[107415] in Cypherpunks
The First Vigilante Corp.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Hettinga)
Wed Jan 13 17:48:09 1999
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 17:08:55 -0500
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
Reply-To: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
--- begin forwarded text
Resent-Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 14:46:12 -0500
To: 0xdeadbeef@substance.blackdown.org
Subject: The First Vigilante Corp.
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 14:44:31 -0500
From: glen mccready <glen@qnx.com>
Resent-From: 0xdeadbeef@substance.blackdown.org
Resent-Sender: 0xdeadbeef-request@substance.blackdown.org
Forwarded-by: Nev Dull <nev@bostic.com>
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9901/12/cybervigilantes.idg/
...
Lou Cipher (a pseudonym of his choice) is a senior security
manager at one of the country's largest financial institutions.
"There's not a chance in hell of us going to law enforcement with
a hacker incident," he says. "They can't be trusted to do anything
about it, so it's up to us to protect ourselves."
Cipher's firm has taken self-protection to the extreme. "We have
the right to self-help - and yes, it's vigilantism," he says. "We
are drawing a line in the sand, and if any of these dweebs cross
it, we are going to protect ourselves."
Cipher says his group has management approval to do "whatever it
takes" to protect his firm's corporate network and its assets.
"We have actually gotten on a plane and visited the physical
location where the attacks began. We've broken in, stolen the
computers and left a note: 'See how it feels?' " On one occasion,
he says: "We had to resort to baseball bats. That's what these
punks will understand. Then word gets around, and we're left
alone. That's all we want, to be left alone."
--- end forwarded text
-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@philodox.com>
Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
