

How to Send Mail to MTV.com - processing
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-hack-into-mtv-com/

======
ajays
Kids these days. This isn't "hacking into MTV.com".

If "hacking" were equivalent to "breaking into someone's house, making
yourself a breakfast, cleaning up and leaving without taking anything and
anyone noticing you were there", then this is more like "ringing the doorbell
and running away". Just sayin'....

------
elliottcarlson
This isn't really hacking, it's just using a mail server, for sending mail...
The problem is/was that SMTP AUTH was overlooked as a requirement from the
original SMTP spec, and the bigger WTF is that it took about 20 years before
it was added to the spec.

Edit to add:

"While he was on the computer I shut off all the power on the floor." -
Because everyone can just stand there and shut all the power off on a floor...
if it were indeed a 'hack' then give more specifics, if it's flipping the
switch on a breaker... well... that's just that.

------
citricsquid
why are all this guys articles on the front page of hn? They're just pointless
crap not worth reading that culminate in "follow me on twitter I'm a super
cool guy".

~~~
zeroplus1
i guess they really stir something deeply inside of you. thanks!

------
dkhoya
I don't think the point of the article was the "hacking" so no reason to
really breakdown how good of a hacker Altucher is/is not.

~~~
elliottcarlson
If that is the case, then the title is pure link bait; the article wasn't
about MTV.com; and the closest to a hack is the social engineering (to
whatever degree) used to get the friend to the MTV beach house.

~~~
zeroplus
I guess illegally entering mtv.com and doing something with their mail server
counts as a hack.

~~~
elliottcarlson
There was nothing illegal as far as entering... he used a mail server for what
it was intended for. The impersonation of the MTV legal team is a different
story, but it would not constitute a hack in my opinion.

