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The last line sums it up: “All the best hackers, all the best phreakers in the world, we don’t know who they are because they never got arrested. And they neve
by Taniwha 5y ago
The last line sums it up:
“All the best hackers, all the best phreakers in the world, we don’t know who they are because they never got arrested. And they never went to prison. This is why you don’t know who the best ones in the world are. This is the truth. Think about it.”
- grapescheesee 5y agoFound her.
- ravenstine 5y agoOr the ones that got away just knew when to quit.
- lamontcg 5y agoThey went legit and then wrote Stuxnet or something and got safely paid a lot of money for it.
- mcv 5y agoI don't know if that's "legit", but it's probably a lot more profitable.
- nkrisc 5y agoIt’s legit if the man says it’s legit.
- JoelMcCracken 5y agoright. just like if you kill with the government's blessing, it is war heroics, but if you kill without, it is murder/etc
- renewiltord 5y agoBut not the best businessmen, eh? Considering Kevin Mitnick is now a legend and rich legitimately.
- crotho 5y ago
- sortebill 5y agoSometimes one negates the other.
- runnerup 5y agoMy company uses his software for phishing practice. A week after joining new company, his software claimed that I clicked on a phishing link. I saw the phishing email, instantly knew it was a fake phish, never even opened the email, let alone clicked on any link. Still had to do the "you got phished" extra training, as neither my manager nor IT would believe that there was a bug. Mitnick really was quite the grifter before he turned his life around.
- blkhawk 5y agoPossibly your email client clicked that for you. This is actually a legitimate concern because some exploits work that way. Doesn't change that its a bug you got fingered for that tho.
- zibzab 5y agoOutlook and others may access embedded links on their own servers for security reasons.
- GekkePrutser 5y agoYeah KnowBe4. My work bothers us with it too. Their emails are really easy to detect and have a huge header too describe what they are too :P
- 5y ago
- malux85 5y agoHere's a phrase that will open doors for you: "Nobody knows what a smart fish tastes like"
- renewiltord 5y agoTo actually open the door, you have to say “Alexa, nobody knows what a smart fish tastes like”, though.
- Ygg2 5y agoSure we do. We invented ways to catch ALL SEALIFE. Not just smart fish.
- moffkalast 5y agoYou mean dumb fish. And a really smart fish would hang out somewhere in the hadal zone, we don't even know half the species that exist there.
- Ygg2 5y agoNo. I mean what I said. Unless by smart fish you mean either unhatched fish -OR- fish too small to be caught. Fish have ranges. And hiding in the hadal zone is the fish equivalent "I'll hide in the hell desert". Not a smart plan.
- therealcamino 5y agoIt's not meant to be taken literally.
- malux85 5y agoAs I suspected, there is nothing here anymore
- hutzlibu 5y agoHow do you know? That fish is so smart, it was never even spotted.
- deltaonefour 5y agoIt's not necessarily true. Maybe the best ones were the best UNTIL they got caught. Hard to say, given we don't know anything about the best if they were never caught.
- brutusborn 5y agoNot necessarily, but probably true. Same with all the best criminals, the best live out their lives and none are the wiser as to their actions besides those in the know. This all assumes that getting caught is a bad thing. For some hackers it leads to respect and eventually government / private jobs. This is obviously not true for non-technical criminals.
- southerntofu 5y ago> For some hackers it leads to respect and eventually government / private jobs. This is obviously not true for non-technical criminals. Errrr, should we tell you about Blackwater, Thalès, BAE Systems, Bolloré, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Alexandre Benalla, Serge Dassault, NSA? They are just some examples of very famous people/corporations engaging in high-level criminal activities ranging from basic corruption to actual slavery to wide-scale murder. We live under capitalism, a system which glorifies criminal activity as the path to success and social recognition. Sometimes, this criminal activity is legal and you can't believe how that's even possible, but many times it's illegal but when people/organizations become too influential they are far above the law. Don't even get me started on law enforcement engaging in criminal activity such as organizing drugs trade like in USA's crack epidemics or with France's chief anti-drug cop leading the biggest smuggling ring for cocaine/hashish for years. One could even say in some circles, being ready to defy the law is a sign you're part of this circle. For example, in France at least, murderous cops are more likely to get promotions than to get kicked out of police, because once they took part in murder and held their mouth shut through the shitstorm without compromising colleagues/higher-ups, they have successfully demonstrated their loyalty to the establishment. Of course, you're free to not research scandals involving the people/organizations i mentioned, take the blue pill and go back to dreaming about elections and free market and how fair our society is.
- zibzab 5y agoKevin Mitnick was arrested 5 times before a judge got tired and send him to prison. Just saying...
- hereforphone 5y agoKevin Mitnick is a notoriously good social engineer. Whether his technical abilities are extraordinary is up for debate.
- sen 5y agoI don’t think anyones really debating it except him. All he does is steal other peoples ideas then use his “reputation” to try sell them for 10x the price.
- unnouinceput 5y agoThis reminds me of someone else, dude's name was something like Job, Joby or Jobeys? Can't recall.
- alfiedotwtf 5y agoYep. When he copied MG's cable, I lost all respect for him
- _wldu 5y agoCourts in the US give people 2nd, 3rd and sometimes 4th chances. This is especially true for younger people. They are still learning the ropes.
- Hokusai 5y agoThat's the "ninjas joke": Japanese ninjas are the worst. All countries have ninjas but only the Japanese have been discovered.
- thelittleone 5y agoObligatory callout to the classic: Ninjas are sweet [1] 1. http://realultimatepower.net/ http://realultimatepower.net/
- matheusmoreira 5y agoIt's so awesome that this site is still online.
- tempodox 5y ago> … almost done with puberty, which is bragable. LOL
- hallway_monitor 5y agoThis is The definitive site for mind blowing ninja facts.
- hutzlibu 5y agoAh the same reason, why there is no proof of real wizzards. The ones tested and failed with science, were all frauds, while the real wizzards already have all the power and no need to expose themself.
- bcrosby95 5y agoWarhammer 40k has a similar joke. Orks think purple is the sneakiest color. Why? Well, have you ever seen a purple Ork? Didn't think so.
- tester34 5y agotop hackers when it comes to crimes? then probably yea, but when it comes to skills? I'd say that they're not really that unknown - https://ctftime.org/ https://ctftime.org/
- saagarjha 5y agoNot everyone does CTFs.
- alasdair_ 5y agoCTF is to hacking what fencing is to actual swashbuckling.
- tester34 5y agoJust because in "real hacking" you can just smash somebody's head with crowbar untill he gives you the password? That's fair, but just take a look at how complex latest biggest hacks are like https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-deep-dive-into-nso-zero-click.html https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-deep-dive-i...
- alasdair_ 5y agoYes, or more that any workaround for a system is valid, rather than narrowly defined by specific rules.
- JKCalhoun 5y agoAlso sums up what always puts me off these "notorious phone phreaks". It's always someone, usually emotionally stunted, riding some kind of power trip. Certainly never anyone I would admire. I suppose I shouldn't be so judgmental, they often seem to have pretty fucked up childhoods and are no doubt a product of that. I just don't see any good that comes from idolizing them.
- karmakurtisaani 5y agoI always feel kind of sad for all the lost potential due to bad childhood conditions. I imagine the types of Bill Gates could easily have been one of these kind of hackers under less favourable conditions.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- bugmen0t 5y agoI strongly believe that you don't have to use your power for evil. It may be true for the early hackers, but there are many famous hackers that have not been in prison. Just think of the people like Dan Kaminsky.
- justanother 5y agoI'd go as far as to say that by 1990 post-Operation Sundevil etc, this was considered common wisdom, and such people with great skill who never got arrested were the rule, not the exception. People pulled off fantastic things, but refused to do silly stuff like join groups or write about their exploits in G-philez, or even use the same alias on two forums (let alone doing anything from their house). You might have met up with them on an Alliance Teleconference or QSD once in awhile, but never at the 2600 meetup at the mall. These people tended to make it well into adulthood and lead rewarding lives, all without ever becoming a pushpin with pieces of yard tied to it on some Secret Service agent's cubicle wall. Of course, it doesn't make you as famous as an Esquire article does. But also, handcuffs hurt. This is still true today, and of more hunted groups than just hackers.
- ethbr0 5y ago> more hunted groups than just hackers It's underappreciated just how tolerant society was, with respect to 80s and 90s hacking culture. We had the war on drugs, but pre-9/11, secrecy and hacking were... novelties. As in, people couldn't conceptualize the worst results of bad people using bad methods. You can see this in the legal filings of early computer prosecutions. Much of it is spent trying to explain to a jury just why phone phreaking or computer hacking is bad. E.g. "Could launch nukes from a payphone!" Or Tron, WarGames, etc. Now, network intrusion brings to mind ransomware, and a hop, skip, and jump away from helping ISIS, in terms of jury sentiment. On the other hand, there's an entire white and grey hat culture that wasn't really as defined in that period, so it's fair to say there are also more legimate paths for someone deeply interested in systems.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]