Software Giants Seek Friends Among Hackers

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Big tech companies are engaging in a full charm offensive at the Black Hat hacker conference as they seek to convince hackers and security researchers to work with, not against, them, the Wall Street Journal reports. Among those being courted: HD Moore. The suitor is his erstwhile foe, Microsoft. From the article: 'Microsoft plans to wine and dine Mr. Moore at a party at the fancy Palms Hotel. A Microsoft security executive wants to meet with him to discuss his latest work. And earlier this year, the Redmond, Wash., company invited him to speak at a Microsoft-sponsored conference on security. "There were a few tense silences," says Mr. Moore, 24 years old, who lives in Austin, Texas. But he says the meetings put a human face on a company he once saw as impenetrable. "You're less willing to publicly humiliate someone you know in real life," he says.'"

Comments

What???

[fullphaser]

I don't think he just went soft like that, you don't go from black hat to employee in only a few months flat (or if you did you pish poor example of a black hat.) I think they payed him out the tail to promote their own agenda

Just like Brutus was less likely to hurt Caesar

[192939495969798999]

Good job, Microsoft, just give the enemy more info on your employees and practices, that's a great idea. Why don't you just slap up an FTP site with a binary of Windows and hand him the URL? I'm sure he'll feel real bad about using what he learns for evil for a few days, until he decides it would be cooler to use it and be the undefeated champion of the black hat universe.

Making a big deal out of it

[tomstdenis]

I've been to dinner with people from Microsoft, Intel, AMD, Broadcom, Sandisk, the DoD, CRA (Canada), etc.

It's fucking dinner.

Wait till they offer him a grant, job or other swag to be impressed. If they gave him a grant to bash the shit out of Windows that'd be impressive. A $50 dinner on the strip is not (though free eats is good)

Tom

Re:They finally did this

[tomstdenis]

Mitnick is a shithead. He broke the law, then got screwed in prison, now he milks it all he can. Cuz he's the notorious kevin mitnick. Oooh lala. He exploits the fact that people are lazy and incompetent. Not exactly news.

That prick should go out and contribute something of meaning to society. I mean, other than his contempt for "the man."

Tom

Never confuse a corporation with a human being

[kcbrown]

But he says the meetings put a human face on a company he once saw as impenetrable. "You're less willing to publicly humiliate someone you know in real life," he says.'"

The problem with this is that it's an illusion.

Corporations are composed of not just a single person, but of many people, each of whom has an agenda. Most of those people tend to limit their thoughts about the decisions they make on behalf of the company to the benefits that decision may bring to the corporation and to themselves, and perhaps to the possible harm the benefits may bring to the corporation and to themselves. The last thing to enter their mind, in general, is the impact the decision may have on individuals outside the corporation. The more conscientious types may consider that, but such people appear to be rare, and such people in positions of great influence within a corporation appear to be especially rare.

So while this person may being to believe that the corporation he's dealing with is somehow now more "human" as a result of his dealings with specific individuals, he's making quite a few bad assumptions, not the least of which is that the people he's dealing with have a large amount of influence over the actions of the corporation. That's almost certainly not the case, and yet the actual "humanity" of the corporation depends on it.

The bottom line is that this guy (Moore) isn't nearly cynical enough, and is likely to get burned.

The very purpose and nature of the corporation, to shield the corporation's stakeholders from the consequences of the corporation's actions, are exactly why the corporation can never be "human" in any meaningful way, except perhaps in a psychopathic sense. The numerous experiments (e.g., those involving simulated torture, imprisonment, etc.) that have been done in which the individual is shielded from the consequences of his actions are proof of how much of a person's humanity is lost from that. The corporation is a formal embodiment of that separation. In light of said experiments, the consequences should be obvious, and the typical behaviour of corporations is further proof.

Translation

[overshoot]

they seek to convince hackers and security researchers to work with, not against, them

In other words, "Shut the fuck up about all of the stuff you find until we quietly issue a patch. If we get around to it. Oh, and here's an NDA that gives us your nads if you talk in your sleep."

Re:how it went down

[MrSquirrel]

well, it took place at the "fancy Palms Hotel" -- so maybe he'd at least get a reacharound out of the deal.

Re:how it went down

[GarryFre]

Yep, I totally agree. Common sense and the ability to determine who would truly become a friend, and who will end up being a paid vandel is important. At the college where I worked, I caught a person hacking into the system, and I turned him in. My boss hired him on the spot to be in charge of security. I told my boss that I did not get the feeling that this person could be "Converted" by hiring him. At the time I was not a particulary good judge of character, and I still have more to learn. My boss did not take my advice, and chaos resulted. The hacker stole hardware, He got the main security key and let himself in during christmas break and opened the macintosh servers and attached the high voltage line to the screen, to the motherboard and so smoke arose when we returned. The IBM server's hard drive was missing and replaced by a damaged hard drive. The hacker, having admin rights, lifted the security options on the network, allowing users to get copies of all software running on the system including the Office Suites. His final act, was to steal two state of the art PC's from the computer lab building in front of all teachers and load it into his car. His mistake was trying to sell them to a friend of the adminstrator of that computer lab and having stolen the only computers of that particular brand sold in the entire state of California so it wasn't hard to narrow it down. I only wish I was there when they caught him and dragged him to jail. It is said he looked like a hurt puppy. He's now out of jail and lives down the road, and he sends viruses to me and another friend in a futile attempt to infect our systems, but all his efforts come to nothing in the end. Yes, sometimes, a hacker can make a good guard, but they got to have integrity, otherwise, its just plain courting desaster.