house
[Music]
hey everybody what's up my name is Ghost
Exodus
um
a little bit about me I was the first
person in recent U.S history that was
ever convicted for corrupting industrial
Control Systems I ended up uh
spending 11 years in federal prison and
I was released uh
during covid I just happened to just
miss that and thankfully I did because
uh the people like the inmate population
in the prison system all over the United
States were suffering very bad because
nobody knew what to do
so um
also I run a a very edgy cyber security
blog called ghost exodus.org it's called
the uh a Diary of a threat actor
um please bookmark that in your phones
and your computers and at the very top
of the website says sign my petition in
red please sign that petition I'm not
going to get into that position right
now but you can read up on it at your
leisure
thank you for that um
I am uh the most part I live a very
normal life uh outside of cyber security
I'm only just now kind of getting my
feet uh wet in the cyber security
industry after you know
what 2009 to present so the landscape
has vastly changed since the last time
um I was involved uh I am a former black
hat
um and I am the founder and leader of a
hacker group called the electronic
tribulation Army not anymore that was a
long time ago but uh just Google has a
lot to say
um but here I am telling you part of my
story
um
aside from that
um
you know uh
activism back in the day
like just it was so different than it
has become today and I'm going to get
into that a little bit more one of the
first things I wanted to say just as a
disclaimer pursuant to the First
Amendment everything that I say is
protect another Free Speech I'm really
doing this for myself because I'm always
paranoid and uh disclaimer don't do uh
don't break the law I look like
everything that I do everything that I
do
um looks nefarious like I'm digging in
this bag and then my pockets I'm on my
phone I've got a flipper everything I do
looks like I'm breaking the law I
actually have not committed a cyber
crime since 2009.
so uh even though I I looked apart I
dressed apart my aesthetic uh just
screams Anonymous I am a member of
anonymous but um more of an
influencer influencer influencer
and not so much as of a doer
um
one of the things that uh that that I
pursue personally nowadays is op child
safety uh up child safety is where where
hacktivists you know they get together
to try to uh stop uh online you know
sexual predators so that's something
that I'm an advisor to uh to a group
called winter storm
um I try to help them with their with
their with their oh sent to be able to
de-anonymize uh sexual predators
nowadays um but you know it wasn't
always the same I mean it wasn't always
uh the case with me
um like I said I was also an Insider
threat which means that I use my place
of employment
um so many years ago
as my hunting ground to break into
systems uh hacking Network protocols uh
over remote desktop is something that
was very uh one of my favorite pastimes
um I noticed there's a uh there's been a
lot of discussions in these groups uh
here today about remote deskline which
is really interesting it's something
that I've always had an interest to
um
but anyways
the uh my speaking topic is having a
hacktivism ethos while mitigating
unethical sabotage
what does that even mean you might ask
well I will tell you so check this out
okay so
the problem with hacktivist and
haptivism today
is that
activists can't really differentiate
between the target go or you know the
target of their Ops or operations
uh over against
innocent people
who are pretty much chalked up as
collateral
in anonymous's war on pretty much
everything
and this is a this is scary because for
example and this what I'm about to say
is is not uh like expressed like my
my point of view with the war with uh
Russia and Ukraine but Anonymous has
officially you know had declared war on
Russia and so what we ended up seeing
was pretty much every packet Slinger
script kitty pretty much any hacker
uh who was a part of the collective
joining in on that operation trying to
attack
everything within a Russian ipnet block
which means hospitals were targets
people like every day people like you
and me were targets
um uh universities were targets
schools
scada systems that control very very
very uh important uh things so
and what we tried to sit down and and
speak to some of these hackers and be
like okay what does this University
that is studying
The Big Bang Theory
with a international conglomerate with
all these nations they're all trying to
study this this innocuous thing that
just for for the betterment of human
knowledge and blah blah blah what did
they have anything to do with your war
against the Kremlin
and it's silent no one ever thinks about
these things
we only see
this is a Russian IP so we're going to
attack it and then we're going to track
it in the name of anonymous and then the
name of our opposition against uh this
this regime but no one ever takes the
time
to sit themselves down and ask is it
right for me to steal
this civilian's money in the name of our
Russia
no one ever does it
and I could say that because I'm the one
asking those questions my group asks
those questions
