14 DAY TRIAL // If last week we visited Russia, this week we head down to Bangladesh where we meet one of the members of a hacking group that dedicates its existence to fighting for justice and against the Indian Border Security Force (BSF).
The last time we heard about this hacker’s crew, the 3xp1r3 Cyber Army, they defaced 1,700 websites as a form of protest against BSF. Now, we’ve had the opportunity to speak to _sYs_3xp1r3, one of the founders of this group.
Softpedia: First of all, please tell us the significance of your hacker name. What does it mean and what inspired it?
_sYs_3xp1r3: I am “_sYs_3xp1r3” from 3xp1r3 Cyber Army. My name consists of my team’s name and my cyber name as like all members of 3xp1r3 Cyber Army. It’s become a tradition to use “3xp1r3” in first name or last name.
When we use this name we feel an extraordinary power, which can’t be described. Maybe this is the power of team work, or trust, or something unknown.
Softpedia: Tell us about your group, the 3xp1r3 Cyber Army. When was it formed, how many team members are there? What do you fight for?
_sYs_3xp1r3: 3xp1r3 Cyber Army in short of 3CA. It is the first & ultimate underground hacking team of Bangladesh, established on 21st Dec 2009 by “_sYs_”, “S1r-3xp1r3”, “3xp1r3-n0Pm.”
It’s very hard to tell how many 3xp1r3 we are. Most of our members work in the background, but our visible members like me are near about a hundred. Actually, we fight for justice. At present we fight for Bangladesh, our Motherland against Indian BSF Brutality.
Softpedia: On a previous occasion you said that your team used a lot of tools developed by its members, such as the AK 47 that's built for defacements. What other similar tools have you developed?
_sYs_3xp1r3: Yeah, previously we taleked about our recently developed unique private tool named "3xp1r3 Ak-47 Deface Gun" which is fully automated to destroy a server by only a single click. We have also developed another unique tool named ‘Box Bomber’ which helps us easily r00t a server and also mass deface.
We are also using some unique tools, those are specially developed by "3xp1r3 Dev Team", but we are unable to give info about those tools, because of some security reasons.
We just want to say we have a special team that consists of programmers & researchers that are not only developing existing methodology, but also they invent new methodologies for 3xp1r3. This team now works for our upcoming private operating System “OS-3xp1r3.”
Softpedia: Tell us about your hacking career. When did you start and what determined you to become a hacker?
_sYs_3xp1r3: Behind my hacking life there is no big history or not one at all, but in my childhood I saw interviews or big news in television which interested me about hacking and hackers. Later when I got a PC I used search engines and gradually grew up my knowledge in this sector :D.
Softpedia: Share some stories with our readers from when you first started hacking.
_sYs_3xp1r3: Umm.. I think, it;s lil' bit funny, but I'm gonna share it with you!
When I started to deface websites, often my mom stole the mouse and hid it, but I know that was mom’s duty so I also bought and reserved an extra mouse. And when I connected extra mouse, mom gave me the stolen mouse and said 'don’t do that.' That was the most remarkable history to me.
Softpedia: How is the life of a hacker in Bangladesh? Do you think hackers from Bangladesh can achieve the same performance as hackers from countries such as the US, UK?
_sYs_3xp1r3: Hacker’s life in our country is not so good because we don’t get any support from Govt. and we have extremely large power and internet speed problems here. If we get proper facilities from our govt. we will able to show performance like developed country hackers.
However, in this current situation the performance of Bangladeshi hackers is remarkable and a matter to discuss.
Softpedia: What is the current legislation in Bangladesh with hacking and Internet crimes? Are you afraid of getting caught by the police?
_sYs_3xp1r3: Here there is no specific law for hacking and internet crimes. But it doesn’t mean we are out of the law’s reach. We are extremely bound by any other related law.
‘Afraid’ this word or similar word of this type is not listed in our dictionary. One of our core members was arrested by police a few months back for defacing home page (without delete database) of the Supreme Court’s website. And now he still suffers, but we are not afraid at all.
We know the forces are always running to catch us and sometimes they are able. We don’t find anything here to worry.
Though hacking activity already listed as cyber crime, but I am not really interested to treat all our activity as a part of cyber crime. I would like to say, --- ‘Hacking does not mainly refer the cyber crime, it basically refers to the lack of cyber security and its broken cyber laws made by using broken cyber security.'
Softpedia: Do you feel that your actions make a difference? Do you think you can stop this "BSF brutality" with your hacks?
_sYs_3xp1r3: Absolutely, our actions make a difference. Maybe we don’t stop "BSF brutality" directly by hacking, but we might force them to stop their brutality indirectly by spreading our message and rising awareness among the general people, media workers as well as Govt.
Softpedia: Whenever you hack a site, do you think about the system admins that have to "clean up" after you?
_sYs_3xp1r3: Yeah! A system admin should clean up his site to his or her best effort.
Softpedia: How many sites have you hacked so far?
_sYs_3xp1r3: It’s so difficult to say an exact quantity. I didn’t count yet.
Softpedia: Is there any particular hack you are really proud of?
_sYs_3xp1r3: Team Grey Hat’s web, instantly my memory responds to this. Basically I r00ted that server & mass defaced it. I feel proud when I r00t an Indian server.
Softpedia: What other hobbies do you have besides hacking?
_sYs_3xp1r3: Besides hacking I often read hacking-related books, articles and also I like to read thriller novels and watching new movies. I mean my hobby except hacking is reading, or knowing about new and interesting things around me.