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Space Rogue: How the Hackers Known As L0pht Changed the World
In May 1998, the US Congress invited the seven members of the L0pht to testify on the state of government computer security. Two years later, that same group rode the Dot-com bubble to create the preeminent security consultancy the industry has ever known, @stake. Along the way, they stood up against tech giants like Microsoft, Oracle, Novell and others to expose weaknesses in those companies' premiere products. Despite the L0pht's technical prowess, the group could not keep what they had built together as money and internal politics turned friend against friend. Look inside L0pht Heavy Industries, or simply The L0pht, one of the most influential hacker groups in history. From formation, to congressional testimony, to going legit and the aftermath that followed. Follow the hacker 'Space Rogue' as he takes you on a journey through the magical hacker scene of the 1990s.The L0pht hacker collective no longer exists, but its legacy lives on. L0pht set the standard for how the cyber security industry now releases vulnerability information. Famous hackers that were once L0pht members, Mudge, Weld Pond, Kingpin, Dildog, Space Rogue, and others have done even more impressive things in the following years. The hackers and consultants hired by @stake and indoctrinated into the L0pht way of thinking have now become giants in the industry. All the hackers who read security information off the L0pht's website, downloaded software from the Whacked Mac Archives, or watched the Hacker News Network and became inspired have changed the world more than the L0pht could have ever done alone. The L0pht's message of bringing security issues to light and getting them fixed still echoes throughout the industry and is more important today than ever. The L0pht's dire warning of an increasingly dependent culture on a fragile Internet made during their testimony twenty-five years ago still holds true. In fact, the Internet may be in even worse shape today. Is it too late to listen?
364 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 16, 2023
27 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 23, 2024
Super interesting glimpse into an early internet world I didn’t know much about
May 11, 2024
Even if you’ve already read books covering the rise of the computer security industry from its hacker beginnings like “Cult of the Dead Cow,” it’s not the same as getting it firsthand. Space Rogue has written a memoir that is by turns wry, personal, thoughtful and provocative about the origins of the modern security industry, which is ever more relevant as software eats more of the world.
(Want something to back up that hyperbolic last statement? I received a signed copy of this book at the 2023 RSA Conference, but it sat on my nightstand until I finally bit the bullet and bought a soft copy of it to read on the plane.)
(Want something to back up that hyperbolic last statement? I received a signed copy of this book at the 2023 RSA Conference, but it sat on my nightstand until I finally bit the bullet and bought a soft copy of it to read on the plane.)
October 4, 2023
When it comes to depicting hackers, Hollywood almost always gets it wrong. Movies such as Swordfish, Blackhat, The Net, and the like are high on drama and action, but rarely portray real-life scenarios. They often emphasize staying up late, wearing hoodies, and downing endless Mountain Dew, over technical prowess, coding abilities, and real-life realities.
That’s why Space Rogue: How the Hackers Known As L0pht Changed the World by Cris Thomas is such an enjoyable read. The book is the story of one of the most successful hackers of our times, but also the story of what really goes on behind the keyboard, and in the mind of a hacker.
As one of the founders of L0pht Heavy Industries, better known as The L0pht, Thomas is better known by his hacker name Space Rogue. And I think this may be the only autobiography of someone in the information security space.
For anyone who has been in technology or information security for a while, the book is like a walk down memory lane. In describing his trajectory into hacking and information security, Thomas mentions items like the once ubiquitous 3Com 3C509 Ethernet card, DEC VAX mainframes, the L0phtCrack is a password auditing and recovery tool, and many more.
In telling his story, Thomas is quite open and shares the many trials and tribulations he went through. While the L0pht and the associated website and email list The Hacker News Network had significant exposure, there were many months where the group struggled to make enough money to pay their rent.
The L0pht had its start in 1992 when Count Zero and Brian Oblivion started storing their excess hardware in a loft. Over time, it morphed into a Boston hackerspace that became the location for one of the most influential hacker groups in history.
And while they ultimately became influential, their earlier days found them selling used hardware at the MIT flea market. Besides selling assorted hard drives and motherboards, they also sold a DEC MicroVAX II minicomputer at the flea market. And it was sold to none other than Window Snyder, who would later take on senior security roles at Microsoft, Apple, Mozilla, and other firms.
