[rhexs]

No. They seem to have been doing a few puff PR pieces recently. Can’t imagine anyone under 30 knows or cares about them.

I guess their main claim to fame was being the first “hacker” group to do PR moderately well and transition into decent careers. Not really even an interesting footnote in history.

[thricegr8]

Human, I'm 28, been in InfoSec for ~10 years. Granted, I was lucky enough to be interested in and peruse this as a professional branch when I graduated college in 2016. I am also an adjunct professor at my local university, where I make it a salient point to remind my students of the history of hacking. We talk about this still.

I also start every semester off with the opening scene of Hackers - the best hacking movie ever made :)

[loxias]

> I'm 28 ... adjunct professor ... We talk about this still.

I'm a decade older, and am relieved to see this.

> Hackers - the best hacking movie ever made :)

Counterpoint: _Sneakers_: the thinking person's hacking movie.

[claytongulick]

I still vote for Wargames :-)

[amiga]

Ferris Bueller's Day Off has some inspiring hacks :^)

[loxias]

Hah. That it does! I like the parallel with "Die Hard is the best Christmas movie".

[mavhc]

Everyone knows Brazil is the best christmas movie

[randombits0]

That’s got data encrypting algorithms, you’ll never get through that!

[rbanffy]

> Counterpoint: _Sneakers_: the thinking person's hacking movie.

Lacks the soundtrack. I always work to music to help focus.

[cholmon]

Lacks? No way. Sneakers' score features Branford Marsalis, which is very different feel to Hackers (which is also great), but imo very evocative of the the playfulness, mystery, & intrigue of the crypto storyline.

[rbanffy]

Both have good soundtracks, but Hackers is still better. ;-)

[spitfire]

> I also start every semester off with the opening scene of Hackers - the best hacking movie ever made :)

Great soundtrack. Respect.

[joemazerino]

L0pht put hacking and infosec on the map for arguably hundreds of people. They were and still are incredibly talented.

[sokoloff]

Indeed. I had the good fortune to work with DilDog before he co-founded Veracode. I count him in the top ten of talented co-workers across a three decade career.

[bloblaw]

I work with him now at his current gig. Totally agree. Constantly learning new things from him.

[travoc]

I would say they were the first group that got many Windows sysadmins to start thinking about OS security.

[bleachedsleet]

I’m under 30 and certainly wouldn’t relegate L0pht to a mere footnote in history.

[devin]

Nice to hear this. I’m late 30s, and l0pht was a huge inspiration to me.

[SGML_ROCKSTAR]

They testified in front of the U.S. Senate in 1998. That's more than a footnote might do, in my opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVJldn_MmMY

[jcims]

> Not really even an interesting footnote in history.

This just feels like you have an axe to grind.

[rnd0]

Having a bias is not the same thing as being wrong

[hn_go_brrrrr]

I was going to object to your "under 30" quip, then realized I haven't been under 30 for quite a while. Oops.

[freedomben]

I'm in the same boat, and it's really amazing how quickly things change. I was explaining to a coworker the other day how much more optimistic we were in the 90s, and when he casually mentioned that he was born in 2000, I suddenly felt really old.

[rbanffy]

> I'm in the same boat, and it's really amazing how quickly things change.

The number of candles on my birthday cake seems to change the fastest. I ask for hexadecimal whenever possible.

[mherdeg]

It's been disappointing to see that Beto O'Rourke doesn't get asked more questions about his present-day commitment to the Cult of the Dead Cow's agenda.

[dapids]

If you care about the history of the scene you'll know the name regardless of your age.

[mydeskistoosm]

Would you do a guy a favor and lay some links or at least breadcrumbs such that I might start learning my history? I'm picking up programming at a relatively advanced age (31) and don't have the time to do deep hunts for stuff like I did when I was in my 20s BUT I want to keep security right in mind as I write everything I make.

[thrashtitan]

ahh..this is i feel going to be a controversial take, but it isnt said with malice.

the history of mudge and l0pht are more interesting than they are useful. if you want to get 202X security chops though, digging up the past isnt really the way. its more of a thing to do a deep dive into because youre interested, not because you expect anything out of it.

there are other researchers like gruqg who chronicle the exploits of old teams like l0pht and ACIDBITCHEZ under the guise of teaching the new wave about LOL hacking (living off the land), but i personally think they are doing it more for the reasons one writes a history book; cause its interesting.

if you want to learn LOL, read mandiant APT markers. thats how modern hacking is done, its really not at all like it used to be. i myself am happy to offer the following ocunterpoint though; the number one ranked hackerone bugbounty is dawgyg, an ex blackhat whose come in and dominated the bb scene in a huge way. i counter my counter point with the thousands of guys who make a solid living doing bug bounty who do not posess the old skills. they arent a requirement to make it in modern sec, because things are just different.

they were a bunch of badass cowboys who became the first to "make it". big boy jobs, wide spread respect in the community, inspiring a generation like egypt etc who went on to do metasploit work.

i am keen as a BEAN for grugqs book to come out, because to me, its fascinating, interesting and inspiring. mudge has been my personal hero since i found out about him when i was in highschool, but that was long after their reign was done and they were corporate.

i think the following anology works well too; lopht are comparable to van halen; when they both burst onto their scenes, almost noone else was doing what they did, and noone else before had gotten as big.

but time marches on, and other people do something new, and suddenly evh isnt as flashy as the new crop.

[k1rcher]

Under 30 here and have only ever seen Hashcat as the predominantly used software for cracking hashes

[weld]

Hashcat can’t dump password hashes. L0phtcrack can and it has been a core feature for 20 years. I suppose a decent career is founding a security unicorn, Veracode. :)