Karlsruhe CCC branch Entropia: The quest for a free and secure network

A pocket calculator and 31 lines of Basic programming language: that’s all the hackers Wau Holland and Steffen Wernéry needed 35 years ago to steal almost 135,000 euros from Hamburg’s Sparkasse savings bank in a cloak-and-dagger operation. Because the two founding members of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) returned the money the very next working day and shortly afterwards drew media attention to the security gaps in communication systems on public television, the Hamburg hackers were known throughout Germany just a few days after their coup.

For Karlsruhe hacker Christian Lölkes, the legendary Sparkasse hack is a prime example of the fine line between making a meaningful contribution to increasing security and committing a crime, even 35 years after the first open CCC congress, the Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg on December 27, 1984. “If hackers want to draw attention to flaws in the system, they sometimes have to cross boundaries and uncover security gaps through practical examples,” says the computer expert from the hacker association Entropia, the Karlsruhe branch of the CCC.

Entropia offers goulash and networking for the Karlsruhe hacker scene

Entropia is a loose network for hackers and hackers. One of the association’s flagship projects is the organization of the annual Goulash Programming Night, which will take place again in 2020 on the premises of ZKM I Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe and HfG Karlsruhe. Each year, well over 1,000 technology enthusiasts from all over Europe meet, listen to lectures and use the event to network, tinker and work together. Another special feature of the Karlsruhe CCC offshoot is the regular Haecksen get-togethers for female club members and supporters.

According to Lölkes, the core values of the CCC and its numerous regional groups, such as the pursuit of a secure and free network, are still valid almost two decades after Entropia was founded. “The hacker scene is extremely well networked. People know each other and exchange experiences,” emphasizes Lölkes.

Grassroots democracy and the pursuit of improvement

In addition, there is a grassroots democratic cooperation within the scene – most successful hacks are therefore not initiated and committed by individuals, but by the CCC. “Of course, there are also black sheep in the hacker scene. But they are usually isolated very quickly,” says Lölkes. Anyone who destroys functioning structures by infiltrating them with malicious software is not a hacker, but a cybercriminal.

According to Lölkes, real hackers and hackers are always interested in improving the status quo. However, no one can guarantee 100% security in information technology, even in the future. “The biggest uncertainty factor in many systems is still the human factor,” Lölkes clarifies. As long as human computer users are careless with their data and disregard security regulations, many systems can be cracked with relatively little effort.

Threats to a free Internet

Lölkes now sees the concentration of important services on a few large providers such as Google, Amazon and Facebook as a major threat to the vision of a free internet. “These companies are now setting the standards that everyone has to follow. That’s why we need more courageous players to drive forward technical developments,” Lölkes appeals. This could also make the Internet more open again. However, communities such as the CCC have so far received too little support from the Federal Republic of Germany in their fight for a democratic network structure.

For Lölkes, however, the increasing brutalization of the tone of voice in virtual forums and social media is a problem for society as a whole. “The internet is not evil. Only some people who use it are evil,” emphasizes Lölkes. Simply blocking people who spread hate messages in certain discussions or deleting the messages are therefore merely fig leaves in the current debates, according to Lölkes: “If people continue to shout at each other in the schoolyard or on the street, the problem is far from being solved.”