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A Hacker's Audacious Plan To Rule the Underground

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the ambition-can-carry-you-just-so-far dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Wired has the inside story of Max Butler, a former white hat hacker who joined the underground following a jail stint for hacking the Pentagon. His most ambitious hack was a hostile takeover of the major underground carding boards where stolen credit card and identity data are bought and sold. The attack made his own site, CardersMarket, the largest crime forum in the world, with 6,000 users. But it also made the feds determined to catch him, since one of the sites he hacked, DarkMarket.ws, was secretly a sting operation run by the FBI."

18 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. My Ambition by Anthony_Cargile · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, many years ago (in my teens) I had the ambition to be "the next bill gates", and now as I write small to medium websites and private applications from my couch, covered in empty red bull cans and small food bags, I think I managed pretty well!

    </humor>

    1. Re:My Ambition by Anthony_Cargile · · Score: 2, Funny

      Bill gates makes money off of his virus. I guess I could have done the same with a little marketing and a commercial with an ape convincing you to buy it.

    2. Re:My Ambition by idontgno · · Score: 3, Funny

      buggy slashcode

      +1 Redundant

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
    3. Re:My Ambition by Plutonite · · Score: 2, Funny

      That must be because you're The One, and you are here to save us. Talk you the Oracle in the park - she might tell you what you need to know.

  2. The article leaves out a key piece by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Posting anonymously for obvious reasons.

    I went to school with Max Butler. He's driven by constant challenges. I knew Max as a friend and as such witnessed the same vitriol and hatred he put up with from others who did not understand him. Teachers often openly mocked him, especially in computer science courses.

    His escape from it all came from hacking. He noticed he had a particular knack for it. He'd get really engrossed, and it became sort of a downward spiral from there. If you know anyone like him, please do not ostracize him in his forming years. Imagine if he had been a solid, contributing member of society like timecop, or the millions of other good natured people that run trolling organizations that specialize in making fools out of idiots like yourself.

    1. Re:The article leaves out a key piece by digitalhermit · · Score: 5, Funny

      I went to school with Anonymous Coward. He's driven by shame. I knew AC as a friend and witnessed the same vitriol and hatred he put up with from others who did not understand him. Users often openly mocked him, especially after he posted comments about Apple Computer.

      His escape came from posting. He noticed he had a particular knack for it. He'd sometimes post a thousand times a day to Slashdot (just check the logs and you can verify this for yourself). If you know others like him (such as Anonymous Howard, Eponymous Dotard, Androgynous Blowhard), please do not euthanize him in his cromulent fears.

  3. Re:Doofus Maximus by GOMF · · Score: 2, Funny

    they showed him the real definition of a "Back door" entry method !!!!!! -_~

  4. Re:Doofus Maximus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Plenty... They're just from the other inmates is all.....

  5. White hat? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just showing my ignorance here, but can someone give me a definition of what 'hat colors' mean? Red Hat I know (I guess), but White Hat? Black Hat? Blue Hat?

    Someone throw me a bone, here.

    1. Re:White hat? by TheoMurpse · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't forget "green hat." Those are hackers who shut down computers across the globe in order to reduce the world's carbon footprint.

  6. Re:Article? by momerath2003 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wouldn't decimating them mean having to leave 90% of the logins?

    --
    I had but a simple dream, to destroy all humans.
  7. Re:He was used by Amazing+Quantum+Man · · Score: 4, Funny

    Isn't hackorX really Max's long-lost brother Rex Hackor, in disguise?

    --
    Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
  8. Re:Article? by multisync · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Once inside, he sucked out their content, including the logins, passwords, and email addresses of everyone who bought and sold through the sites. And then he decimated them, wiping out the databases with the ease of an arsonist flicking a match."

    This seems to be written more like a work of fiction than an account of the hack.

    True, but I'll bet there were lots of cool graphics swirling around his head while he was doing it!

    --
    I don't care why you're posting AC
  9. Re:Rather interesting line at end of article... by Schemat1c · · Score: 5, Funny

    The USS cracked

    Sounds like the worst name ever for a ship.

    --

    "Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better." - Unknown
  10. Re:mod parent troll by be+new+here · · Score: 5, Funny

    you all must be new here.

    Please stop bringing me into this!

    --
    I got some bad grammar
  11. Re:CHECK MATE by rk · · Score: 4, Funny

    since zero is a percent.

    Please, let's leave the value of my 401k out of this.

  12. Re:Fun with exponents by ld+a,b · · Score: 2, Funny

    6. Asking you nicely in a closed room with no cameras laced with references to a one way trip to Cuba.

    --
    10 little-endian boys went out to dine, a big-endian carp ate one, and then there were -246.
  13. Re:Article? by momerath2003 · · Score: 2, Funny

    The internet is serious business.

    Also,
    http://qwantz.com/archive/001377.html

    --
    I had but a simple dream, to destroy all humans.