Tom Trumpbour

Mark Trumpbour began his interest in computer security growing up in a hacker commune on the Jersey Shore in the early Eighties. His first real computer was an Atari 800 that he and his many brothers used to explore the frontiers of cyberspace. Not that they called it cyberspace back then.

Ever the digital pioneer, Mark was suspended from his high school for connecting a computer lab to the Internet-at a time when the World Wide Web did not exist and FTP was considered a wonder of the modern world. To this day he ignores requests from the high school alumni association.

Mark has worked in all aspects of the computer field. He got his start in technical writing, moved to software quality assurance, and went on to become a fearsome Unix system administrator. When everybody was founding ISPs, Mark did too. It was there that he found out that script-kiddies were taking over, tarnishing the once-proud traditions of the hacker community. Unless somebody did something, the golden age of hacking would be over. His association with SummerCon began as an attempt to rekindle the creative spirit of hacking, and to demonstrate that hacking can be a socially responsible activity.

Mark works in New York City for a consulting firm that specializes in telecommunications management and software development. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two greyhounds.