shows up in our broader culture. Discussion of what real hackers actually do. Interviews with attendees at DefCon.
Hackers are People Too
* “Hacker’s Game.” Movie.
Loise and Soyan, two hackers, battle against the corporate spin doctors who manufacture identities and pubic relations for tyrants fighting against human rights activists.
Hacker’s Game.
* “Enemy of the State” Movie.
Gene Hackman, Will Smith, Lisa Bonet and Jack Black star in a 1998 film about an ambitious NSA bureaucrat who will do whatever it takes to ensure that strong security legislation will pass . In 1998 people thought this was fiction , a conspiracy theory about the surveillance state – neither fact nor blueprint. Recent events and revelations have proven otherwise. From rogue bureaucrat to rogue agency.
Enemy of the State
* “Cyberjack”. Movie.
Cyberterrorists try to unleash a thinking virus originally designed as a biological augmented security innoculation upon the world. Are they insane or in charge? Filmed in Vancouver.
Cyberjack
* “Top Five Stupid Things Movies Believe About Hackers”
A short critique of Hollywood’s hacker stereotypes. Duh!
Top Five Stupid Things Movies Believe About Hackers
* “Deja Vu” Movie.
Denzel Washington in a time warping science fiction terrorist manhunt featuring the Snow White time data streaming tech centre. A surveillance society advocate’s wet dream and a very interesting control room. Quite the twist on the time paradox.
Deju Vu
* PBS: “Triumph of the Nerds” Parts one, two and three.
Robert X. Cringely’s history of the development of the personal computer from the earliest days and before through to the PC, to the Mac and to Windows 95.
Part One: Chips, Altair, Apple I and II, HomeBrew Computer Club, Westcoast Computer Faire.
Triumph of the Nerds – Part One
Part Two: Transition from hobby to big business, IBM culture, Hearts and Minds, IBM-PC, Open Architecture, PC-Dos, Gary Kildall, Seattle Computer Products, QDos – Quick and Dirty OS, Inventors vs expoiters, Lotus 123, PC Compatibles, the rise of Microsoft, Compaq, the first Anti-Trust suit, Apple and the 1984 ad.
Triumph of the Nerds – Part Two
Part Three: User Friendly. Innovation vs Marketing. GUIs. Zerox PARC. Lisa. Mac. Applications. 1984. WYSIWYG. Laser Printers. Adobe. Steve Jobs departure. Windows. Look and Feel. Taste. Windows 95. The Internet. Larry Ellison.
Triumph of the Nerds – Part Three
* “Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet” – a.k.a. “Glory of the Geeks” Parts 1, 2, and 3.
Robert Cringely’s second series on the history of networked computing.
Part One: “Networking the Nerds.”
The Web, Excite, Porn, Amazon, Adult Supervision, ARPA, BBN, NASA, J.C. Licklider, Timesharing, DARPA, ARPANET, Networking, Packet Switching, Vint Cerf, Bob Kahn, IMP, Labour Day 1969, Login: ?, Hippies and Hackers, Whole Earth, Stuart Brand, Ted Nelson, Howard Rheingold, From computing to communications, ALOHANET, TCP/IP, Email.
Networking the Nerds
Part Two: “Wiring the World”.
Tim Berners-Lee, www, http, the shift to commercialism, Browsers, Marc Andreessen, Mosaic, Jim Clarke, Netscape, client-server, AOL, search engines, portals, porn, advertising, The Motley Fool, on-line shopping, cricket, Bangalore, Java, James Gosling, Internet Explorer, Anti-Trust Suit, Sandy Lerner.
Wiring the World
Part Three: “Connecting the Suits”.
Bob Metcalf, Xerox PARC, Ethernet, Community, 3Com, workstations, SUN, Stanford, Bill Joy, Andy Bechtolsheim (1), Scott McNealy (3), Bill Joy, Vinod Khosla, Novell, Ray Noorda, Netware, Drew Major, File Servers, 3Com and Microsoft, The Greatful Dead, The Well, Stewart Brand, John McAfee, The Pitch, VCs, Risk, Sandy Lerner, Len Bosack, Cisco, Seti.
