Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker?

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker?
Deborah Radcliff, SecurityFocus 2003-04-15

SAN FRANCISCO--Should corporations hire known hackers with criminal records to test and secure their networks?

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-16
Anonymous (4 replies)

It seems that Christopher Painter and Ira Winkler have an issue with "reformed" criminals, to use their logic nobody who commits a crime and does time is reformed. And I am sure that all of the members of the "Ghetto Hackers" are "squeaky clean" and have committed no "criminal" offenses either as ju...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-16
Anonymous

Who better to teach Fortune-500 companies about social engineering...LOL...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous (2 replies)

I agree that "hackers" have a bad wrap as what I refer to as "crackers". Here is the question that popped into my mind... "When was the last time a school has EVER chellenged me?" uuummm never? "Where can you get a Network Security degree that says you know how to get into and protect computer ne...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

I do not think public or private universities will ever allow students to take "hacking" or network penetration & security vulnerability testing classes.

But I do know that there are a ton of private companies who are now offering accreditied classes with certifications. My personal favorite is ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-22
blacklight

Hey! I spent the equivalent of 24 months measured in 60-hour work weeks doing penetration testing and vulnerability assessments on the systems of my employer's clients. I don't recall having broken the law in any way, shape or form as any and all testing was done with the client's WRITTEN authorizat...

[ more ] [ reply ]

please 2003-04-17
macewan

do coke get a dui run america

if someone knows the rules to the game and is skilled at playing the game then they should be on the team. by pushing the limits you get into trouble at times....

[ more ] [ reply ]

Clarification 2003-04-21
DH

OK...I was at this debate, recently held at the RSA conference in San Francisco. There were two points that were made that are not clearly stated above:

1) Kevin himself, when asked, said that "NO, you should not hire a hacker because he was a hacker. You should hire someone that has proven ski...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-16
camnusix

the problem truley is if they have reformed, but most of the time a hacker is goin for a motive. but a good pay check is a good motive for most hackers, especially when you've already had your first run in with the feds. after that its not worth losing your money and goin to jail for something stupi...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-16
Chris Caydes (1 replies)

I am not in a position where I can affirm that Mr. Mitnick is reformed and can be trusted. However, I disagree with statements such as "Criminals are Criminals".

And in answer to the assumption that Fortune 500 would not hire a criminal for his services, I would like to point out that many of the...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

If "Criminals are Criminals" then we should eliminate our jails. After all they are used to rehabiltate our criminals into "usefull citizens" able to perform in society. There are numerous "high profile" examples of where this system has not worked. This does not mean that it does not work an...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-16
compi (1 replies)

How can somebody convicted 5 times be trusted anymore ???...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Seems like you have come up with an arbitrary designation for when people "become" untrustworthy. Otoh, who are you referring to, compi? On what dates were they convicted and of what crimes? Were the convictions a result of jury trial? Was anything of value taken or mere copies made?...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-16
Anonymous (1 replies)

The skill set developed for breaking in is different than the skill set for building security. Winkler might want to look at how NSA does their security checking. I hear they have two completely separated teams. One team secures, the other breaks in.

Winkler makes a judgment call on Mitnic...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-18
Anonymous

No, actually, you would hire a safe cracker to break into the safe, tell you how he did it, then give the details to the engineer to improve it.

All because a safe cracker has the knowledge of what tools to use to crack the safe, (probably by tinerking and not actually learning the engineering)...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-16
Anonymous

In all due honesty, the point of hiring a hacker is to get someone who thinks outside the box and does not depend on the fact that they have some certifications to get a job done. Most people go to work every day and want to leave by five o'clock, but a hacker can see more angles to a serious workl...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should you hire a convicted Hacker? 2003-04-16
Fantom Code (2 replies)

Girls and Boys,

This is a great subject to debate. In my opinion, I don't care if the hacker is convicted or not, as long as he/she is truely an expert. Sometimes in the security industry we "test the limits". Sometimes in the quest for information hackers cross the line. My point is, most suppos...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: [exception to] Should you hire a convicted Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous (1 replies)

The comment "most whitehats put on a blackhat when they go home" is not true. And as a whitehat I take exception to this naive generalization.