and what we're trying to do is is shape
a new generation of hacktivists to ask
themselves that question
so we could eliminate collateral damage
because collateral damage
is absolutely unacceptable when
as hacktivists were trying to hold the
moral High Ground against some type of
you know oppression some type of like
corruption our war is against corruption
so our objective is to leak against
corruption expose them and try to hold
those guilty parties accountable
but what ends up happening is
activists end up behaving exactly like
those corrupt government regimes that
we're fighting against thinking
operating with absolute impunity
absolute power
without any form of checks and balances
so that's why I'm here today because
what we're trying to shape on the web we
want to impart that ideology with any
upcoming hacktivists any current
hacktivists
because we want to end victimizing the
very people who are being oppressed and
victimized by said corporations but I
said country by said government but I
said military we want to eliminate the
acting as a mirror because the very
people
that we are fighting against
um it has been really hard
let me tell you and what's so crazy is
because when when I was a black hat I
never thought of these things I just did
it because it was like a an endorphin
rush a little dopamine just blasting
through my brain and I'm just like yeah
I just hacked another thing I hacked
another thing like I'm that guy I had
that and that and that you were hacked
you were hacked and I never even thought
about the the damage that I personally
caused in anything that I did until I
was sitting in prison for 11 years
thinking about every single little thing
I did and then trying to
figure out why why did I do that
you know and then
divide is a way to
try to impart
that thought like why are we doing this
onto you on to them on to people on the
internet uh especially
on to not uh with within Anonymous
um
and oh let me tell you something you if
people don't understand that type of
talk because Anonymous is like a is like
a cult of personality
and it works it's fun it's a phenomenon
the the mask is it has now become a a
household uh recognizable image uh
there's like a variation at like a toy
variation of this you can go to like
like Walmart and buy it's insane and uh
like the the slogans are are captivating
uh the the image that we project is just
is is like I know this is kind of like a
delusion of grandeur but we're talking
about Cult of Personality it's like a
god level uh access
uh to to people and and and to the end
to the media and
you you you see what what I mean is is
this it's attracting it's so attractive
and unfortunately it has a a kind of mob
mentality
so if if a whole if a bunch of people
over here are are attacking a hospital
well they're gonna attack that hospital
too they won't even think about the
patience they won't think about anything
I didn't and that's exactly what I went
to prison for
um uh for hacking the the scada server
in a private
healthcare system or a private Clinic
that specialized in Orthopedics and
Sports Medicine nowadays like now that I
have somehow managed to uh learn what
consequences are
yeah we don't do that that's not even
that's not even tolerable that should
never ever even be conceived as a Target
and
just anyways let me get back on these
points where do I go where did I go
okay here we go
hmm
oh check this out
another reason why we want to uh impress
um this this new line of thinking
um is because
there's like two things right now
that hackers are
are searching for this is like a new
thing even though it's not really new
suddenly uh the trend has shifted into
we want to hack scatter systems and
we're going to hack into Power stations
uh supposedly there are two groups uh
very prominent groups an anonymous one I
was very familiar with
um who claimed responsibility for
hacking a Russian power station and
blowing it up boom
now before I used to say you know what I
I'm tired of the of the way things are
the status quo and activism I want to
see hacks that affect real life well now
that I've seen it I don't want to see
that ever again
it was a miracle that there were not any
power station employees
present when this thing blew up
um because if this becomes a sing
that is insane
that should never be a thing and the
reason I mean if someone is going to do
something like that you don't want you
don't want other people emulating that
type of behavior even though this is a
war but if we're on social media saying
hey look we've pushed the envelope off
the table now we can blow stuff up from
our computer other people like yeah I
want to do that too I want to you know
engage in a cyber War I think it sounds
cool but it's easy when you're sitting
behind a computer you know what I mean
to make that type of of of of a choice
um
and it is terrifying but my greatest
fear is that it is going to to escalate
as a trend
in the uh you know the attack patterns
of hacktivists that would be terrifying
because uh
I don't even have to that's rhetorical
it'd be terrifying there's no reason to
explain why
um so
one of the things here uh
give me a moment here let me get my my
brain chemistry in order
um
