Hackers !

[KassieMac]

I'd say a week is fair to acknowledge the bug and assign a priority to it (not fixed, necessarily, just acknowledged), before continuing to escalate the number of people outside the company made aware of it, especially if the report is well-written (as it should be, if you've taken the time to break into the system).

I agree that it should be acknowledged as soon as possible, but for political reasons companies don't want to acknowledge anything until they've replicated the errors and isolated what parts of the code are involved … so they can present how users can protect themselves and have a fair estimate of how long it will take to fix. When you consider that once the proof of concept goes public then malicious hackers can start exploiting it immediately, it seems more fair to allow enough time for the company to actually fix it. A public acknowledgement before the fix is in place puts users at a higher risk.

 

[dragonwolf]

I agree that it should be acknowledged as soon as possible, but for political reasons companies don't want to acknowledge anything until they've replicated the errors and isolated what parts of the code are involved … so they can present how users can protect themselves and have a fair estimate of how long it will take to fix. When you consider that once the proof of concept goes public then malicious hackers can start exploiting it immediately, it seems more fair to allow enough time for the company to actually fix it. A public acknowledgement before the fix is in place puts users at a higher risk.

I'm not even talking public acknowledgement, just acknowledgment to the person reporting it. "Hey, thanks for the report. We've confirmed that it is a valid bug and we are prioritizing it appropriately."

It is certainly interesting to see the workflow differences between open and closed source titles, since in open source all bugs are public knowledge. There's a lot of accountability there that isn't present in the closed source titles, in my experience and opinion.

 

[KassieMac]

I'm not even talking public acknowledgement, just acknowledgment to the person reporting it. "Hey, thanks for the report. We've confirmed that it is a valid bug and we are prioritizing it appropriately."

Hopefully that's what normally happens, but those cases wouldn't make the tech news. And it seems decent (to me) that they give the company more than enough time to respond before going public. That should be the absolute last resort.

 

[The Penguin]

Maybe. I know I miss being with the hacker group when I was living in Toronto.

 

[Vanilla]

I actually have a friend I met recently who has taught me much about hackers, and their world. I myself know nothing about the world, and so can only go by his words, but he explained a few things to me.

My friend is a self-diagnosed Aspie, and he had previously held jobs which involved being hired by companies to actively try and infiltrate their systems, in order to improve on their security, and prevent potential cyber crimes.

He explained to me that the term 'hacker' is actually not supposed to be a derogatory, or infamous, term; it's actually supposed to refer to a person who is able to find solutions to problems. This can include creating free software for the general public, creating/ updating anti-virus software, and various other deeds. Apparently there are hacker conventions, where they all get together, share their talents, and try to actively make the world a better place. Just as the media can put AS in a bad light, hackers also fall under this scrutiny, and so are forced to often keep their job titles a secret in social circles, due to fear of others misunderstanding them.

This video is long, but for those interested, it does shed some light on to a world most of us know nothing about:

 

[Randomperson]

I am currently attempting to hack some of the laws of physics, no luck so far, but if I pull it off, it will be a game changer

 

[AGXStarseed]

I think personally, the media just loves to put a negative spin on Autism and Aspergers whenever it can. People think hackers are bad because some of them do things they shouldn't and now they have one been caught who's an aspie, so they feel the need to broadcast it.
I also think some of it relates to Scottish administrator Gary Mckinnon - a man with Asperger Syndrome who is said to have performed "the greatest military computer hack of all time". He managed to illegally access several American systems (including NASA) under the name 'SOLO' in search of evidence of UFOs, free-energy technologies and other suppressed technology that would benefit the general public. He was able to do this simply by using a Perl script that searched for blank passwords; in other words his report suggests that there were computers on these networks with the default passwords active. He did leave messages on the systems - basically saying their security was crap as well as leaving an interesting message regarding the September 11th attacks (which I won't post as it could be linked to conspiracy theories).

In response to if I've ever hacked anything, I have once. I was at a parents evening at my nursery with my mum and dad (I was 4 years old) and got bored, so the teacher let me use a computer to play for a while. The computer had no internet and had an automatic shutdown feature that would close the computer down after a set time period.
I don't know how I did it, but I managed to hack into the computer system and override the automatic shut down. Both my parents and the teacher couldn't believe it, and the teacher even said they would have to replace the entire security system because of what I did. I can't remember how I did it, and this has been the only time I ever did such a thing.

 

[KassieMac]

How about Alan Turing? I've never heard him called a hacker, but the Nazis in WWII may have seen him that way. He's said to have been Aspie, and he's definitely a hero who helped end a war.

 

[wyverary]

I think personally, the media just loves to put a negative spin on Autism and Aspergers whenever it can. People think hackers are bad because some of them do things they shouldn't and now they have one been caught who's an aspie, so they feel the need to broadcast it.
I also think some of it relates to Scottish administrator Gary Mckinnon - a man with Asperger Syndrome who is said to have performed "the greatest military computer hack of all time". He managed to illegally access several American systems (including NASA) under the name 'SOLO' in search of evidence of UFOs, free-energy technologies and other suppressed technology that would benefit the general public. He was able to do this simply by using a Perl script that searched for blank passwords; in other words his report suggests that there were computers on these networks with the default passwords active. He did leave messages on the systems - basically saying their security was crap as well as leaving an interesting message regarding the September 11th attacks (which I won't post as it could be linked to conspiracy theories).

In response to if I've ever hacked anything, I have once. I was at a parents evening at my nursery with my mum and dad (I was 4 years old) and got bored, so the teacher let me use a computer to play for a while. The computer had no internet and had an automatic shutdown feature that would close the computer down after a set time period.
I don't know how I did it, but I managed to hack into the computer system and override the automatic shut down. Both my parents and the teacher couldn't believe it, and the teacher even said they would have to replace the entire security system because of what I did. I can't remember how I did it, and this has been the only time I ever did such a thing.

I recall there was, not too long ago, a breach in the CIA's (or was it NSA's? Something along those lines) security system by a young British man who was convinced that they were hiding information on UFOs, and Aspergers came up when they were discussing his sentencing--and some outlets did not cast that in a particularly positive light. Personally, I think the CIA should have hired him.

 

[GoofKing]

Attention Linux users !!!! Upgrade or patch BASH ASAP !!! There's a critical security exploit for BASH called Shell Shock I think:

Shellshock: All you need to know about the Bash Bug vulnerability | Symantec Connect

Critical Bash Exploit found ! - Security - Haphost

Just doing my part to alert my fellow Aspie Linux users Please patch this ASAP I <3 you all

 

[AGXStarseed]

I recall there was, not too long ago, a breach in the CIA's (or was it NSA's? Something along those lines) security system by a young British man who was convinced that they were hiding information on UFOs, and Aspergers came up when they were discussing his sentencing--and some outlets did not cast that in a particularly positive light. Personally, I think the CIA should have hired him.

Agreed - they should hire him.