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Inside the Billion-Dollar Hacker Club

Posted by samzenpus on from the twist-of-fate dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Here's an inside look at the personal successes of the elite hacking group "w00w00". From the article: 'For this group of old friends, assembled for an impromptu reunion, the venue would feel familiar: an online chat room running on a secure private server. Each were former members of the elite hacking group "w00w00" and they had reconvened that afternoon to celebrate and share in the success of one of their own. In some ways it was just like old times. But rather than success being the discovery of a new software exploit or penetration of a computer network, this was something more extraordinary. One of the group's former members had just sold their company for $19 billion dollars."

27 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. Link in summary is ballsed... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Not much to add...

    The link in the summary is broken.

    1. Re:Link in summary is ballsed... by invictusvoyd · · Score: 2

      Doesn't take too much to figure out who it was. It's the guy who just sold that chat application to Facebook for $19billion.

      Correction : It's the guy who just sold everybody's "contacts list" to Facebook for $19billion.

      ___________________________
      And everyone cheered ...

  2. the missing url by Idimmu+Xul · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/...

    --
    The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
    1. Re:the missing url by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 1

      Damn, those w00w00 guys are good

      There were a lot of groups that were equally great or even greater.

      Back then sky is the limit and there were an endless supply of enthusiasm.

      From Blackhat research to Whitehat to every hue of color in between, a lot of guys/kids were hopping from one chatroom into another, opening up multiple chatrooms and participating on all of them all under one screen is not uncommon.

      THat was before them Moslems brought down the WTC which gave the NSA and all the other spooks their legitimate claim to spy on everyone.

      In fact, a lot of NSA researchers (fulltime/partime) were recruited from those groups.

      "We liked to tinker with things,â says Bowie. "We liked to create, manipulate and, most importantly, discover technology. We researched everything from discovering and exploiting software vulnerabilities, security tools ranging from password analysis to packet generation to exploit platforms."

      How times have changed.

      Nowadays all the 'ploits have price tags on them.

      --
      Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
  3. That doesn't sound much like hackers by Casandro · · Score: 1

    Only like the criminals the news likes to call hackers.

    1. Re:That doesn't sound much like hackers by lesuth · · Score: 1

      Only like the criminals the news likes to call hackers.

      Blurred lines that requires the clarity of ethics to make sense.

      I submit the thought that there are more than one type of 'hackers'. In a classroom or in a setting where the effects can be reversed, then hackers can be beneficial, ala the recent article Teach hacking in high school. Even Mitnick's extreme actions had the benefits of highlighting the ineffectual.

      But this thought has been common. Affecting the hacker's morality with something like the Association of Computing Machinery's Code of Ethics is a tough challenge, but worth it.

    2. Re:That doesn't sound much like hackers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      But this thought has been common. Affecting the hacker's morality with something like the Association of Computing Machinery's Code of Ethics is a tough challenge, but worth it.

      Strike out 1.5 and I'll buy in. 1.6 is enough.

    3. Re:That doesn't sound much like hackers by CauseBy · · Score: 1

      What does your dictionary say? Here's mine:

      hacker (n.) a person who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data.

  4. Who Who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Fuck these grey beards - don't they know the internet belongs to facebook and twitter now?

    1. Re:Who Who? by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 1

      The founder of WhatsApp, which was just bought by Facebook. Sorry, Mario, but your stereotype is in another castle.

      --
      Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
  5. 19 billion? by ThatAblaze · · Score: 1

    I think the article must have gotten it wrong.. I've heard several other places that WhatsApp sold for 16 billion.

    I know it may not seem like much.. but, personally, I consider a $3 billion discrepancy to be something.

    1. Re:19 billion? by justMichael · · Score: 5, Informative

      The other 3 billion is for retention bonuses http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/...

