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Forbes Offers a Sympathetic Portrayal of Hackers

Posted by kdawson on from the we're-not-the-enemy-and-they-know-it dept.

selain03 sends us to Forbes for a surprisingly tolerant article on the recent Defcon. The reporter spoke to several of the event organizers and faithfully conveyed their characterization of the community as motivated by curiosity about technology. The article quotes a Department of Defense cybercrime guy: "Run-of-the-mill individual hackers are just noise as we try to focus on the real problem. We have to investigate every threat, but we're often dealing with ankle biters." A refreshing perspective to read in the mainstream media.

13 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. "ankle biters"? by timmarhy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As shown in the past, it's often the very very simple hacks like finding an unprotected machine and installing sub7 on it that brings down the giants. A high level of technical experience is NOT a prereq. for a serious hack

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    1. Re:"ankle biters"? by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 4, Insightful

      True that, but is does take a great deal of restraint and expertise to go black hat and not leave a trace.

      Black hats go by a different name: corporate espionage. In that, they are in a profession of spy with computers and data, and not of personal communications.

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    2. Re:"ankle biters"? by iamdrscience · · Score: 5, Funny

      I understand your point, but c'mon, can you honestly tell me that if there were a fire convention, you wouldn't go? It sounds pretty awesome to me.

    3. Re:"ankle biters"? by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You make that sound like it's some cool spy movie. It isn't. It's just plain illegal. Well paid, granted, but illegal. It's neither flashy (you can't even brag about your smooth moves!) nor in any way exciting. Neither is being wanted by some three-letter-agencies. Do you happen to know why they ALL have three letters, no matter what country or nation they belong to?

      The only movie related thing that is real for a black hat is the briefing closing line from Mission Impossible: If anything goes wrong, we don't know you anymore and have never known you even existed.

      --
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  2. I can see it... by thatskinnyguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who better to design safes than professional thieves?

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    The game.
    1. Re:I can see it... by poopdeville · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Mechanical Engineers.

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      After all, I am strangely colored.
  3. The truth behind this article... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Some of the Defcon guys thought it would be hilarious to hack a major media outlet and place a sympathetic story about themselves on it. Mission accomplished!

  4. Not Daniel Lyrons by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Funny

    A Forbes article that isn't hyper-sensationalist and pro-status-quo?
    What, was Daniel Lyons too busy impersonating Steve Jobs to do the piece?

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    When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  5. Re:"Middle America, Meet The Hackers!" by syousef · · Score: 4, Funny

    Because that doesn't sound like a sitcom or anything...

    You're forgetting pwn-ography never makes it to mainstream tele.

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  6. The world is not fair... by Tatisimo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why didn't the more interesting story about the evil undercover reporter who got pwned made it to the mainstream media? There's no justice in this world for hackers... Won't somebody think of the hackers? ;_;

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    Give Kashyyyk back to the Wookies
  7. Why forbes.com? by Dr.+Cody · · Score: 4, Funny

    But, of all the places, why Forbes? Couldn't they have picked some respectable outlet?

    Maybe Forbes was the only site they had any luck with, since, having alienated techies so thoroughly, they couldn't hire a competent webadmin.

    1. Re:Why forbes.com? by Propagandhi · · Score: 4, Funny

      Nah, Forbes is just so single minded it's super easy to guess their passwords (it's money, by the by... always money).

  8. Re:About Forbes by Animats · · Score: 5, Informative

    May be it is just me but I find Forbes to be like women's "Cosmo" magazine for dumb guys and wannabes.

    Forbes went downhill after Malcom Forbes Sr. died. Forbes Magazine used to do some hard-hitting investigative reporting. Malcom Forbes Sr's attitude was "Go ahead, sue me for libel. I'm a billionare". They've gone soft since the son took over.

    Business Week, which used to be the cheering section for big business, has improved a bit.

    It's not clear what will happen to the Wall Street Journal under Murdoch's ownership, but it's not looking good. The WSJ has gone downhill in the last few years, anyway. The fundamental problem is that its classic functions, stock charts and major stock-related events, are all on line now. Nobody on Wall Street needs to read the Wall Street Journal; anything that affects trading was on their Bloomberg long before.