Gallimaufry Grey Hats - For the Greater Good

Recently I wrote about a couple of very notable White Hat hackers who have literally changed the world as we know it. Those savants of technology took a concept and made it staple in the world we live in. Today we turn the tables though and look at a couple of adventurous grey hat hackers that used their considerable skills to make a statement.

Grey hats are widely considered criminals because they make their mark by cracking code and getting into government systems, financial institutions, companies, and much more. Although these criminals have sometimes caused a lot of damage and even exposed sensitive information, they have also accomplished a great deal towards what they consider the ‘greater good’. Their actions exposed weaknesses in processes that needed to be fixed in order to protect everyone from future attacks and possibly even more malicious events.

Gary McKinnon

In 2002 the US Army was greeted with a message across their screen that read: “Your security system is crap. I am Solo. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels.” At the time the US Government was unsure what to make of this and were appalled that had fallen victim to such an attack. Remember: this was 2002 and hacking was a less common act than it is now.

McKinnon suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, which is a very high functioning form of Autism. My younger brother also has Asperger’s which typically means that the individual is socially awkward, but very brilliant.

His hacking incident was not entirely malicious; he was not looking to take down the government and cause anarchy like your typical Black Hat. No, he was looking for UFO’s. McKinnon thought that the US Army was hiding classified information about UFO’s and Area 51. Since McKinnon was not an American citizen and living in Scotland at the time of the attack, the US Government sought his extradition to the US to answer to a total financial damage of $700,000.

McKinnon’s hack lead to the US Government placing stronger security measures, thus protecting them from further attacks of this nature.

George Hotz

Do you remember know who the first person was to carrier-unlock an iPhone? Hotz was the guy! The Sony PS3 jailbreak hack of 2011? Hotz was the guy there too!

At the young age of 17, when most teenage boys are more concerned about their dating life, he had already gained notoriety for his iPhone hack, unlocking the carrier and allowing it to be programmed to access any carriers’ network. It was reported that he traded that first iPhone for a Nissan 350Z sports car and three 8GB iPhones. Not a bad haul, considering he most likely had just received his license.

His largest claim to fame wasn’t the iPhone jailbreak, though. In 2010 he figured a way to jailbreak into the Sony PS3 and gain access to the information on the PlayStation Network. Sony responded by placing a patch into their next software update and thought it would be enough to block any future attacks. However, in late 2010 the group fail0verflow successfully broke in and stole thousands of user account data, which included customer credit card information.

Although he claims he was not directly involved in failOverflow incident, the documented method that Hotz had developed was used to carry out the attack. Sony then sued Hotz in a very public hearing, which was later settled out of court with an agreement that Hotz would never attempt to crack into the Sony network again. His knowledge actually lead to a very successful career that has landed him jobs at both Facebook and Google.

Claim to fame

As I was reading the stories of these men, I was amazed by Hotz’s motivation to get known and McKinnon’s drive to uncover the truth. Both men had different drivers for their hacking attempts and were looking to gain notoriety in some way. Hotz, would announce his success online while jail breaking both the iPhone IOS and PS3 network and share his new found secrets with others. 

McKinnon on the other hand was not trying to really hide his identity either in his search for UFO’s.

In a way it stems back to heated discussions that can be heard at dinner tables and on talk shows around the world. Should criminals’ names and faces be shared in the media? Some believe that seeing their name in lights can be a real driver for a criminal and therefore they should not be exposed in the media at all. What’s your stance?