What was the Cult of The Dead Cow

Who Were They

The Cult of the Dead Cow (often known as the cDc) is a computer hacker and media organization dating back to 1984. The group maintains a blog on their website titled “Cult of the dead cow”, which features thoughts and opinions of it’s group members.

The Bulletin Board Era

In the late 80s and early 90s the cult of the Dead Cow organized and maintained a loose affiliate of Bulleten Board Systems (BBS) and their associated textfiles across the US and Canada. The cDc is credited with coining the term “3337” or “Elite” used to denote great skill on these bulletin boards. They are also credited with crewating what is known as the first hacker conference in it’s time HoHoCon (usually held in Texas).

Ninja Strike Force

In 1996, the cDc announced the birth of its Ninja Strike Force with the express goal of being intervention task force both online and offline. The cDc opened the NSF Dojo in 2004. An “NSF Dojo” Member also operates a streaming radio station, which features recordings of hacker presentations and other educational programming in addition to a wide range of musical styles and artists. Membership in the NSF is granted by the cDc to those individuals who stand out in their support of the cDc and its ideals.

Hacktivismo

In late 1999, the cDc created Hacktivismo, an independent group under the cDc umbrella dedicated to the creation of antio-censorship technology. The group’s beliefs are described fully in The Hacktivismo Declaration, which seeks to apply the charter of human rights to the internet. They abide by the cDc of model of disruptive compliance. Disruptive, in this case, refers to disruptive technology; compliance refers back to the Internet and its original intent of constructive free-flow and openness. Hacktivismo has also authored its own software license agreement, the Hacktivismo Enhanced-Source Software License Agreement, which is source available .

Hacktivism

Hong Kong Blondes

In the late 1990s, the cDc claimed to have worked with a group of Chinese dissidents called “The Hong Kong Blondes.” The group’s ostensible goal was to disrupt computer networks within the the People’s Republic of China in order to allow citizens to access censored content online. The Hong Kong Blondes were one of the first hacktivist groups, though the group’s existence and actions have proven to be an invented fiction. The cDc first spoke about the group publicly in a presentation at the 1997 where members claimed to have advised the group on encryption techniques. In 2015, former cDc member Oxblood Ruffin claimed that the hacking activities attributed to the Hong Kong Blondes were an invention intended to create a diversion and cover for the extraction of several Chinese pro-democracy activists. Asked about the group during a White House meeting in February a prominent cDc member, Mudge, admitted “We made them up.”

Tools

Black Orfice

Back Orifice (often shortened to BO) is a program designed for remote system administration. It enables a user to control a computer running Windows operating system from a remote location. The name is a pun on Microsoft BackOffice Server software. Its purpose was to demonstrate the lack of security in Microsoft’s operating system Windows 98.

Camera/Shy

Camera/Shy, originally called Peek-a-Booty, was the first Hacktivismo project released. It is a steganographic tool that scans for and delivers decrypted content directly from the world wide web.

SMBRelay

SMBRelay is a computer programs that can be used to carry out SMB man-in-the-middle attacks on Windows machines.

Famous Figures

Mudge

Peiter C. Zatko better known as Mudge, is an American programmer, writer, and hacker. He was the most prominent member of the hacker think tank L0pht as well as well as the Cult of the Dead Cow

While involved with the L0pht, Mudge contributed to disclosure and education on information and security vulnerabilities where he pioneered the buffer overflow. The security advisories he released contained early examples of flaws regarding code injection, race conditions, side chanel attacks, cryptanalysis and in embeded systems. In 2010, Mudge accepted a position as a program manager at DARPA where he oversaw cyber security research.

Oxblood Ruffin

Oxblood Ruffin is a Canadian Hacker and member of the cDc for which he serves as “Foreign Minister.” He is also the founder and executive director of Hacktivismo. Ruffin is active is a vocal proponent of hacktivism, a term which he has helped to define. He has participated in both technology and human rights conferences, both on his own and along with cDc.

Grandmaster Ratte’

Grandmaster Ratte’ (born Kevin Wheeler in April 1970 and formerly known as Swamp Rat and Swamp Ratte’) is one of the founders of the cDc along with Franken Gibe and Sid Vicious. His official title in the cDc was “Imperial Wizard of ExXxtasy.