It's a pretty good presentation, and it cannot be understated that good security is hard to quantify until shit hits the fan. Especially in an environment where "hackers are no longer the apex predator."
In case of living life on the edge (of legality), all it takes it one slip-up and then you're doing 40 years of hard time. In terms of predator-prey, hackers will now always be running and desperately looking behind them.
Good advice: Predators always love playing with their prey, so make sure you're not being manipulated.
> Especially in an environment where "hackers are no longer the apex predator."
and especially in an environment where your peers sing like canaries because they usually lack the (violence-driven) codex regarding the treatment of snitches. and yeah, I remember the case of that tortured guy from that cc forums, but from what I read about all those arrests, it's an exception that proves the rule.
It has nothing to do with codex or creed or any of that, it's simply self-preservation. Most people aren't ideologues willing to go all the way (to death and destitution) for their ideals.
There are almost no organisations that expect a code of silence indefinitely. It is not really a practical expectation of a human being. Most covert organisations (e.g. Hizbollah [0], KGB [1], IRA [2]) will expect their agents to remain silent long enough for everyone else at risk to escape.
This is what happens when you remain silent rather than turn informant [3]. I have immense respect for Stephen Watt for keeping his honor, but I would not recommend taking that path to anyone in a similar situation. Lawyer up, and angle for the best plea deal you can get.
Tx for the links, seem interesting, saved them for a later read.
Yeah, you are absolutely right, but still I wouldn't compare lulzsec to the orgs you mentioned or mobsters. Lets get this straight - no hacktivist or cracker was found hanging on the cell bars or shot in the woods, that's just not a comparable environment to serious organized crime. If nobody is afraid even of getting their knees broken, not to mention ditched in a hole, is there anything stopping them from snitching the minute le shows up at the door? Snitching is punishable for a reason, and there is a reason that ruleset goes all the way down to street level crime or even minor offences (that last one actually differs among places for cultural and political reasons).
Informants are the greatest fear of all clandestine organisations. The reason for this is that they are privy to sensitive information that can be used to damage other members of the organisation.
Modern clandestine organisations use strict compartmentation to limit the information available to operatives so that informants have limited information. Examples of this exist even in the movies: http://grugq.github.io/blog/2013/03/11/opsec-lessons-from-re...
it is not lack of violence-driven knowledge about the ones that got caught.
It is the lack of self preservation forward thinking of the ones not caught.
Crime syndicates usually have insurance for families for people caught, and assurance that when they came out they will keep their share. If they didn't have this benefit they would be talking the same.
>>> it cannot be understated that good security is hard to quantify until shit hits the fan.
One of the reasons I stopped being a hacker a long time ago. You never know how good you've covered tracks until the Feds show up in your dorm room, take you to a windowless room and grill you for about an hour, scaring the shit out of you in the process.
I was lucky, I only lost some network privileges. Today the stakes are way higher and the Feds have some insane resources at their disposal. It's a zero sum game to them. You will lose every time.
Even worse is the speed of escalation -- organizations didn't used to go right to the feds, and when they did then the feds didn't immediately use 4am SWAT teams.
Nowadays the rate at which you'll get fucked hard is pretty fast, and they won't waste their time washing you through the legal system instead of letting you stew in a holding cell. Sure you'll get your plea bargain, but you won't like the part where you're forced to work as an informant immediately.
In case of living life on the edge (of legality), all it takes it one slip-up and then you're doing 40 years of hard time. In terms of predator-prey, hackers will now always be running and desperately looking behind them.
Good advice: Predators always love playing with their prey, so make sure you're not being manipulated.