Phrack
ISSN 1068-1035 | | |
Phrack is an
Originally covering subjects related to
Phrack has been described as having "had its finger on the pulse of hacker culture",[3] and being "hugely influential in the early days of hacker culture".[4]
Publications
E-Zine Releases
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 | The Circle of Lost Hackers |
| 14 | 2010-2012 | #67 to #68 | The Phrack Staff |
| 15 | 2016 | #69 | The Phrack Staff |
| 16 | 2021-? | #70 to ? | The Phrack Staff |
Hardcover Releases
There were 3 hardcover releases. Each hardcover release contained most (but not all) articles of the e-zine release. Both the hardcover and e-zine were released simultaneously.
| Issue | Year | Place | Front Cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| 57 | 2001 | Hackers At Large
|
|
| 62 | 2004 | RuxCon | 
|
| 63 | 2005 | What the Hack | 
|
History
Phrack, first released on November 17, 1985, takes its name from the words "
During its first 10 years of publication, Phrack was largely associated with telecommunications fraud, providing material for
Arrest of Knight Lightning
The 24th issue of Phrack, released February 1989, included a document relating to the workings of
The
Pre-2000
After the arrest of Knight Lightning, and the shutdown of Phrack by the US Secret Service in late December 1989 a 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.
Issue #42 was released under the editorship of Erik Bloodaxe in 1992. In September 1994, the first Phrack website appeared with release #46, containing all the files from the previous issues.
With the growing use of the internet and interest in computer security, from 1996 Phrack became increasingly oriented toward computer security. The editorship was handed to route along with voyager until 2000 (release #56). During this period, the Phrack website was defaced several times and the magazine was often unavailable.[13]
Continuation after 2000
Since 2001 Phrack has been edited under the alias Phrackstaff.
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, the 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. The 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 meant they were deemed them unfit for distribution.[citation needed]
Issue 63 told readers to "expect a new release",[14] 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).[15] TCLH released issue #65 of Phrack on April 11, 2008 and issue #66 on June 11, 2009. On March 15, 2010, it was announced[16] that the 67th issue would be released on July 11, but it was later postponed.[17]
Content
Phrack issues are released irregularly, and issues are grouped into volumes. Each issue comprises a number of Philes: stand-alone text files of technical or counter-cultural content. Philes are submitted by members of the hacker underground community, and are reviewed by the editors.
In addition to technical articles, Phrack also provided a focus for news and gossip among the hacker community.[3]
In the 1990
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.
- "\/\The Conscience of a Hacker/\/ (aka the Hacker Manifesto)" by The Mentor has been an inspiration to young hackers since the 1980s, having been published in the 7th issue of Phrack.
- "Smashing The Stack For Fun And Profit"stack buffer overflows, partly responsible for popularizing the vulnerability.[21]
- "The Art of Scanning" by Fyodor, published September 1, 1997 in Issue 51 introduced the nmap Internet scanning tool.[22]
Regular features
Several regular columns are present in most issues of Phrack, such as:
- Prophile - a profile of an influential individual from the hacking underground.
- Loopback - answers to emails received by the phrack staff.
- Phrack World News - a compilation of reports on the latest counter-culture events.
- International Scenes - a compilation of testimonies from hackers around the world focusing on national and international activities.
References
- ^ a b c Taran King (November 17, 1985). "Introduction". Phrack (1): 1.
- ^ Sturgeon, Will (July 11, 2005). "Long-lived hacker mag shuts down". CNet. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8166-3346-3.
- ^ Ward, Mark (July 9, 2005). "Key hacker magazine faces closure". BBC News. Retrieved December 30, 2007.
- ^ ISBN 0-553-56370-X. Archived from the originalon June 1, 2012.
- ^ Phrack Staff (December 28, 2002). "Introduction". Phrack (60): 1.
- ^ Nikos Drakos (August 10, 1994). "The Evolution Of Telco Fraud Articles In Phrack".
- ^ The Eavesdropper (February 25, 1989). "Control Office Administration Of Enhanced 911 Services For Special Services And Major Account Centers". Phrack (24): 5.
- ^ ISBN 0-553-56370-X. Archived from the originalon June 1, 2012.
- ^ Barlow, John Perry (November 8, 1990). "A Not Terribly Brief History of the Electronic Frontier Foundation". Archived from the original on December 28, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
- ^ Barlow, John Perry (June 1, 2011). "TEDxMarin The Right to Know". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021.
- archive.org
- ^ "owned-by.html". December 2, 1998. Archived from the original on December 2, 1998.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Phrack Staff (August 1, 2005). "Introduction". Phrack (63): 1.
- ^ The Circle of Lost Hackers (May 27, 2007). "Introduction". Phrack (64): 1.
- ^ "Announcement for Phrack #67". March 15, 2010. Archived from the original on July 4, 2010. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
- ^ "Phrack Home page". June 23, 2010. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
- ^ "Phrack Magazine". phrack.com.
- ^ "Phrack Magazine". phrack.org.
- ^ Conry-Murray, Andrew (July 4, 2005). "Busted Buffer: How To Prevent It". InformationWeek. Retrieved January 20, 2008.
- ^ Barrett, Neil (November 5, 2003). "Worms: many unhappy returns". IT Week. Archived from the original on August 30, 2008. Retrieved January 20, 2008.
- ^ "The Art of Scanning". Phrack. September 1, 1997.