let's see here you know um
so one of the things that I've been
proposing and you can see an example of
this on my website
um I it's not really I'll be honest it's
not really like like thought out like I
just had an epiphany and then like spent
days working on this but
we
started devising a set of laws like I
said uh like moral nodes uh have you
because we want
to we want these laws to Trend uh
because we need to police ourselves so
that you know bad things don't happen to
good people
um
and one of the problem is is that if you
don't police yourself
someone will and that's what happened
with me I had no sense of police ability
I could not I could not please myself
because I was addicted to hacking I was
addicted to that that that
rush and the the thrill
um
and if I took a moment in a little bit
to kind of like explain my life Dynamic
if I have time for that I'll kind of
explain it because it will make sense
but nevertheless uh the the thrill and
it's it's like every computer system is
essentially like like a puzzle and and
you always have that that feeling of
satisfaction when you've solved the
puzzle and you can move on to the next
level and then the next level and it's
not just that it's like self-discovery
you don't even know what you're capable
of
um
until you you learn how to hack
something and it doesn't have to be in a
negative way like um I don't know take
this flipper if I could learn how to I
don't know write my own firmware to to
for it to do extraordinary things that
it wasn't designed to do I mean that
would be very thrilling and it would be
very uh validating I would need someone
to validate me I would do it myself by
showing myself what I'm capable of and
that's that's why hacking is so is so
exciting because that's what it is about
so many of my people
um from back in the day and even people
that I see in the present day
these these young hackers
um
and they're all like they they find this
great validation which is is it is a
beautiful thing
to uh because uh you know they find it
in in you know hacker groups uh that and
they're embraced as family because you
know hackers uh they we don't judge by
the skin you know color for your skin
your sexual orientation uh by your
religion or whether you're you're rich
or poor homeless or or were born with a
silver spoon in your mouth and you're a
trust fund baby they don't care as long
as you're able to bring something to the
table you know they're they're embraced
and it is it's a kind of bond that is
unlike anything uh with like family uh
Dynamic uh
a lot of them they you know they come
from like these these These Broken
family Dynamics or the the they're just
so intelligent that they can't connect
with their peers at school
um
so what is happening is you know once
once they they find this identity and
that's what happened to me when I was
14. that's when I started to gravitate
towards hacking when I was 14 years old
uh because you know
it's like the the Judgment that the
social stigma dissolves and you're no
longer identified as that person that
weirdo at school you know like like me
with my fuzzy hair and wearing golf
shoes and and and oversized khaki pants
you know
like none of that mattered so
um
and so what ended up happening is as
we're you know still on this this point
here is that
they're going to join a group that means
they're going to be recruited
and it's not like I know that has like a
really weird vibe like like there's a
bunch of weird dudes out there like just
like preying on kids to to weaponize
them and point them out and launch them
out into the world it's not like that at
all
um but it's not a matter of
of if there will be recruited but when
because they will absolutely be
recruited and then they will be pointed
out uh to to commit cyber crimes they
will become threat actors like myself
and then like some people that I know
today uh they will commit crimes that
they didn't think about the consequences
and now they're having the doors kicked
in
um and so and the reason why this is
happening is because there is no moral
compass
there is no moral compass and and all
the groups that I've spoken to and I've
spoken to almost all of them somehow
they will say uh like we'll ask him like
okay as a activist what is it that you
believe in and they'll be like well we
believe in doing the right thing well
that's not an ideology you know so
everything be beyond that there there
has been no thought as to what you
believe in you're like oh yeah these
guys are evil so you know we fight
against corruption and and um we we
fight for what we believe in like that's
so generalized like I don't even know
how I couldn't even print that on my
blog
so
forming an ideology is important
um especially when it comes to
protecting the innocent in one's War
uh against the corrupt
um so here are some seven laws right and
I I just call it the seven laws of a
hacktivist defense against unethical
unethical sabotage
yeah
okay this one's funny that the first one
is personal
um the world is not your testing ground
that's what virtual machines are for so
we have this this kid in winter storm
and he he is a genius uh of geniuses he
just writes code all day long and he's
like you know what I'm gonna hack this
