Stupid Hacker Tricks - The Folly of Youth

N_burnsy points out an article in Computerworld which "profiles several youthful hackers, some still serving prison time, some free, who have been caught indulging in some fairly serious cybercrime, and looks at their crimes and the lessons they have (or have not yet) learned. Starting with Farid 'Diab10' Essebar, currently a guest of the Moroccan prison system, who wrote and distributed the Mytob, Rbot, and Zotob botnet Trojans. There's Ivan Maksakov, Alexander Petrov, and Denis Stepanov, all guests of the Russian penal system, sentenced to eight years at hard labor for creating a botnet to engage in DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks to blackmail online gambling sites based in the UK, threatening to take the sites down during major sporting events. Then there's Shawn Nematbakhsh who was a little too eager to prove a point about the electronic balloting system that the University of California employed to hold student council elections, by writing a script that cast 800 votes for a fictitious candidate named American Ninja." Not everyone on the list is exactly youthful, and the range of offenses shows how lumpy this area is both to the law and in public perception.

Comments

Student elections?

[Nursie]

University student imprisoned for interfering in University council elections as a way to expose how bad the voting system is?

There is no justice in the world. That kid should have been given a fucking medal.

Re:Student elections?

[Nursie]

OK, I have now RTFA'd. He still should have been given a medal rather than a conviction.

Re:Student elections?

[chuckymonkey]

Mod parent up. He really didn't do much that was malicious, hell he even made up a fake candidate so that it would sway the election for a real candidate. All the guy did was prove that the system they payed so much money for was crap, but we can't have that now can we? It would displease our corporate overlords.

Re:Student elections?

[neomunk]

Yes, we should make those who point out the gaping holes in our society (which could very easily be used against us, and possibly already have) PAY!!! Humiliate them by the side of the road for the outlandish gall of trying to expose the truth, when it might inconvenience one of his upper-caste betters.

Typo in TFA

[sm62704]

OK, if you're happy and carefree it no longer means you're gay unless you're homosexual, and hackers are now criminals who break into computers. Even the tech press is calling cyberglars* "hackers". Even slashdot, who should have striven to maintain the word that used to be a badge of honor back when nerds were being rediculed, uses "hacker" like the ignorant lusers do.

So what's the new word for someone who writes quick and dirty code that actualy runs, or changes a transistor radio into a guitar fuzzbox?

BTW, if you wrote TFA shame on you! the proper word is "script kiddie", cyberglar, cyber burglar, "computer criminal". Not "hacker" for God's sake. Just because Joe Sixpack thinks a "hacker" is a criminal and RAM is a brand of truck doesn't mean we should share in their ignorance.

"I used to be a gay hacker, now I'm only a happy nerd" :(

-mcgrew

*Yes, I just coined that word. So sue me.

Re:Typo in TFA

[JaredOfEuropa]

Even the tech press is calling cyberglars* "hackers". Even slashdot, who should have striven to maintain the word that used to be a badge of honor back when nerds were being rediculed, uses "hacker" like the ignorant lusers do.

In other words, pretty much everyone save a few die-hards refers to "crackers" as "hackers" now. That's how languages evolve; trying to go back to the original meaning of the word would be as pointless and futile as Hormel's attempt to disassociate the word Spam from unsollicited emails. Or, taking your example, as futile as trying to get "gay" to mean happy again.

Re:Typo in TFA

[PRMan]

That was the point. Like it or not, people who used to be "gay" in a non-homosexual sense are no longer able to use that word that way. "Dick" was a common name when Batman and Robin came out in the 40s (and Dick Tracy), now nobody would call their child "Dick". Language changes whether we want it to or not.

"Hacker" has become something that benevolent hackers can no longer call themselves, no matter how we feel about it.

That's why whitehats are becoming rare

[Lonewolf666]

If even harmless hacks are illegal and may land you in jail, only serious criminals will take the risk (for serious potential money gains).
I think that is why there are less reports about benevolent hackers pointing out security flaws these days, but lots of reports about botnets for spamming and DDOS activities.

Re:Bah Hackers

[HikingStick]

"Cracker" is the distinction made only within the tech community. To the general populous, "hacker" is firmly entrenched and carries the same meaning.

If you really want to change that perception, plan to run full page ads in every major newspaper (because the people who misuse the term are less likely, imo, to get their news online) and launch a multi-million dollar TV campaign in every major market for a few years. Even then, you'll still be vexed by people who will use the old term, but having run the campaign, you'll be able to elevate your level of righteous indignation.

Then you might be able to start a new affinity group: Mankind for the Ethical Treatment of Hackers (METH).