App Developer Hires Hacker, Security Firms Pissed

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XZaapryca

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This is an old story. Less scrupulous coders getting jobs because of their cracking prowess. This was an outrage in the 80's too. Last time I checked, Paris Hilton was famous for no reason whatsoever.
 

tapnick

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I dont see how anybody can complain about getting their iphone infected when they jail broke it. We all have the urge to hack and crack stuff, but we should all know it opens us up to more risks. If your gonna be an apple fanboy use their software correctly.
 

snotling

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What's wrong here is that for honest security to be provided, the idea of hacking your way into a getting job has to go back to being a myth and the myth to be killed afterwards.

Waht if a would be scientist released a little known bacteria in the Wild to "prove that it can make people sick" that would be just irresponsible and unethical. He won't be hired by any serious company after that. Same thing with hiring malware developers for security. He has proven to be irresponsible and unethical... whoever associates with him afterwards sure aint better.
 

MrHectorEric

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I don't think he was hired for code writing, but more for creativity. You can have a good code writer that knows all the syntax perfectly, but doesn't know how to apply the skill without some creative direction. Hackers are often quite creative since they see loop holes and back doors that others don't, they're not always amazing code writers. What I don't get is security firms often hire hackers to try and break into their systems in order to find weaknesses. The guy from Sophos sounds ignorant.
 

CptTripps

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[citation][nom]snotling[/nom]What's wrong here is that for honest security to be provided, the idea of hacking your way into a getting job has to go back to being a myth and the myth to be killed afterwards.Waht if a would be scientist released a little known bacteria in the Wild to "prove that it can make people sick" that would be just irresponsible and unethical. He won't be hired by any serious company after that. Same thing with hiring malware developers for security. He has proven to be irresponsible and unethical... whoever associates with him afterwards sure aint better.[/citation]

But it didn't make people sick, it just changed the wallpaper.
 
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I don't know the specifics but maybe the job as the developer isn't very well suited. I could understand more if he was hired to try to hack the applications as that happens all the time throughout the industry (How do you think Banks know their systems are safe, you guessed it, hire a hacker).

In my opinion his stunt has been way over rated. All he did was test iPods for the default password, thats like walking up to the house and happens to find the keys left in the outside of the door and making out that you used your uber thief skills to out skill the door. And yes, that last sentence was ment to sound like a nine year old wrote it.

To be honest the rubbish hackers keep me in a job. Its the ones that don't make the news you should be worried about...
 

fulle

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Some guy creates a worm that just changes your wallpaper to get your attention... you get the worm, and after a WTF moment, you google search and find out that you can easily remove the "worm", and that the reason why you got the it is because you were a stupid dickhead and didn't change a default password. You change the password, and thus avoid getting something legitimately harmful.

Yeah, that guy's a real asshole. Nobody should hire him /sarcasm.
 

mlopinto2k1

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I think people are pissed because they didn't get the job offer. Like everyone else said... it was a hack against a *JAILBROKEN IPHONE* and people are bitching? Are you serious? I would feel pretty damn stupid realizing I allowed it to happen in the first place with both realizing that I was the one that broke the phone AND didn't change the password. Duuuh.

http://professionalmike.com
 

brendano257

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I think that is rather more of an overreaction on the part of the security firm. That simply isn't a huge offense, now if he got a job for creating a TRUE peice of Malware that bricked iPhones, then I would have a complaint or two. But really? Most "ex" hackers are hired BY security firms to prevent what they do best.

Is this really so much of a surprise?
 

XZaapryca

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[citation][nom]snotling[/nom]Waht if a would be scientist released a little known bacteria in the Wild to "prove that it can make people sick" that would be just irresponsible and unethical. He won't be hired by any serious company after that.[/citation]

But he could rise to political prominence and take over a country. England Prevails!
 

ssalim

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Remember...
Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.

Also...
Keep your money the closest.

Also...
Trust no one.

Finally...
Drink beer.
 
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Cool, now thousands of aspiring IT professionals in China, Russia and the rest of the world will think making a super cool virus will give better chances for a paid job.

 

tehmoonrulz

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[citation][nom]snotling[/nom]Waht if a would be scientist released a little known bacteria in the Wild to "prove that it can make people sick" that would be just irresponsible and unethical. He won't be hired by any serious company after that. Same thing with hiring malware developers for security. He has proven to be irresponsible and unethical... whoever associates with him afterwards sure aint better.[/citation]
Hmmm...nice try
a better analogy would be, "A scientist releases a bacteria that changed peoples tongues to a blue color, but it was fixed easily by eating carrots. Oh, and only people who did heroine got blue tongues"
You can't compare getting people ill to changing a wallpaper
 
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