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If You Hack NBC, You Don't Get to Meet Tom Brokaw

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the thats-pretty-funny dept.

subgeek writes "Security Focus Online is carrying this story about the spot that Adrian Lamo almost had on the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. NBC changed their mind after they realized the possible legal implications of filming someone hack corporate systems. NBC also seemed a bit touchy that Lamo had gotten into their system so handily. According to the article, it took him about five minutes and one guessed password to get inside NBC's intranet from a computer at a Kinko's. Lamo's comment: "It was a very full service system.""

8 of 319 comments (clear)

  1. This kind of thing happens all the time by DigitalSorceress · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I used to work for a television news department... this kind of thing happens all the time:

    Reporter and Vidiographer are assigned some fluff or FUD piece, but come back with a story that lands a little too close for the news director's comfort... the piece gets pulled.

    Lamo's lucky... with the way lawsuits and "terrorist hacker" charges are flung about nowadays, he should be thankful he's not roomin with some lifer named Bubba right about now.

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    The Digital Sorceress
  2. So... what was the password? by taeric · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So, if this guy was able to guess someones password, I am VERY curious as to what it was. If you know anything about the person, it makes guessing easier. However, if you don't know even the owner of the account, how do you guess a good password?

    My only hunch is that the password was something like 'abc123'. It cracks me up how many people have passwords such as that and are supposedly worried about security.

    It is also funny to hear what some of my friends think are secure passwords. Among them being obscure Anime characters.

  3. Re:Yesterday's Register story.... by Darkstar9969 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Probably should post the URL too:

    TheRegisterStoryPostedYesterdayAM

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    MMMmmmmmm....erotic cakes!!! Homer J. Simpson - Treehouse of Horror VI
  4. This remind me of similar case in Finland by jukal · · Score: 5, Interesting
    one guy (I worked with him in same company for some time) broke to a governmental system in Finland in a TV show, don't remember the year, maybe it was around 1985, anyway he was maybe 16 then - just old enough to be prosecuted properly.

    His identity was kept secret in the TV show, but a few days after, the TV station was forced by police to reveal the identity of the guy to get him convicted. The incident got a lot of media coverage, because before that many or most had thought press has the right to protect their "sources" and do not need to reveal details about individuals.

    Anyway, maybe in this Lamo case, it is more about "agitating someone to do a crime", the court might see for example that part of the motivation for breaking in some system could be the fact that he would get press coverage and fame because of it - and NBC would be to blame for agitating.... or something totally different :)

  5. Stupid people. by beleg777 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Only stupid people are more concerned with the fact that they were made to look bad than with the underlying truth. Instead of getting offended they should have put the kid in touch with their IT team. Or put him on it.

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    Science may someday discover what faith has always known.
  6. I'm actually surprised. by Mulletproof · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No, really. Given the media's track record and history of hacker over-sensationalism, this story would have been the perfect oppertunity to whip your Senator, the public and your turtle into an anti-hacker frenzy. Had this story aired, I'm sure you'd be reading Anti-hacker sediment in place of this piece your reading now. The governement would be riding the anti-hacker bandwagon with full force if they actually saw how easy it was to hack into a major corporation. They wouldn't even have to air any detail; Que darkened room, silhouette of Joe Hacker, a few comments from him about what he was doing (computer masked, of course) and that sinister Nightline narrative they use for melodrama. Toss in a few screen shots of complicated, yet meaningless clips of him navigating the network and bam-- Instant media frenzy. Who cares about Tommy boy, the fact that Lamo is willing to be used as an obvious pawn in the media spotlght is scary in it's own right. Sure, he'd have his 15 minutes... Then watch as it was used to destroy his world with laws and legistlation.

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  7. Lamo is my hero by zaren · · Score: 5, Interesting

    He got into Worldcom's systems while I was working there, and it threw the entire company for a loop - out of the blue, passwords were expired en mass on various portions of the network, and a weak VPN software package was crammed down the throats of the Windows users. Thousands of people had to get it installed, and ALL of the registration and training and configurations had to be handled through a VERY small pipe. That was an interesting time... good thing I wasn't one of the people that had to rely on the VPN software to do my job.

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    Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
  8. His website by EricMcD · · Score: 2, Interesting

    FWIW, his website is http://adrian.adrian.org