_________  SWAT MAGAZINE ISSUE THIRTY ONE JULY 2000   __________
  /         \___________________________________________/          \
 /               Interview with Dies - by XCESSwaste                \
/                   Member of the M.A.B Group                        \
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Who are you?

 I am just a computer geek that had alot of machines and figured others
out there would enjoy using/playing on them.

What is PullThePlug.com?

  Pulltheplug is a place where anyone can come and learn on these
machines, I think I have a good combination of computers that are
available.  I've tired to get up machines with every freeware unix I can
find, as of now I have machines running OpenBSD (My favorite), FreeBSD,
two Distros of Linux, and NetBSD.  Additionally I have a router that is
available to use.  We (Myself and tg0d) have an irc server that is
available for chatting about the machines, strategies, etc.  Anytime I can
get more machines from people giving them to me, I try to put them up
quickly.  I have 7 available to the public.  I hope to have more shortly.

When did you get the idea to set all this up?

 I got the idea a while ago, I used to work at a large Tier-1 ISP in
the security department.  I had a bunch of computers that I had obtained
over the years, but I only had a cable modem with a single IP.  Co-Workers
wanted to use my machines to learn more about BSD, Linux, Cisco, etc so I
set up a forwarder.  Port 23 was for one machine, 24 for another,
etc.  That was ok and it got the job done at the time, but I wanted
more.  I knew there was a "wargames" going on out there at happyhacker and
then linuxppc but I didn't really like what they had.  Those were more of
attention getters for the site/OS, that's not what I wanted.  So I bought
pulltheplug.com, got myself some bandwidth and IP addresses.  Pulltheplug
was born, and oh what a beautiful day that was.  I think they wrote about
it in some of the newer history books that are available to children in
grade school.

Why do you do it?

 Why do I do this....Hmm...Well I've learned alot about Unix, Security,
Networking, etc from texts I've read on sites.  Whoever wrote those texts
gave something to me, for free...knowledge.  I figured I've taken quite
alot from texts, articles in ezines, etc.  Now it's time to give something
back.

Do you gain anything from it?

  I enjoy running my network so that's my benefit from it all.

Who pays for all of it?

  I pay for it all, out of my own pocket!  My girlfriend thinks I'm
crazy and I should have banners and all of that.  That's not my thing, and
I don't mind paying for it.

How much of you time does it consume?

 I don't really keep track of how much time it consumes.  It's just
enjoyable to me so I really don't know...

Have you ever had any trouble with the police or users?

  The only problem I've had is with users forkbombing the boxes, other
than that it's been pretty smooth sailing.

Are you any good at hacking?

 Good at hacking...What is hacking anyways?  I'm somewhat lost as to
the meaning of that lately.  Am I good at defacing web sites?  No.  Am I
good at DoSing Yahoo?  Never tried, maybe.  Am I good at taking scripts
and rooting boxes so I can build a big floodnet?  Not my style.  I do
enjoy making computers do what I want them to do....

What do you think of all the people that set up wargames?

  I think others setting up wargames is good, it gives more people a
chance to learn.

What advice would you give to them?

  The only advice I can give it to make sure you have restricted
outgoing access from those boxes!  Most other games I've looked at haven't
done that.  That's a receipe for disaster.

What advice would you give to the people trying to hack them?

  Advice on hacking my boxes...Get ready to learn and write your own
exploits.  I patch my machines as soon as I see a public release.

Is there anything else you would like to say?

  I'd like to say thanks to everyone that's come to my site and used my
machines!  I put them there to be used and it makes me happy when I see
people using them.


Thanks for your Time.

        Xcess Waste

Shoutz:Guyphorx, Tsunami, Chicane, Fire Starter,Deathbringer,SouRcErRoR Gryphon, 
Emortal,Phreakazoid and hacker in training |RoR|*LG*Marcius.

        xcesswaste@excite.com
        icq = 75611723