Thomas writes how he was attracted to Snyder. And in the world of Hollywood-portrayed stories, he would have succeeded in starting a relationship with her. But after he delivered and set up the MicroVAX at her apartment, nothing else, to his chagrin, happened. And the story ended there.
Thomas writes firsthand from being on the cusp of much of modern computer security history. He was there when the L0pht had meetings with Bill Gates about security. But even after meeting him at a 1990 security sit down, Mudge of the L0pht was not sure if Gates and Microsoft truly understood the repercussions of how insecure Windows truly was. And it would take another five years until Gates would pen his famous 1995 Trustworthy Computing memo, where Microsoft finally committed to taking Windows security off the back burner.
Even after testifying before Congress in 1988, the L0pht was not rolling in money. Many of the members, Thomas included, had other day jobs, and the money they made from L0pht activities was not enough to sustain them. Which is in part why they merged with @Stake in 2000.
The @Stake acquisition didn’t end on a happy note for Thomas, as egos and politics soon got in the way and he found himself laid off. He writes of the hurt he experienced and how he felt betrayed by the members of the L0pht who did not stick up for him. It would be years until he would reunite with most of the members of the L0pht, and when Mudge would apologize for that dark incident.
Today, vulnerability disclosure programs are part and parcel of information security. But it wasn’t that long ago it was naively considered irresponsible. The L0pht was at the forefront of responsible vulnerability disclosure and everyone owes a lot of gratitude to them for bringing that concept to light.
Yuri Diogenes of Microsoft has an interesting new book Building a Career in Cybersecurity: The Strategy and Skills You Need to Succeed. In many ways, that could be the title of this book. Thomas has written a fascinating, and at times, very raw memoir, of how he made it in the world of information security.
He certainly put in lots of hard work, and he ran into countless struggles and problems. Yet he persevered and became a legend in the process. The book is a fascinating read. It combines an interesting autobiography, with an equal amount of history. The L0phy set the trajectory of much of modern computer security. And to understand where we are today, you need to understand the history of the L0pht.
That’s why Space Rogue: How the Hackers Known As L0pht Changed the World by Cris Thomas is such an enjoyable read. The book is the story of one of the most successful hackers of our times, but also the story of what really goes on behind the keyboard, and in the mind of a hacker.
As one of the founders of L0pht Heavy Industries, better known as The L0pht, Thomas is better known by his hacker name Space Rogue. And I think this may be the only autobiography of someone in the information security space.
For anyone who has been in technology or information security for a while, the book is like a walk down memory lane. In describing his trajectory into hacking and information security, Thomas mentions items like the once ubiquitous 3Com 3C509 Ethernet card, DEC VAX mainframes, the L0phtCrack is a password auditing and recovery tool, and many more.
In telling his story, Thomas is quite open and shares the many trials and tribulations he went through. While the L0pht and the associated website and email list The Hacker News Network had significant exposure, there were many months where the group struggled to make enough money to pay their rent.
The L0pht had its start in 1992 when Count Zero and Brian Oblivion started storing their excess hardware in a loft. Over time, it morphed into a Boston hackerspace that became the location for one of the most influential hacker groups in history.
And while they ultimately became influential, their earlier days found them selling used hardware at the MIT flea market. Besides selling assorted hard drives and motherboards, they also sold a DEC MicroVAX II minicomputer at the flea market. And it was sold to none other than Window Snyder, who would later take on senior security roles at Microsoft, Apple, Mozilla, and other firms.
Thomas writes how he was attracted to Snyder. And in the world of Hollywood-portrayed stories, he would have succeeded in starting a relationship with her. But after he delivered and set up the MicroVAX at her apartment, nothing else, to his chagrin, happened. And the story ended there.
Thomas writes firsthand from being on the cusp of much of modern computer security history. He was there when the L0pht had meetings with Bill Gates about security. But even after meeting him at a 1990 security sit down, Mudge of the L0pht was not sure if Gates and Microsoft truly understood the repercussions of how insecure Windows truly was. And it would take another five years until Gates would pen his famous 1995 Trustworthy Computing memo, where Microsoft finally committed to taking Windows security off the back burner.
