This is an old story. Less scrupulous coders getting jobs because of their cracking prowess. This was an outrage in the 80's too. Last time I checked, Paris Hilton was famous for no reason whatsoever.

I dont see how anybody can complain about getting their iphone infected when they jail broke it. We all have the urge to hack and crack stuff, but we should all know it opens us up to more risks. If your gonna be an apple fanboy use their software correctly.

Maybe I go start creating some worms... I Need a new job.

Frank Abagnale Jr. says hi.

Stuff like this has been going on for decades. Why act surprised.

Ever seen the movie "catch me if you can"? I see nothing wrong (yet).

What's wrong here is that for honest security to be provided, the idea of hacking your way into a getting job has to go back to being a myth and the myth to be killed afterwards.

Waht if a would be scientist released a little known bacteria in the Wild to "prove that it can make people sick" that would be just irresponsible and unethical. He won't be hired by any serious company after that. Same thing with hiring malware developers for security. He has proven to be irresponsible and unethical... whoever associates with him afterwards sure aint better.

I don't think he was hired for code writing, but more for creativity. You can have a good code writer that knows all the syntax perfectly, but doesn't know how to apply the skill without some creative direction. Hackers are often quite creative since they see loop holes and back doors that others don't, they're not always amazing code writers. What I don't get is security firms often hire hackers to try and break into their systems in order to find weaknesses. The guy from Sophos sounds ignorant.

But it didn't make people sick, it just changed the wallpaper.

I don't know the specifics but maybe the job as the developer isn't very well suited. I could understand more if he was hired to try to hack the applications as that happens all the time throughout the industry (How do you think Banks know their systems are safe, you guessed it, hire a hacker).

In my opinion his stunt has been way over rated. All he did was test iPods for the default password, thats like walking up to the house and happens to find the keys left in the outside of the door and making out that you used your uber thief skills to out skill the door. And yes, that last sentence was ment to sound like a nine year old wrote it.

To be honest the rubbish hackers keep me in a job. Its the ones that don't make the news you should be worried about...

Some guy creates a worm that just changes your wallpaper to get your attention... you get the worm, and after a WTF moment, you google search and find out that you can easily remove the "worm", and that the reason why you got the it is because you were a stupid dickhead and didn't change a default password. You change the password, and thus avoid getting something legitimately harmful.

Yeah, that guy's a real asshole. Nobody should hire him /sarcasm.

I think people are pissed because they didn't get the job offer. Like everyone else said... it was a hack against a *JAILBROKEN IPHONE* and people are bitching? Are you serious? I would feel pretty damn stupid realizing I allowed it to happen in the first place with both realizing that I was the one that broke the phone AND didn't change the password. Duuuh.

http://professionalmike.com

ALSO, doesn't the CIA n' such hire hackers? These people need to get a grip and chill out.

http://professionalmike.com

I think that is rather more of an overreaction on the part of the security firm. That simply isn't a huge offense, now if he got a job for creating a TRUE peice of Malware that bricked iPhones, then I would have a complaint or two. But really? Most "ex" hackers are hired BY security firms to prevent what they do best.

Is this really so much of a surprise?

But he could rise to political prominence and take over a country. England Prevails!

lol

Remember...
Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.

Also...
Keep your money the closest.

Also...
Trust no one.

Finally...
Drink beer.

Cool, now thousands of aspiring IT professionals in China, Russia and the rest of the world will think making a super cool virus will give better chances for a paid job.

Boeing comes to my school and hires people that do well in hacking contests...

Hmmm...nice try
a better analogy would be, "A scientist releases a bacteria that changed peoples tongues to a blue color, but it was fixed easily by eating carrots. Oh, and only people who did heroine got blue tongues"
You can't compare getting people ill to changing a wallpaper

Sophos should have hired him instead. Thier AV sucks, perhaps he could improve it...

Its certainly a more effective way then throwing your resume up online and waiting for a response.

"Mogeneration". "iPhone Application Developer".

I fail to see where you even get that his job has anything to do with security. And as said, your analogy is not very good.

Go you.

security by obscurity is the myth, the "worm" took advantage of a default password. on a jailbroken iPhone. that did not damage the device, just pointed out the vulerability by use of a cute visual cue. no harm done. "hackers" have an imagination and "out of the box" outlook that can be harnessed by a forward looking bussiness. they will milk him of all his ideas, use the profitable ones to make money, and everybody wins, except the poor fellow at sophos that is crying the blues because he never had an original thought in his head. the conformist will drag down or shut out all nonconformists, the never hire a hacker attitude is just the establishment protecting the status quo. good for Towns, and good for Mogeneration!

I agree with you, just not fully so ill add to it.. On your first point ill correct you by saying that as much true and known it is; hiring someone to create for you an application on your hardware which he just hijacked and infecteed to you is plain dumb and dissrespectful in some ways from the company that hired him, torwards the consumer.

And also there was a reason on why Paris Hilton became famous. Her homemade porn movie was out on the loose online. That exacty when they made her famous. "Fuck me, im famous" has never been more accurate in history before or ever since... lol

I'm sorry, wasn't the first known net-hacker [the one that changed the clocks in a bank] employed immediately after? This seems to be an ancient precedent.

It's just for iphone apps...big deal.

Obviously you forgot the pharma industry... just replace "bacteria" with "virus".

Hackers are a harmless bunch who try to get access to things for the challenge. It is Crackers who cause malicious damage with no concern for others. People who write any form of virus that affects multiple users should be shot onsite. Whether it "just" changes your background or deletes all your documents - there is no moral difference - these idiots are still being an a$$hole and annoying loads of people. These useless gibbons don't have the true skill to hack in to the FBI for example so they pick easy targets. And anyone who says that they are trying to get at Microsoft or Apple are talking rubbish - the only people that get affected are the end users and the only people that benefit are the Anti Virus companies (that's another conspiracy theory altogether).

I pity the fools who got hacked. People who get infected by such childish code deserved it by being noobs and not changing a DEFAULT password. It is simply natural selection applied to the computer world, survival of the fittest. I own a computer since 1989 and I was never infected with anything. I

Are the security firms just pissed because he figured out the hack first, or because some other company got this kid and not them? Frankly his hack comes across as more white hat than black (probably grey). Its not the first or last time someone has publicly revealed an exploit to point out the inherent dangers they represent.

Granted, he did it REALLY publicly, but only on jailbroken phones which as far as I am concerned don't really have rights in the security world.

Yeah yeah, unpopular view.