school and um and he's like you know
what I I just wrote this malware I'm
going to test it out on this school and
I'm like uh no that's a bad idea We're
not gonna do that
we did manage to stop that um and I said
well that's what virtual machines are
for if you want to test your malware out
why not just run it on a virtual machine
you know I mean why uh subject someone
at the receiving end of your uh of your
weird malware
um when you can just
have a a beautiful sandboxed environment
where no one has to get hurt that way
you can learn more from it
um so just remember that the world is
not your testing ground
that's what virtual machines are for and
I and I live by that too I love running
on metasploitables and older versions of
Windows and I
a nice carrot and I will test them out
on my own machine uh and I will not you
know test out new skills anywhere other
than on a virtual machine that's
remember I'm an influencer I don't I'm
not out there in the world anymore
um so here's number two if you hack
outside and up cause no harm to the
innocent this seems to be a very
difficult one for activist because they
haven't like I said when I started
figured out they haven't been able to
distinguish the difference between
yeah you know someone who is not a part
of the off and the op itself
so let's say if if if the Kremlin is the
target uh why are we hacking
uh why are we hacking this University
right
that is called collateral damage and
you're victimizing someone who has
nothing and they have no stake in your
war against whoever it is you're warring
against
uh-huh that that's a very hard one
because it basically means that you know
a lot of these hacks are are like
getting lucky like kind of get lucky
hack script Kitty stuff
um a lot of them are done through
through Google dorks and things like
that and you just get lucky and you're
like yeah I just want to take advantage
of this because it was so easy but I'm
gonna make it look like it was really
hard
so you can put it on social media and
those who've been on the scene for a
while is like you know I don't even not
I'm not even make a comment uh We're not
gonna do that
um but anyways yeah don't outside you're
off
like think about it why would you do
that
and recently there was a
uh see the the one who leads winter
storm is uh her name is wintermute and
uh she runs that really and we had this
uh this kid or no this this person and
we were kind of like eavesdropping on
this on this hacker Channel and they had
dumped the the the the the username
password database of this privately
owned all-girl School in India in uh
retaliation against I think it
um someone could probably correct me
when I'm wrong but uh or Google it
like there was these five men who
committed this this vicious rape against
this woman and the police uh released
them
um you may have heard about it so that's
that's what kicked off Anonymous were
against uh India and winner was like hey
um this is uh uh well I can't even say
how she says it it's so bad I was like
what is this school of girls have
anything to do with what happened in
that Police Department
it's so embarrassing that yeah you got
kicked out of the group
it's pretty bad because people are not
asking these questions they're just
applauding uh
their fellow hacker
for whatever they bring to the table but
whatever is to be honest it's not
acceptable like think about all all the
women
in Iran who have you know suffered under
that regime
and what is you hacking uh this school
or this business
how does that alleviate the pain
uh of you know as a woman living under
that type of environment like is that
helping the protesters in the streets of
Tehran like because you DDOS the little
government website no it's it's never
even thought about it's just the ACT is
so it like intoxicating you just have to
do it
but it's the stupidest thing I've ever
seen I can be quoted I'm probably gonna
get hacked tonight
but it's all right right all this stuff
is temporary
um
do not steal money from the innocent
that's something I don't do you know why
because I've always had a job I didn't
have to steal money I earned it
it is a very simple principle
but I I am approached by so many
scammers I don't understand
like why do you want to steal other
people's money like why what is pro what
is stopping you for getting a job
sometimes we're able to get a hold of
them and be like
like Shaco man and put some sense into
them and some of the Nigerian scammers
that I've gotten a hold of are now
pursuing careers in cyber security
which I'm very happy I'm very proud of
them
so re you know re-education
is a part of what what I do it's part of
what we do
um
because nobody's ever challenging this
stuff anyways
um do not steal data from the innocent
or inflict hardships on those who hack
leave systems and services exactly the
way you found them
that kind of I don't really have to
expound on that I mean
this kind of goes back to my era when I
was first starting uh back in the day
like the 80s and the 90s I started in
the 90s
um
hacking was for for fun it was for uh
exploration we wanted to explore systems
because everything was just so new like
uh ever since like the the graphical
interface is on on these on these uh you
