Slashdot Mirror
Russians Claim Their Hackers the Best In the World
Ant writes "ZDNet UK reports that Russians who once hacked for fun are now teaming up to get rich through cybercrime, according to police. The Russian cybercrime division, known as Department K, has warned that Russian hackers are the best in the world. From the article: 'Everyone knows that Russians are good at math...Our software writers are the best in the world, that's why our hackers are the best in the world.'"
This story should be flagged -1 flamebait.
I mean, seriously... back in the days of Soviet Russia (must resist), there used to be propaganda that claimed that a Russian invented the lightbulb, and other stuff like that.
This is no better than American Patroitism. As an American, let me say that we are NOT the best country in the world, and that any time we say that we are, we sound as silly as the russians here.
Anyway, I'd loooove to hear what the Chinese hackers have to say about this.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
...why does their economy suck so much ass?
I belong to the ______ generation.
crackers?
That's it, I've had enough of Slashdot for a few months.
In other news, BMW say it's cars are the best in the world, Roces claim they make the best skates, Calvin Klein claimed he made the best clothes, and the French Army said they were the best.
"You know you don't act like a scientist, you're more like a game show host." Dana Barret
I guess I'm just not funny.. :(
This is Russian law enforcement, that marvel of the 21st century, speaking.
Their logic is probably that because the Russian Police are so good, the fact that there are so many uncaught Russian hackers must mean that the Russian hackers are the best!
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny
Opposition in Russia don't have any chance to get into TV, and Internet is the only media space they have. So Russian authorities say, "Look, these hackers are going to steal your money !!! We have to conrol as much as we can to stop this !!!". Nothing new, as for me.
PS. AFAIK (and I am Ukrainian), professional level of Russian ( and Ukrainian) programmers/hackers/crackers isn't differ too much from world's average. Claiming than "We are the best" is so silly ...
.. that said that 90% of programmers think that their programming skills are in the 1% top percent compared to others.
;)
Cleary the russian don't lack such a hybris
Isn't most hacking more to do with 'social engineering' and thinking your way around obsticles than actual hardcore programming or math?
Programmers are common, im sure given enough info any well matured programmer could write an exploitative piece of code...it's finding the holes that's the real skill...no?
We did. When those who made the calculations published them, they were variously shot/imprisoned/starved to death.
Government official: "Russia has the ${SUPERLATIVE} ${SKILL}ers in the world! Now, please to be watchink while we're going to collectively ignore this wonderful asset, and instead of introducing initiatives to aide the growth in this area, we're going to stuff our pockets with free money while bickering with our opponents."
If you open yourself to the foo, You and foo become one.
The US has a great deal of anti-intellectualism. In Eastern Europe, you can be proud to study math. People respect it. In China, working hard is seen for what it is: a way to the top.
In the US, a math PhD is an egghead, and someone who studies too much is a workaholic and a nerd.
We start to move beyond this backwards line of thought, maybe a tiny bit, when we're older - particularly when we're among intelligent people. But generally adults are nearly as silly and superficial as adolescents, and less changes than you'd like: By the time you're 18, you've already been socialized with society's values.
Americans respect beer and money. What would happen if insted we respected thought?
I can tell you first hand that the whole soviet block had a school system which is, sad to say, head and shoulder above anything the western world has to offer.
Their society had many faults, and their model didn't work in the long run. But it did stuff people with knowledge, and most importantly it motivated them to learn instead of just being the cool dumb jock or the skinny airhead.
And you say that is an improvement over other school systems, which appeals to the slashdot choir. But that is a reflection of your own biases, not any kind of objective measurement of success.
But my measure of success is not whether you have a few more sooper geeniouses or not. The measure of success is how well each generation can contribute to productivity growth and other measures of well-being.
The Soviet system took a bell curve and stretched out the tails by discarding the unfit as early as possible. In the process, they could provide quality education to a select few at relatively lower expense. Yeah, maybe they had a larger percentage of stars. But they also had a larger percentage of idiots.
The USAn system takes a bell curve and pushes up the middle, by *not* discarding the unfit, and by throwing resources at the bulk mediocre middle of the pack. It may not be elitist, and it may not salve the ego of us sooper geeniuses (yes, I hated it in high school too), but it does work.
Optimize for the common case, not the exception.
If they were really "the best", they'd be getting rich on legit contracts. The legit economy is much bigger than the criminal one (excluding the military/oil biz, but that's bait for a different TrollMod thread ;). Russian cost of living is very low compared to their global competitors, except for India and China. And their infrastructure, at least in European cities, is better. If they were that good, their productivity would be high enough to draw contracts from the rest of the world, yet they are not the first choice of global outsourcers.
;). The Soviet empire was a mafia state, and much of that mafia just privatized with its collapse. The Russian economy hasn't improved much (again, those persistently "irrelevant" exceptions ;), except in the crime sector. So the actual talent, though not necessarily "the best", has little legit markets for its labor organized within Russia. Programmers work where managers organize buyers for their labor, and Russian management for programmers can be found largely in organized crime. Such an inaccurate statement as the Department K "victory" claim reflects the Russian government's inability to even officially recognize their economic failures, which of course perpetuates the problem. And cybercops claiming their criminals are the toughest serves to increase cop budgets, and excuse their failures - drawing resources away from investment in the legit economy that would attract these good programmers instead. They believe their own cover story, and there's no way out of their trap. Unfortunately, the rest of us have to live with their crime, too, and without the global productivity we'd get if they went straight.
The real difference is that Russia has the biggest, most sophisticated mafia in the world (except see disclaimer above
--
make install -not war
The U.S. suffers from a case of anti-intellectualism. All that really matters is the perception of viability, not the presence of viability.
A millionaire can buy into the pants of a woman, because he has the resources to support her and her offspring. She doesn't necessarily want to mate with the millionaire, she merely wants his resources. She may also wish to reproduce with him, but that isn't necesessary.
A confident male can get into the pants of a woman fairly easily. If he happens to also be rich, then it's even easier. If he also happens to be fast, strong, or otherwise capable of besting others at things the culture in question values, then he's super stud and she'll want to spawn his wee-ones.
In the U.S. if you're good at sports, or otherwise appear tough, then you can expect to see plenty of dilated pupils in their lifetime. Also actors, musicians, and regular tough guys that do tricks on motorcycles or what have you.
Ah, but as invaluable as the intellectual is to Western society, it's not an admired job unless you're in the lime-light. If you're a Dick Feynman or an Albert Einstein, then you're a celebrity. If on the other hand you're some guy that works 50+ hours a week on risk analysis for a chemical plant, research organometallic chemistry, or spend your time doing crypto for the NSA then you're nobody. No average person gives a shit, even though you're the one that fills their world with gadgets, medications, design cheaper RAM, or keep the datacenter running.
You can still attract women, presumably, if you're sufficiently socially-capable, but you won't have anywhere near the success as someone half as smart that thinks they're twice as smart and can kick a ball.
I agree, also, "Best in the world" sounds like bragging to me, because there's no objectivity here. Who determines who is the best? In this case, Russians themselves, therefore, it is not credible, there's no outside verification of the claim.
IP was invented for the sake of lawsuits.