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

Link without 5 pages of ads...

[muellerr1]

http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;193960399;fp;16;fpid;1;pf;1

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?

[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.

Re:Student elections?

[Intron]

You aren't looking at the big picture. Imagine what calamity would have ensued if American Ninja had been elected to Student Council. Slaughter at Homecoming. Beheadings at Pep Rallies. Eviscerations at the Winter Ball.

Re:Student elections?

[unsigned integer]

But it would have been totally sweet.

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: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: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).