Even after testifying before Congress in 1988, the L0pht was not rolling in money. Many of the members, Thomas included, had other day jobs, and the money they made from L0pht activities was not enough to sustain them. Which is in part why they merged with @Stake in 2000.
The @Stake acquisition didn’t end on a happy note for Thomas, as egos and politics soon got in the way and he found himself laid off. He writes of the hurt he experienced and how he felt betrayed by the members of the L0pht who did not stick up for him. It would be years until he would reunite with most of the members of the L0pht, and when Mudge would apologize for that dark incident.
Today, vulnerability disclosure programs are part and parcel of information security. But it wasn’t that long ago it was naively considered irresponsible. The L0pht was at the forefront of responsible vulnerability disclosure and everyone owes a lot of gratitude to them for bringing that concept to light.
Yuri Diogenes of Microsoft has an interesting new book Building a Career in Cybersecurity: The Strategy and Skills You Need to Succeed. In many ways, that could be the title of this book. Thomas has written a fascinating, and at times, very raw memoir, of how he made it in the world of information security.
He certainly put in lots of hard work, and he ran into countless struggles and problems. Yet he persevered and became a legend in the process. The book is a fascinating read. It combines an interesting autobiography, with an equal amount of history. The L0phy set the trajectory of much of modern computer security. And to understand where we are today, you need to understand the history of the L0pht.
March 4, 2023
A Real History, a Personal Story, a Nostalgic Trip
There are a lot of things to relish about this history of the L0pht, the computer hacker nest of some of the best and brightest who migrated from hacking to becoming thought leaders in the twenty-first century and important contributors to security and technology.
First, anyone who is remotely interested in the computer revolution and how we got to where we are now has heard of the L0pht, but not everyone knows the kind of detailed picture we get from this account. Cris Thomas AKA Space Rogue illuminates not only his own contributions to computer security and the important work of the L0pht, but those of his many partners as well, with a celebration of their multiple talents and an intimate knowledge of the historical contexts that attended their best known exploits. His narrative gives those who have not been intimate with hackers and hacking a deeper insight into what made the L0pht members tick, how they came together, and why they loved their work so much it became a game they never stopped playing. His narrative illuminates why the best hackers hack and the essence of real hacking. The reader will have a greater appreciation for what drives hackers to explore complex systems and make them do astonishing things. If one brings a hackneyed view of hackers to the text, one will leave more informed and understand how brilliant many of them are, as well as how they evolved into real leaders of government and business as they and the industry grew.
Second, Thomas tells his own personal story as it intersects with that of the L0pht, which more than enhances the historical narrative--it personalizes his account with an emotional dimension that some other attempts to tell this story do not. Other histories of hacking often offer caaricatures of hackers and superficial accounts of what was taking place. Thomas does not. He was there, after all, this is his life, and he has a stake in getting the details right.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I was somewhat familiar with much of the history and many of the players after thirty years of speaking at hacker and security conferences and writing think pieces about the same, so the trip for me through these pages was also a delight on that score alone. But you did not have to be there then to love this book--"How the Hackers Known as the L0pht Changed the World" enables you to be there now.
There are a lot of things to relish about this history of the L0pht, the computer hacker nest of some of the best and brightest who migrated from hacking to becoming thought leaders in the twenty-first century and important contributors to security and technology.
First, anyone who is remotely interested in the computer revolution and how we got to where we are now has heard of the L0pht, but not everyone knows the kind of detailed picture we get from this account. Cris Thomas AKA Space Rogue illuminates not only his own contributions to computer security and the important work of the L0pht, but those of his many partners as well, with a celebration of their multiple talents and an intimate knowledge of the historical contexts that attended their best known exploits. His narrative gives those who have not been intimate with hackers and hacking a deeper insight into what made the L0pht members tick, how they came together, and why they loved their work so much it became a game they never stopped playing. His narrative illuminates why the best hackers hack and the essence of real hacking. The reader will have a greater appreciation for what drives hackers to explore complex systems and make them do astonishing things. If one brings a hackneyed view of hackers to the text, one will leave more informed and understand how brilliant many of them are, as well as how they evolved into real leaders of government and business as they and the industry grew.