Connecting the Suits
* “Revolution OS” GNU, Linux and FLOSS
Documentary describing the rise of GNU/Linux through the words of leading personalities. ESR, RMS, Linus, Bruce Perens, Free Software, Open Letter to Hobbiests, GNU, BSD, Michael Tiemann, Larry Augustin, GPL, Cygnus Software, Commercial Linux, Linux early development, v0.001 – 10,000 line of code and one user, Yggdrasil, Apache, Brian Behlendorf, Server farms, Red Hat, Donnie Barnes, Marc Ewing, Netscape, Communicator, Free Software, the Cathederal and the Bazaar, Jim Barksdale, Marc Andreessen, Open Source, Commercialization, Open Source Definition, databases, ports, OSI, LUGs, Installfests, Anti-Trust trials, Communism, Prime Time, Red Hat IPO, VA Linux IPO, Losses, Shared Software.
Revolution OS
* “The Italian Job”. Movie.
Jason Stratham and Charlize Theron in an excellent heist movie featuring a hacked traffic light system.
The Italian Job
* NOVA: “The KGB, the Computer and Me”. Movie.
Based upon Clifford Stoll’s “The Cukoo’s Egg” a true story that led from a Berkeley computer lab and a small accounting error to military secrets, a West German cracker, and the KGB. A high tech whodunnit.
The KGB, the Computer and Me
* World’s Hacking Communities: “Chinese Hacker”
Chinese hacking, banyantree, littlefish, policing the net, lovebug, Korean esecurity and the Cyber Terror Response Centre, loveyou, death sentences, coolfrog, hacktivists, Hackers Union of China, honkers, lion, 1998 Indonesian riots, persecution and reaction, targeting Indonesia, Belgrade bombing by the US, patriotic hacking, US/China cyberwar, Green Army Corps, China Eagle Union, cyberterrorism potential.
Chinese Hacking
* Aljazera English: 101 East: “China’s Cyber Warriors”.
Hacking in China, patriotism, red visitors, Honkers Union for China, madman, Iranian Cyber Army, UofT Citizen Lab, Ron Diebert, ghostnet, difficulty in verifying crackers true identities, The Dark Visitor, GFW, internet police, twitter activists, climbing the wall, netizens, citizen journalists.
China’s Cyber Warriors
* “Hacker’s ’95”
A look back at hacker and cracker issues and problems twenty years ago. Persistence? Progress? Hacker’s Manifesto, SummerCon, Eric BloodAxe, Open Source Solutions Inc., “cia”, Emmanuel Goldstein, 2600, Information Wants To Be Free, Privacy, countermeasures and electronic eavesdropping, illegal wiretaps, interviews with SummerCon exhibitors, Kevin Mitnick, Cordless Chaos, pranks, DefCon 3, Bruce Schneier, cryptography, clipper telephones, fear factor, mob influences, information warfare, DEW, Area 51, Little A le Inn, Surveillance, Operation Cybersnare, cell phone fraud.
Hackers ’95
*Internet Cafe: “Hackers”
Another historical look at pre-911 computer culture in 1996. Dan Farmer, ‘cops’, corporate security, SATAN, underground.org, information as a double edged sword, freedom of information, Bug Trak, 2600, root.org, COAST, CERT, TV modems, cult of the dead cow, whiteknight, demonization.
Hackers
* “DEFCON 20: The Documentary”
An in depth look at the 20th Anniversary DEFCON. Interviews with speakers and attendees.
The Documentary
* “DEFCON19: The History and Evolution of Computer Viruses”
A talk given at DEFCON 19 by Mikko Hypponen of F-Secure. He provides and excellent overview discussing the first PC viruses and each stage of subsequent virus development up to the present time.
The History and Evolution of Computer Viruses
* “BBS: The Documentary” Parts 1-8
Part 1: An in depth look at the birth of the home computer as an interaction and communications device. The birth of BBSs in the mid-seventies and early eighties on early personal computers. Sysops. Brand loyalty. Shareware. 30cps. BBS as forerunner to the modern internet.
BBS: Part 1
Part 2: Sysops and Users. Awe. Respect. Power. Fun. Pride. Status. Control. Chat. Muli-user BBSs. Flame Wars. BoardWatch. Parties. Women. Community. Service.
BBS: Part 2
Part 3: Make It Pay. The BBS industry. Hobbiests. Commercialization. Decline. Porn. Warez. Expansion. Big Boards. Corporate BBSs. BoardWatch. Competition. BBSCON. Internet. ISPs. Loss of confidence. Buyouts. ISPCON. Wall Street.
BBS: Part 3
Part 4: Fidonet. Homebrew networking. Email for free to the broader community. BBS to BBS networking. Daily exchanges. Fidonets. Community maintenance. Limits of Fidonet. FidoCon. Regions. Net nodes. Growth. Global node net. Echoes. The cult of Tom. Politics, politics and more politics. Non-profit. Paranoia. IFNA. Controversy. Tom’s resignation. Legal issues. Dissolution of IFNA. Decline. But still running in the third world.
BBS: Part 4
Part 5: Art Scene. Telex imagery. ASCII. ANSI. BBSs and artwork. The upper half. Ebony Eyes. Underground BBSs. Politics. iCE. ACiD. Artpacks. Groups. Work. No life. ACiD vs iCE. Ripping. Style. Power transfer. Internet. Windows. Decline. Continuity.
BBS: Part 5
Part 6: HPAC. Hacking, Phreaking, Anarchy and Cracking. Underground BBSs. Freedom. Elegance. Logins. Levels. Warez. Handles. Learn to Learn. OSUNY. Anarchy. Cracking. Games. Kids. Morality. Arrests. HPAC. It’s just there.
BBS: Part 6
Part 7: No Carrier. The end of the BBSs. Hardware failure. Lack of traffic. Internet. FAD! ISPs. ListServs. Email. Transitions. Community. Comparisons. Holdouts. Dialup is dead. Evolution. BBSs are not dead.
BBS: Part 7
Part 8: Compression. Thom Henderson. SEA products. Huffman Compression. File Transfer. ARC. Shareware. SEA vs PKARC. Copyright infringement. Impact. Perception. David and Goliath. PR war. Business failure. Mail. Moving on. Lessons learned. Zip. Death.
BBS: Part 8
* “The Secret Life of Machines”
A 27 part series that explores how various kinds of household machines work. Early versions are shown in action and others taken apart to demonstrate how the devices work. Vaccuum cleaners, sewing machines, washing machines, refrigerators, cars, internal combustion engines, quartz watches, telephones, radios, VCRs, elevators, word processors, electric lights, photo copiers, fax machines, office machinery and office buildings. Episode 21 on Word Processing is quite amusing.
The Secret Life of Machines
* Discovery: “The True Story of the Internet” A four part series
Part 1: Browser Wars. Birth of the Browser. Jim Clarke. Microsoft. Netscape. Shift to commerce and communications. David and Goliath. Platforms. The Internet Tidalwave. Browser wars. The meeting. Anti-Trust suit. Netscape IPO. Bubble. Explorer. MS Sales force. Dirty pool. IE4. Lawsuit. Testimony. Guilty. Appeal. No Divestiture. An internet generation.
Browser Wars
Part 2: People Power. How the world is changing the web. Web 2.0. Digg. You Tube. Chad Hurley. Jay Adelson. New media. Broadcast yourself. User based content. Wisdom of crowds. Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook. Music. MP3s. Music Industry. Shawn Fanning. Napster. Peer2Peer. Sharing. Community. RIAA. Hilary Rosen. Copyright. IP. Metallica. Lawsuit. Shutdown. Fans or Outlaws? iTunes. Kaza. ViaCom lawsuit. Google acquisition. MySpace vs Facebook. Craig’s List. Wikipedia. Blogs. Openness. Collaboration. Medium of the little guy. Read-Write web.
People Power
Part 3: Dot-Com Bubble. Evolution of capitalism. Amazon. e-Bay. Jeff Bezos. Pierre Omidyar. Wall Street. Henry Blodget. Growth. Moores Law. Metcalf’s Law. Ignorance, Greed and Enthusiasm. Bubbles. Tulips, Railways, Telegraphs, Canals, Automobiles. Amazon IPO. Get Big Fast. Encryption. Diffie, Hellman and Merkle. Public Key Cryptography. Secure e-commerce. Public and private keys. ebay IPO. Growth. The MANIC bubble. Day traders. Phil Kaplan. The e-decade. Bet hedging. Telecom bubble. Internet expansion. Fibre Optics. Man of the Year – Jeff Bezos. Greenspan. Interest rates. Phil Kaplan. April 14, 2000 – Black Friday – anniversary of the Titanic. Dot.bust. Henry Blodget. $3.5T. Survivors. Power to the People. Customer satisfaction. Benefits of the bubble. Creative destruction. Ubiquity.
Dot-Com Bubble
Part 4: Internet Search. Gopher and the plain text internet. Yahoo. Excite. Advertizing. Search. Portals. Avarice, ambition and the fear of extinction. Google. Larry and Sergi. Page link voting. Count the links. Funding. Advertizing. Key words. Market research tool. Yellow pages. Overture. IPO. Give us one more bubble. Don’t be evil. Privacy.
Internet Search
* Martin Hellman: “The Wisdom of Foolishness”
Martin Hellman of Diffie-Hellman fame is inducted as a Stanford School of Engineering Hero. This is his acceptance speech. He gives great advice about how to approach a new project. First proposals often appear foolish. But success requires us to be foolish enough to try, to undertake fools errands. Home runs vs foul balls. Asking the right question.
The Wisdom of Foolishness
* History Channel: “The Internet: Behind the Scenes”
Interviews with various luminaries and pioneers of the early Internet. J.C.R Licklider. Computer Communication. The Cold War. ARPA. Leonard Kleinrock. Queueing Theory. Demand Access. Distributed Control. Paul Baran. Hot Potato Routing. Claude Shannon. Packets. Packet Switching. Bob Taylor. Time Sharing. Interaction. Networking. Resource Sharing. Larry Roberts. IMPs. BBN. Frank Heart. Stephen Crocker. 1971- 18 computers. Bob Metcalfe. email. Raymond Tomlinson. The @ sign. Taking over the world. General purpose design. RFCs. Sharing. Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf. TCP/IP. Gateways. Network of networks. 1992 – from research to commerce. Tim Berners-Lee. World Wide Web. Marc Andreeson. Browsers. Growth.
The Internet Behind the Internet
* “Die Hard 4” (2007). Movie.
An excellent thriller featuring Bruce Willis leading a cop-hacker duo to save the world from a cyber-terrorist fire-sale plot.
Die Hard 4 (2007)
* Nova: “The Rise of the Hackers”. PBS Documentary.
A look at the emergence of security issues as a 21st century battleground. Internet targets and vulnerabilities. Data is precious. From cyber crime to digital WMDs. Digital arms race. Keyboard threats. Money, Identity, Secrets. Government surveillance and cyber weapons. Security researchers Stuxnet. ZDES. PLCs. Iran. Cyber espionage. Cyber attacks. Success in Iran. Who built Stuxnet? Cryptography. Primes and semi-primes. Keys. Large primes. Quantum computing. Quantum code breaking. Breaking public keys. Quantum cryptography. Observer effects. Photon keys. Commercial quantum cryptography. Inside jobs. Paranoia. What devices can we trust? Ultra paranoid computing. Unconscious passwords. Vulnerable networks. Stuxnet in the wild. 100k infections.
