What Happened To Norse Corp.? Threat Intelligence Vendor Disappears (csoonline.com)

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What Happened To Norse Corp.? Threat Intelligence Vendor Disappears (csoonline.com)

Posted by timothy on Monday February 1, 2016 @03:55AM from the black-sails-in-the-sunset dept.

itwbennett writes: Over the weekend, Brian Krebs reported that Sam Glines, CEO of threat intelligence vendor Norse Corp., was asked to step down by the board of directors and employees were told that they could report to work on Monday, but that there was no guarantee they'd be paid for their work. 'Less than a day after Krebs published his article, Norse Corp.'s website was offline, and attempts to email the company failed,' writes CSO's Steve Ragan. 'The ever-popular Norse attack map was online for some of the weekend, but that too had gone dark by Sunday evening.' In the aftermath of the company's disappearance, the topic of flawed data and assumptions once again resurfaced in a blog post written by ICS expert, Robert M. Lee.

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Before we freak out by saboosh · 2016-02-01 04:21 · Score: 5, Informative

"A careful review of previous ventures launched by the company’s founders reveals a pattern of failed businesses, reverse mergers, shell companies and product promises that missed the mark by miles." http://krebsonsecurity.com/201...
1. Re:Before we freak out by whoever57 · 2016-02-01 05:31 · Score: 1
  
  Those sources say the company's investors have told employees that they can show up for work on Monday but that there is no guarantee they will get paid if they do.
  Isn't that illegal?
  
  --
  The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
2. Re:Before we freak out by Anonymous Coward · 2016-02-01 06:20 · Score: 1
  
  Of course not. Every time I show up to work for habitat for humanity they tell me not to expect to get paid. It's only illegal if you get them to work under the pretense of paying them, and then refusing.
3. Re:Before we freak out by edtice1559 · 2016-02-01 08:25 · Score: 1
  
  I can't speak for countries outside of the US, but in the US, you can't pay people less than minimum wage. They can't work for stock options or anything else. Habitat for humanity is different since they are a 501(c)(3) charity. You can't work for free for a for-profit enterprise.
4. Re:Before we freak out by whoever57 · 2016-02-01 08:34 · Score: 1
  
  Not necessarily. If the company declares bankruptcy, the employees become first in line for unpaid pay. But if the company has no assets, then you can't get blood from a stone.
  I don't know about the USA, but in the UK, I think that would constitute "trading while insolvent", and the company directors could be personally liable for the debts.
  
  --
  The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
5. Re:Before we freak out by operagost · 2016-02-01 08:39 · Score: 1
  
  You can if you're under contract.
  There are CEOs who have worked for $1 before.
  
  --
  
  Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
6. Re:Before we freak out by tnk1 · 2016-02-01 09:57 · Score: 1
  
  There is insurance for such things as well. When I was on a Board of Directors for a corporation, the directors were insured against certain claims, so the insurance may end up being responsible for payment if the corporate indemnification did not cover the whole thing.
  This is called Directors and Officers Insurance and covers what corporate indemnification will not.
7. Re:Before we freak out by LunaticTippy · 2016-02-01 10:11 · Score: 1
  
  What about interns? Candy Stripers? Apple fanboys? None of those are paid.
  
  --
  Man, you really need that seminar!
8. Re:Before we freak out by whoever57 · 2016-02-01 10:52 · Score: 1
  
  There are CEOs who have worked for $1 before.
  Yes, but what's their remedy? Sue for minimum wage?
  
  --
  The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
9. Re:Before we freak out by meerling · 2016-02-01 13:00 · Score: 1
  
  There are exceptions to the wage laws, and interns are one of them. Volunteers for certain things are also exempt. Then there's the so called 'stoop labor', which is another exemption, and a really ugly one. And don't forget the primarily paid by tips scam that F's over waiters/waitresses and the like.
10. Re:Before we freak out by Darinbob · 2016-02-01 14:07 · Score: 1
  
  Except that this actually happens without workers ever getting paid. Usually this is back wages, as in the workers may be paid monthly but after bankruptcy announcement there is no further paycheck. Sure, perhaps you can't do this legally but under the US system you have to file suit and generally file suit one by one rather than as a class action (especially if you have no union). I have especially heard from some contractors who stop being paid, but I guess they're not employees.
11. Re:Before we freak out by gl4ss · 2016-02-01 15:17 · Score: 1
  
  yeah for one dollar and.. plenty of other benefits to make up for it.
  the one dollar ceo thing is just a tax dodge disguised as investor PR.
  aanyhow... minimum wage laws are there in place to protect people from being able to agree to work for pennies. that's the whole point.
  of course, where does that leave contractors? that's why competent minimum wage laws include infrastructure to control that too so that for example mcdonalds can't make every worker sign up as an independent contractor to work for 5 bucks per day.
  
  --
  world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
12. Re:Before we freak out by RockDoctor · 2016-02-02 05:50 · Score: 1
  
  Not necessarily. If the company declares bankruptcy, the employees become first in line for unpaid pay.
  
