Stalking the Wild Hacker

According to a story in The Enquirer (a UK tech site), Michelle Madigan, an associate producer from Dateline NBC decided to go undercover at Defcon, the annual global hackers convention held in Las Vegas. (I'm waiting until hackers create their own trade union.) The people running Defcon spoke to her multiple times, offering press credentials. She wanted to do things the hard way - and so, she did:

Too bad. They knew when her plane took off. They knew when her plane landed. They knew when she picked up her non-press attendee pass (human in the vernacular). They followed her around. They knew when she walked into the ladies room to wire up, camera and sound. She knew that the camera was not allowed but did it anyway, and told a goon that she was doing so.

You've got to figure that people who like taking the road less travelled, that as often use a practical understanding of human psychology as technical skills, might not be easy marks. If you researched for 15 minutes, you'd probably also gather that such people are unlikely to take things sitting down. (Well, technically most were sitting when they busted her cover during a large gathering.) So much for the enterprising reporter.

Using Words to Move Stock Numbers

Those who would game the system to advance their own economic market interests have been hard at work on the Internet. Ever get spam touting stocks? Ever wonder if anyone would believe the hyperbolic emails? Apparently they do. According to the Washington Post, the SEC is accusing two Texas men of cheating investors in at least a baker's dozen small cap stocks of $4.6 million by infecting PCs with viruses and using them as sources of spam emails. People who took the bait drove up prices long enough to let the men sell their holdings.

And in Russia, News.com.au notes that hackers issues a false statement announcing the arrest of the CEO of one of the country's main oil producers. The CEO must have been happy on one hand about the inaccuracy, but unhappy that the stock price fell, albeit by less than 1 percent.

This isn't a new type of activity on the Internet. Stock chat rooms used to be one of the main stomping grounds of they who would induce changes in stock prices. It's fascinating how the mere act of telling people what they would like to hear causes them to take specific actions, like spending their money, even though the source of the advice is highly suspect. That shows the stories that have the most power are actually not the ones others tell us, but the ones we tell ourselves. It's not the words on the screen, but the words in the head that tell us what we'd like to believe - that up is down and that we can have something for nothing just by asking.