I'm surprised that there are people who claim to be pen-testers that
are even surprised that he has been charged under the circumstances.
Anyone remember Randal Schwartz, Intel and Randals felony conviction?
And remember, Randal was employed at Intel. His defense was (surprise)
that he was being a good samaritan showing the flaws in their
security.
You can agree or disagree with whether these sorts of prosecutions
make sense but to be surprised that they occur defies belief. The
bottom line is that you generally don't test other peoples systems
without permission and expect not to have bad things happen to you.
I'm by no means advocating security through obscurity. I cannot
condone random individuals actively attacking a websites security
under the guise of helping. What would your position be if his
activity had been identified and he had been arrested and charged
before emailing Securityfocus?
Just a few thoughts.
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