Not everyone is a criminal, only those that break the law (or "crosses the line" as some mentioned) are criminals. Their being caught, charges, prosecut...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: [exception to] Should you hire a convicted Hacker? 2003-04-17
Fantom Code

Ok Anonymous,

I've read your opinion. You're right, I did generalize about whitehats. Here's how I feel about it. Whitehat's around the world attend the Blackhat conference in Las Vegas every summer to learn new and exciting ways to exploit security vulnerabilities. Whitehats use information acqu...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should you hire a convicted Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous (2 replies)

I've seen no reason to believe that most whitehats are closet hackers. In my case, I got into the security industry after learning, as a system administrator, how easy it is to compromise systems. I tested systems I had legitimate rights to test.

In Kevin Mitnick's case, I think it's a bit unre...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should you hire a convicted Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

The real question here is: Is it the conviction or the criminal act that matters? Without question there are countless individuals involved daily in "ciminal" computer acts -- they simply haven't been caught. Does that really provide the level of distinction necessary to discern someones "hacking/...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should you hire a convicted Hacker? 2003-04-20
Anonymous

I must comment on what you said about "demonstrat[ing] ethical capacity and willingness" to commit a crime. Maybe this is a bit nit-picky and semantical, but I still find it important in a debate on this topic: what you are saying here is that because you are caught, you have demonstrated willingne...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-16
no conscience (1 replies)

I've worked with a number of "ex" hackers, and seen them cross the ethical line too many times. They generally tend to be people lacking a highly developed conscience. I believe you either do or don't have much of a consicience by the time you're ten years old. What makes somebody an "ex" hacker, th...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Hackers have the deepest of the deepest of concience feelings, the "Hackers Manifesto" still regulates hacker ethics.

Its like people with power, if you have power and no ethics, you go down fast.

You are actually debating for Mitnick, who in fact had power (the exploit given to him) and he had no...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-16
Anonymous

This discussion, and the commentary of corporate heads on the topic, is consistently the most inane. I see the SANS editor/weenies whining about the hiring of hackers within the security industry, and the lauding of their rejection with almost every NewsBytes. A little perspective is in order:

...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-16
Anonymous

I just read this article and I have to agree with the author about these gentlemen or women... (whom may be hackers)... I don't think I would hire anyone with a previous malcontent purpose in the IT industry either ......

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-16
Anonymous (1 replies)

Since no self respecting "Hacker" would ever stoop low enough to bother having anything to do with being nothing more than a high-tech security guard this should be a mute point. Breaking security is a means 2 an end, Creativity, research, information, data, flow, knowledge, if you only care 2 be a ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Yeah, sure!

There comes a day in every hackers life when he get the urge to reproduce or to get something more out of life than just another ego boost.

When they reach that point they usually get a well paid job doing what they previously did for free, AND getting a great ego boost from it, bu...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-16
Anonymous

At one point during the discussion, Kevin stated that "someone" at HP lost him a speaking engagement with the company (with Kevin looking squarely at Ira). Ira basically volunteered that it was he... and then stated that he was arranging to fire the person at HP who had first suggested they invite ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Dmitriy Kropivnitskiy <dmitriy.kropivnitskiy (at) citigroup (dot) com [email concealed]>

Kevin being an exception, I am not sure that being convicted of committing computer crimes is an indication of expertise in security. I would say it is an indication of lack of expertise or lack of common sense or both. So, if my choice was to hire a hacker with criminal record and a hacker without ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
dmk (1 replies)

this is a very important topic in my opinion.

the question "should we hire convicted hackers" doesn't have a definite answer. it's too broad of a question. if someone is convicted of breaking into computers the intent should be looked at it.

for example if someone gets popped for breaking into an ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Not to make money? Bah.. The whole thing was a brilliant bit of Social Engineering to make money, legally, now! *g*...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
dmk (at) rarescience (dot) com [email concealed] (1 replies)

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
dead_node

being both a member of the IT industry and a novice at network security, i can see both sides of the issue here.

i realize that experience counts for alot. Kevin definately has eperience in this area. this has been both admitted by him personally, and proven in a court of law. This is both a pro ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Lets relate this to another arena for a moment.

