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Google Search Convicts Hacker

Posted by Zonk on from the scroooooood dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google search terms have helped convict a wireless hacker. The queries the hacker performed were introduced into evidence at court, where Matthew Schuster was charged with disrupting his former employer's wireless network and imitating other users' MAC addresses to obtain access. From the article: 'Court documents are ambiguous and don't reveal how the FBI discovered his search terms. That could have happened in one of three ways: an analysis of his browser's history and cache; an Alpha employee monitoring the company's wireless connection; or a subpoena to Google from the police for search terms tied to his Internet address or cookie. Google has confirmed that it can provide search terms if given an Internet address or Web cookie, but has steadfastly refused to say how often such requests arrive.'

6 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. Re:YRO? by electrosoccertux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How does this have anything to do with my rights online? Because now you have a lot fewer of those rights.
  2. Well... by Quixote · · Score: 4, Insightful
    when Yahoo does something like this, they are teh Evil!!!!11!!one!

    But when Google does it, it can only be for the common good, right? A malicious Hax0r gets put away??

  3. MAC Address Filtering... by e4g4 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...is not a bloody security feature. This is why people who actually want to secure a wireless network use some combination of Radius and VPNs...

    --
    The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein
  4. Re:Is there a way... by The+Living+Fractal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are numerous ways to make yourself anonymous, however, they are for another discussion. Which is why I just suffice to say this guy is a piss-poor hacker.

    He didn't even try. He was just a disgruntled IT worker. Instead of using a machine gun to mow people down he wanted to use a transmitter to mow packets down. In this day and age people take that very seriously. So he's going to jail for 15 months. End of story.

    TLF

    --
    I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
  5. Re:YRO? by JasonKChapman · · Score: 4, Insightful
    How does this have anything to do with my rights online?
    Because now you have a lot fewer of those rights.

    Yeah, what with being forced to use Google and all.

    I mean, seriously, which right was violated here? The right to use a search engine without records? The right to use someone's wireless network without records?

    --
    Sorry, I'm a writer. That makes you raw material.
  6. Faulty Article Title by JasonKChapman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Kudos on the post's headline being more accurate than TFA's headline.

    The article's headline says: "Google searches nab wireless hacker," but the article actually says:

    Wireless hacker pleads guilty when his Google searches are used as evidence against him.

    That may seem like simple semantics, but it's actually a pretty big difference.

    --
    Sorry, I'm a writer. That makes you raw material.