Portability is Key!

Hackers have always been an important part of the IT scene. It’s only recently that our place has been recognized in the mainstream. I believe that in the hacker world as well as the corporate IT world, portability is key, and I mean that on all levels. Let me explain.

There have been countless times where I’ve been out away from my headquarters and I’ve needed a service or something that I have back at my computers. These are just a few tips and ideas of how to stay portable in a world that may demand more mobility from you.

First, set up your home or office workstation to be ready to run services whenever you need it; with proper security in mind of course. The towers at my headquarters are all running Gentoo Linux with various services (network analysis, password auditing, and other tools), and file storage. It’s accessible through encrypted ssh connections from anywhere on the internet. This is a basic setup that most advanced computer users should already know about, but it’s a great place to start if you haven’t already.

Next, I have a 4GB USB flash drive with a few tools that make my business 100% portable. On the flash drive I have a bootable System Rescue CD (sysresccd.org) and Portable Apps (portableapps.com) ready for use. Some of the portable apps include an SCP/SSH client for remote access back to my workstation, Open Office for document editing, a portable CD burner (provided that the drive on the machine the flash drive is plugged into has an RW drive), and other very handy items. Although the flash drive is a critical piece of my portable ensemble, I also carry the System Rescue CD in CD and DVD format just in case my target machine doesn’t have booting by USB as an option. Along with the rescue CD, I hold various distros of Linux just in case their assistance is needed in some unforeseen way.

Now that our command center is setup and we’ve got a portable pack of tools, let’s take a look at the business side of things. It used to drive me mad when I would network with a future client and I wouldn’t have a business card with me ready for exchange. While this was entirely my fault, I was sure never to let that happen again. So I made it a point to have business cards in my laptop case, car, wallet, and any place I could think of where I find myself running into potential future clients.

With just these few adjustments to your business lifestyle, I’m sure you’ll find your productivity increase tremendously. So, remember to track progress in your success and Happy Hacking!

Hackers aren’t criminals. We’re the innovators!