know like home computers were just yeah
and we're connected to the internet now
and then like it's we're just so the
world is suddenly becoming more
connected and yeah we wanted to explore
things but back in those days I feel
that it was more about
exploring rather than exploiting
um anyway it was very harmless and
innocuous in a way
um but uh
the point is leave things the way you
found it and the thing is is that I'm
also not able to stop people a lot from
what they're doing
but what I end up doing is I tried to
impress things like this if you're if
you're gonna hack if you're not gonna
listen to me you're gonna have something
I get it so let's leave things the way
you found it so you don't have to freak
people out you don't have to make them
worry about what was stolen or lost in
fact don't steal anything there's
nothing on this system you need
um anyways
this one is a is is very important
um do not transgress the op it speaks
for itself do not transgress the op the
operation the operation that no we're
working on uh just for Simplicity like
Iran or or the goals of op Russia or
whatever side you're you're on like the
goals of up uh Palestine
um you would stay on point and by
staying on point
you don't create
trail of victims who have nothing to do
other than they had the unfortunate
event uh the unfortunate you know a big
born in that country uh and using a
internet-ready device with an IP address
within that that country's block so that
was their only crime I have friends in
Russia I have friends in Ukraine
um and my friends in Russia uh they were
already you know
stricken with a lot of hardships from
sanctions and not only that then they
had hackers coming after them
um assuming that all Russians are on par
uh with with uh Vladimir Putin I don't
particularly like him I don't know it's
just my opinion uh he seems like a
really awful guard but
um
but the point is is that
transgressing the op creates a trail of
victims and if you're supposed to be a
Beacon of Hope a hope
of inspiration why on Earth are you
attacking people it's like it's like
taking like those those body cam
footages of of cops and they think
nobody's watching and then they're
beating somebody up until they die I
mean I know that that's kind of an
extreme contrast maybe that's not even
relevant but try try to fit it in with
what I'm saying
um you know it's the sense of impunity
that I have the power to do it so I'm
gonna do it and get away with it that
type of mentality like if we continue on
this trajectory like it's
what I'm thinking is we're gonna have a
patriot act against hackers and there
you have it
but that might be a little extreme but
nevertheless
um
do not transgress the op targeting
schools businesses educational
institutions civilians Healthcare
systems and Industrial Control Systems
must remain strictly forbidden and
enforceable the only exception to this
rule is if specific businesses and
certain civilians
uh are the actual Target of the op aim
to expose Injustice or wrongdoing of
said entity so the The Only Exception is
if they are the op
uh mind you I'm not like I'm not
endorsed in this I'm going to be quoted
in some like courtroom asshat is going
to be like yeah Mr McGraw said this on
this day but
that is not what we're trying to do here
we're trying to we're trying to prevent
more damage
because activism isn't going to stop if
I stood up here and said like I'm
against everything yeah who cares you
know what I mean but let's we can use
this but we can control it ourselves and
please it ourselves without involving
law enforcement and without you know uh
you know just
being in complete opposition to it I
don't I don't really know how I feel
about these cybercrombs anymore but I do
know that they will happen and they will
only get worse until someone starts to
shape a new idea around haptivism that
protects the innocent
oh this is crazy because it's crazy
because I was like the antithesis of
this
um but hey you know prison will teach
you a couple things you know about you
know respect for your fellow person and
about like the you know
um
this one is uh oh God
if someone you know or an individual or
group
is transgressing the op and you learn of
it get in front of the attack
and anonymously warn the target of the
attack
in the hope of mitigating it without
involving law enforcement this is what
we do now
and when I say we I mean
winter storm and my friends we we've
we've shared the same Ideology Now we
all believe in this and now people are
responding
that's what we want because if they
respond it will it will
distribute
outside of our group and into other
groups
so
um we were able to to mitigate
half a dozen cyber attacks against
Health Care System websites and websites
it's not necessarily the same thing as
you know attacking the local area
network but still the same principle
applies
we were able to stop those uh cyber
attacks by contacting the administrators
of these sites uh and warned them of on
of an OP that was going that was
targeting their sites
and we were able to stop that attack
um here's an example of racing against
the clock too to stop an attack and
failing
um so there was an institution uh there
was a
there was a university uh I got word