NOVA: The Rise of the Hackers
* The Pentagon Channel: “Digital Detectives: Documentary on Computer Forensics in the DoD”
An overview of digital forensic work in the American military – Army, Air Force, Navy. Hard drive analysis, digital evidence, forensics labs, education, court testimony, cyber threats, cyber war, state sponsored espionage.
Digital Detectives
* Advanced Cyber Security Training: “Computer Forensics 101: The Basics Part 1”
A 15 minute discussion of American Laws and Forensics procedures. Then a demonstration of Linux forensic tools on a USB drive: Autopsy.VLCPlayer. DFF. dcfldd. XnView. Recoverjpeg. Foremost. Scalpel. Indexing. TOR traffic. Credit cards. Deleted data.
Computer Forensics 101
* Channel 4 Australia: “Hacked”
An extensive overview of the problem of Chinese cyber espionage and cyberwarfare in Australia. Vulnerabilities and solutions. Secrecy vs. disclosure. Hacked Government departments. An abundance of data. Mandiant report. 2nd Bureau of the PLA GSD 3rd Department. Unit 61398. From passive defence to cyber offence. Cyber attack capability. Modifications to StuxNet. 5 zones – land, sea, air, space and cyber. Targeting command and control centres to degrade communications. The shift to covert warfare.
Channel 4: Hacked
* The Pentagon Channel: “Bragging Rights”
A documentary filmed during a military cyber warfare training exercise. The NSA Red Cell was the attacker and various military technical schools were the defenders including the Royal Military College of Canada. The theme was Fighting Through Cyber Adversity and the objective for the students was to keep their systems running – as long as possible.
Bragging Rights
* Stanford: “Disecting StuxNet”
Security researcher Carey Nachenburg from Symantec gives a short presentation to explain how StuxNet works to a CISAC Science seminar at Stanford.
Dissecting StuxNet
* StuxNet: “Security Researcher Ralph Langner”
StuxNet decoder Ralph Langner, analyses the StuxNet virus and why it changes the digital landscape. Dropper and Payload. Payload directed to PLC controllers. Dropper was complex – 4 zero day expoits. PLCs are very insecure. StuxNet loads software onto a PLC. Injecting malicious code to run in parallel. Selective execution. Goal is to damage physical processes. Man in the middle techniques. 15k lines of rogue code. Created by five or six of the very best people in the world . A covert operation with considerable resources. Yes centrifuges, but really not all that target specific. Targeting safety systems. Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. Success. But many wider implications. StuxNet changes the landscape of cyber warfare – defined as the malicious manipulation of cyber systems supporting or substituting an act of war. Distinct from cyber espionage – which is ongoing continously. Cyber systems are everywhere not just computers. Goal is effects outside of cyberspace ie critical infrastructure and military installations. Cyber warfare is not just on the net. Traditional defence has been through deterrants but StuxNet goes beyond this. Asymetrical conflict. Tactical assault not strategic retaliation. Cyber weapons are fire and forget. Payload is never detected, software artifacts will not disappear. Cyber warfare is successful, and thus is here to stay. Will see more of it. Zero fatalities. Proliferation cannot be controlled. All that is needed is knowledge. StuxNet can easily be cloned and modified to suit. Counter proliferation won’t work. Ralph predicts the development of a grey market – a cyber weapons industry? Production costs are zero, and you have same day delivery via the internet. What’s needed is real protection – not deterrance. Demand digitally signed code. Who? CIA? DoE? Repeatable? Yes.What’s next?
StuxNet: Ralph Langner
* “Lucy”. Movie.
A science-fiction thriller starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman about expanding human cerebral capacity and the function and limits of computing.
Lucy
* CBC Doc Zone: “Web Warriors”.
