Bioplasmoid
07-14-2008, 11:59 PM
"A New Zealand teenage computer hacker who masterminded an international cyber crime ring, has been discharged without conviction."
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To say that I am mystified by this verdict, would be a major understatement! As the inquirer article pointed out "His software allowed access to user names and passwords, as well as credit card details, and was used by other criminals to commit crimes." so his actions most likely resulted in financial loss for individuals and organisations all over the world, and quite possibly assisted international organised crime groups to advance their reach and capabilities over the internet.
I also am seriously shocked and surprised that according to commentary by the local media in NZ (where I am), Police here have offered or hinted at the possibility of this young delinquent being offered work or a career by them. Further local media commentary is suggesting that foreign software companies have also given him job offers. So he is basically being rewarded for being a Black Hat Hacker, when in most cases people convicted of similar offenses are given a Jail Term or at least some form of Punishment.
My iration stems in part from the fact that over the course of my own life I have avoided the temptation of trying to hack into computers or networks (for benign learning purposes) that I do not own or maintain, because I respect the fact that it is a) Illegal, and b) Can potentially cause other people frustration or even possibly loss of life. I think that rewarding this guy for his actions, is a slap in the face to all computer security professionals worldwide who take the painstakingly slow academic,official and perhaps un-rewarded route to knowledge,skill and careers in this and associated fields.
In a brief segment of video on one of our local TV news stations, this guy could be seen smirking and almost scoffing as the verdict was read. I can only hope that other Judges will offer such leniancy in future cases to other computer hackers, who have been 'inspired' by this guys 'path to success'.
On a sidenote, I once knew a young dyslexic Software Coder (who was self taught) from the same part of NZ, who went from one dead-end job to another in low paying repetitive manual labour careers, because all the big companies he approached could not look past his lack of formal qualifications. Ive lost contact with him, but am certain he is still drifting along with all his talent wasted. Now, as far as I know he didn't make a self-encrypting virus which distributed bots and integrated them together in some sort of control framework, but he did make a great integration of a particular 3D Fps game API with his filesystem and most of the common functions he performed in windows, in yet another variation of the VR 3D user interface dream/paradigm. Ok sure thats nothing spectacular, and yes its been done in many demos and projects over the years, but my point is his ingenuity was not recognised because he didnt make international news by focusing his intent on making tools to help steal other peoples money. Of course this example is probably one of thousands of cases of wasted talent the world over. But I think I have a point here...Maybe I am suffering a mild case of the "Tall Poppy Syndrome" that we like to chastise each other over here in this part of the world, but I don't think it is right that this young guy should be offered a career by the Police. (At least not publicly anyway)
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To say that I am mystified by this verdict, would be a major understatement! As the inquirer article pointed out "His software allowed access to user names and passwords, as well as credit card details, and was used by other criminals to commit crimes." so his actions most likely resulted in financial loss for individuals and organisations all over the world, and quite possibly assisted international organised crime groups to advance their reach and capabilities over the internet.
I also am seriously shocked and surprised that according to commentary by the local media in NZ (where I am), Police here have offered or hinted at the possibility of this young delinquent being offered work or a career by them. Further local media commentary is suggesting that foreign software companies have also given him job offers. So he is basically being rewarded for being a Black Hat Hacker, when in most cases people convicted of similar offenses are given a Jail Term or at least some form of Punishment.
My iration stems in part from the fact that over the course of my own life I have avoided the temptation of trying to hack into computers or networks (for benign learning purposes) that I do not own or maintain, because I respect the fact that it is a) Illegal, and b) Can potentially cause other people frustration or even possibly loss of life. I think that rewarding this guy for his actions, is a slap in the face to all computer security professionals worldwide who take the painstakingly slow academic,official and perhaps un-rewarded route to knowledge,skill and careers in this and associated fields.
In a brief segment of video on one of our local TV news stations, this guy could be seen smirking and almost scoffing as the verdict was read. I can only hope that other Judges will offer such leniancy in future cases to other computer hackers, who have been 'inspired' by this guys 'path to success'.
On a sidenote, I once knew a young dyslexic Software Coder (who was self taught) from the same part of NZ, who went from one dead-end job to another in low paying repetitive manual labour careers, because all the big companies he approached could not look past his lack of formal qualifications. Ive lost contact with him, but am certain he is still drifting along with all his talent wasted. Now, as far as I know he didn't make a self-encrypting virus which distributed bots and integrated them together in some sort of control framework, but he did make a great integration of a particular 3D Fps game API with his filesystem and most of the common functions he performed in windows, in yet another variation of the VR 3D user interface dream/paradigm. Ok sure thats nothing spectacular, and yes its been done in many demos and projects over the years, but my point is his ingenuity was not recognised because he didnt make international news by focusing his intent on making tools to help steal other peoples money. Of course this example is probably one of thousands of cases of wasted talent the world over. But I think I have a point here...Maybe I am suffering a mild case of the "Tall Poppy Syndrome" that we like to chastise each other over here in this part of the world, but I don't think it is right that this young guy should be offered a career by the Police. (At least not publicly anyway)