from someone who reported it to me that
there was a there was going to be an
attack against this this uh this
University we tried to get in front of
the attack as fast as we could in order
to to contact them the administrators
and try to give them some advice if they
needed it because there was no time to
have a conversation
um
and uh sadly uh we failed to communicate
with them effectively and those hackers
not only broke in and deleted they
deleted that they deleted the backups
everything everything was wiped out
everything was destroyed all because
someone was failed to act in a timely
manner
um and so now people are reporting this
they're reciprocating this new idea
because people do realize that Anonymous
is oftentimes off task
kids have underdeveloped frontal lobes
they're not even adults yet
we're talking about myself
[Laughter]
you gotta you gotta teach them the
difference between right and wrong just
like if you're a parent and that just
makes me feel so old
oh my God why
is this happening
um
during acts of war the loss of life is
unacceptable
uh that is for armed ground forces the
power of life and death should not be
determined from behind a computer by a
hacktivist
that goes back to something I was saying
earlier about blowing up the power
stations and this hunt for you know like
critical Network infrastructure uh with
with scatter software just just
causing the loss of life from a computer
and you're just what 14 years old and
you think and if you if you think that
that's okay at 14 you're gonna grow
you're gonna be a sociopath when you
grow up
uh but nevertheless uh
we have this thing called the seven
nodes of hacktivism this was something
that I tried to work on it kind of just
just revamps a little bit of what we
were uh discussing this whole time uh
the number one is like don't attack
commercial infrastructure
and write it up
collateral during and off number
is do not neglect The Voice or the needs
of those in need
s who are who are suffering under you
know oppression no they need help they
they need to feel like they have a voice
um and so they actually approach us you
don't know how many people in Iran came
to me personally because I was I
participated in the first up Iran in
2009 with my illicit button at pool
and they remembered it like they
remembered that the ETA had a particip
you know participated in that they came
to me I didn't want I don't I don't
believe that hackers are the are the
answer for those things anymore I
believe that the protesters on the
ground into Iran are have have far more
influence in power than some person who
has no real invested interest across the
world sitting from behind a computer who
has like no understanding of like uh
political you know you know
so um and that's something that my group
I've told that to my group and they were
like
we shared this with the protesters
because they're like why aren't you
fighting for us it's like what is
ddosing a website gonna do is it going
to change you know uh your your the
regime is it gonna change the way things
are no you're gonna do that only you can
like like even like hijacking a little
bit of air time on a state-run TV
network is it may share a message but
it's not going to do what really needs
to be done which is on the ground
by protesters
um
I know that I'm gonna I'm so I'm gonna
be a Target I do already have a Target
on my back okay
but
um another thing is do not take credit
for the hacks of others
is uh that's blasphemous we should never
do that but that's something that
happens a lot this doesn't really have a
lot to do with like mitigating us it'll
sabotage but this is about hacktivism
you don't steal other people's hacks
that's stupid
but anyways there's a lot of big name
groups that are at war with each other
and they do that to piss each other off
um which is [ __ ] how could you do
that how could you
but anyways
do not compare your merits to that of
another person or group
a problem that we face is ego
and the need to share what we're doing
and to try to out hack other groups and
we're not even this has nothing to do
with activism anymore this is more about
like who's better who cares we're all
fighting for the same cause
who who has to be who has to be better
than the other
um but this is an age-old thing it's not
like exclusive to hacking in every
industry in the world that we live in at
work even at my job I used to be that
guy I was like like you know what I'm
I'm the I'm the guy who who Masters all
the systems and now I know everything
until somebody else comes along and
Masters it better than I do well I did I
take a step back because it doesn't
matter anymore
um
do not pass judgment on anyone other
than the target of your operation
hackers are going to be very judgmental
I don't know why they're not necessarily
judgmental to each other
um per se depends if they're in boring
factions which is also ridiculous but
the point is is that
there are a lot of people who bring a
lot of different personalities
who don't know like like
as you know as activists like we have to
dissolve some of this ego because we're
trying to be a light we're trying to be
a light to people we want people to
believe in us we want to be able to to