The Blaster Virus of 2003. Mikko Kypponen. F-Secure. Impact on physical world. No specific target. A prank? Airline and train reservation systems affected. Viruses vs worms. Are systems vulnerable? Did Blender cause the 2003 blackout? Eric Byres, BCIT. Internet and critical systems. Business efficiency. Security. White hat, Black Hat, Grey Hat hackers. Penetration testing. DefCon. Mafia boy. Pentium 133. TNT/phorce. Microsoft Bounties. Black Hat Russia. Identity theft. Russian Mob. Woodpeckers. Storm worm. Botnets. Ddos. Estonian Cyber War. China. CERT. Asymetrical warfare. 2025.
Web Warriors
* BBC Panarama: “Hacking, Power and Corruption”
The phone hacking scandel in Britian. The implications of phone surveillance. Glen Mulcair. Rupert Murdock. News International. Arrogance.
Hacking, Power,and Corruption
* Anonymous Documentary 2015: “Hacker Wars”.
The power and danger of hackers, hacktivists and techno-journalists. Barrett Brown. Anonymous spokesperson. Dell Cameron. Shades of Hackerdom. Sabu. Weev. LulzSec. Topiary. Embracing the power elite. Anarchy. Surveillance establishment. Surveillance for profit. AntiSec. Stratfor. WikiLeaks. Anarchaos. Jeremy Hammond. Trapwire. Weev’s aquittal. Surveillance state. Persecution. Fear. Control. Ownership. Privacy and secrecy as a threat to omniscient authority.
Anonymous Documentary 2015
* NOVA: “Ancient Computer”
The world’s first computer, the Antikythera device was created in ancient Greece more than 2000 years ago, probably by Archimedes. This device calculates and predicts planetary and lunar motion and eclipses. Understanding the artifact was itself a prolonged and complicated challenge requiring the efforts of many different specialists. That the ancients had sufficient knowledge to make such predictions is itself profound, but that they could manufacture such a device to do it quickly and accurately is a revelation.
Ancient Computer
* “Kids React to Old Computers”
Children’s innocent reactions to old tech.
Kids and Computers
* “The Bourne Trilogy”. Movies.
Matt Damon is an amnesiac who has forgotten he is the worlds most deadly assassin and struggles to uncover his past and learn who he is while being hunted by his former masters.
The Bourne Identity. Bourne 1 (2002)
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy. Bourne 2 (2004)
The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Ultimatum. Bourne 3 (2007)
The Bourne Ultimatum
* “The Fifth Element”. Movie
A satirical, sci-fi space opera where a former soldier and the perfect woman are on a mission to save the world from pure evil. Amidst a cast of over the top cut outs, caricatures and stereotypes, it seems Bruce Willis and his partner are the only genuine people alive.
The Fifth Element
* BBC: “Billion Dollar Hippy”.
Steve Jobs Documentary.
Billon Dollar Hippy
* “Fast and Furious 7”. Movie
Dom and friends are back in yet another automotive, special-effects extravaganza, this time with alpha hacker Ramsey, who has developed the God’s-eye surveillance program. Gives new meaning to the idea of war driving.
Fast and Furious 7
Other Movies of Note without links – Netflix anyone?
* “Tron”
* “Skyfall”
* “Mission Impossible”
* “War Games”
* “War Games (2) – The Dead Zone”
* “Office Space”
* “Golden Eye”
* “Firewall”
* “Swordfish”
* “Hackers”
* “Sneakers”
* “Bedwin Hacker”
* “Disclosure”
* “The Social Network”
* “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”
* “The Girl Who Played With Fire”
* “ The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest”
* “ The Brazilian Job”
* “ The Hunt for Red October”
* “ Das Boot”
* “ The Matrix”
* “ The Matrix Reloaded”
* “ Lucy”
* “Ex Machina”
* “ Transcendance”
* “ Chappie”
* “ Her”
* “ Interstellar”
* “ The Imitation Game”