Mitnick: It's a new breed of hackers

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Very Close....

Actually, we are nearly on the same page.

"Navy Seals don't bust into any random facility or building. (Say my house) And then offer their services to secure the facility or building. (Say my house)" I have 2 former SEALs on my tiger team, and they can directly relate hacking parallels. Real hackers don't attack random target...footprinting and fingerprinting can take a few weeks. Script kiddies and like thugs, simply don't have the patience to do the real thing and rely on drop and drag exploits. Also, if a real SEAL targeted your home, you would never know they were there or what they did.

Thieves, on the other hand, ransack you home looking for goodies to steal.

What is right and wrong can sometimes be confusing. If I did the things I did in the military (or even today) on behalf of the US govt, and do similar things without govt sanction...it is a crime, but not a crime if sanctioned by the govt. Or, say the laws that Mitnick were convicted on were suddenly and completely repealed and therefore no longer wrong to do.

"For example, you could break into someone's house just to test the security, not touch anything, make sure to lock the place up when you leave, etc... But that would still upset people." Great example, which is why I don't hack someone's system without permission. In cases where I knew that someone had been hacked just to test their security and fix the holes, the people were not simply upset...they were traumatised.

Where I grew up on a midwest farm, say I was driving on a rainy day and it quit raining and I forgot to turn my headlights off after parking to do some shopping. It is not unusual to have a complete stranger reach through a partially open window and turn off my headlights...thereby saving me from a dead battery. Nor is it uncommon to close someone's gate, mend a fence, retrieve a wayward calf back to the barn...it is just a neighborly thing to do. The "rules of engagement in civilized society" isn't uniform.

But this country boy has enough sense not to try the same neighborly behavior with city folks...sure way to land in trouble.

Our perspectives are not uniform. That is why talking openly is needed to gain better understanding of other people's point of view.

Posted by: cburgess   Posted on: 11/04/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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