Hacker Perspective: Katherine Cook
Too often when someone says the word "hacker," images of some poor schmuck living in his parents' basement wearing Vulcan ears come to mind.
Either that or the more devious rich unnamed evil genius living in a high class loft with cameras spying on the front door while he breaks down security measures and steals loads of cash from businesses. And while these make for great characters in movies and on television, they hardly represent the plethora of individuals who simply utilize the technology and information available in ways that "the normals" don't quite understand.
My start in this world came by necessity.
As a kid, I was always pretty handy with new software when my parents needed to get a home computer. Dad was an accountant and Mom was a teacher, and, more often than not, I helped to set up and explain new applications they needed for work.
I was around ten (in the mid-1980s) when I first remember doing this with a simple graphics program that could make posters and cards and such, but it was just accepted as normal when I'd explain programs to family. As I grew up, the idea of taking this natural proclivity and making it a career didn't even really cross anyone's mind. I have a vague memory of wishing there were computer classes, and the phrase "overrated typewriter" being used.
By the time I was in high school, I had my own computer (Dad's old IBM compatible) for research papers and data storage. There was no Internet for me, it being 1990 and having a thrifty, budget-minded mother, but I still loved having my own computer. I think that had I been born just a few years later, I would have been able to opt into computer classes that are now offered starting at elementary levels these days.
Instead, my life took a different path.
I moved out of my parents' house just months after graduating, no college at all. I worked menial jobs and didn't even have access to a computer again until I was in my early 20s. Married and a young mother of two, I was left to my own devices while most of the neighbors and my husband went to work. As I stayed home and became used to the routine of a housewife, I was given a rebuilt PC for the house and a 56k Internet connection.
This was it: the gateway to a social life. At least, for me it was.
I had little in common with my neighbors and was extremely shy in person. I'm not embarrassed to say that my first stop was a chat room, a Star Trek chat room. I honestly couldn't think of anything else at the time.
I was so unaware of what I could do thanks to a phone line and a modem. What I did have was a secret passion for sci-fi, one of the few things all the females in my immediate family had in common at the time.
I quickly caught on regarding how to operate the more complicated online applications and became familiar with the ability to search for information and utilize it in some fairly strange but oftentimes useful ways. What really fascinated me was the desktop, from the hardware to the operating system and software. Getting a taste of running a computer and being responsible for its upkeep while discovering all of the new things I could do with it was like finally being able to read an entire book that I'd only been able to view the cover of before.
In no time at all, I learned about free software and firewalls, viruses and malware. Building websites, manipulating graphics, and using services like FTP and POP and SMTP all kept my interest. I loved finding something new to try or to read about. And I was finally beginning to understand what my true passion was. But I'd made a deal with my husband. I was to stay home with the kids at least until they were all in school themselves. So, I kept trying new things instead.
In no time at all, I turned to online gaming, and became familiar with patches and hacks into game servers. Within two years, I was hopping through networks on mIRC. So began my real education, beginning with some coding.
The one thing that always seemed to hold true, no matter where I went on the Internet, was that I was surrounded by males.
It seemed that the population of cyberspace was an easy 10:1 in favor of those with chest hair. This, of course, meant that any scripts that were available for mIRC had remotes and pop-ups that had been designed for the men. Great for them, kind of irritating for me. And so, bit by bit, I began to build my own remotes into the scripts.
Simple things like changing words in pop-ups from "he" to "she" or simply making a few things more gender neutral. Then I tried more daring channel scripts and group scripts, adding designs and colors, or building ones that were activated by certain actions. After that, I was asked to help out with scripting for channels, but quickly lost interest with the internal politics that so often come into account with large groups of people who all think they should have the last word.
While this was going on, I began teaching myself how to fix the machine I was using more and more. I can clearly recall the first time I had to unhook all the wires and slide the side of the case off. My first act was to add RAM, and it scared the you-know-what out of me. I was so worried I'd break the machine. But of course, I didn't.
Now I change parts with the ease of a mechanic with spark plugs. Speaking of which, I looked it up online and did that with my own car. I couldn't afford the mechanic, and my husband at the time couldn't afford to miss work, so I looked it up and did it myself.
It's funny, really, the things you are often forced to learn, simply because you have no alternative. I've looked up so many things online that lost some poor plumber or mechanic a job. I even fixed my water heater when the catalyst burned out. I'm not really sure how much a professional charges for that, but I figure the Internet service paid for itself that year just by allowing me to access the steps I needed to take in order to get hot water running in my home again. A few months later, I fixed the furnace.
Then came my cult TV side and the discovery of warez.
I suppose I should blame Buffy the Vampire Slayer for that one, or the local cable company. I liked the reruns on FX, but we didn't get UPN for the current season, so I had to find alternate viewing choices. mIRC and the miracle of "wildfeed" became the answer. It was, of course, not the most legitimate way to watch a show, but, at the time, it was the only real alternative since my cable company refused to carry the UPN station. This was way before hulu.com, which is kind enough to carry several great shows for our free viewing pleasure, including Buffy.
As the years went by and my 30th birthday rolled around, my youngest and third child entered the school system, which is when I joined the amazing ranks of fast food. I would have loved entering an IT field or anything having to do with technology, but as I had been home with my children for nearly a decade, fast food was all I could find when my husband lost his job.
After a year, I could not take the monotony and the belligerence of rude customers for barely minimum wage and decided it was time to go back to school. At the time I enrolled, I had hoped that I could rely on some financial aid through the state and federal grants, along with help from my husband. Unfortunately, the marriage part of the deal was over just months later and I found myself starting college at the age of 30-something with three kids.
I can't complain though, and won't. These last few years have been the happiest of my life. My parents have been incredibly supportive of my education and dreams, plus they get free PC repair on call from a highly reliable source.
My kids tell everyone that their geeky mom can fix a computer, although they aren't too pleased with the fact that I'm building an intranet that will not only limit their Internet surfing for my peace of mind, but that they won't be able to log on if it isn't their set time. I haven't exactly told them that I can take over their sessions and find out where they went and what they typed. But it will be pretty cool if one of them tries to break through my restrictions someday.
My boyfriend is the one who said I should tell my story.
I still don't know if I really qualify as a hacker. I'm just a single mother of three who doesn't take my PC to the Geek Squad when it breaks, mostly because the last time I did, I ended up providing more customer service for fellow customers than I got from the so called "experts."
But when asked, "What is a hacker?" it seems to me it's anyone who can take what's out there and use it, crack it, patch it, fix it, utilize it, and maybe even improve and share it with others who love to break the unbreakable and fix the unfixable.
I suppose my life has been a series of little adventures that lead to new obsessions and new knowledge. And as for advice, all I can say is: When you find a barrier, see if you can push it.
When you hear a stereotype, embrace it.
And when you find a great hack, share it.
Katherine Cook currently resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana with her three children. She writes for a website as a local correspondent on "cyber safety for parents." One of her favorite pastimes is to inform others on how to use the Internet and their computer systems in ways that can not only inform and educate, but help them save a few dollars as well.