Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr Steps Down

threatpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 75 posts

Re: HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr Steps Down

#21

Post by georgieporgie »

sp_ wrote: post #18
georgieporgie wrote: post #3

This is wildly irrelevant, but I have to ask: does anyone else experience profound irritation at the name "HBGary"? Every time I read the name, my reading flow stops and I stare at the name. HBWhat? Does that stand for something? Are they initials? Who is Gary? Are they from Indiana? It triggers this bizarre, deep-down irritation like nothing else I've ever seen.

The name comes from the three co-founders. The H is for Hoglund (Greg). The B is for Bracken (Shawn). The Gary is for Jon Gary who left the company shortly after it was founded.

Thank you for that. The name is still irritating to me, but at least now I know it's not nonsensical.

Re: HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr Steps Down

#22

Post by motters »

The internet amplifies reputational risk. My guess is that if HBGary has any future they will at the very minimum have to change their company name. Reading some of the leaked emails provides (at least for me) a shocking insight into the dark side of the internet and how social networks can be abused for sinister purposes. Assuming HBGary isn't the only company involved in these sorts of machinations it raises some really big and serious questions about the future of democracy and the ability of governments to create fake consensus using "persona management software".

Re: HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr Steps Down

#23

Post by Maro »

georgieporgie wrote: post #3

This is wildly irrelevant, but I have to ask: does anyone else experience profound irritation at the name "HBGary"? Every time I read the name, my reading flow stops and I stare at the name. HBWhat? Does that stand for something? Are they initials? Who is Gary? Are they from Indiana? It triggers this bizarre, deep-down irritation like nothing else I've ever seen.

I agree. I always want to pronounce it H-G-Barry instead of H-B-Gary, for some reason that's how it flows in my mind. They should just stick with HBG.

Re: HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr Steps Down

#24

Post by megablast »

smhinsey wrote: post #20
m0nastic wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or ValuJet, or Ryder truck getting rid of the yellow trucks...

I never made the connection with Ryder trucks, that's an interesting one. It's sort of a reverse Q-tip effect, where instead of your brand being generically associated with your product, it's associated with the worst possible thing it could be used for. Few products have been so spectacularly misused as to warrant such treatment. Anyway, my personal favorite has always been Philip Morris turning into Altria Group. I…

Some people get paid a lot of money to come up with names like Altria.

Re: HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr Steps Down

#25

Post by jacques_chester »

jonknee wrote: post #14
bane wrote: post #2

At this point they're going to just have to change the name of the company.

It's stupid/frustrating in this day and age that changing the company's name after a big fuck up actually works.

It has always worked.

Tallyrand, Napoleon's Foreign Minister, observed that one of the functions of a government is to rename institutions which have, under the old name, become odious.

Re: HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr Steps Down

#26

Post by Nate75Sanders »

bane wrote: post #2

At this point they're going to just have to change the name of the company.

We need websites that track _individuals_ for their reputation instead of just businesses.

I recently had a moving company move my car across the country. I picked the #1 rated broker in the United States the last 2 years running. They're just the broker, though. They pick an actual trucking company to move your car. I found out that the individuals involved in the company moving my car had opened 3 other companies in the past 4 years and closed them all. I dug more and found that they had absolutely horrible ratings on the biggest rating site for car-hauling companies and also horrible ratings on the BBB site. Luckily, I got my car without incident, but we need a good way to track scum.

If you tried hard and played by the rules in business and didn't do shady things and failed, then I can understand trying again without serious stigma, but if you're forming new companies all the time, you should be informally punished through lots of information/transparency. It's easy to say "don't go with a company that hasn't been around for X years", but that's really unfair to legit startups trying to innovate.

We need a better answer to this problem.

Re: HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr Steps Down

#27

Post by jonknee »

jacques_chester wrote: post #25
jonknee wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's stupid/frustrating in this day and age that changing the company's name after a big fuck up actually works.

It has always worked. Tallyrand, Napoleon's Foreign Minister, observed that one of the functions of a government is to rename institutions which have, under the old name, become odious.

My point wasn't that it didn't use to work, but that it shouldn't work anymore now that everyone has access to history instantly...

Re: HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr Steps Down

#28

Post by getsat »

megablast wrote: post #24
smhinsey wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never made the connection with Ryder trucks, that's an interesting one. It's sort of a reverse Q-tip effect, where instead of your brand being generically associated with your product, it's associated with the worst possible thing it could be used for. Few products have been so spectacularly misused as to warrant such treatment. Anyway, my personal favorite has always been Philip Morris turning into Altria Group. I…

Some people get paid a lot of money to come up with names like Altria.

I mentally associate Altria with altruism when I come across it, which is probably the intent.

Re: HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr Steps Down

#29

Post by InclinedPlane »

motters wrote: post #22

The internet amplifies reputational risk. My guess is that if HBGary has any future they will at the very minimum have to change their company name. Reading some of the leaked emails provides (at least for me) a shocking insight into the dark side of the internet and how social networks can be abused for sinister purposes. Assuming HBGary isn't the only company involved in these sorts of machinations it raises some r…

The power of publicity (both negative and positive) is now in the hands of everyone not just the hands of powerful institutions such as the traditional press or the government. Wikileaks and anonymous' hijinx are just one example of the brave new world we're entering, it'll be fascinating to see how it will play out.

Re: HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr Steps Down

#30

Post by smhinsey »

megablast wrote: post #24
smhinsey wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never made the connection with Ryder trucks, that's an interesting one. It's sort of a reverse Q-tip effect, where instead of your brand being generically associated with your product, it's associated with the worst possible thing it could be used for. Few products have been so spectacularly misused as to warrant such treatment. Anyway, my personal favorite has always been Philip Morris turning into Altria Group. I…

Some people get paid a lot of money to come up with names like Altria.

Oh definitely. I am sure they laughed all the way to Tahiti after they cashed their well-earned bonus check after that one.
Post reply on HN