<story><title>IoT hacking and rickrolling my high school district</title><url>https://whitehoodhacker.net/posts/2021-10-04-the-big-rick</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>acidburnNSA</author><text>I &amp;#x27;worked&amp;#x27; for my own high school&amp;#x27;s IT dept, a few hours a week, as a student. It was an amazing experience working with those guys. I learned so many things, from how to punch, terminate, and run cables to how to set up a Ghost image and deploy it en masse across the district.&lt;p&gt;One day one of the old macs was showing the frowny face in a in-session classroom. Boss sent me down there with specific instructions: &amp;quot;pull out the hard drive and beat it really hard with the handle of this screwdriver&amp;quot;. I was like: &amp;quot;?&amp;quot; and he was like, &amp;quot;just do it&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;So I go down there and let myself in, trying not to interrupt the class. I climb behind the computer on a cart and pull out the HD. I beat it with the handle, like a good 10 times. Of course this got the class all riled up. I blushed, but told them this was normal operating procedure. Plug it back in and it works. I was (secretly) as amazed as everyone else in the class.&lt;p&gt;Back in the IT office, I say it worked. IT boss smiles and nods. I ask how. Well as it turns out some of those old hard drives used a vegetable oil based lube that seizes up if it&amp;#x27;s not used for a while. So if you bash it it un-seizes and starts turning again.&lt;p&gt;Anyway great times, fun memories. We all got our CompTIA A+ certifications at the end, but don&amp;#x27;t ask me what IRQ number is for the parallel port these days.</text></item><item><author>jimt1234</author><text>Working in IT&amp;#x2F;tech for school district is the worst. My experience from many years ago - around 2002, I think:&lt;p&gt;1. First day on the job, email to boss: &amp;quot;Hey, the computer lab at Springfield High has a ton of known security flaws that are begging to be exploited.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;2. Reply, 1 week later: &amp;quot;Sorry, we don&amp;#x27;t have any money for that. Just keep everything up-and-running.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;3. 3 weeks later the computer lab at Springfield High got &amp;quot;hacked&amp;quot;. All the computers displayed a popup window that said, &amp;quot;Miss Krabappel is a dyke!&amp;quot; (sorry for the offensive language)&lt;p&gt;4. Next day, email from boss: &amp;quot;The computer lab at Springfield High was hacked! Figure out how to fix this and make sure it doesn&amp;#x27;t happen again!&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;5. A few days later Miss Krabappel filed to sue the school district. The local newspaper picked up the story.&lt;p&gt;6. Email from boss, in full panic mode: &amp;quot;I need you to figure out who hacked the computer lab at Springfield High so we can report him to the police!&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;7. A week later an independent consulting firm was brought in to help identify the person behind the &amp;quot;hack&amp;quot;. I heard they were paid $50K and found nothing. However, the kid got ratted out when he told all his friends. (It wasn&amp;#x27;t Bart Simpson! ;) )&lt;p&gt;8. Several weeks later: meeting to discuss working with a consulting firm that&amp;#x27;s gonna fix all the security issues because the current staff (me and my team) lacks the skills.&lt;p&gt;9. About 6 months later, I quit.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>specialist</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;...pull out the HD. I beat it with the handle, like a good 10 times...&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Heh. Nice.&lt;p&gt;A coworker&amp;#x27;s Mac wouldn&amp;#x27;t boot. I couldn&amp;#x27;t hear the hard drive. It was a model with the tip of the spindle exposed. I found a pencil with a gummy eraser. Gave the spindle a twist as I turned the power on.&lt;p&gt;Told the amazed user, &amp;quot;Do not turn off your computer until after you have backed up your data. That probably won&amp;#x27;t work twice.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Good times.</text></comment>
<story><title>IoT hacking and rickrolling my high school district</title><url>https://whitehoodhacker.net/posts/2021-10-04-the-big-rick</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>acidburnNSA</author><text>I &amp;#x27;worked&amp;#x27; for my own high school&amp;#x27;s IT dept, a few hours a week, as a student. It was an amazing experience working with those guys. I learned so many things, from how to punch, terminate, and run cables to how to set up a Ghost image and deploy it en masse across the district.&lt;p&gt;One day one of the old macs was showing the frowny face in a in-session classroom. Boss sent me down there with specific instructions: &amp;quot;pull out the hard drive and beat it really hard with the handle of this screwdriver&amp;quot;. I was like: &amp;quot;?&amp;quot; and he was like, &amp;quot;just do it&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;So I go down there and let myself in, trying not to interrupt the class. I climb behind the computer on a cart and pull out the HD. I beat it with the handle, like a good 10 times. Of course this got the class all riled up. I blushed, but told them this was normal operating procedure. Plug it back in and it works. I was (secretly) as amazed as everyone else in the class.&lt;p&gt;Back in the IT office, I say it worked. IT boss smiles and nods. I ask how. Well as it turns out some of those old hard drives used a vegetable oil based lube that seizes up if it&amp;#x27;s not used for a while. So if you bash it it un-seizes and starts turning again.&lt;p&gt;Anyway great times, fun memories. We all got our CompTIA A+ certifications at the end, but don&amp;#x27;t ask me what IRQ number is for the parallel port these days.</text></item><item><author>jimt1234</author><text>Working in IT&amp;#x2F;tech for school district is the worst. My experience from many years ago - around 2002, I think:&lt;p&gt;1. First day on the job, email to boss: &amp;quot;Hey, the computer lab at Springfield High has a ton of known security flaws that are begging to be exploited.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;2. Reply, 1 week later: &amp;quot;Sorry, we don&amp;#x27;t have any money for that. Just keep everything up-and-running.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;3. 3 weeks later the computer lab at Springfield High got &amp;quot;hacked&amp;quot;. All the computers displayed a popup window that said, &amp;quot;Miss Krabappel is a dyke!&amp;quot; (sorry for the offensive language)&lt;p&gt;4. Next day, email from boss: &amp;quot;The computer lab at Springfield High was hacked! Figure out how to fix this and make sure it doesn&amp;#x27;t happen again!&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;5. A few days later Miss Krabappel filed to sue the school district. The local newspaper picked up the story.&lt;p&gt;6. Email from boss, in full panic mode: &amp;quot;I need you to figure out who hacked the computer lab at Springfield High so we can report him to the police!&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;7. A week later an independent consulting firm was brought in to help identify the person behind the &amp;quot;hack&amp;quot;. I heard they were paid $50K and found nothing. However, the kid got ratted out when he told all his friends. (It wasn&amp;#x27;t Bart Simpson! ;) )&lt;p&gt;8. Several weeks later: meeting to discuss working with a consulting firm that&amp;#x27;s gonna fix all the security issues because the current staff (me and my team) lacks the skills.&lt;p&gt;9. About 6 months later, I quit.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>oaiey</author><text>And now ... a group of 30 - no-longer - students treat their IT equipment with hits by a screw driver ... because it works.&lt;p&gt;Our education system is amazing ;)</text></comment>