16 Suspected 'Anonymous' Hackers Arrested in Nationwide Sweep

[Kreskin]

It's about time these idiots are treated for the terrorists they are. Well done, arrest many more.

16 Suspected 'Anonymous' Hackers Arrested in Nationwide Sweep - FoxNews.com

 

[mentalfloss]

They should be arresting the security personnel of the companies that they hacked.

 

[Nuggler]

8O Are these the "anonymous" criminals Stockwell is accusing of committing all those "unreported" crimes??;-)



Hang'em from the highest hard drive!!

 

[Kreskin]

They should be arresting the security personnel of the companies that they hacked.

Really, if you don't put your home security alarm on and people steal stuff then you should go to jail?

 

[The Old Medic]

People that do this are nothing but criminals. Mentalfloss and Kreskin are perfect examples of the idiots that excuse criminals, and blame the victims. And then, they wonder why people actually break into their houses, and will be the first to scream that the police are not doing enough.

 

[mentalfloss]

Really, if you don't put your home security alarm on and people steal stuff then you should go to jail?

Really? Did you just make the worst analogy possible?

A better analogy would be this...

Your home security company promises a certain timeframe before personnel are dispatched to your home after a break and enter. They fail to meet that timeline and the perpetrators steal significant assets.

While the perpetrator's should be reasonably punished, the greater onus of responsibility was on the security company to ensure those assets were not stolen.

This is the exact same scenario that happened earlier this year during the PSN Hack. Sony lost a sizeable amount of profit, but that was not nearly the correct punishment for their lax security measures which allowed hackers to seize the private information of their customers.

The hackers should be given a hefty fine to pay. The company's security personnel should be the ones put in jail instead of simply getting fired. If the company was smart, they would hire these hackers as a force for good instead of wasting good talent by throwing them in jail.

 

[earth_as_one]

I disagree MF. We wouldn't need security if people were honest and trustworthy. The people screwing up everything are the criminals. Security is a response to the problems created by criminals.

I work in the IT industry. No matter how secure something is made there is always a way to circumvent it. Usually the biggest security hole exists between the keyboard and chair.

I support holding criminals fully accountable for their malicious actions. Incompetent good intentions should only lead to dismissal, not jail time.

 

[Kreskin]

Nonsense, mistakes don't give others a license to commit crimes. Breaking into your computer is no different than them breaking into your car or house. With the exception that most car and B/E crooks are druggies looking for a fix, while cybercrooks do it mostly to terrorize other people for kicks. So I consider them terrorists.

 

[Tonington]

People that do this are nothing but criminals. Mentalfloss and Kreskin are perfect examples of the idiots that excuse criminals, and blame the victims.

Kreskin, who considers them terrorists, is excusing criminality and blaming victims? Read slower or go visit an optometrist. You should not toss out barbs like "idiot"...ever.

 

[Mowich]

Nonsense, mistakes don't give others a license to commit crimes. Breaking into your computer is no different than them breaking into your car or house. With the exception that most car and B/E crooks are druggies looking for a fix, while cybercrooks do it mostly to terrorize other people for kicks. So I consider them terrorists.

Or, to steal all your personal info so they can empty your bank account.

Kreskin, who considers them terrorists, is excusing criminality and blaming victims? Read slower or go visit an optometrist. You should not toss out barbs like "idiot"...ever.

 

[DurkaDurka]

Really, if you don't put your home security alarm on and people steal stuff then you should go to jail?

The way some of these companies operate their systems is borderline negligent in my opinion, if these companies fail to secure systems which contain valuable information, they should be strung up with the "hackers" in my opinion. There is no excuse to not follow regular practices of patching the OS, routers, firewalls etc. not to excuse these douche bag hackers but the idiots running the IT departments at some of these companies more or less enable these attacks due to laziness or negligence.

I disagree MF. We wouldn't need security if people were honest and trustworthy. The people screwing up everything are the criminals. Security is a response to the problems created by criminals.

I work in the IT industry. No matter how secure something is made there is always a way to circumvent it. Usually the biggest security hole exists between the keyboard and chair.

I support holding criminals fully accountable for their malicious actions. Incompetent good intentions should only lead to dismissal, not jail time.

when systems are exploited by known holes which the company failed to address/patch, they are at least partially responsible in my opinion.

 

[earth_as_one]

Responsible? Yes. Criminals ? Maybe

If these people knew they had secuirty problems and did nothing, then someone might be criminally negligent. If they were just incompetent and oblivious to their problems as I suspect, then the problem might be they are unqualified for their jobs. Then I blame whoever was responsible for hiring and training these people.

Hiring qualified people and training them can be expensive. Hiring unqualified people and not training them can be very expensive because of the consequences. Unqualified people who find themselves over their heads usually know they are over their heads. In our culture, we tend to stay silent and do nothing until a crisis happens.

Usually security problems are systemic. Either the proper procedures weren't in place, or they weren't being followed or both. So part of the blame has to go to the people responsible for making sure proper security procedures were being followed.

Also, new security holes are discovered all the time. Frequently their are periods of time when everyone is vulnerable to hackers until someone develops a patch or counter measure. that's an inherent weakness with computers.

I suspect lots of people contributed to this security breach.

 

[mentalfloss]

I disagree MF. We wouldn't need security if people were honest and trustworthy. The people screwing up everything are the criminals. Security is a response to the problems created by criminals.

I work in the IT industry. No matter how secure something is made there is always a way to circumvent it. Usually the biggest security hole exists between the keyboard and chair.

This is true, but there is more granularity to this issue.

If there is a very well implemented security measure that is circumvented, that is one thing. However, if there is a very lax system in place that is begging to be taken advantage of, then we definitely have an issue of contributory negligence. Sony basically held the door wide open and invited all sorts of malicious activity that the consumer suffered for because they did not make the proper investment into their security sector.

 

[DurkaDurka]

Responsible? Yes. Criminals ? Maybe

If these people knew they had secuirty problems and did nothing, then someone might be criminally negligent. If they were just incompetent and oblivious to their problems as I suspect, then the problem might be they are unqualified for their jobs. Then I blame whoever was responsible for hiring and training these people.

Hiring qualified people and training them can be expensive. Hiring unqualified people and not training them can be very expensive because of the consequences. Unqualified people who find themselves over their heads usually know they are over their heads. In our culture, we tend to stay silent and do nothing until a crisis happens.

Usually security problems are systemic. Either the proper procedures weren't in place, or they weren't being followed or both. So part of the blame has to go to the people responsible for making sure proper security procedures were being followed.

Also, new security holes are discovered all the time. Frequently their are periods of time when everyone is vulnerable to hackers until someone develops a patch or counter measure. that's an inherent weakness with computers.

I suspect lots of people contributed to this security breach.

Look at Sony, their failure to encrypt the DB tables containing subscriber info is ridiculous in this day and age, and they are paying for it now with class action lawsuits across the world.

I believe there needs to be a mandatory security standard when it comes to businesses that store customer info, available from the web. Sony would only have had to deal with a system intrusion if they had of encrypted the user tables...