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Researcher Gets 20 Days In Prison For Hacking State Websites As Political Stunt (softpedia.com)
An anonymous reader writes from a report via Softpedia: David Levin, 31, of Estero, Florida will spend 20 days in prison after hacking two websites belonging to the Florida state elections department. Levin, a security researcher, tested the security of two Florida state election websites without permission, and then recorded a video and posted on YouTube. The problem is that the man appearing in the video next to Levin was a candidate for the role of state election supervisor, running for the same position against the incumbent Supervisor of Elections, Sharon Harrington. Harrington reported the video to authorities, who didn't appreciate the media stunt pulled by the two, and charged the security researcher with three counts of hacking-related charges. The researcher turned himself in in May and pleaded guilty to all charges. This week, he received a 20-day prison sentence and two years of probation. In court he admitted to the whole incident being a political stunt.
the abysmal security in place is down right embarrassing. and we all know how much the government likes to silence the messengers.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
prison and not jail?
Instead of commenting on helping keep the system honest, the researcher get jail time. Politicians are jerks.
Too much risk in reporting vulnerabilities to the proper parties. The only sane thing to do is sell the vulnerabilities on the dark web and pocket the cash (and keep your freedom).
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Putting the video on youtube shows that he deserved the jail time he received.
You don't want it to become one either, or people can break in your house because it has shit security. Even if you have "good" security for a home, it still sucks in the grand scheme and is trivial to bypass. However I imagine you'd be pretty pissed if someone broke in and said "Well you have abysmal security, don't silence the messenger!"
That doesn't mean people shouldn't try and have good electronic security (and physical security for that matter) but that they don't is not an invitation or excuse for breaking in.
"In court he admitted to the whole incident being a political stunt."
Probably true, but the stunt would not have been possible if the incumbent (Sharon) had been doing her job.
This is much more interesting and relevant, I think. (But some would perhaps argue that being dumb is its own kind of ugliness.)
Ezekiel 23:20
Prison and Jail become interchangeable words?
Makes you look ignorant.
We the people need to get a grip on this country or we are going to end up a banana republic. If we could only figure out how to get a referendum process in place at the national level such that the people could pass laws irrevocable by congress or the courts (essentially constitutional amendments, above the crap that congress churns out) we would be in such better shape.
We could pass a common sense law that security researchers could register as such with the FBI (or even maybe a private non-profit security professional organization; US Cyber Security Society or some such) and then pretty much attempt to penetrate any system that they want, with the additional caveat that they send the results and any evidence back to the company/entity tested. They would also be free to disseminate information about the hack, but not anything sensitive from the servers they penetrated to the pubic as a news/informative service. In much the same way reporters are specially protected, they should be protected as the public has a right to know if there are gaping security holes in their banks, their ballot boxes etc...
If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like
You could throw in lazy, incompetent and possibly corrupt and that's just going by that short interview.
...unless you have permission from the owner.
If I test the security of your house by trying to break in, you have every right to call the police and have me arrested. Now, if you pay me, or invite me, to test your home security by trying to break in, that's a completely different story.
Computer systems are no different.
Funny how this article gets a total different connotation when you replace researcher with script kiddie. Still, thankfully he didn't get more jailtime and I agree people should be kept responsible for the protection of data in their servers.
This is SO VERY TYPICAL of idiots and buffoons - punish the person that shows you clearly you f---ed up in your so-called security.... I as a taxpayer applaud them for showing how lacadaisical your handling of security is, as it shows a systemic problem - not unlike a certain candidate that doesn't seem to grok the word "classified"...
I love this new "security researcher" designation. It sounds so much more professional than "nerd looser with no social life, no girlfriend and no life still living in his mother's basement well into his 30's".
20 DAYS? And then some probation.
Huh. Ok. Sometimes the punishment really does fit the crime. Bravo court system.