About Astalavista.com
Astalavista.com - The Underground, is one of the world's most popular and comprehensive computer security web sites.
Astalavista.com was originally founded in 1997, by a hacker computer enthusiast. The name of the site came from the unforgettable line in the Terminator 2 movie - "Hasta La Vista Baby". Since then, the site became the underground's most respected and well maintained community for anything you ever wanted to know about security.The enormous database, the constant updates, the unique nature of the content published, the new services and features, all offered for free, turned Astalavista.com into what it is today - a cult!
Our site is visited by home and enterprise users, universities, government and military institutions on a daily basis, we are currently attracting more than 250.000 page views per day, making the site an extremely popular security portal, while on the other hand a perfect place to advertise or launch an advertising campaign as far as your security products/solutions/services are concerned.
Note: Astalavista.com is NOT affiliated with Astalavista.box.sk, there are NO cracks/serials/keygens/warez etc. hosted on the Astalavista.com's server, and never were! Moreover, Astalavista.com is a security site, therefore requests for anything illegal are simply directed to the wrong party, and get ignored immediately!
How popular are we?
Astalavista evolution over the years
1997 - ASTALAVISTA.com began with the registration of the domain
1998 - the first version of ASTALAVISTA with the slogan "Around the World" went online
1999 - ASTALAVISTA with the first logo
2000 - the first ASTALAVISTA logo with eyes from a girl - one of the brand name of ASTALAVISTA
2001 - the flipped "A" was born in Brinsbane, Australia
2007 - the revamp of ASTALAVISTA with a new design, new content and alot of new staff members - Especially for the 10 years anniversary
2009 - the RELAUNCH of ASTALAVISTA.com merged with ASTALAVISTA.net with complete new design, new content and alot more features
2011 - ASTALAVISTA relaunched its website and focuses on offering its members an IT news and security portal.
Check out the WayBack machine to see how ASTALAVISTA.com looked during the last 10 years.
Click here to see
How different types of visitors take advantage of our site
These stories are taken from various talks with our visitors; their intention is to bring more insight in how different individuals use our site.
- The System Administrator
- The Novice Computer User
- The Researcher
- The Corporate Representative
- The Hacker
The System Administrator
Basically, the system administrator is responsible for the equipment and the whole infrastructure of the network, the operating systems, the applications etc.
What do you find at Astalavista.com that you cannon find anywhere else, or, in brief - what makes you visit the site over and over again?
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As an administrator of a network of one thousand computers, my job consists of guaranteeing that our applications are build in with security in mind, that our desktop computers are malware and spyware free, and, to a certain extent, that our users are aware of various computer security hazards. I visit Astalavista.com whenever I look for something in particular, or just to follow the trends. Astalavista.com has obviously evolved during the years, it has turned into a daily updated security portal, emphasizing on the most severe security issues, not just listing tools and documents. When I visit the site, I know I am up-to-date.
When was the last time when you found something worth reading or using at the site, and how did it help you improve your organization's security?
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Most of our desktop computers are using IE, something that is hopefully going to change after I show the statistics of spyware infections to the management. Anyway, I came across some unique patches to IE at your site, which I applied on all the desktops. I also blocked all known CoolWebSearch ip ranges again by finding an article at your site. The best about Astalavista.com is that I never know what I'm going to find at the site on the next day. As your submissions cover so many IT/network/security/privacy/social/espyonage topics, sometimes I cannot catch up with you, people. You're resourceful!
The novice computer user
The novice IT computer user is constantly seeking for new information about various computer related topics, among which is computer security. Astalavista.com is also visited by a large number of novice computer users - some aspire to becoming hackers, others to improve their security, or read about IT and social issues in general. We realize that and try to provide those with special free features at the site in the form of documents, consultations etc.
What do you find at Astalavista.com that you cannon find anywhere else, or, in brief- what makes you visit the site over and over again?
