From NetworkWorld:
Congressional aide admits trying to hire hackers — to boost his college GPA
By Paul McNamara on Thu, 12/21/2006 – 6:59pmThe communications director for Montana’s lone congressman solicited the services of two men he falsely believed to be criminally minded hackers-for-hire — with the expressed goal of jacking up his college GPA — during an exchange that spanned 22 e-mails over two weeks this past summer.
Todd Shriber, 28-year-old press aide to U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., e-mailed the security Web site attrition.org on Aug. 9, writing: “I need to urgently make contact with a hacker that would be interested in doing a one-time job for me. The pay would be good. I’m not sure what exactly the job would entail with respect to computer jargon, but I can go into rough detail upon making contact with a candidate.”
(Update: Shriber fired.)
You HAVE TO click through and read the email correspondence.
The future leaders of America, you betcha.
Pretty obvious why his grades weren’t that hot….
This is too funny.
I can see this guy as Quentin Tarantino in Pulp Fiction: “I really want to work with you on this project, but I’d like to have the dead body out of my garage as soon as possible. Thoughts?”
OK, this is a fellow who wants a hacker-for-hire and he corresponds about this desire on . . . e-mail?
I mean, that is almost like trying to hire a hit man using a personal ad in the classifieds and using your real name.
bq. I mean, that is almost like trying to hire a hit man using a personal ad in the classifieds and using your real name.
Is there anything wrong with that?
Um–hypothetically, of course…
BTW, back in college, I got an F in Applied Ethics and an A in Gullibility. WoC seems like a pretty knowledgeable website; any chance you guys could hack into my transcript and swap those grades? Supersecretly?
Funny thing… I had a friend back in university who grew up, became a management-IT consultant for Andersen Consulting (note – not the accounting firm, they’re still a going concern and one of the Big 5), then became a strategist for a high tech firm in Canada.
He then got nailed trying to sell industrial secrets to competitors… by email. At least one of those competitors did the right thing, and turned him in to his employer. Who, naturally, search the email account and found all the evidence required.
He was lucky to strike a deal and avoid jail time. I often wonder what happened to him, and how he is/ what he’s doing today.
But if you think a Congressional aide pulling this sort of idiocy is something, ponder someone doing it whose entire career consisted of advising senior people in corporations re: business and technology, and the commentary THAT represents on so many levels.
There’s a reason Scott Adams is a multi-millionaire, you betcha.
that would be pwn3d not p0wned. p=0, noob.
Can’t tell who you’re commenting on, 007, but all our Interwebs thank you for the burst of leetspeek correction.
Is it not surprising that corruption breeds corruption. If there are no consequences for anything that our beloved Congressmen do, then they are the model. Hell, we are the ones who encourage this sort of thing by doing nothing.