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The 'homeless hacker' talks
Sep. 18th, 2003 08:16 amJerry posted this to the highlights last night and it's excellent. The beginning article is interesting, but you have to read the interview with this guy. Homeless hacker, maybe -- enlightened one, certainly.
By Declan McCullagh, Special to ZDNet
18 September 2003
...nothing we do is wasted and that in the universe that we inhabit, it's a closed system under the laws of physics in which energy is never destroyed and everything that we do is redistributed and recycled to the place it should be.
The past two years have been a wild ride for Adrian Lamo: The 22-year-old has publicly taken credit for tunnelling into networks belonging to Yahoo, Microsoft, Excite@Home and WorldCom. But unlike a typical electronic intruder, Lamo would inform the companies exactly how he gained access--a move which let them repair the security vulnerability he exploited while sneaking in. Some of his targets even went so far as to call him "helpful" for offering advice.
All that changed in February 2002, however, when Lamo took credit for breaking into the network of The New York Times and snagging a database of about 3,000 op-ed contributors. That incident eventually led to a pair of federal criminal charges against Lamo and his arrest and appearance in district court in Manhattan last week.
Lamo is known for a radically mobile lifestyle with no fixed address that's led to him being called the "homeless hacker." He likes to wander the United States on Greyhound buses, sleeping on friends' couches and, when necessary, camping in vacant or derelict buildings.
Now his homeless days are over. U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman said last Friday that Lamo could be released on US$250,000 bail, but only if he agreed to stay with his parents in their home near Sacramento, California.
CNET News.com caught up with Lamo at the airport last Thursday and interviewed him on his way to surrender at the FBI's New York field office.
( Interview follows )
By Declan McCullagh, Special to ZDNet
18 September 2003
...nothing we do is wasted and that in the universe that we inhabit, it's a closed system under the laws of physics in which energy is never destroyed and everything that we do is redistributed and recycled to the place it should be.
The past two years have been a wild ride for Adrian Lamo: The 22-year-old has publicly taken credit for tunnelling into networks belonging to Yahoo, Microsoft, Excite@Home and WorldCom. But unlike a typical electronic intruder, Lamo would inform the companies exactly how he gained access--a move which let them repair the security vulnerability he exploited while sneaking in. Some of his targets even went so far as to call him "helpful" for offering advice.
All that changed in February 2002, however, when Lamo took credit for breaking into the network of The New York Times and snagging a database of about 3,000 op-ed contributors. That incident eventually led to a pair of federal criminal charges against Lamo and his arrest and appearance in district court in Manhattan last week.
Lamo is known for a radically mobile lifestyle with no fixed address that's led to him being called the "homeless hacker." He likes to wander the United States on Greyhound buses, sleeping on friends' couches and, when necessary, camping in vacant or derelict buildings.
Now his homeless days are over. U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman said last Friday that Lamo could be released on US$250,000 bail, but only if he agreed to stay with his parents in their home near Sacramento, California.
CNET News.com caught up with Lamo at the airport last Thursday and interviewed him on his way to surrender at the FBI's New York field office.
( Interview follows )