    2. Re:19 billion? by rmdingler · · Score: 3, Funny

      It sounds like a lot of money, but I understand about $12 billion is in bitcoin, er, facebook stock.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

  6. ooh such mystery by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    "One of the group's former members had just sold their company for $19 billion dollars."
    Orly? Which one was it? :-P

  7. w00tw00t? by pepsikid · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Are these the dicks who are constantly filling my weblog with:

    140224 042320 69.174.245.163 - 69.174.245.163 /var/www/html/w00tw00t.at.blackhats.romanian.anti-sec:) 401 401
    140226 084433 64.15.159.21 - 64.15.159.21 /var/www/html/w00tw00t.at.blackhats.romanian.anti-sec:) 401 401
    140226 210354 122.49.0.220 - 122.49.0.220 /var/www/html/w00tw00t.at.blackhats.romanian.anti-sec:) 401 401
    140301 232858 46.105.100.220 - ns382685.ovh.net /var/www/html/w00tw00t.at.blackhats.romanian.anti-sec:) 401 401
    140217 122758 122.49.0.220 - 122.49.0.220 /var/www/html/w00tw00t.at.blackhats.romanian.anti-sec:) 401 401
    140217 124326 67.215.248.8 - 67.215.248.8 /var/www/html/w00tw00t.at.blackhats.romanian.anti-sec:) 401 401
    140218 081257 111.207.191.92 - 111.207.191.92 /var/www/html/w00tw00t.at.blackhats.romanian.anti-sec:) 401 401

    1. Re:w00tw00t? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      no, a simple google will reveal the cause of these.

      perhaps you should look for a new job...

    2. Re:w00tw00t? by fsck-beta · · Score: 1

      you are a noob, as is anyone who modded you up. does nobody on slashdot work in IT anymore?

  8. w00w00 startup by PushmeIfall · · Score: 1

    I think one of the most intriguing thing in the article is the mention of an "attention economy" startup, Belua. The name does fit belua (not bellua), ae, f a beast, wild beast, monster: fera: saeva, H.: Lernae, the Hydra, V.: in usu beluarum: quantum natura hominis pecudes reliquaque belua, lower animals. Hobbes' Leviathan comes to mind.

  9. Time for another WhatsApp post! by pedantic+bore · · Score: 1

    They haven't been in the press enough recently...

    --
    Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
  10. anyone can be a *illionaire by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I hate it when highly speculative and non liquid asset classes are reported in the media as cash. It shows genuine lack of good faith to do this.

    By this metric, anyone can be a *illionaire. Just form your own company, then come up with ridiculous IP and have your company bond the IP (with UCC statement) to a "value" that you and your company agree upon! You can be a billionaire or whatever you like. What's that you say? Such shenanigans is acting in bad faith and nobody in their right mind would give you that amount in trade for your worthless UCC statement, so it is not fair to report its TRUE value as $1 Billion (CASH)? Ok, now you see my point --- the same is true with all these speculative asset classes that are backed by nothing.

  11. Next news item by viperidaenz · · Score: 4, Funny

    Inside the Billion Dollar Kindergarten - One of the kindergartens former students recently sold their company for $19B.
    Inside the Billion Dollar High School - A former student recently sold their company for $19B. ...

    1. Re:Next news item by kipkemoi · · Score: 1

      +1

    2. Re:Next news item by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      Inside the Six Billion Dollar Man - recently sold his cybernetic kidney for $19B...

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  12. No time for Kindergarten by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Inside the Billion Dollar Kindergarten - One of the kindergartens former students recently sold their company for $19B.
    Inside the Billion Dollar High School - A former student recently sold their company for $19B. ...

    Nobody who made a billion dollars ever completed Kindergarten. They all drop out and start their own firms early. If you're in Kindergarten you're doing it wrong.

  13. "THE" billion dollar hacker club? by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    "THE" billion dollar hacker club? Seems to me there are several of those.

    Two instances just from the public record: First there's the Homebrew Computer Club, founded in '73, which includes a number of leading lights in the Silicon Valley part of the industry, including Jobs and Woz. (Apple alone has WhatsApp beat by a factor of neary 25, as of today's close.) Then there's the (invitation-only) Hackers Conference, Founded by in '84, whose membership may not have as high a percentage of people who made billions in high tech, but does have more than one just among those whose membership is publicly known.

    I could go on for a while, and I'm SURE I don't know anywhere near all such organizations.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  14. Re:Enough with the beta for Classic users by Soulskill · · Score: 1

    Sorry, that preference should stick. Would you mind providing some details about your browser and OS so we can try to track this down? You can post it here if you're comfortable, or email us directly at feedback@slashdot.org.

  15. In other news.... by gosand · · Score: 1

    Thousands of hacker wannabes from the 90s haven't done much of anything with their lives, and are working in boring ass jobs with normal lives.

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.