  Again, not in the UK - and I would strongly suspect that it's not the case in the USA either. (NB : bankruptcy laws are different between the two countries!)
  In a UK bankruptcy for a business, the first person in line for a pay-out from liquidating the assets of the company are the insolvency practitioners. Otherwise no one would be stupid enough to take the job on. Ten-foot barge pole ; not touching that. Game of tin soldiers. you'd get insolvency practitioners structuring themselves so that they could go bankrupt to avoid touching a poison pill of a corporate corpse.
  The next people in line for a payout are the various tax authorities - HMRC and VAT-man being (I think) slightly higher on the pecking order than the NI man (whose slice is dependent on wages). Then it's the secured creditors, in approximate order, the pension fund, the payroll, and suppliers of physical goods. Then suppliers of non-physical goods. Then you're into the "no hope" brigade of unsecured creditors.
  But - different countries, different details. Though I doubt the reasoning for paying the insolvency practitioners first would differ between the countries (unless the service is a government service in the US). And I don't see any government putting the interests of workers ahead of those of the government's revenue office.
  
  --
  Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
Company that nobody has every heard of goes under by CajunArson · 2016-02-01 04:26 · Score: 4, Funny

To quote the sage words of Peter Griffin: "Oh. My. God. Who. the Hell. Cares."

--
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
Response by a Norse Programmer and Brian Krebs by Kobun · 2016-02-01 04:37 · Score: 5, Interesting

This is an interesting exchange in the comments to Brian's article, between him and a former employee of Norse: http://krebsonsecurity.com/201...

The ex-employee has written a blog post here (might be a liiiiiitle one-sided): http://pandawhale.com/post/703...
1. Re:Response by a Norse Programmer and Brian Krebs by FlyHelicopters · 2016-02-01 04:55 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Yes, but I find his comments rather... full of hubris....
  I quote from his post:
  "But I stand behind everything we built and everything we accomplished. No one has the data collection capability that we built. No one has the correlative, actuarial, data analysis capability that we built. And no one is able to do so, not just in real-time, but live, not even the 3 letter agencies."
  First, how can he possibly know what the 3 letter agencies can and cannot do?
  Second, if they couldn't before, I'd be shocked if they can't now, after taking Norse's code.
2. Re:Response by a Norse Programmer and Brian Krebs by OverlordQ · 2016-02-01 06:26 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  > "But I stand behind everything we built and everything we accomplished. No one has the data collection capability that we built. No one has the correlative, actuarial, data analysis capability that we built. And no one is able to do so, not just in real-time, but live, not even the 3 letter agencies."
  Hah, that's a load of bullshit. If any of that was true, you'd be selling to somebody, not shuttering the business.
  
  --
  Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
3. Re:Response by a Norse Programmer and Brian Krebs by BarbaraHudson · 2016-02-01 07:18 · Score: 2
  
  I wouldn't bother with anyone who brags "not just in real-time, but live"
  
  --
  "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
4. Re:Response by a Norse Programmer and Brian Krebs by Kiaser+Zohsay · 2016-02-01 10:02 · Score: 1
  
  Also, he needs to look up the word "actuarial". I work with some real actuaries, and what they do has nothing to do with what he (appears to be) talking about.
  
  --
  I am not your blowing wind, I am the lightning.
5. Re:Response by a Norse Programmer and Brian Krebs by tnk1 · 2016-02-01 10:19 · Score: 1
  
  Good ideas don't always make for good businesses.
  And yes, I am skeptical too, but you can have a good idea and have it fail to be profitable, especially if no one knows what to do with it.
Re:Company that nobody has every heard of goes und by bigdady92 · 2016-02-01 04:47 · Score: 4, Interesting

You've never seen the graphs, the charts,the data that comes from this site. It's astounding to watch, I used to have a TV showing all the traffic coming from various countries and it was like watching Thermonuclear Warfare in action.

You've probably never heard of that game from a movie you've never watched either. We get it.

--
Wheel of Time: Book by Book and Sumview (summary review) Bigdady92 style: http://bigdady92.blogspot.com/
LOL ... by gstoddart · 2016-02-01 04:50 · Score: 5, Insightful

A careful review of previous ventures launched by the company's founders reveals a pattern of failed businesses, reverse mergers, shell companies and product promises that missed the mark by miles.
So, we can't say this was likely vaporware put up by rip off artists with a long history of failed companies making dubious claims ... but it would appear this is the case.
TFA pretty much reads like these guys are likely shady players with a long history of this:

"These shell companies formed by [the company's founders] bilked investors," Landesman said. "Had anyone gone and investigated any of these partnerships they were espousing as being the next big thing, they would have realized this was all smoke and mirrors."
Someone sounds like they're fairly unambiguously calling these guys con artists.

