Book Review: Cult of the Dead Cow, How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World
Cult of the Dead Cow: How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World is a history of the hacking group the Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc) and the eccentric members that filled its ranks. As much as the book is a history of the organization that pioneered the concept of hacktivism, it is also a history of the internet and a history of the interconnectedness of technological innovation, big business, and government agencies. The story of the cDc starts with rudimentary internet technologies like bulletin boards sharing provocative text files like The Anarchists Cookbook and progresses to building vital security tools like the Tor browser. Members of the Cult of the Dead Cow went from being nerdy rather punk rock misfits to working with The Pentagon, Microsoft, Wikileaks, Facebook, Anonymous, and even inspiring the creation of the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab (132).
cDc first came to prominence at a time when the security of personal computers was not something that was taken seriously by the large companies of the day like Microsoft and Apple. Security was seen as an afterthought not as a necessity like we see it now. Members of cDC created a program called “Back Orifice” that allowed a remote user/hacker to control any computer and log keystrokes on a Windows machine that had the program installed on it. Back Orifice was more or less a virus, most people that had it installed on their computers didn’t even know they had it. All that it took for a user to be infected was clicking on a file with an innocuous name (63). cDc made Back Orifice so easy to use that even an 18 year old could use it to “fuck shit up” (68). This caused Microsoft to take notice and publicly fix the issue, igniting a national conversation about the security of personal computing. This conversation of security also put cDc in the spotlight of government agencies like the FBI and CIA.
As the power of the internet technologies evolved so did the values of founding members of the Cult of the Dead Cow. At the beginning an emphasis was put on freedom of speech and civil liberties being of outmost importance but as technology became more powerful the dangers of absolute freedom of speech caused a rift between members. Some members opposed Direct Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks carried about by fellow hacking group Anonymous claiming that they were a form of censorship, others saw this as reasonable civil disobedience depending on the motives (146). However, one thing that the group did agree on was that the media attention these attacks brought upon the affected companies were a valuable way to get a dialog going and make changes similar to what had happened with Back Orifice. Members of the cDC also recognized the risks for false information and propaganda to spread on digital platforms long before it became a popular issue (200).
What was most interesting about the story and who’s who of the cDc was how this seemingly punk rock group was consumed by the establishment through big business and government intelligence agencies. Specifically after 9/11 when the War on Terror commenced, members of cDc like those who went under the alias of “Mudge” and Dildog” worked with the Pentagon and DARPA. These hackers knew first hand how vulnerable many consumer computer systems were and by extension government computer systems. They aided the defence and intelligence community because their country had been attacked and they were worried for their friends and families. cDc members wanted to make sure organizations like the Department of Defence made “less stupid mistakes” (177). A positive aspect of these outsiders being brought into these organizations were that they changed the way hackers were viewed, no longer as natural enemies of the state, but as allies. They also provided a moral compass, speaking up when they believed something was illegal or wrong (181).
Part of the title of this book is “How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World” but after reflecting on this, the book does not really make this clear. The closing chapter talks about former Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’rourke from Texas and how he was a member of the cDc under the alias “Psychedelic Warlord” (189). This news was only shared near the end of his race by another cDc member who hoped that leaking this information would help Beto and make him more appealing to young voters. Whether this backfired or he was just not that popular with Texan voters for telling them that he was going to take their guns, is hard to tell. Beto did not win the nomination but the book asks us to consider that a future run by hackers could be a great one (208). For that to happen they will need to win elections but not through hacking their way into office.