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Mainly because this is one of the best sites related to security. I want knowledge, I want tools, I want to know some patch to improve the security of my computer, and no, I don't want to become a hacker. I just care for protecting against the latest threats. Astalavista.com always provides me with content that I cannon find anywhere else; and the best thing is that you take the time and effort to update the site on a daily basis. I visit the site because it's "for the people"; it's as much as possible ad-free, or whenever there are some ads, they're not distracting or annoying - something that is rarely seen these days.
When was the last time when you found something worth reading or using at the site, and how did it help you improve your security?
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Well, I learnt how I had been infected with viruses and worms all the time through a couple of tutorials. Now, I'm much more aware of what's going on when I connect to the Internet. A couple of months ago I didn't realize that my computer is under attack all the time. Now, I know that I can stop most of the threats if I first know that they exist - this is how the site helps me.
The researcher
Researchers also represent a large number of our audience. They analyze trends and use creative thinking in order to innovate or protect from a new threat, spot an opportunity for the company/organization they work for etc.
What do you find at Astalavista.com that you cannon find anywhere else, or, in brief - what makes you visit the site over and over again?
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For me, Astalavista.com is still the underground site I used to visit during all these years. But if you hadn?t repositioned it into a more security related instead of a hacking oriented site, it would have probably become a public disaster, given the rise of the script kiddies and wannabe hackers these days. At the site I find code and docs I cannot find anywhere else - if I were to Google around, it would be pretty pointless. The best about the site is that it is always up-to-date. My job consists of analyzing malware and spyware activities around the Internet, and then providing a reliable, yet innovative solution to the problem. I am impressed by the amount of information I usually find - anything somehow related to my research at your site.
When was the last time when you found something worth reading or using at the site, and how did it help you in your research?
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Spyware details, I find a lot of info about spyware trends, and, of course, the latest released backdoors, which I could analyze later on. The approach you use with your Security Directory is great. I can always look at another aspect of the topic just by following the next submission. My best regards to everything you do at the site, it is one of my favourite ones.
The corporate representative
Fortune 500 companies visit Astalavista.com on a daily basis. They represent media buyers, marketing researchers, CIO?s etc. A lot of corporate representatives appreciate external points of view before making a decision. Our site has influenced many vital decisions, taking into account the importance of information security.
What do you find at Astalavista.com that you cannon find anywhere else, or, in brief - what makes you visit the site over and over again?
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As a CIO of a large enterprise, I always need to know what is in the wild, what might be next - proactive thinking plays an important role in my job. Your site is among the ones that I visit every day and sometimes it has more power to change my current strategy than some public survey or a computer crime statistics.
When was the last time when you found something worth reading or using at the site, and how did it help you in your job?
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We have realized that IE is not as secure as we thought it was by reconfiguring certain features. I myself have a very busy schedule so I do appreciate the amount of well-categorized information at one place - the way I see it at Astalavista. We were also able to identify 0-day tools that bypass all of our desktop firewalls and allow the execution of malicious software. Currently we know more about the technique used and we have managed to block it. Astalavista.com gives me another vision - something that I cannot receive from the security companies we are working with.
The hacker
Hackers are individuals seeking to push a computer beyond its capacity, and make it do things it is not supposed to do, why? Because they simply want to know how it works so they can make it better.
What do you find at Astalavista.com that you cannon find anywhere else, or, in brief - what makes you visit the site over and over again?
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Astalavista.com is a true underground site. By ?underground? I don't mean a place where illegal individuals exchange thoughts, tools etc. This is the only place, independent of products and companies, where people, even guys that I know, still submit tools and papers for the idea of doing it - not for the financial gains. I'm alive at Astalavista, for me it is like I got slash-dotted with knowledge, just because sooner or later everyone visits the site, and it's the best place for all kinds of audiences. Although there're a lot of tools at the site, it's knowledge, not tool- oriented.
When was the last time when you found something worth reading or using at the site, and how did it help you in your activities?
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People's code, which I analyze later on, people's papers and the way you present security information as a whole. Recently I found an advanced assembly-programming tutorial at the site. I had never come across such a good one before - it gave me useful tips and rare comments about them.