to help
everyone's cause and we can't do that if
we're if we're fighting it we have
Intergroup fightings and and who's
better and who who can sling back it's
better than the other which is also
really dumb
I was like oh yeah I got this really
cool really cool script on GitHub it's
super autonomous
and it just I've seen people fighting
over
here
um we want there to be like a conscious
elevation
that's what this is about
we want to be better we we should want
to be better
we should want to be better
um another thing is don't judge anyone
this goes back to judgment because we
have to mention this again regardless of
ethnicity which we do see we see a lot
of judgment against ethnicity religion
sexual orientation or political
alignment
like we have to elevate
it's just
we we want to be the light that people
believe in
and but what happens is when they really
really see us when they take their
blinders off they see that we're just
like everyone else just trying to figure
things out but the only difference is
somehow
taught ourselves or convinced ourselves
uh that we have like god-like Powers
which is not true
and that and that the world should
should bow to our cause and we will
force them to Bow if they don't
that type of mentality it's just so
sociopathic
um and it's scary because that's how I
was
see I used to fight against cyber
bullies
um back in the ETA days
in order to conquer Ebola you have to be
a bigger bully
to break his will and that's insane like
but there was no programs out there
there were no resources to to stop cyber
bullying so so we did that and people
came to us to to resolve things uh
people who were about to commit suicide
yeah one of my best members who I
adopted was going to commit suicide if
someone could not help her because the
police didn't have any type of of
program or infrastructure that deals
with this type of thing and the thing is
is an epidemic the internet brings out
some great sociopathy because there's no
uh worry about consequence it could be
it could be completely Anonymous and say
some really awful things and do horrible
things without any fear of repercussions
or seeing
what your actions do to that person on
the other side of the computer so
but
uh
we can't
be the judge of the world who will judge
us we can't judge every matter
and to have to be
the bigger bully what does that say like
who do you get to how do you get to
decide that how do you know what the
threshold is
on that person's like a
like emotions till you till you break
through well what if you break their
heart like I know every person I ever I
ever conquered who were who were cyber
bullies thankfully I know who they are
and they didn't
take what I did and kill themselves
because of the sheer amount of pressure
and force I've I put on on them in fact
when I got out of prison
I apologize to one of them who um I
thought about a lot
he was a leader of another hacker group
and we dismantled it and we just kept
going and going and going like like
Ender like Ender and Ender's Game uh
where he's like I can't quote it for
sure but like he wanted to to to destroy
the bully like win that fight in every
fight after that that's what we did to
him
um and uh you know I I had to
to uh I had to approach him and tell him
that I was the one that was in the wrong
he was a bully but I became far worse
than he was but the thing is is that we
shouldn't wield this type of authority
like we need some type of structure like
I know that we're decentralized an
anonymous is descent decentralized and
anyone who's outside of anonymous who
are hacktivists
like we need something to believe in
some type of ideology to keep us on
point so that we don't make those
decisions and then live with the
consequences
or think that it's okay to blow up a
building and knock out power or or maybe
someone uh is on oxygen uh or whose life
is dependent on that electricity and you
deprive them of that of that resource or
whatever and and now you have to live
with the fact that you killed someone in
your war that you chose to engage in
that is really a war of ego
um
of course this one is the last point in
this in these uh in these nodes this
one's the seven nodes of hacktivism
um
this is this is this is this one hits
home for me
do not snitch on your fellow hacker or
act as a government informant except in
cases involving harm to the lives of the
people we are sworn to protect
that is the condition
harm against live about you know harm
against people harm against you harm
against your life your children you know
harm against people
uh and I'm you know where where it could
cost him their life
terrorism
yeah that's a pretty big deal
um
that would be the only time when I don't
have the resources to control the
situation and it would have to be
escalated outside of that there is no
cooperation with me I went to prison
um because of my own actions but it was
done uh through an informant and um
uh I had to live in a lot of a lot of I
mean that that decision destroyed my
life
but I'm in the process of rebuilding and
that's why I'm here I mean I may have
lost well I lost everything I spent 11
years alone
over a year of that I spent in solitary
confinement in temperatures up to 125
