Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Adrian Lamo Charged With Hacking

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the high-profile-hacking dept.

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."

3 of 527 comments (clear)

  1. Call to "The Screen Savers" by Larkfellow · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's a link to The Screen Savers (on Tech TV) that has some information about what Adrian had to say when he called in live to speak with Leo.

    --

    -- Never monkey with another Monkey's monkey

  2. Re:The Real Problem by FsG · · Score: 5, Informative

    No need to look for new exploits when the existing ones suffice..
    1. Click on URL, you're redirected to registration/login page
    2. Go to URL bar, replace "www" with "archive" in the URL, leaving the rest alone, and hit ENTER
    3. The system will bounce you around a few erroneous URLs, before returning you to the homepage
    4. All NYT links will now work without registration, thanks to a special cookie set by the bouncing process

    --
    I made a PHP/MySQL library that prevents SQL injection & makes coding easier!
  3. Re: hacking and intentions.... by Quothz · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

    Not at all like, say, teen athletes, who play sports for the sheer fun of it.

    Besides, if he was so confident his activities were legal and ok, why is he running around from state to state, in hiding?

    Well, according to the article, he's in California working on a documentary. Not exactly the kind of thing you'd do if you were "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 just tells me he's not an idiot. Talking to a lawyer before the cops is good sense, and perfectly legal. Nothing in the law requires him to turn himself in, so he can take his own sweet time and make sure his rights are protected.

    You got some kinda grudge against this guy, or did you just not read the article?