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Adrian Lamo Charged With Hacking
retro128 writes "Drifting around the US from state-to-state, Adrian Lamo has been making news for some time with his 'White Hat' hacking exploits. His highest-profile hacking has included Excite@Home and Yahoo. After he would break into a network, he would call up those in charge of it and help them fix the holes. So far, it has earned him praise from the administrators of those systems, but now SecurityFocus is carrying the story that the FBI has filed charges against him, and currently has his parents' house staked out. The records are sealed, so nobody knows who is responsible, but Lamo suspects the New York Times initiated the investigation when they found out how deep into their system he got."
that the FBI has filed charges against him
If the FBI has the resources to throw into this kind of thing, then it must mean they've got the whole terrorism thing solved.
There is nothing wrong with him looking around the public spaces on the internet for chinks.
.cn is a good place to look.
I hear
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
So if someone had broken into my house without permission, then told me about it afterwards, am I supposed to feel better about it?
Maybe I didn't install a deadbolt and an alarm system, but who made this guy the "helper" of my problems?
I'm sure you'd be singing a very different tune if you were alerted to this before some crazed psychopath used the same method to break into your house and murder your family. There is a great deal of difference in education versus exploit, and paranoid types who don't know the difference only serve to make the matters worse.
There are no white-hat, gray-hats or black-hats. Only criminals and law-abiding citizens.
That's the biggest sham I've ever heard. Do you believe every picture government prosecutors paint for you? mindless sheep
Fully licensed blockchain psychiatrist
Yes, of course, we all know the world is black or white, that there are no grey areas.
And you probably believe anyone who's against Bush or the war in Iraq is a traitor to his nation and should be killed too?
Or that reading certain books automatically makes you an anarchist/communist/whatever?
No. Everything is grey, black and white are just illusions that happen when we can't see well enough to realize it's really grey... When we don't know or understand all the issues, we categorize events in the way you do, or we make flawed analogies and believe that all the characteristics of the analogy apply to the case.
If he explores all forms and substances Straight homeward to their symbol-essences; He shall not die.
It seems pretty obvious to me that hackers doing this sort of thing are simply trying to draw as much attention to themselves as possible, in order to boost their ego and enhance their career options.
Plenty of self-proclaimed "white hat hackers" are low-key individuals, who draft up lengthy "codes of conduct" that they agree to follow, as they discuss security holes and exploits on mailing lists or newsgroups. They generally report holes privately, via email, first - and only (hesitatingly) release details on the flaws if the vendors don't respond in sufficient time.
I really don't think Lamo fits in this category at all!
Besides, if he was so confident his activities were legal and ok, why is he running around from state to state, in hiding? If he felt he had a strong case in his favor, you'd think he'd just turn himself in to the FBI right away, so he could show their folly in court and walk away righteous.
This guy just wants to stir up trouble, and was banking on the mass media portraying him in a positive light the whole time, so he'd land a high paying job doing security consulting. It backfired on him, and now he's on the run.
Once again, this is nothing new or mind-bending. It's just another self-made computer hacker with high intelligence and a surprising lack of common sense (which, based upon many of the talkbacks, is shared by too much of the readership here).
The basic principle at play here is stupefying simple: if it's not your property, don't touch it.
Your intentions are completely and absolutely irrelevant. The fact that a business poorly secured its system(s) is also completely and absolutely irrelevant.
If you accidentally stumble upon an open sensitive link that you suspect shouldn't be open, and if you want to be nice, call or email the site operator and explain what happened. And then don't use the link again!
Discovering and using, without permission, a private internal proxy server to snoop around a site you know full well is not intended for you is quite obviously wrong.
The proxy setting did not just spontaneously set itself within this guy's system (due to a virus, trojan, or whatever). He explicitly set the proxy with the express purpose of breaching the private property of another, without that other's prior permission. And to make matters worse, he then intentionally rummaged through the system and much personal information.
There is nothing in this story that makes Adrian Lamo out to be anything other than a retarded crook.
My personal opinion is that he should be sentenced to 60 days in the county (or city) jail and fined a few thousand dollars. Maybe after having to shit with unsavory witnesses in a tiny enclosed space for a couple months, he will discover a stronger sense of respect for the privacy of others and of their property.
As part of my job, I have to frequently enter and move about the county jail. I don't know the exact dimensions of each cell, but it's close to 5x9. The toilet sits in a corner tucked between the bunk beds on either side of the cell and faces the surveillance camera. There is not even the illusion of privacy, and there are no ventilation ducts in the cells. To ventilate the cell from the stench of feces requires the steel, computer controlled door to be opened. And the doors are only opened periodically (for meals, scheduled exercise, inspections, etc.). The shower (most pods have only one) faces the public area of the pod, again eliminating any sense of privacy. And this all applies to the low security pods. The high security pod is a totally different (and much worse) story.
All county employees were given a full tour of the jail before opening day (the jail is less than two years old and is quite technically advanced), so I was able to inspect all areas of the jail, and I witness its daily operations on a daily basis as part of my systems support role. All things considered, it's an awful place to live.
It seems to me that Adrian's sense of values could only improve with a short stay in such a facility.