OnPoint by Keith Ng

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OnPoint: H4x0rs and You

213 Responses

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  • Brent Jackson, in reply to Sacha,

    So you mean "they are shitting on us" as opposed to "their articles are shit" ?

    I'm not seeing a big difference there.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 620 posts Report Reply

  • martinb,

    I guess the terrifying question is if our government departments are so poor on information security and weak on network security, how many attacks have been perpetrated that we simply don’t know about?

    What is likely to be already compromised and by whom? For security or commercial purposes?

    #theskyisfalling

    Auckland • Since Jul 2010 • 206 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to mark taslov,

    Knowledge doesn't really come into it.

    maybe we're discussing a different post.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Brent Jackson,

    I'm reading it as 'conduct is not good enough' as opposed to 'articles are not good enough'. But Keith can clarify if he wants. Not my story.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov, in reply to Sacha,

    maybe we’re discussing a different post.

    Who knows?

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    “No good can come of a hacker talking to a TV journalist,” my hacker friend said when I asked him to go on camera for a TV journo. He was goddamn right.

    I'm 37 and since I was a child the term "hacker" has popularly described someone with malicious intent. I know there are benevolent hackers, but that's a niche definition that most people don't know about. The general public and media have trouble understanding the concept of a good hacker. It sounds like a contradiction in terms, like a "good rapist". That's why there's trouble.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Matt Fairhurst,

    There's no nice way to put this, but based on what I've read, Heather du Plessis-Allan just doesn't come across as being all that . . . savvy.

    Auckland • Since Oct 2012 • 2 posts Report Reply

  • izogi, in reply to martinb,

    I guess the terrifying question is if our government departments are so poor on information security and weak on network security

    I couldn't say for certain, but I feel bad right now for some of the government IT and IS people I know who are really smart and careful at what they do with regard to information and network security, but (just so we can be convinced situations like those at MSD and ACC aren't widespread) will now have to put up with more expensive government-wide investigations and audits and people making more demands that pull them away from their primary work they'd rather be keeping up with. I guess that's the way stuff works when part of the government really screws up. Given what's happened, it's better to go through that process than not.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 1142 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,

    The general public and media have trouble understanding the concept of a good hacker. It sounds like a contradiction in terms, like a "good rapist". That's why there's trouble.

    They've had decades to adjust. In 1988 the Listener ran a story that described how Telecom was using "street kids" with criminal pasts to performance test their prototype vandal-proof public phones. They came across as mouthy little buggers playing to their perceived notoriety, with one boasting of having beaten a snoozing homeowner unconscious who he'd surprised while carrying out a burglary (hit them on the top of the head, not the side, it's safer). Anyway, I don't recall that the article spawned any outraged letters from distressed gentlefolk.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,

    I know there are benevolent hackers, but that’s a niche definition that most people don’t know about.

    Recommended Viewing: The Lone Gunmen, or the Lone Gunmen on The X-Files, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is another goodie.

    The program was cancelled after thirteen episodes....The plot of the first episode, which aired March 4, 2001, involves a US government conspiracy to hijack an airliner, fly it into the World Trade Center and blame it on terrorists, thereby gaining support for a new profit-making war.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,

    I wouldn't be so generous. the notion of the baddie in a white hat is an aged trope.
    this looks like a deliberate misrepresentation to establish a sexier angle which not only adds a new dimension to an ongoing story but possibly makes them active players in it's telling.
    media like nothing less than telling people stuff that others have found out.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to izogi,

    I couldn’t say for certain, but I feel bad right now for some of the government IT and IS people I know who are really smart and careful at what they do with regard to information and network security

    The ones I know -- and there are quite a few, including members of the community here -- are exactly as you say: smart and careful. They are principled people.

    But late today, the Ministry of Justice announced it was shutting down its own kiosks on security grounds . I think there is a story to be told yet.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    Nah, I'm calling it: it's knowledge.

    It's the equivalent of "comics aren't just for kids any more!" - it looks like an exciting story to someone who hasn't been paying attention.

    Tech saw the way specialist fields get treated in Parliament during the file sharing debate, and they saw it from the media ('these people think you should be allowed to download anything you like') then, and now.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Green, in reply to Sacha,

    Using the term 'hack' to describe what was done is fundamentally misleading

    'Hack' seems reasonably descriptive ... oh, wait you're not talking about the journalism are you?

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2011 • 21 posts Report Reply

  • andin,

    HDPA
    ? oh shit Her. I dunno, Yea well good catch Keith.
    Fuck people are slippery
    Got a lead story on ONEnews 2nite.
    She may be being groomed.
    The world could be her oyster....

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov,

    Nah, I’m calling it: it’s knowledge.

    It's editing.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • John Armstrong, in reply to mark taslov,

    Knowledge doesn't really come into it. We want unbiased fact

    Far out. I know the, um, cognitive inconsistency, of this has already been pointed out, but as a latecomer to the thread I would like to lend my support to the pointing out of said cognitive inconsistency. I mean, really?

    Hamilton • Since Nov 2007 • 136 posts Report Reply

  • Miche Campbell, in reply to Sacha,

    If you're doing shit, you usually produce shit.

    Dunedin • Since Feb 2011 • 79 posts Report Reply

  • tussock, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,

    I'm also 37 or so and since I've understood anything about computers it's been obvious that "Hacker" is a term for people who understand how computers work, rather than just click the mouse like everyone else.

    As "Auto Mechanic" is a term for people who understand how cars work, rather than just push the pedals and turn the wheel like everyone else.

    But then, I know that programming is different to coding, which is different to scripting, which is much different to being a script-kiddie. So make of that what you will.

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report Reply

  • john Drinnan, in reply to izogi,

    Hi Izogi - been a journalist 30 years can't remember days when experts were hired and trained to be journalists - though maybe there were more cases of people with a literary background being editors. Big issue with hiring experts is that they would cost and cost is even more of an issue now than it ever was.

    Auckland • Since Oct 2010 • 31 posts Report Reply

  • john Drinnan, in reply to andin,

    Is that a poem- or is it sung to the tune of something?

    Auckland • Since Oct 2010 • 31 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler, in reply to Rich of Observationz,

    And do, more often than not. My father was a pilot, and he regularly pointed out the glaring errors in any aviation/aerospace stories that made the media. Economics stories are rubbish, science stories are rubbish. Possibly the sport stories are accurate and informed, I wouldn't know.

    Law stories are frequently poor. People still aren't reporting the three strikes law correctly!

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I like how blogging and other forms of online engagement allow input from various parties and refinement of a story.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to andin,

    HDPA
    ? oh shit Her.

    It'd be sweet if we focused on the reporting and not the person.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov, in reply to Sacha,

    I appreciate your diplomacy. =)

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

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