this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2025
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It was exactly like the movie Hackers. ๐
Due to the nature of how the ARPAnet was born (lots of academic influence and the view of free sharing of information) outside the DOD infosec wasnt a thing, even then it was an after thought.
There was a healthy phone hacking community coming out of the 70s and into the 80s. Their techniques for getting free calls helped with exploiting the ARPAnet
There were pretty significant technology changes in the 90s with the WWW and the number of people and companies online leading to more opportunities and ways to exploit.
Wargames and Sneakers are pretty entertaining and while movies will give you a bit of a vibe.
If you can highly recommend you read
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo%27s_Egg_(book)
Really easy read and amazing true story
It wasn't like the military had that much better OPSEC. The code to launch American nuclear weapons for over, 15 years was 00000000.
I won't lie, I'd rather be a 2001/Swordfish type hacker ๐