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Skydiving Accident Leaves Security Guru Cedric 'Sid' Blancher Dead At 37

Posted by timothy on from the regards-to-his-friends-and-family dept.

An anonymous reader points out The Register's report that Wi-Fi security expert Cédric 'Sid' Blancher has died as the result of a skydiving accident. "Among other things, the 37-year-old Blancher was a sought-after speaker on WiFi security, and in 2005 published a Python-based WiFi traffic injection tool called Wifitap. In 2006, while working for the EADS Corporate Research centre, he also put together a paper on how to exploit Skype to act as a botnet." Some of Blancher's skydiving videos are posted to Vimeo; clearly, it's something he was passionate about.

5 of 332 comments (clear)

  1. That's a shame by msobkow · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's a shame. To go so young.

    But I never have understood the sanity behind jumping out of a perfectly good plane. :(

    A friend of mine was into sky diving years ago. Everyone warned him he was taking crazy risks and he'd die some time.

    But in the end, he died flat on his back under a car that slipped from the jacks. Life can be so ironic...

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    1. Re:That's a shame by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I've been skydiving exactly once...

      It was on my bucket list, wanted to try it to see what all the fuss was about.

      I've had many amazing experiences in life. Getting married, the birth of my children, flying solo for the first time (in a helicopter with the doors off, quite an experience!).

      About the only thing that compares... the birth of my first child... that is first on the list, skydiving would be second... above everything else...

      There is simply nothing I can say to anyone who hasn't done it... stepping out of an airplane at 13,500 feet above the ground, parachute on your back, nothing but you, the sky, and God.

      Well, ok, the pair of instructors with you, one per side. I did the accelerated free fall option, so I had my own chute, they fall with you to 5,000 ft, then you open and spend about 4 minutes by yourself under canopy (they fall another 1,000 ft to make sure your chute opens cleanly, then they open their own.)

      I understand it, it is amazing, and I never need to do it again. :)

  2. Accident? by Trogre · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Call me paranoid, but these people who appear "inconvenient" to the establishment seem to keep running into accidents, don't they?

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    1. Re:Accident? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Ok, hi paranoid! He did a hook turn all by himself into the ground. He looks like he was a pretty good flyer, but hook turns kill - they are VERY unforgiving

  3. Re:look out below ! by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Personally, I love Seneca's sentiment: “What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears.”

    Besides that is a pretty epic way to die.

    I'm more of a Mel Brooks guy:

    "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die."

    Or maybe Hemmingway:

    " . . . all stories, if continued far enough, end in death . . ."

    --
    I am not a crackpot.