4 ms·

I agree with the rest of your points, but that "shitty" high school hacker managed to hide his identity from CIA. You're underestimating him. Majority of wannab

I agree with the rest of your points, but that "shitty" high school hacker managed to hide his identity from CIA. You're underestimating him. Majority of wannabe hackers would screw up some detail and get discovered.

Fnoord 9y ago
"Hiding your identity" is a relative premise, not an absolute one.
r3bl 9y ago
Or, since he's taken steps to protect his identity, CIA might have offered a fake job offer for the purpose of him revealing his identity.
- throwaway5665 9y ago
  I think this what happened.. the government has very formal hiring procedures, a government employee can’t just send spurious offer letters to foreign nationals.
  - user5994461 9y ago
    An email is not a job offer. It's just an invitation to interview. There are no procedures against that.
    - throwaway5665 9y ago
      He literally said job offer.
      - 3pt14159 9y ago
        I may have misrembered. It was so long ago.
  - sailfast 9y ago
    This is not necessarily the case for organizations that have special hiring authorities and/or contract dollars for use rapidly.
    - throwaway5665 9y ago
      If a hacker reports themself to the CIA, its the government who gets involved, not a contractor.
      - sailfast 9y ago
        Right, and they can offer specific "cyber" related competitive authority positions to that person, or ask them to come on board as a 1099 or via an existing contract vehicle where they implicitly instruct a company to bring the person on as a subcontractor. Or, you know, just dump a pile of money on them as a single outlay. I'm sure there are plenty of options created specifically for this scenario.
monocasa 9y ago
If we're to believe the Vault 7 leaks, it seems like the CIA's cracking abilities are rather run of the mill. The NSA appears to be where the real hacking chops. I totally believe that in the Swordfish era of the early 2000's they would have legitimately hit up a high schooler with some demonstrated ability.

Fnoord 9y ago

"Hiding your identity" is a relative premise, not an absolute one.

r3bl 9y ago

Or, since he's taken steps to protect his identity, CIA might have offered a fake job offer for the purpose of him revealing his identity.

throwaway5665 9y ago
I think this what happened.. the government has very formal hiring procedures, a government employee can’t just send spurious offer letters to foreign nationals.
- user5994461 9y ago
  An email is not a job offer. It's just an invitation to interview. There are no procedures against that.
  - throwaway5665 9y ago
    He literally said job offer.
    - 3pt14159 9y ago
      I may have misrembered. It was so long ago.
- sailfast 9y ago
  This is not necessarily the case for organizations that have special hiring authorities and/or contract dollars for use rapidly.
  - throwaway5665 9y ago
    If a hacker reports themself to the CIA, its the government who gets involved, not a contractor.
    - sailfast 9y ago
      Right, and they can offer specific "cyber" related competitive authority positions to that person, or ask them to come on board as a 1099 or via an existing contract vehicle where they implicitly instruct a company to bring the person on as a subcontractor. Or, you know, just dump a pile of money on them as a single outlay. I'm sure there are plenty of options created specifically for this scenario.

monocasa 9y ago

If we're to believe the Vault 7 leaks, it seems like the CIA's cracking abilities are rather run of the mill. The NSA appears to be where the real hacking chops. I totally believe that in the Swordfish era of the early 2000's they would have legitimately hit up a high schooler with some demonstrated ability.