Admittedly these guys broke the law and should be prosceuted for it, but I have to admit a bit of sympathy for them. The teenage hackers responsible for the break-ins at LexisNexis and the theft of hundreds of thousands of social security numbers and other personally identifiable information confess their tactics and admit that, contrary to the assertions of federal authorities, they had no intention to sell the information or defraud the individuals whose information they obtained, they simply wanted bragging rights (common in the hacking and cracking community) and they wanted to see if they could do it.
Regardless, it’s very possible they’re just saying this now that they’re caught and wrapped up in a federal investigation, and they had ever nefarious intention when they actually had the information, or that the power and ability to get the information could have very well been enough lure to do something else illegal with the information, but regardless, I would definitely feel more than sympathetic for a few guys who were talented and curious beyond the limits of the law. But now that they are caught and being investigated and possibly facing criminal charges, they’re cooperating with authorities and showing them the methods they used to breach the security of data warehouses as tightly controlled as LexisNexis.
Wired news naturally has the much longer scoop, with incredible detail. Read all about it:
[ http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,67629,00.html ]