The newest hacker community in the United States is nowhere near Silicon Valley.
AMAN NAMED TINKER clutches an HDMI cable as he bumps through the crowd milling in front of the stage at Family Karaoke, a joint on Dallas’s east side. A former Marine, Tinker has a solid but not overly muscled frame. Less weight lifter than baseball infielder. He has a voice that belongs on a live-fire exercise. It booms, even over the thrump of the techno blasting from two speaker towers on the stage.
“Okay, what’s the first rule of this place?” he asks the crowd before answering his own question: “Don’t hack the venue!”
This is the monthly meeting of the Dallas Hackers Association, the largest of the local groups—for there are many more than you would expect. A hacker named Wirefall started DHA in June 2013. A handful of people showed up back then. Tonight, under 1970s-chic red and purple neon, Family Karaoke is filled with enough attendees to worry a fire marshal. Nearly 150 hackers, and those who might be called hacking enthusiasts, sit on stools and around small tables. Security pros, hash crackers, fledgling programmers, and a few members of the curious public. None are here to sing. They’re here for this month’s firetalks—15-minute presentations of firsthand achievements in subverting, repurposing, reprogramming, or overriding modern technology.
North Texas has become an unexpected haven for hackers seeking not only camaraderie but paid work. There is an ecosystem here that can sustain them. The Dallas– Fort Worth area has the most available cybersecurity jobs in the nation. Community colleges and universities are building cybersecurity institutes. The area has a history—starting with Texas Instruments in 1951 and through today, when AT&T, Raytheon, and Facebook’s new data storage facilities are located nearby. All of those companies need smart programmers. And cybersecurity. They need hackers.
This story is from the Winter 2018/2019 edition of Popular Mechanics.
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This story is from the Winter 2018/2019 edition of Popular Mechanics.
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