This story briefly details the corporate spying case brought against News Corp by Dish,  a satellite TV competitor.   News Corp hired hackers, ostensibly to secure their own network, however one of them infiltrated Dish’s network and stole intellectual property.  A News Corp exec being deposed admits keeping the hacker employed 6 years after being informed of the criminal activities, which of course means the exec likely ordered the hit.

I would go into my lecture against hiring hackers that claim to be crossing over to the good side being a myth that belongs in the dustbin of history, except that the situation above involves a company subsidizing the criminal behavior.  Hopefully this won’t be treated any differently than the culpability a corporation faces when the CFO cooks the books.

It is clear that talented hackers are highly coveted and have many illicit options to monetize their skills.  It is too bad that legitimate companies are among the illicit options.

Related posts:

1. Windows Vista Risks - “A Reality Check on PatchGuard” - Microsoft Backs Down
2. The Convention on Cybercrime: Why It Will Do Far More Harm Than Good
3. VA Laptop Theft Fallout
4. 9 year prison sentence for credit card theft
5. Microsoft Released “The Threats and Countermeasures Guide”

Posted by Jim.Reavis on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008, at 2:40 pm, and filed under Articles.

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