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Hack the Army, Brag About it, Get Raided
SunCrushr was one of many who submitted this. A security company called ForensicTec decided to explore the U.S. government's computer systems, with particular emphasis on the Army. They talked to the press and had their fifteen minutes of fame. And surprise surprise, they immediately got raided by the FBI. What did they expect?
so what about using MacroVision - disabling VCRs?
how about speeding on highways?
IMHO the army and the FBI is taking this *way* too seriously. I mean, fine if they were doing this for criminal intent, then alright. but proceeding with criminal prosecutions? that's 158% bullshit.
the sad fact is unless you generate some publicity, a whole lot of times shit in the govn't does not get done. (same with M$, btw). Illinois had ppl warning them for YEARS that they need to seriously wipe the old PC's hard disks they put on auctions; and what did they do? promptly ignored it until someday ABC channel 7 news (i actually don't remember the channel #, so am making this part up) found out.
i mean, fucking a, i'd appreciate some kind of apology from the army instead of this. instead of "i am tracking down the 'law breakers' and taking a firm stand on unauthorized computer access", i think The Right Thing (tm) to do is actually apologize to ME, Joe Citizen, that they fucked up and should have kept this shit more secure in the first place, and things are being done about it; and they are switching to open source and capable sys admins.
glad my tax dollars are going toward such useful endeavors.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
If you don't like paying for the prosecution of criminals, I would like you to get the hell off my continent.
An unlocked door does NOT imply a "big honking sign that says 'enter'". If you walk in my house uninvited, whether I leave the door wide-ass open or not, you are still risking my blowing your head off.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
My God, what is up with slashdotters? There are a million people posting along the lines of: if I break into someone's house and steal their stuff, then tell them that they need a new lock, it would be just like what these guys did.
Dumbasses.
It wouldn't.
If these people had actually sold the social security numbers they had gained, or sold the secrets to the Russians, that would be one thing. Instead, they simply got on the network to see how far the vulnerabilities went. Anybody see the difference? Any Americans out there think that every foreign country or group out there that happens to hate us hasn't already done this to our Army's computers?
Goddamn, but these people see more like patriots than criminals. I'd feel a lot safer if the FBI raided the houses of the system admins who set up the unsafe networks instead of these people.
This is why I wrote "If you don't understand the Internet, stay the fuck away."
In the same vein, let me answer this with: "No, fuck YOU".
I suppose you might make the argument that the "early Internet" was this way (although you're full of crap if you think "anything you can exploit is OK"), but so what? I'm sure you can find early primitive societies where everything was shared. So what? What works for a small community doesn't necessarily work for a large community. And guess what? The Internet is a large community now. The rules have changed, and no one cares what the old rules were, because they're irrelevent.
In other words, let me put it succinctly: STAY THE FUCK OUT OF MY COMPUTER UNLESS I WANT YOU THERE. If some l33t teenager was caught breaking into my computer, I would have absolutely no hesitation in prosecuting him to the fullest extent of the law. We need to make some examples out of these idiots.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.