
TJX Hacker Was Awash in Cash; His Penniless Coder Faces Prison - yaj
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/06/watt
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andrewljohnson
Is the only source for this guy being Unix Terrorist and Jim Jones Kevin
Mitnick? Couldn't they have said "according to Kevin Mitnick" rather than
stating it as fact?

That's one reason I appreciate newspaper journalism even today. The standards
they use to convey the level of credibility in the presentation of facts is
something a lot of blogs, and even Wired, could learn from.

~~~
gojomo
The author may have many sources for that identification; she says he "was
known in hacker circles" by those names, which suggests there are many people
who could (and possibly did) confirm the nyms to her.

~~~
KWD
I don't infer the same from the quote. It just as easily could have been her
single source, Mitnick, that are the 'hacker circles'. The wording alone does
not suggest multiple sources.

~~~
gojomo
I read it differently; but since there's no suggestion Watt disputes this, or
that Mitnick is unreliable on this, I don't understand the greatgrandparent
post implication this is somehow indicative of shoddy journalism.

It's background info confirmed by at least one and probably multiple sources,
and journalists specifically _don't_ want to or need to footnote their stories
with multiple named sources like a research paper or legal brief.

~~~
andrewljohnson
The author does say neither sides' lawyers acknowledge it. That indicates to
me there's some reason to dispue it. If Watt doesn't dispute it, why isn't he
quoted as saying so?

If it's not shoddy journalism, then it's shoddy writing.

~~~
gojomo
Sounds to me like Watt and his lawyers have neither confirmed nor denied it --
it hasn't come up in the case, and there'e no reason to go on record either
way. Quite possibly, she asked Watt's team, and they said something like "I
have no information on that" or "I can't comment on things not part of this
case".

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TrevorJ
You wonder what he thought his angle would be. He seems to have knowingly
shouldered as much risk as his partner without any of the payoffs. My guess is
he _was_ compensated somehow but has thus far managed to shield that
knowledge.

~~~
randallsquared
This plus the fact that he was working at Morgan Stanley seems to indicate
that either he's managed to cleverly hide the loot, or he was doing it because
of the challenge. If the latter, then it wouldn't have been any challenge to
rip off Morgan Stanley, since he was already inside.

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newsio
Interesting that this person was doing some of this while working at Morgan
Stanley. It seems that there would be much richer pickings at a Wall Street
bank than at TJX.

Also, Watt is now "prohibited from using a computer". Is that possible? How do
the feds define "computer"?

~~~
jm4
Of course it's possible! Haven't you ever seen Hackers? The same thing
happened to the guy in the movie. _duck_

It's most likely a condition of his bail. After he serves his sentence it will
likely be a condition of his probation. I don't think this is uncommon for
large scale computer crimes.

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Dilpil
Penniless? He worked at Morgan Stanley. And then quit for an even higher
paying job.

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edw519
"Watt was ignorant of the use to which his best friend would put the custom
packet sniffer..."

Yea, right.

"Honestly officer, I was just keeping the engine warm while my friends were
trick or treating in the 7-11."

~~~
ciupicri
And O. J. Simpson didn't murder anyone. Let's be serious here, anything is
possible in the court. Maybe his friends only planned to play with that
sniffer and not steal any money.

