The Conversation: Hackers Often Work for Good Not Evil
Dan Harris and Nick Bilton delve into the ambiguous world of hackers.
June 23, 2010— -- AT&T suffered a major security breach two weeks ago when Gawker reported that Internet company Goatse had found a flaw in AT&T's iPad system that exposed more than 100,000 3G iPad owners' e-mail addresses.
The flaw was quickly fixed, but the e-mail breach embarrassed AT&T, especially since it hit such high profile iPad owners as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
Goatse is known in Internet security circles as a company that sees its hacking as somewhat of a harmless prank. Goatse said when it uncovered the crack in AT&T's system, it tried to alert AT&T. When AT&T didn't respond to the alert, Goatse took its story to Gawker.
For its part, AT&T said no one from Goatse contacted AT&T, and that the company first learned about the security breach from a customer.
Embarrassing as it was, the hacking brought a larger question into play in the world of cybersecurity: Can hacking serve a greater good by uncovering and drawing attention to security lapses before they cause even greater harm?
In today's Conversation, New York Times technology reporter Nick Bilton talked with Dan Harris about the complex world of hackers: the white hats, or good guys; the black hats, or bad guys; and the gray hats -- the guys just out to have fun and stir up trouble, and where Goatse seems to fall.
Weigh in the debate yourself, after watching today's Conversation.
For all of Nick Bilton's reporting with the New York Times click HERE.
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