The year was 1996, and I was a 14-year-old kid with a computer, time to kill, and a dangerous amount of curiosity. I had a computer, and the rural corner of Tennessee I lived in finally had a dial-up ISP. For the first time in my life, I was connected to a much larger world. At a blazing fast 14,400 bits per second, I was linked to a world I didn’t know existed. Borders fell away, class and wealth meant nothing. All that mattered was what you could learn.

It was the year I found the security community, and quickly developed a fascination with this group of people I’d never met, yet understood instinctively. I read The Conscience of a Hacker and knew I had found my people. The years went by, many friends were made, skills gained and honed through countless hours of intense effort, and a career built.

This is how my story began. It’s not a particularly unique story, nor even a special story — but it is my story.

Throughout the security community there are countless stories, many more interesting than mine, that helped to shape each of us, the community we joined, and the industry we built. These are our stories, our history, our legends.

What started as a group of kids driven by an insatiable curiosity to learn and explore has turned into an industry of hundreds of billions of dollars per year. The community has grown rapidly, and the impact of the industry far exceeds anything I thought possible when my journey in this field began.

While we are a community that has lived much of our lives behind a keyboard and documented much of what’s happened, these stories are too often buried and scattered. Too much has been lost with the deaths of pioneers that became dear friends. Memory fades, people retire to quiet offline lives, and new generations join this community — starting their own stories.

Collecting & Telling Stories

Today, my esteemed colleague Megan Barker and I, are launching a new project to collect and tell the stories of security — the people, communities, technology, and philosophies that make up this unique, vibrant, dynamic, and diverse world. Our goal is to bring our readers insight into the past, present, and future, not just news articles or technical overviews, but as the stories that they actually are.

Our articles will focus on the narrative behind what has happened and is happening, not just the technical details. This isn’t to say we intend to shy away from technical detail, not at all, for that’s often critical to understand the story. Instead, what you’ll see is technical and narrative writing, blended into a form we hope you’ll enjoy.

The Next Generation

We believe these stories have shaped our community and industry, and will continue to do so well into the future. For this reason, we believe it is critical that these stories are documented and preserved for the future. We also believe these stories are still being written, and in this rapidly changing world, it’s critical they be captured and told before they are lost.

The articles we publish here are intended to ensure these incredible stories are available for generations to come.

What’s Next?

We will soon be announcing the first dedicated series we plan to publish, which will almost certainly be a multi-year effort. We will talk more about what’s coming in the future when we make that announcement.

These articles will be freely available, without paywalls or restrictions. These stories belong to the community, and will always be available for all to read.