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Mar 3, 2025 1 hr 3 min

Back to The L0pht

from Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

Today, we travel back in time and back to The L0pht with one of the original founders of L0pht Heavy Industries, Weld Pond (aka Chris Wysopal). We'll talk about how hacker culture has impacted modern technology, cybersecurity practices and digital rights, while sprinkling in some classic and hilarious stories from hacker history by someone who lived them. Interview Notes Veracode: https://www.veracode.com/ L0pht.com: https://l0pht.com/ L0pht Congressional testimony 1998: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVJldn_MmMY DEF CON 26 reunion panel: https://archive.org/details/youtube-noE4o-roAWM MIT Lockpicking guide: https://archive.org/details/mit-guide-to-lock-picking-v05/mode/2up The Open Organisation Of Lockpickers (TOOOL): https://toool.us/ 2600: https://www.2600.com/ Classic engineering references: https://bitsavers.org/ Further Info Send me your questions! https://fdsd.me/qna Check out my book, Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons: https://fdsd.me/book Subscribe to the newsletter: https://fdsd.me/newsletter Become a patron! https://www.patreon.com/FirewallsDontStopDragons Get your Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons Merch! https://fdsd.me/merch Give the gift of privacy and security: https://fdsd.me/coupons Support our mission! https://fdsd.me/support Generate secure passphrases! https://d20key.com/#/ Table of Contents Use these timestamps to jump to a particular section of the show. 0:00:16: intro 0:00:40: Interview setup 0:03:19: How did you come to be in The L0pht? 0:08:36: How did meeting in real life as well as online affect L0pht's dynamics? 0:09:34: How did you find so much free and adandoned computer hardware? 0:13:44: How did you manage to just drive your van in the NSA parking lot? 0:19:20: What has been the lasting impact of your Congressional testimony in 1998? 0:21:45: How did you come to invite cyber czar Richard Clarke to The L0pht? 0:27:17: How have hackers pushed back against overreach from corporations? 0:36:05: Why are lockpicking and computer hacking so closely related? 0:40:55: Is it easier or harder to be a hacker today versus when you started? 0:45:56: Are we still fighing the Crypto Wars of the 90s? Are we winning? 0:51:17: Are there any glaring misconceptions about The L0pht you'd like to fix? 0:55:16: Where are The L0pht folks now and what are they up to? 0:57:51: Interview wrap-up 1:00:59: Patron bonus preview 1:01:35: Looking ahead

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Back to The L0pht

0:00 1:03:21

Chapters

  1. 0:16 intro
  2. 0:40 Interview setup
  3. 3:19 How did you come to be in The L0pht?
  4. 8:36 How did meeting in real life as well as online affect L0pht's dynamics?
  5. 9:34 How did you find so much free and adandoned computer hardware?
  6. 13:44 How did you manage to just drive your van in the NSA parking lot?
  7. 19:20 What has been the lasting impact of your Congressional testimony in 1998?
  8. 21:45 How did you come to invite cyber czar Richard Clarke to The L0pht?
  9. 27:17 How have hackers pushed back against overreach from corporations?
  10. 36:05 Why are lockpicking and computer hacking so closely related?
  11. 40:55 Is it easier or harder to be a hacker today versus when you started?
  12. 45:56 Are we still fighing the Crypto Wars of the 90s? Are we winning?
  13. 51:17 Are there any glaring misconceptions about The L0pht you'd like to fix?
  14. 55:16 Where are The L0pht folks now and what are they up to?
  15. 57:51 Interview wrap-up
  16. 1:00:59 Patron bonus preview
  17. 1:01:35 Looking ahead

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This episode is 1 hour and 3 minutes long.

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This episode was published on March 3, 2025.

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