• 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    34
    ·
    4 months ago

    Mike Howell:

    Ok listen to me closely

    We are in the process of identifying and outting members of your group

    Reputations and lives will be destroyed

    Closeted Furries will be presented to the world for the degenerate perverts they are

    You cannot hide

    Your means are miniscule compared to mine. You now can either turn yourself in or you can cooperate

    Oh I so hope that reputations will be destroyed…

    • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      64
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      Lol. The gay furry Cybersecurity activist’s reputations are already established.

      We like them.

      I appreciate what they’re doing, and hope they keep a strong eye on where their ethical boundaries are, and keep out of anything too hot for their opsec to handle.

      But Mike Howell needs to watch Ocean’s 13.

      “I know all the guys you would send after me. They like me more than they like you!”

        • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          4 months ago

          doubt the furries will care much about being outed as furries, but cybercrime is a big no-no when it comes to actual employment

          Absolutely.

          I would prefer our gay furry hackers keep things fully legal, for their own sakes.

          That said, Mike needs help from folks like me to catch these kids, and as long as they’re sticking to ethical hacking, I’m not motivated.

          Also, I don’t like Mike.

          His claim that he actually has my kind of help, actually on his side, is… overconfident, I think.

          I can’t guarantee that, though, so I’m glad to hear our ethical hackers have decided to lay low.

          In any case, everyone has a slightly different perspective on what counts as ethical, so I hope they’ll stick to legal as much as their conscience will allow, from here out.

        • prole@beehaw.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          4 months ago

          but cybercrime is a big no-no when it comes to actual employment.

          Depends on what field you’re in. There are entire sectors of tech that seek out skilled hackers for things like pen testing.

            • prole@beehaw.org
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              4 months ago

              Again, it depends. Some of the most notorious hackers of all time literally had their prison sentences commuted so that they can work for the NSA (or US Gov’t in some capacity).

          • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            edit-2
            4 months ago

            They have a good point though. Pen testing is a vanishingly small corner of our field, and I haven’t seen anyone with a past conviction get hired for those roles, in a long time. (Edit: Of course, I work with privacy respecting folks, so there could be, and their conviction just isn’t famous.)

            I’ve seen too many hacker kids think their hacker reputation is going to get them out of trouble, and it didn’t.

            • prole@beehaw.org
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              4 months ago

              I’ll defer to you on this as I’m by no means an expert. I suppose I thought there was more demand for young people who have that specific skillset than there actually is.

              • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                4 months ago

                Yeah. The demand for red team skills is complicated.

                There’s plenty of work to do. But there’s a lot of anxiety, and in some cases laws, that make hiring managers cautious.

                When a team member is going to sometimes physically break into a data center, things are much simpler if they have an unimpeachable reputation.

                And that, itself, is unfair, since everyone’s definition of “unimpeachable reputation” is going to be a bit different. I’m inclined to factor in motives, but not everyone can.

                So it’s not the end of the world for a young hacker with a conviction, but they definitely have a more difficult time.

    • floofloof@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      47
      ·
      4 months ago

      From there the messages said to have been sent from Howell become increasingly dark, lecturing the crew on beastiality and how it’s a “weird sin,” calling them perverts," and then telling vio “you won’t be able to wear a furry tiger costume when you’re getting pounded in the ass in the federal prison I put you in next year.”

      Overall, not a good look for an organization touting Christian value

      Conservatives and especially conservative Christians have some very particular obsessions.