Second, Thomas tells his own personal story as it intersects with that of the L0pht, which more than enhances the historical narrative--it personalizes his account with an emotional dimension that some other attempts to tell this story do not. Other histories of hacking often offer caaricatures of hackers and superficial accounts of what was taking place. Thomas does not. He was there, after all, this is his life, and he has a stake in getting the details right.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I was somewhat familiar with much of the history and many of the players after thirty years of speaking at hacker and security conferences and writing think pieces about the same, so the trip for me through these pages was also a delight on that score alone. But you did not have to be there then to love this book--"How the Hackers Known as the L0pht Changed the World" enables you to be there now.
February 10, 2023
Cris Thomas, otherwise known by his hacking handle Space Rogue, has written one of the more entertaining origin stories about the hacking group L0ft. The narrative spans decades and covers some of the earliest moments of the PC revolution, and the tools the group used to help make computers and networks more secure and safer. His fellow members of L0pht have played pivotal roles in defining information security. Thomas writes that the "naïveté of hackers in the late ’90s and early 2000s didn’t last long. Hackers no longer explore networks and computer systems from their parents’ basements (if they ever did); now it is often about purposeful destruction at the bequest of government agencies. L0pht’s message of bringing security issues to light and getting them fixed still echoes throughout the industry and is more important today than ever."
If you are at all interested in reading about the early days of the infosec industry, I highly recommend this book.
If you are at all interested in reading about the early days of the infosec industry, I highly recommend this book.
March 13, 2023
The book's epilogue touches on something I've heard summarized as "a man reading the newspaper sees an article about his field of work, reads it, finds it full of errors, and turns to the next page to read an article about another field and take it as truth." That is: it's sometimes very difficult to read about things you know, or kind of know, because your version of the truth and knowledge can clash with what's been written. This is a lot of build-up to say that I found very little to clash with in this book. I think it avoids a lot of common hyperbole in the computer security nonfiction arena, and I honestly wish it covered more things even though this isn't necessarily fair to a person trying to write a memoir/retrospective. There were some surprising and some unsurprising names, companies, and handles, and it helped stitch together my mental map of other accounts of computer security, internet history, etc.
I miss BBSes.
I miss BBSes.
March 14, 2023
I finally had a chance to sit down and get into this book. This isn't what you'd expect at first. This isn't a technical look back at the hacker group/space known as the L0pht like you might expect. This book is a personal memoir written by Cris Thomas (Space Rogue) about his time with the L0pht, as well as his life before and after the L0pht. If you enjoyed the Cult of the Dead Cow book by Joseph Menn, you'll enjoy this. There is a lot of overlap between L0pht and cDc, and this book helps fill in more of the 90s time frame from that book, as well as some personal takes on the move to @stake. Of course there is a lot of coverage of the L0pht congressional testimony as well, just in time for the 25th anniversary. I had a hard time putting this book down and highly recommend it!
March 29, 2023
Interesting book, too many issues with Kindle version
The story was good but rambled. I learned a lot about the L0pht and how it came to be.
There were however a lot of errors in the Kindle edition including typos, wrong fonts being used for footnotes, and spacing. These interrupted the flow of the book. Would be interested to see how the print edition lookds
Kudos to Space Rogue for this deeply personal story and putting it out there. Thanks for the sharing your life with us.
The story was good but rambled. I learned a lot about the L0pht and how it came to be.
There were however a lot of errors in the Kindle edition including typos, wrong fonts being used for footnotes, and spacing. These interrupted the flow of the book. Would be interested to see how the print edition lookds
Kudos to Space Rogue for this deeply personal story and putting it out there. Thanks for the sharing your life with us.
June 10, 2023
This was a good read. If you're into the whole hacker scene this adds a different perspective to the hacker scene of the 90s and sheds some light and how the members of L0pht were feeling just before they were testifying before congress. I definitely rewatched that hearing and watched a little closer at Space Rogue :) Oh moms...
Not as good as Cult of the Dead Cow by Joseph Menn but certainly worth the read if you're into this scene.
Not as good as Cult of the Dead Cow by Joseph Menn but certainly worth the read if you're into this scene.
December 26, 2025
Good account of some hacker history — I aspire to have this good of a memory!
April 18, 2023
A fascinating and candid, if a bit rough, recounting of Space Rogue's history and his role in the creation and growth of L0pht.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews