this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2023
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If you're not aware, the hack was performed by Arion Kurtaj, an 18 year old, who has been put in ~~prison~~ a psych ward in a uk prison. He hacked rockstar at a hotel, where he was left with no computers or phones, only to find that the TV had a chromecast, which he used to buy a phone and a keyboard (presumably by selling his monero).
This kid deserves a 7-8 digits salary as a pentester, not prison; plenty of pentesting companies would hire him in a heartbeat.
Don't get me wrong, he deserves a long and drawn out lesson on morals, but also a stellar salary where he can do what he's doing for the right side.
EDIT: I have made a mistake in my original comment, which has been pointed out. My bad, he's technically in a psych ward in a uk prison, because he's aggressive and unstable. I still stand by what I said (and what I clarified in the comments below), but I wanted to correct the record
You're forgetting a vitally important part of being a pentester.
Namely that they need to be trusted not to leak billions of dollars worth of trade secrets.
This kid is a prodigy as a black hat, but he'd be an embarrassment as a pentester.
I agree with you in principle, you are definitely objectively correct, however people can redeem themselves.
To name two:
I used to work as a pentester. It's an open secret that like a good chunk of people in the industry are former criminals. But former is kind of the keyword. Not only is he doing crime after being arrested and still under surveillance, but he can't even lie and say he won't do it again. The kid is unhireable, at least not until he can get his compulsions under control.
My GF works with autistic individuals and for a majority of them they simply cannot lie, at least not big lies. He may not even see it as being that wrong (probably does know to some extent that it is wrong), especially with all the (correct) rhetoric that companies are scum bastards obscuring the truth. The kid is indeed unhireable for the time being but he could be helped to understand the morals, ethics and laws surrounding his interests to integrate him into the capitalistic world he finds himself in.
I certainly didn't mean to make any moral judgments about the kid. I'm not even sure that I think it's morally wrong (unwise and legally wrong, no doubt, I just don't think his actions hurt any person and I don't care if an action hurts a corporation). The kid is clearly talented and I hope he gets the treatment he needs. I sure hope he can eventually make a living with his talents and perhaps eventually use his talents towards positive change.
Completely agree, its a waste of useful talents that has through one reason or another has not been influenced in the right direction.
that's exactly my point tho, he needs to understand why what he did was objectively wrong, and needs to understand that actions have consequences, but he's still a teenager, and one with autism at that, there is plenty of time for him to change sides
What did he do that was wrong?
To be fair to those two:
Mitnick did much what he did before hacking was even a crime, and almost all of it before offensive cybersecurity was even a viable career option.
the damage caused by the entirety of ShadowCrew (4000 odd members) was a drop in the bucket compared to that caused by this single kid
neither of them had compulsion issues that would cause them to attempt to hack even while under surveillance.
Jesus shit
Fuck, didn't know Mitnick died. Just married and with a child on the way, too.
He was arguably at his best at social engineering, too. Don't know if it's a real quote, but I remember reading about him saying it can bypass all your electronics, firewalls included.
How about the good old Danny Trejo?
I'm listening to an interview with Gollumfun as I'm reading this, what are the chances?
Haha I’m glad that he switched sides honestly, but after listening him talk about his childhood in an interview I’m not even surprised that he did what he did