Infamous Hacker Adrian Lamo To Surrender To Authorities

Adrian Lamo has been one of the most notorious hackers in recent years. As far as we know, his actions have always been benign. He finds holes in corporate network security and notifies the companies about their weaknesses. He does not try to blackmail or extort them for money- nor has he accepted money for his work. Unfortunately for Mr. Lamo, his actions are still technically illegal. While his motives and intent may help him get a lesser sentence, motive and intent do not excuse the breaking of the law in the first place. Some hackers downplay his hacker skills- similar to the way they downplay those of Kevin Mitnick (see Book Review: The Art of Deception). The simple fact is that Adrian Lamo is not using any super-hacker techniques. Ironically, that is what makes his findings all the more valuable to the companies he hacks. The holes he gets into their networks through are simple- meaning anyone else could get in as well. For more information about Adrian Lamo and his projected surrender to federal authorities today, see this article from The Register: NY Times hacker set to surrender.