--
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Re:Company that nobody has every heard of goes und by FlyHelicopters · 2016-02-01 04:51 · Score: 3, Informative

If you're going to reference it, get it right! :)
Global Thermonuclear War :)
How about a nice game of Chess?
A new owner? by sgtsquid · 2016-02-01 04:56 · Score: 3, Funny

Maybe they are being bought out by BIZX, LLC and they are just trying to stir up some buzz before relaunching it as an ad page.
Re:Company that nobody has every heard of goes und by bigdady92 · 2016-02-01 04:56 · Score: 2

No Joshua, no more games for you.

--
Wheel of Time: Book by Book and Sumview (summary review) Bigdady92 style: http://bigdady92.blogspot.com/
Re:Company that nobody has every heard of goes und by ArchieBunker · 2016-02-01 04:59 · Score: 1

Sure you weren't watching the 1995 movie "Hackers" by mistake? How are all these fancy charts generated in real time?

--
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Re:What Happened To Norse Corp.? by Penguinisto · 2016-02-01 05:02 · Score: 1

For what it;'s worth, at time of writing the map appears to load, but no data is being presented on it.
(mind, some of this may be the corp proxy cache filling in blanks...)

--
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
nice looking graphs != useful graphs by aepervius · 2016-02-01 05:16 · Score: 3, Informative

They were glorified scan graphs some other company presented before which I can't recall the name. They used to have a software to which you could feed your firewalls logs and get a similar graphs (reverse lookup on country always showed my home IP as being from half a world away but i digress). The problem is that scanning does not mean threat or attacks, and those graphs means next to nothing beyond marketing. Sure nice looking. But empty of meaning.

--
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
1. Re:nice looking graphs != useful graphs by Forgefather · 2016-02-01 06:33 · Score: 2
  
  This sentiment is reflected among the security professionals that I know. They believe that most cyber threat intelligence is bunk, and often ridicule it their spare time. But then again this is opsec. They ridicule everything.
  
  --
  "There are lies, there are damn lies, and there are statistics"
2. Re:nice looking graphs != useful graphs by Jawnn · 2016-02-01 06:46 · Score: 1
  
  This sentiment is reflected among the security professionals that I know. They believe that most cyber threat intelligence is bunk, and often ridicule it their spare time.
  That's because, by itself, community threat intel is nothing more than "stuff some other guy saw". On the other hand, when woven into a well-tuned correlation engine, along with all the local input, community threat intel can be a very powerful tool.
Re:Company that nobody has every heard of goes und by Frederic54 · 2016-02-01 05:37 · Score: 1

Yup, it's like the thing about Finebros on reddit, I never heard of those guys, and who the hell cares? :)

--
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
Note to the new Slashdot owners by b1ng0 · 2016-02-01 05:42 · Score: 3, Interesting

No more itwbennet! All his posts link to csoonline.com or cio.com. Obviously a paid schill. And his posts are not worth the bits they are printed with. Kick him to the curb!
1. Re:Note to the new Slashdot owners by Anonymous Coward · 2016-02-01 05:50 · Score: 1
  
  I'm pretty sure you can find several examples of this. I've noticed certain other submitters that religiously submit articles solely from one particular site or family of sites. Considering how blatant it is, do you really think it's gone unnoticed? Do you think that Slashdot/etc isn't basically doing a sponsored content deal with some of these sites?
Re: Company that nobody has every heard of goes un by Anonymous Coward · 2016-02-01 06:14 · Score: 1

I had to check but you're right! Turns out this 'Reddit' you mention is actually a thing.
Re:Company that nobody has every heard of goes und by NoImNotNineVolt · 2016-02-01 06:38 · Score: 1

Fear not, SOC monkey! I have a replacement attribution map for you! Behold! [SFW, but there is audio]

--
Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
Re:Company that nobody has every heard of goes und by Mike+Van+Pelt · 2016-02-01 07:37 · Score: 1

GIven the domain name, I suspect goatse. Not clicking...
Re:Company that nobody has every heard of goes und by BarbaraHudson · 2016-02-01 08:12 · Score: 1

And if you had actually read a few of the articles, you would have known that Norse wasn't in the security field either.

--
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Re:Company that nobody has every heard of goes und by NoImNotNineVolt · 2016-02-01 08:17 · Score: 1

I have reasonable posting history, but if that's not enough for you, then you might prefer a link to their source repository, which in turn links out to their production instance at threatbutt.com.

But in my opinion, it's their attribution map that's truly la crème de la crème.

--
Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
Re:Company that nobody has every heard of goes und by whoever57 · 2016-02-01 08:40 · Score: 1

You've never seen the graphs, the charts,the data that comes from this site. It's astounding to watch, I used to have a TV showing all the traffic coming from various countries and it was like watching Thermonuclear Warfare in action.
Given that even within the company, the exact nature of the back end which "captured" the raw data was kept very secret, how do you know that you were looking at actual data and not just something that was made up?

--
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
No Pay, No Play by meerling · 2016-02-01 13:03 · Score: 1

Telling the employees to show up monday, but don't expect to get paid is the same as telling them that they're fired, but you're too much of a douche to admit it to them and want them to work for free while you try to find a way to activate that golden parachute for yourself.