HackFormers?
If you are wondering as to what is HackFormers, read on …
The idea of HackFormers, started in 2009 when Mano Paul met Johnny Long in a conference in Washington DC on March 04, 2009. Johnny Long who is well known to those in the information security world and the hacking community as the ‘I Hack Stuff’ guy, chose to leave his laurels in the information security world to serve his Lord Jesus Christ in Uganda through his ‘I Hack Charities’ organization. During Johnny’s presentation, Johnny introduced himself first as a Christian and then said that while some may feel it is ’14m3′ (lame), others may feel that it was ‘1337’ (leet), but in reality, it did not matter, for he was ‘a Christian’. After Johnny’s talk, Mano approached Johnny and said “So, I see that you are a Jesus Freak?” to which Johnny responded, “Absolutely”. To this Mano said, “Well, I am one too, Join the Club”. Then on February 23, 2011, Mano met Andrew Wilson at the AHA! meeting and they started talking about “I Hack Charities” and their common interests to serve Christ using their information security skills. On June 05th, 2011, Mano met James Wickett after a Sunday service at the Hill Country Bible Church in Pflugerville, and shared the vision to be servants of Christ to peers in the information security community. Then on June 14th, 2011, during the (ISC)2 SecureSDLC event in Austin, Mano publicly professed his allegiance to the King, Jesus Christ, following which, Auston Holt approached him and said that the public profession encouraged Auston to not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ and reminded Mano that denial of our God before men has got equitable consequences before God, when he returns to reign. Michael Howard, the author of the acclaimed Writing Secure Code book (who needs no introduction to those in information security), who was in the audience, encouraged Mano as well and shared some security topics and their parallels to Christ. This is how, HackFormers came about …
HackFormers is based out of the Biblical text from Acts 17:6-7 where the disciples of Jesus were accused of turning the world upside down. In other words these disciples were “transforming the world” by their allegiance to this one King, called Jesus.
HackFormers’ vision is to leverage one’s information security knowledge and skills and teach and reach others with the love of Jesus Christ. The idea behind the name was HACKers (generically referring to whitehats and those in Information Security) who serves Christ Jesus in the Great Commission as TRANSFORMers.
Excerpts from a blog post entitled “Christian Hackers as Transformers” that Mano wrote after his meeting with Johnny Long is given below. In the TRANSFORMERS movie, you can hear Optimus Prime say (as the movie ends): “With the All Spark gone, we cannot return life to our planet. And fate has yielded its reward: a new world to call home. We live among its people now, hiding in plain sight, but watching over them in secret, waiting, protecting. I have witnessed their capacity for courage, and though we are worlds apart, like us, there’s more to them than meets the eye. I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars; we are here, we are waiting.”
“With the OLD SELF gone, we cannot return to a life we lived before we knew JESUS CHRIST as LORD and MASTER. And GRACE has yielded its reward: a new world (HEAVEN) to call home. We NOW live for a short time among Others who are yet to meet with God and acknowledge His Lordship, often hiding in plain sight, but watching OUT FOR them in secret, waiting, protecting (SAVING). I have witnessed their capacity TO CONTINUE IN THEIR PATH THAT LEADS TO ETERNAL SEPARATION FROM GOD, and though we are worlds apart, like us, there’s more to them than meets the eye. I am Mano Paul, and I send this message to any surviving CHRISTIAN HACKERS taking refuge in the HEAVENLY REALMS; we are here, we are waiting.”
Come, Join the Club – HackFormers.