What about the huge record labels or the professional sport clubs that are paying musicians and athletes millions of dollars, yet again and again there are cases of some of these individuals commiting rape, theft, fraud, and even murder.

If what they...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
judeb (at) gofree.indigo (dot) ie [email concealed]

They said it themselves , What would our shareholders think ?

What crap! The old saying -"set a thief to catch a thief applies to computer security as well as anything else ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Well, he's served his time in jail. How do you dare to prosecute him _again_ by not hiring him because of that?...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous (1 replies)

Bottom line is, no matter what line of business you're in, would you hire a guy with a "relevant" record, reformed or not.

You own a diner and is about to hire a chef. The choice is between two canidates, one who have served time for poisoning food.

Who would you choose?...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

That is a good point but you missed something there dont you think? this cook happens to be one of the best in the nation and further wishes to rejoin the system and work from within now! So what do you do?...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

I believe that it is valid to hire a former convicted cracker as a security consultant, however, I think the cracker's motivation should be considered. Some crackers ply their craft not for financial gain, but out of sheer technical interest. These type of crackers are the ones that discover the s...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Here they're worried about a hacker possibly not being reformed, yet their CEO is robbing the place blind.

The Kansas City Star reports this morning that their CEO (Lemay) that is leaving, is going to receive a severance package worth $190,000 monthly for the next couple of years. They like to ta...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Why not?

It is okay to have a criminal CEO, CFO or other corporate officer.

...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

My 5 cents to:

"Besides, what specialty skills do criminal hackers bring to the table that security experts without records don't already have?"

Innovation & Imagination. Knowing all penetration techniques does not mean that you have the imagination to abuse them....

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous (1 replies)

Having a criminal record is irrelevant. Just because you don't get caught, doesn't mean you are a "safe" worker. Most theft in a company is within, and do you think everyone who does something illegal gets caught? And another thing, why send someone to prison if you think they can't be reformed? ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

That prosocuter is a first class n00b im sorry to say one thing about those guys is once they get something set in their mind it doesn't matter if even he was innocent they go in guns blazing OFF topic sorry but I have seen these guys work before!!! BTW isn't there a way to post to see how close min...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
vIRCiado

Who better to implement the security in a computer system than the person who invades it and knows the wholes they are exposed. Someone that takes the technology to its limits.

However their actions should be controlled until they gain the trust they deserve....

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
mld

I think Kevin is one of the exceptions to the rule when talking about hiring people with a criminal background. Kevin's experience and knowledge surpasses well beyond that of some very capable security professionals. To have a mentality akin to that of Ira Winkler means that you must also believe th...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
marketing (at) delfi (dot) lt [email concealed]

Hacking is usually hobby, not 9-5 job. Hackers are more motivated learn, than security experts. And they know, how "hacking is done". They can defend and test system from practical background not just teoretically....

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Give the man a break, he is only trying to "hack" living like everyone else. He has to eat, pay bill and pay taxes. :-)...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

"Painter said that his real concern is that Mitnick showed "very little remorse" for the damage he caused during a two-year hacking rampage in the 1990's"

Boy, was there a lot of damage!

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,19488,00.html...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Either way you go . . . If the supposed hacker is convicted of a crime or not . . . If you are ignorant of what they are doing, or able to do, you should be afraid . . . VERY AFRAID!

