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Famed ATM Hacker Barnaby Jack Dies Days Before Black Hat Conference

Posted by Unknown on from the too-young dept.

wiredmikey writes "A shocking and sad day today in the security industry. Well known hacker Barnaby Jack has passed away, sending a shock through the security community. Jack, a famed white hat hacker, was scheduled to present at the Black Hat conference on Tuesday, and present research on vulnerabilities in implantable medical devices. Shocked reactions hit the Twittersphere on Friday, as many in the industry conveyed their condolences, shock, and even disbelief, hoping new of the death was some sort of hoax. 'I just wake up and heard this, really sad, I can't believe this, no words,' Cesar Cerrudo, CTO, IOActive Labs, said in an email to SecurityWeek. Barnaby Jack is probably best known for his ATM hacking demonstrations, which he liked to refer as 'Jackpotting,' and performed at a few conferences, including a demonstration at Black Hat 2010 that got media attention around the world. The San Francisco Medical Examiner's office told Reuters that Jack had died in San Francisco on Thursday, but did not provide additional details."

16 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. Myes, myes... by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Insightful

    . The San Francisco Medical Examiner's office told to Reuters that Jack had died in San Francisco on Thursday, but did not provide additional details."

    Well, that is the official version of events, yes. -- NSA

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    1. Re:Myes, myes... by ilsaloving · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why is the parent marked troll? A young guy dies days before he was going to give a lecture during a security conference, and they won't say how he died?

      How does that *not* sound suspicious?

    2. Re:Myes, myes... by amiga3D · · Score: 3, Funny

      He actually had to reload one of them.

    3. Re:Myes, myes... by Dputiger · · Score: 5, Informative

      It doesn't sound suspicious at all if you think about it. It takes an autopsy to determine cause of death, and that takes a few days at least.

    4. Re:Myes, myes... by ebno-10db · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It doesn't sound suspicious at all

      I disagree. The guy was 34-35. Presumably he didn't get hit by a truck or shot in the head, as you don't need an ME to figure out the basic cause. Do people that age just drop dead? Sure, sometimes, especially if they have known serious health problems. Even if they don't, it can happen (e.g. major aneurysm due to congenital weakness in an artery). It doesn't happen very often though.

      I'm no conspiracy theorist and I wouldn't go around screaming ah ha! A little suspicion though, when it happens a few days before a hacker conference, and considering other things that have been happening lately, is another story.

    5. Re:Myes, myes... by Dunbal · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Do people that age just drop dead?

      Yes they do. Not often, but it happens. I had "sudden cardiac death". I'm alive because it happened in an emergency room in front of a doctor. They called code, and brought me back. I was 30. I'm still here at 45, 5 bypasses, a defibrillator implant and 8 stents later. The odds increase if you consider this researcher was probably a nerd like most of us, meaning he was probably sedentary most of the time, and probably didn't exactly eat the best stuff for his health.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    6. Re:Myes, myes... by Talderas · · Score: 2

      In the deaths of most young people an autopsy is performed precisely for the reasons you state. Unless the cause of death is readily apparent, most younger people are healthy enough that they do not just fall over dead. The results of the autopsy won't and can't be known for a couple days but there are plenty of non-spectacular causes of death the least of which is drugs or alcohol.

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    7. Re:Myes, myes... by Dputiger · · Score: 2

      My point is not "There's no way this death COULD have been suspicious."

      My point is "The reason a cause of death hasn't been released yet is because an autopsy and subsequent biochemical analysis takes time." There are blood tests to run, arteries to check, stomach contents to evaluate, etc, etc, etc. A lot of that is done by the doctor performing the autopsy, but confirmation takes a little while.

      So while I acknowledge that the *death* may or may not turn out to be suspicious, the fact that we don't know the *cause* is not. Not yet.

    8. Re:Myes, myes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The question is whether or not the probability of dieing is significantly higher when you are about to appear at a hacker converence to discuss the hacking of implanted medical devices.

    9. Re:Myes, myes... by Dunbal · · Score: 3, Informative

      It could be. Stress. Stress releases cortisol and increases vascular tone through a higher baseline of catecholamines (epinephrine, norepinephrine) which leads to higher blood pressure. This puts more work on the heart since it has to increase its output to compensate for the increased resistance to blood flow. Stress can very well be a factor that causes a catastrophic event like this to happen. Usually when someone dies suddenly, it's a circulatory problem - stroke, heart attack, aneurysm, thrombosis. All of these have increased probabilities of happening when someone is under stress. Yeah, I'm a doctor, too - which is why I got so lucky and was standing in the middle of an ER when it happened to me :)

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  2. Shitty by Orgasmatron · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That sucks.

    He was an interesting character. He helped me sneak a girl into a hacker party at the Peppermill one year during Defcon. No one that drank with him, even once, will ever forget him.

    God had better keep an eye on him. If the pearly gates have any exploits, he'll find them.

    --
    See that "Preview" button?
  3. Re:Nothing to see, move on. by amiga3D · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Stop killing the fun. Paranoia is my favorite hobby.

  4. Money by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 2

    I wonder how much his research would have cost device makers monetarily... Does anyone know if the research he was going to present is or will still be made publicly available?

    --
    Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
  5. Re:They WILL kill you... by NatasRevol · · Score: 2

    I'd be willing to bet my life that President Obama never ordered anyone to cluster bomb a village filled with women and children. It is possible that the military targeted a site thought to be a terrorist camp and it was filled with women and children.

    Yeah, if your second sentence is true, then your first sentence is false.

    --
    There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
  6. Re:Nothing to see, move on. by Ly4 · · Score: 2

    A 50% chance of passing away prior to the start of the gathering and a 50% chance of passing away after the start of the gathering.

    I don't think you have much of a future as an insurance actuary.

  7. Re:They WILL kill you... by DexterIsADog · · Score: 2

    A better definition of collateral damage (that matches what the U.S. military and three letter agencies are actually doing) would be something like, "You're sitting in a trailer in Texas, watching a live feed from the UAV you're piloting over Pakistan, when you see a group of young men. Your supervisor tells you they're insurgents and you should kill them. You fire a missile at the group, entirely dismembering every one of them. They were standing next to a woman holding a baby who was walking by. She and the baby are splattered all over the ground." THAT'S collateral damage. Not just the woman in the baby, but between 0 and ALL of the group of young men identified as insurgents.