Fox Hacks Fark

circletimessquare writes "Valleywag.com is reporting on a case of a hacker not covering his tracks. It seems that, via a targeted email, an admin at Fark.com downloaded a trojan, which was used to steal passwords for Fark servers. Notably, these activities were traced to an IP address in Memphis Tennessee, and to a Fox News new-media reporter. As to the veracity of the story, that is bolstered by the fact that the story was greenlit for the front page of Fark. Motive? That could range from Fark being a rumored Fox takeover target, to stealing source code for a competing Fox social networking site. If the story is true, laws have been broken, but perhaps not by the Fox News reporter: it's possible his computer was hacked as well. Whatever the truth, it's a very entertaining read, as it pushes a number of hot buttons."

Huh

[VonSkippy]

If the ongoing RIAA shenanigans have taught us nothing else, it's that IP does NOT equal personal Identity.

Re:Journalist == Hacker?

[Xtravar]

So, did this Phillips guy develop the trojan that stole the Fark passwords? Did this guy minor in CompSci?

He sent a trojan. Any idiot can do that, with the plethora of pre-built and easily customizable trojans out there.

Not to mention, it doesn't take a genius to write a trojan and any hobbyist programmer can do it (though maybe a little harder now with "enhanced security" in Windows").

I smell BS

[Anonymous Coward]

I smell BS - probably a marketing campaign by Fark. How many technologically adept admins do you know that fall for such easy e-mail tricks? Nice try. Let's keep the "I have Fox" to the facts, not idiotic statements like this.

Re:Fark front page

[ScentCone]

Wait, the fact that it was greenlit on Fark indicates that it is true?

No, the fact that is was greenlit by Fark and that it unblinkingly bashes Fox does that. If it had been an IP address at NPR, that would be different. Then there would have be peer review, done by Digg.

Comfortable Little Cave

[bill_mcgonigle]

Your dedication as an ideologue is impressive, and appropriate for a story involving Fox and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

That's right, just keep telling yourself Rupert Murdoch isn't in it for the money...

Re:Huh

[rm999]

Yes, the summary does admit he may have been hacked, but it is a tech saavy reporter we are talking about here. The three most probable events are that he did it, he got someone else to do it, or he was framed. Foil hat aside, one of the first two guesses is most likely.

Let us not forget that reporters often forget that they are also within the law when they are covering a story. Perhaps he did all this without thinking he was breaking a law.

Re:I smell BS

[pmatchstick]

I smell BS - probably a marketing campaign by Fark. How many technologically adept admins do you know that fall for such easy e-mail tricks? Nice try. Let's keep the "I have Fox" to the facts, not idiotic statements like this.

I seriously doubt it, because if this was pure BS cooked up by the Fark admins they would have to be absolute fools to assign blame to a person (Phillips.) If they didn't have pretty damning evidence then he would have pretty good grounds for a defamation lawsuit (and possibly might end up owning Fark. Literally, not in the "Owned" sense.)

Not that the Fark "Farkers" aren't hyping this to be more than it is by the Fox association, making it seem like Bill O'Reilly is trying to take them down, when in reality it's a local reporter who may or may not be acting alone... But I would really be surprised if these allegations were just pulled out of thin air.

Oh, and knowing a little about Fark, there are many admins who serve as moderators of the discussions but have nothing to do with site maintenance. Not that they shouldn't be wiser about email tricks but these folks may be far from "technologically adept."

Re:Hah.

[glitch23]

It's interesting how a comment calling an organization a hate machine w/o any evidence is rated insightful. Who do they hate and why and what proof is there that they do so?

Re:Hah.

[Anonymous Coward]

Watch Fox News for about 5 minutes. The evidence is plain for everyone to see.

Re:Hah.

[Anonymous Coward]

You're right, Fox is not that far to the right on the US political spectrum. Unfortunately, the spectrum itself has swung so far right over the last 30 years or so that it's not much consolation.

Re:Hah.

[rtb61]

Fox Networks by no stretch of the imagination has a conservative bias. Everybody keeps using that word but I definitely don't believe you know what it means if they associate it with the Fox Network.

Conservative style politics is politics that is resistant to change, prefers the status quo, avoids war, has no interest global expansion, deplores increased government spending, they demand privacy, insist upon the respect of private property, and loathe the concentration of power.

That the term conservative has been flagrantly hijacked by the pseudo Christian lobbyists party (the republicans) and by corporate mass media is with out question, that the term conservative is actually being used to camouflage, gross corporate exploitation of the conservative electorate is self evident.

The Fox Network is a relic of the past, an abusive of the truth, bereft of honesty, network whose only goal is profit without limits, and the damage done to a society and those middle class conservative members who make up that society, just seems to motivate Fox Network to ever greater excesses. The Network seems to be going out of it's way to support the ruination of the US economy and the elimination of the actual real conservative middle class.