The best don't get caught, and by the logic of the DOJ, should be trusted because they have not been caught. K...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
lifs_lik_that

If I were to simply make a decision based on the arguments of Mitnick and Painter, I would say if Mitnick has the skills (and he has), and he has demonstrated trustworthiness, then his past criminal background cannot be sufficient grounds to deny him employment in his field of expertice.

That being...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Being a convicted hacker, brakes the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of the security world.

An IT manager can know full well that the employee has a black\grey hat sitting at home and should the employee get busted he has an excuse. That excuse will fall flat if the employee already has a record.
...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Reformation 2003-04-17
Anonymous (2 replies)

If criminals aren't reformed, then why release them? Our entire justice system was designed on the idea that once a person paid their debt to society that they had paid their debt to society. If criminals are still a danger to everyone forever then it seems that the sensible course of action would b...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Reformation 2003-04-17
z

That is completely true.

You can even push the thinking further:

If one say that a hacker who have done his time in prison is still a hacker, he considers the penalty for those crime is not right, so he doesn't trust the justice system.

Then if you're not trusting the laws (wich in the IT matte...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Reformation 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Convicted hackers (or unconvicted ones, for that matter), have demonstrated their ethical belief that it's OK to do things that most of us think it isn't OK to do. More to the point, they think it's OK to do the very thing that we're hiring them to stop other people from doing. Going to jail, suff...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

The facts here are simple folks; Anyone caught for acts which may be legally interpreted hacking are most likely NOT eligle for most infosec roles. I'm a current CISSP which HAS an ethical as well as technilogical requirements. "Not consorting with hackers" would MOST CERTAINLY disqualify Mitnick ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous (1 replies)

Judge Pfaelzer ordered Mitnick to pay only totalling just over $4,125 and he objected to that.

Err...not a sign of "repentance".

Hackers should be in jail, not shopping resume's....

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Now once your in jail and do your time for hacking you say lets throw away the KEY? Even after he has served his sentence? With Network Security his consulting abilities should not be shunned he has insight to vulnerability’s and exploits that many may not have! I’m not saying give him t...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

The real question is, should you hire a criminal? I think that time has shown, through business and politics that it is prefectly acceptable to hire criminals. Where else would we get our "leaders"? Local, State and especially Federal offices are full of people with criminal backgrounds, as are c...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
The Blue Raja (2 replies)

This is so much BS.

Who's the criminal?

Painter for still believing that Mitnick was treated in a 100% legal fashion during his various dealings with the justice system?

Painter and the justice system for making Mitnick a guinea pig?

Don't get me wrong, Mitnick did criminal acts, but he might ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-18
Anonymous

And If that was the case we would not need to even paying this painter guy to be anything but an Executioner!!!! I bet if you go into his house he has some MP3's some place LOL to prison with him 50yrs we need an example!...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-21
Anonymous

you present some very valid points!

the whole process of getting "reformed"

is futile if the person is just going to

be casted as a criminal for the rest of there life. ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

If the government were not into protecting its own misconduct, Painter would have a criminal conviction of his own for conspiring to keep a individual in prison for more than 4 years without a trial. I guess you can only be a criminal if you work for the government....

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
stryc9

I currently wear the white hat, or sometimes the grey hat, but growing up my hat was quite black. I am currently a sysadmin / programmer for a large multinational company. It *is* important to think like a hacker in order to properly secure a network.

The biggest advantage that I have over my...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Mauricio

The biggest difference between Kevin and most of the top hackers, is that Kevin got caught. That's it.

Just because they don't have an 'official' criminal record does not mean they did not penetrate corporate networks and know how to 'liberate' some software.

-Mauricio - Net worth, $0.02...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous -erm Brad

Kevins motives for breaking into systems was never fully discovered because he was stopped durring the 'install backdoors' phase. At least at Sun. Go look at the case records. We captured every keystroke as evidence. Kevin pleaded guilty to this. We did have records of him stealing source code, als...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
dead_node

another brief thought...

there is :NO: way to gaurentee the moral and ethical structure of anyone you employ or are considering employing.

considering that the majority of system compromises come from within the company this is [unfortunately] obvious....

