The Underground Hacking Economy 29
Fast Company profiles the rise of sites like Hackers List and Hackers For Hire, which provide consolidated markets for people to hire hackers to break passwords, alter databases, learn to operate malware, and more. People with the skills to circumvent security are putting themselves out there as freelancers for specific tasks, and people in need of their services are posting notices asking for help. Law enforcement agencies are warning about this new type of behavior, saying it's often illegal, and facilitated by online anonymity and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The number of deals currently being made through these sites remains small, but it's growing — particularly among business seeking to gain an advantage over competitors in other countries.
Stop it already (Score:5, Informative)
You mean the same anonymity that allows anyone to check all transactions ever done on a Bitcoin* wallet? [blockchain.info]
* and other similar crypto-currencies as well.
Re: (Score:2)
What does anonymity have to do with fully transparent accounts?
The anonymity adding difference between bitcoin and traditional online banking is, that you don't have to go to the bank with your ID to open an account. In theory, that *is* anonymity. But at the interface between bitcoins and RL money it can be made non-anonymous.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The ironic thing is that there are a lot of BitCoin apps which the first thing they demand is access to your bank account before they even think of letting you create a wallet. Yep, anonymity there.
BitCoin isn't anonymous:
1: Moving currencies to and from BTC is obvious, (bank shows 50 quatloos exchanged to BitCoins and the proceeds moved to wallet "X". Time to watch wallet "X" and follow the trails, busting everyone who receives currency from what wallet.)
2: You have to run the entire blockchain, all 40
Re:Stop it already (Score:4, Informative)
So I just don't install that crappy app. That's no argument.
You don't have to make a full blockchain run for every transaction. If you have enough transactions, you can also make a list with valid/invalid wallets and their balance and use that to tell whether transactions are valid.
Re: (Score:1)
When BC first started out I set up a mining box and let it run headless for months. I ended up with forty-something BC. Because of the connotations now implied with them (as incorrect as they are) I do not want to spend them with anything attached to my name as I am a fairly reputable person. So, well, does anyone know of a decent NPO that accepts BC as donations? I want to be able to verify how much of the donations go to actual causes rather than paying the salary of executives and workers. There is a rea
Re:Stop it already (Score:4, Informative)
Depending on the organization's lifecycle and purpose, about 15-20 percent of the budget on overhead is normal. A very new nonprofit has to spend a lot more on outreach and fundraising, as would a nonprofit that's raising funds for a major capital project.
I've found one of the most telling signs is a big gap between the CEO's salary and that of the next highest-paid staff. Unless there's some obvious reason (the CEO is the only full-time employee), that's the sign of a big CEO ego and a weak board.
The CEO and upper exec salaries should reflect their real market value, including the perks of the nonprofit sector. Most CEO turnover in the nonprofit world is voluntary, for example. In addition, the CEO of an organization with a lot of independent chapters has a lot less to do with their revenue stream than the CEO of one that's highly controlled from the parent organization.
Unless the organization is doing fundraising for a capital campaign, there shouldn't be big payments to professional fundraisers, compared to total income. Big consultant fees are another warning sign.
Re: (Score:1)
Thank you very much. The only sites I knew of were:
http://www.charitynavigator.or... [charitynavigator.org]
https://www.charitywatch.org/ [charitywatch.org]
It is amazing how many egregious NPOs are out there and even more amazing how many people do not pay attention to this. Chances are that if they are paying a huge sum of money to buy expensive ads and then place those ads then they are not a very good charity. So, if you are seeing them advertise on all the channels during prime slots there is probably no reason to donate to them, they can use th
Re:Stop it already (Score:5, Funny)
Or you could just send your Bitcoins to me... 18LQHMjKSCSU3g4f29TfmtfxHXUfnh7juB
Thank you in advance for any amount. Even 1/10th of a Bitcoin would be extremely appreciated.
Re: (Score:1)
Anonymity doesn't mean untraceable.
The identity of a wallet holder is unknown even if the transactions of that wallet are public knowledge, at least until the transactions can be traced to specific hardware or a particular delivery point.
Re: (Score:2)
Like how I'm not anonymous because anyone can trace all posts made by penguinoid? And Anonymous Coward isn't anonymous either, because there's a record of every post they made?
Anyone serious about their anonymity will be careful how they use their Bitcoins.
This sounds like... (Score:3)
Enlightening (Score:3)
online anonymity (Score:2)
If it existed that would be great! Circumvention is not always a bad thing.
deres haxx0rs in dere m4rk3tz (Score:2, Insightful)
because, you know, smearing the maker movement with juvenile crap is what the security industry is all about
The Underground Slashdot Economy (Score:3)
http://slashdot.org/submission... [slashdot.org]
http://slashdot.org/submission... [slashdot.org]
http://slashdot.org/submission... [slashdot.org]
Welcome to being utilized as a herd of sheep, people.
Re: (Score:1, Funny)
As you, yourself, post here as one of the sheep you decry... We all know about this. Your blathering is not helping. Take your stuff off SF. Oh, wait, you do not have anything up at SF and just want to whine so you can boost your ego and feel good about yourself though you have done nothing to help. A shallow life must be depressing.
Re: (Score:2)
"Take your stuff off SF. Oh, wait, you do not have anything up at SF"
I did take my stuff off of SF. About three years ago. Oh, wait, you're just as ignorant as everyone else! Welcome to the sheep herd!
Re: (Score:2)
The fact your account has a daily posting limit says it all.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Attack on Rutgers University (Score:4, Insightful)
DDOS attacks forced Rutgers off the internet, right when he and others needed it most to complete assignments.
sure glad I graduated before realtime access to the internet was necessary to finish assignments. Back then all I needed was a lot of hot coffee.