I doubt the furries will care much about being outed as furries, but cybercrime is a big no-no when it comes to actual employment. Willingness to break the law and risk prison sentences over ethical considerations isn’t something many companies value.
Might be good for consultants, but the "big tech company hires wizzkid hacker " stories aren’t true anymore. You need to be really good for that to work, and by the time you’re free from prison the stuff you’ve been doing probably isn’t relevant anymore.
doubt the furries will care much about being outed as furries, but cybercrime is a big no-no when it comes to actual employment
Absolutely.
I would prefer our gay furry hackers keep things fully legal, for their own sakes.
That said, Mike needs help from folks like me to catch these kids, and as long as they’re sticking to ethical hacking, I’m not motivated.
Also, I don’t like Mike.
His claim that he actually has my kind of help, actually on his side, is… overconfident, I think.
I can’t guarantee that, though, so I’m glad to hear our ethical hackers have decided to lay low.
In any case, everyone has a slightly different perspective on what counts as ethical, so I hope they’ll stick to legal as much as their conscience will allow, from here out.
They often like skills proven in simulated environments and hate convictions. Your skills aren’t worth the risk if your employer can’t be sure you’re not going to get yourself arrested again next time you’re chasing your ethics?
Again, it depends. Some of the most notorious hackers of all time literally had their prison sentences commuted so that they can work for the NSA (or US Gov’t in some capacity).
They have a good point though. Pen testing is a vanishingly small corner of our field, and I haven’t seen anyone with a past conviction get hired for those roles, in a long time. (Edit: Of course, I work with privacy respecting folks, so there could be, and their conviction just isn’t famous.)
I’ve seen too many hacker kids think their hacker reputation is going to get them out of trouble, and it didn’t.
I’ll defer to you on this as I’m by no means an expert. I suppose I thought there was more demand for young people who have that specific skillset than there actually is.
Yeah. The demand for red team skills is complicated.
There’s plenty of work to do. But there’s a lot of anxiety, and in some cases laws, that make hiring managers cautious.
When a team member is going to sometimes physically break into a data center, things are much simpler if they have an unimpeachable reputation.
And that, itself, is unfair, since everyone’s definition of “unimpeachable reputation” is going to be a bit different. I’m inclined to factor in motives, but not everyone can.
So it’s not the end of the world for a young hacker with a conviction, but they definitely have a more difficult time.
I doubt the furries will care much about being outed as furries, but cybercrime is a big no-no when it comes to actual employment. Willingness to break the law and risk prison sentences over ethical considerations isn’t something many companies value.
Might be good for consultants, but the "big tech company hires wizzkid hacker " stories aren’t true anymore. You need to be really good for that to work, and by the time you’re free from prison the stuff you’ve been doing probably isn’t relevant anymore.
Absolutely.
I would prefer our gay furry hackers keep things fully legal, for their own sakes.
That said, Mike needs help from folks like me to catch these kids, and as long as they’re sticking to ethical hacking, I’m not motivated.
Also, I don’t like Mike.
His claim that he actually has my kind of help, actually on his side, is… overconfident, I think.
I can’t guarantee that, though, so I’m glad to hear our ethical hackers have decided to lay low.
In any case, everyone has a slightly different perspective on what counts as ethical, so I hope they’ll stick to legal as much as their conscience will allow, from here out.
Depends on what field you’re in. There are entire sectors of tech that seek out skilled hackers for things like pen testing.
They often like skills proven in simulated environments and hate convictions. Your skills aren’t worth the risk if your employer can’t be sure you’re not going to get yourself arrested again next time you’re chasing your ethics?
Again, it depends. Some of the most notorious hackers of all time literally had their prison sentences commuted so that they can work for the NSA (or US Gov’t in some capacity).
They have a good point though. Pen testing is a vanishingly small corner of our field, and I haven’t seen anyone with a past conviction get hired for those roles, in a long time. (Edit: Of course, I work with privacy respecting folks, so there could be, and their conviction just isn’t famous.)
I’ve seen too many hacker kids think their hacker reputation is going to get them out of trouble, and it didn’t.
I’ll defer to you on this as I’m by no means an expert. I suppose I thought there was more demand for young people who have that specific skillset than there actually is.
Yeah. The demand for red team skills is complicated.
There’s plenty of work to do. But there’s a lot of anxiety, and in some cases laws, that make hiring managers cautious.
When a team member is going to sometimes physically break into a data center, things are much simpler if they have an unimpeachable reputation.
And that, itself, is unfair, since everyone’s definition of “unimpeachable reputation” is going to be a bit different. I’m inclined to factor in motives, but not everyone can.
So it’s not the end of the world for a young hacker with a conviction, but they definitely have a more difficult time.