degrees
it was the hottest summer on Texas uh in
Texas and
like there was only like one other place
in in like in America or whatever the
hottest place in the world I think I
think was like Death Valley or something
like that it's very hot 125 degrees
the whole summer trapped without AC fan
or ventilation in like black mold uh in
an 8 by 12 cell like and you can't bathe
you can't get cool you're constantly day
and night tortured from the fire of the
environment like I would not work I
would not wish that on my worst enemy
that's why
I advocate for policing ourselves so
that that doesn't happen
that's the reason why I am like this
because I don't want anyone to go
through the prison system as a hacker
because we have no place and there were
nothing like conventional girls some
some people are
but it was not easy well I can't be a
hacker in here
but the thing is is that you know uh the
computer doesn't make me the computer
doesn't make me a hacker it's the way
you think
it's the way you see the world and and
solve the puzzles right um
that's what it is about uh
like having a computer does does doesn't
authenticate one as a hacker it's just
it's the way one thinks it doesn't even
have to do anything to do with with
computers
but that's the reason why I'm here is
because we want to
try to train this new generation
to
contemplate
their actions that's it that's all this
is about we want people to contemplate
their actions so that they'll make
better choices we want them to
contemplate uh their their attacks
because we want to stop
all the the the victims that that are
that are being caused uh they're not
even thinking about it
like I can't even begin to tell you some
of the things I've seen and and the
justification behind it like it's
and then because you know if you do it
your peers are gonna love you for it
but that's insane I think that
as you leave here today what I want you
to do
is be sure to carry this mindset about
mitigating unethical sabotage
um by like getting in front of attacks
for someone for some of you who who are
in the like the the offensive part of
the industry like get in front of these
attacks
um and not only just warn them with a
little anaku's email but like help these
companies prepare for what is coming
because
they're going to be sabotaged they're
going to lose data they're going to lose
they could lose everything and it all
depends on whether or not you act this
is a part of hacktivism we just didn't
realize it that protecting the innocent
is what we do and exposing to corrupt is
at the Forefront of our up of our Ops
that's what this is about it it's not
about like well like this gun is just so
she just he's just so ethical like he's
always talking about ethics no it's
about it's about consequences
like think about that University like
all their data
um it's gone all of it everything that
they work their lives to accomplish at
that place is gone all because hackers
were like oh yeah we're gonna attack uh
the the corrupt to Russian regime by
attacking this this this this this
University we're gonna kill you you know
and and it doesn't make sense
so even though some of you may not be
hacktivists or some of you may may be or
or you have some type of function in the
cyber security industry or maybe you're
a parent to a hacker like this is a
mindset you want to transfer you want to
cultivate this and then you want to let
it Loose because a hacker is going to
happen like you can't stop that
there's nothing you could do like I did
11 years I'm not hacking though I mean I
have virtual machines I don't think
that's the same per se but
but I'm still a part of the industry I'm
a cyber security writer I still I still
look like one I co-hosted the Dallas
million mask March like I'm still here
and uh
by the way
um the Dallas million mask March will
yet again be on November 5th in front of
the Earl Kabul Federal Building
which is where I was arrested or not
aware that's where I was I was um you
know that's where I went to court and
some of my my members who I know in real
life we went through that same courtroom
so it has some type of symbolism to us
like this is important you know like we
finally are on the other side of the
fence and now we can say some things
there's some there are some things about
that Courthouse that uh that need to be
marched against
um so
I want you to remember this do not
forget I'm passionate about this I don't
know why I just I just do it
but I want you to do it too and I want
you to do it better and for the
activists that you know trained them and
if you want some examples about
like ethics and stuff like that go to my
website it's ghost exodus.org and if
you're gonna go there hit that red that
hyperlink at the top that says sign my
petition or else I'm gonna
that's good
anyways I love you guys thank you guys
you've been so great I hope I haven't uh
like over said some of this stuff but
I love you guys thank you so much this
was my first this was my very first uh
conference and it's so crazy that I'm
speaking at my very first conference uh
and not just as just like schmoozing
around like without
you know
um thank you thank you guys
[Applause]
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