Project Ad Fontes: A Call For Hackers
Ad Fontes: To The Sources
(Above all, one must hasten to the sources themselves, that is, to the Greeks and ancients.)
This is a call for hackers. A distress signal intended to unite like-minded individuals who believe that the current consensus on what hacking consists of is a misguided and misleading one. A common phenomenon that exists within today's hacking boards is one where aspiring hackers compile a specific skill set or collection of knowledge to acquire in order to achieve the hacker status they so desire. Many of the more knowledgeable members of these communities are more than willing to comply by providing a summation of the aspects they consider to be the most important to hacking. Although this is not a bad thing per se, the point illustrated by the following quote is lost entirely in the process:
Although the book from which this quote is taken details many very specific hacking techniques, the phrase emphasizes the fact that these techniques were discovered and developed by individuals who did not simply wish to teach themselves how to hack, but rather to understand computers and everything involved in making them perform the tasks they do.
The purpose of this project is to go Ad Fontes ("to the sources"). To study the many documents covering advanced exploitation techniques that have been available on the internet for many years, retaining the spirit of hacking and learning contained therein and transferring it to today's aspiring hackers and those new to the hacking culture. Although I am fully aware of the slightly pretentious and perhaps arrogant undertone of this post, I am simply one of these aspiring hackers. I wish to learn everything there is to know about computers and I wish to exploit them. In starting this project, I hope to surround myself with like-minded individuals who find themselves in a similar position, holding similar beliefs.
Ad Fontes is intended to be a movement of young, fresh blood. I have not experienced the glory days of the hacking underground. I was not there with the old school phreakers defying the rules of the wire. But I believe we can do the same in 2012. Whether you are one of the gifted veterans who has been around for ages looking to provide support, or a young individual looking to master the art; join me in #adfontes on the irc.soldierx.com network to restore what once was.
The first order of business will be to form a group of people willing to align themselves with SoldierX to study the articles released in (and related to) Phrack, Ab Initio ("from the beginning"), to gain an understanding of where it all started and where to go from here.