The comment:  O sole mio, how carefree is the hacker life!

The comment: O sole mio, how carefree is the hacker life!

2. Mai 2022 0 Von Horst Buchwald

The comment:

O sole mio, how carefree is the hacker life!

O sole mio, I „studied“ really hard for one year and now – o sole mio – I am Dr. Hack… o sole mio, now my most beautiful dreams come true …o sole mio, I distribute malware …o sole mio….then I cash in…..o sole mio…. I’ll buy a 1000P Bentley….o sole mio, …. I’ll fly to Florida and buy the beautiful Helena for a week … O sole mio, that wasn’t cheap — o sole mio, now I’ll distribute some e-mails….o sole mio, they all took the bait…. o sole mio, now I have five clients on the hook o sole mio, …they’re at my mercy … o sole mio, their trade secrets are encrypted….o sole mio….two are already offering me $500,000….o sole mio, that leaves three left…. o sole mio, I’m flying to Bangkok now….I’m dining at the best hotel and enjoying life….o sole mio, one call ….short negotiation…..another 2 million flowing into my accounts….o sole mio…..why aren’t we all hackers?

The first time I read a book about a hacker, it struck me as funny. The plot: by accident, a programmer discovers that something mysterious is moving in his software. Indeed- a cursor. It took him a few hours, then he realized, a stranger has entered. Just you wait, I’ll show you!

A year later at a computer fair in Hannover. There was a heated discussion at the Microsoft booth. Four young dynamos dressed in black suits were arguing with an older colleague. He worked for one of the large national daily newspapers and he was getting support from two other colleagues. What was going on, I wanted to know from the press officer. He flashed a smile on his features and waved off „s‘ probably about some hacking story again.“ But why are they so excited? Well, the problem is that there are more and more of these intruders. I remembered this book by this programmer. He tracked the intruder and caught him. It’s too much work, the Microsoft guy said. That was the end of the matter for him. Oh yes, he added: An update and the problem is out of the world.

This illusionary attitude could be heard from almost every software manufacturer. Programmers make mistakes, hackers discover them – we make an update – that’s it.

In the meantime, specially trained police hackers are fighting criminal hacker gangs all over the world. How high the damages are – who knows. In any case, it seems – as in many other fights of the police against criminals – to be a fight against windmills.

Few successes, too much effort. Who is doing something wrong?

And it goes much further: Cyberwar! But this topic is a different category. We will report more on that as well.