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Police swoop on 'Hacker of the Year'
AcidAUS writes "The Swedish hacker, Dan Egerstad, who perpetrated the so-called hack of the year, has been arrested in a dramatic raid on his apartment, during which he was taken in for questioning and several of his computers confiscated. Egerstad broke into the global communications network used by embassies around the world in August and gained access to 1000 sensitive email accounts."
broke into the global communications network used by embassies around the world in August and gained access to 1000 sensitive email accounts
He acquired access credentials to 1000 email accounts used by embassies. He did so by becoming an exit node of the TOR anonymizing network and reading the unencrypted exit traffic. That may have been in violation of the law, but does not constitute "breaking into the global communications network used by embassies".
Crackers break the copyright protection on computer software. Hackers use their skills to find weaknesses in the security of software, hardware, and networks. Those that exploit them for malicious purposes are black hat hackers and those that report them to the proper people so the vulnerabilities can be fixed are white hat hackers. Script kiddies are ones that take programs written by bad hackers and just run them without actually comprehending what they're doing other than the fact that they've owned another box.
Those have been the definitions for at least the past 20 years now and the only people who would argue that are old fat hippie open source programmers who think they are hackers when in fact they are just geeks.
Well, its already been discussed here pretty much at length and as for taking credit and messing with the police.. i believe he's being plain stupid. Taking credit for a hack and reporting it does NOT mean publishing the entire list of access credentials online. Could have just reported and left to fend for themselves. Dramatic is it ? well he was the one looking for drama in the first place. nf
You get pulled in by the police, if you're really not guilty, the only smart thing to do is cooperate.
I disagree with that. Get an independent lawyer FIRST! They could be just looking for a goat, and you were fingered. Police generally know so little about computers, and would only look at a geek as a sub-species. The more you talk, the more it can be twisted.
RIAA for example. Your PC could have been hijacked. No mater what you say you will be viewed as guilty unless you're lucky enough there is enough evidence left to show you were setup and they bother to look for it.
I have no idea if he is a criminal, but criminal or not, get a good lawyer ASAP. Then cooperate with your lawyers guidance.
I live a few hundred meters from his home, and was woken up that day, not by my useless alarm clock, but by sirens from 7 or 8 police cars heading in the direction of his apartment. From the TFA it seems like the were a bit more discreet when moving in on him, so I guess this was some kind of show of force to intimidate him, and his neighbours. Wouldn't surprise me, considering how the TPB-raid was done.
uhh the best thing you can do is shut your mouth if you are hauled in by police. You have no obligation to say anything except your identity. Police will try and manipulate information from you from the second you enter their "interrogation facility". #2 on the list is getting a good lawyer to do the talking, guilty or innocent.
I don't usually reply to my own stuff, but here's Wired's report on the raid and what Egerstad actually did.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
I won't delineate all the reasons why what you said is a stupid troll.
But here's a few gems for you.
1) He became a tor node.
2) All the data he examined was on his own computers.
3) Everything on the computers belonged to him.
4) As a responsible tor node person, he examined the contents of it.
5) Refer to number 3. Also in the US, he could be found responsible for
people using his tor node to traffic in say copyrighted works or child
abuse. So he would really pretty much HAVE to inspect the contrents of
his traffic to make sure that no illegal activity was taking place.
6) What law is it you think he broke?
Saying anything to cops without a lawyer at your side is generally stupid, even when you honestly believe you have not done anything wrong. It is not smart thing to "cooperate." I am a US lawyer, and I am basing this comment on US rights/laws; I don't know the laws in Sweden but I suspect the concepts are similar. In the (US) criminal system you can almost never to forced to answer any interrogation questions, other than your identity. Virtually every lawyer would advise not to volunteer answers that may later be used against you. This advise is true whether you are under arrest (not free to walk away) or not. The only real (non-Gitmo) exceptions to this 'don't ever talk rule' are testimony on the stand in court and before grand juries. Very few people seem to fully understand this right to shut up. The only conversation with cops should be: "I have nothing to say to you [without a lawyer present]." The original post is correct in saying you should never intentionally piss of the cops, except to say you will not talk to them. In the US, this 'non-cooperation' can not be used against you, but anything else you say can be twisted out of context. In the US many, including so called suspected terrorists as well as Scooter Libby, have been convicted of lying to cops (a crime) when they voluntarily answer questions. Even in the (non-Gitmo) military context, people are only required to give name, rank and serial number. Things get crazy in the so called war against terror where different rules apply to non-criminal and non-military cases under George W's watch. At least as of today waterboarding for alleged hackers for info is not routine yet. Unfortunately, in the US the Patriot Act might allow authorities to secretly break in, copy his hard drives, and install a key logger. If this were the US, and it was not, Edgarstad's lawyer could force the government to go forward with a speedy trial before a jury, typically within 30 days, or dismiss the charges. If the government case requires computer forensics and "talking to other countries" then they are unlikely to be able to move fast enough. If the government is really just trying to improve computer security (yea, right) then Edgarstad could be offered complete immunity for his voluntary cooperation, but again this should only be done through a lawyer.
I see your informative link, and raise you a pithy comment.