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

There is theory and there is practice. If all you know about securing a system, network, etc. is from reading a book, using a tool, or training then what you know is theory. There is no way to be sure that your theory is valid until you have tested it. To test the theory, you must attempt to brea...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

By the logic that has been displayed in most of these replys, we should be hiring convicted bank robbers to work in banks, or convicted pedophiles to work in the elementary schools.

The question of being reformed because someone completed their jail time has nothing to do with this debate. Neithe...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

Oh this is good.

Not paying a former criminal to work gives them insentive to do what? Continue being a criminal is the usual answer. It's obvious this prosecutor doesn't believe in rehabilitation so the discussion is mute on it's face.

Mitnick is much more honest about it than the others at l...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

"Criminals are criminals, he explained."

funny, i just watched Les Miserables last night and that is almost exactly what Javert said to Valjean, at the time not aware that Valjean was a prior criminal.

Now, i realize that the story is fictional, and it is a little absurd to try and relate it t...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous

I tend to agree with a lot of the sentiment here that advocated giving someone a chance if they have the skill set required, but monitoring them until trust could be established.

As far as Mitnick being a "bad hacker" because he was caught, that's just ridiculous. Everyone who knows anything abo...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-17
Anonymous (1 replies)

Hmm Ghetto Hackers criminals? I would like to see documented proof of that. That whole argument was unfounded and misrepresented on both sides....

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-18
Mitnick Busted

Just for clarification, criminal=one who commits a crime. Not necessarily one who is convicted.

You should have clicked on the link to the Business 2.0 Article mentioned in this story. But, tell you what, I'll go ahead and re-provide the link: http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,1476...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-18
Steve

Hey Brad,

How do you know Mitnick is not "qualified" to secure systems. Have you ever interviewed him? Or are you just basing your opinion on gut feeling?

Steve...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-18
Anonymous (1 replies)

Well, would I hire kevin personally? Maybe not, after all he did get caught ;) But I would feel a lot more comfortable knowing that the person gaurding my treasured secrets was a hacker rather than some book smart "consultant."

The person who argued that hackers have no skills that normal securit...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Debate: Should You Hire a Hacker? 2003-04-21
Anonymous

---

Well, would I hire kevin personally? Maybe not, after all he did get caught ;) But I would feel a lot more comfortable knowing that the person gaurding my treasured secrets was a hacker rather than some book smart "consultant."

---

This is like saying that you'd be more comfortable with a ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Reformation re pedophile comment 2003-04-18
Famous (2 replies)

Anonymous said --

The alternative is to view them as hackers forever, similarly to pedophiles.

Nuff said. If a famous pedophile goes to jail for 10 years, and behaves for 3 years after he gets out, will you then be able to trust him as your babysitter?

What's the difference with this famous ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Reformation re pedophile comment 2003-04-21
Vheni

While I don't necessarily agree that Mr. Mitnick has or has not changed, trying to boil this down into a "would you let a pedophile watch your children" argument is absurd. Consider that pedophiles have a very high regression rate after prison, while convicted "hackers" are almost exclusively very ...

[ more ] [ reply ]

Reformation re pedophile comment 2003-04-21
Anonymous

A convicted pedophile and terrorist? This is the comparison you want to make? You're talking about violent crimes where there are people who suffer lifetime damage and side effects from these crimes that are perpetrated.

Mitnick never profitted from his hacking, nor did his victims ever claim t...

[ more ] [ reply ]

No way. 2003-04-21
Anonymous

Even though the vast majority of people here seem to think that there's some added enlightenment involved with using technical skills to break the law, I think that hiring convicted crackers is a bad idea.

All aside about the skillsets of these guys -- what about the case where the guy ISN'T refo...

[ more ] [ reply ]