This article missed a great opportunity to post that hacking scene from Swordfish as a counterexample of what hacking does NOT look like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Ds9CeG-VY
Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring
61–70 of 106 posts
Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring
#62Uh, funnily enough, the "boring" stuff they've mentioned in the article doesn't seem THAT bad to me. But maybe that's because I haven't been forced to do that sort of administrative work often enough for the novelty to wear off.
Customer service work is unquestionably boring. The burnout rates for that kind of work is pretty high.
Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring
#63This article missed a great opportunity to post that hacking scene from Swordfish as a counterexample of what hacking does NOT look like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Ds9CeG-VY
I find this a little hard to believe. Are you saying that Hollywoo lied to us?
Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've noticed it before but never thought too deeply about it. Where did this 'stereotypical hacker' image stem from anyway? Computer 'nerds' are often cast with pressed button-up shirts, pocket protectors, and thick glasses. But if they are a 'bad nerd', they suddenly don a mysterious hoodie that covers their face as they work in a cave-like room like some kind of new-age techno-troglodyte?
I think it comes from recent popular media, like the Watch_Dogs games and the TV show Mr. Robot . Hoodies are a way to prevent people from seeing or identifying you, so media people use it as a visual shorthand for "this person wishes to conceal their identity". Back in the 90s, hackers were all cybergoth ravers; this image is more in line with the $CURRENT_YEAR zeitgeist in which pervasive surveillance is a top issu…
Hoodies come from gang wear of the 90s, some in the 80s.
Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've noticed it before but never thought too deeply about it. Where did this 'stereotypical hacker' image stem from anyway? Computer 'nerds' are often cast with pressed button-up shirts, pocket protectors, and thick glasses. But if they are a 'bad nerd', they suddenly don a mysterious hoodie that covers their face as they work in a cave-like room like some kind of new-age techno-troglodyte?
Images and ideas have entered the mythos over the years, I doubt there is a "source" but more of a collective myth which has grown and evolved with some sources in reality and some of reality fashioning themselves after the myth. But also, I have just known lots of computer people that liked to work on their interests late into the night in a dark room. You might say Cyberpunk styles are a source. https://en.wikipedi…
Definitely William Gibson
Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring
#66The main problem with cyber crime for profit is you have to get the money at some point. So no matter what at some point you have to either trust someone (bad idea) or have the cahones to walk into a bank and withdraw the cash. Even then you to explain how you got the money if it's over like $10,000 or people start asking questions. Yeah dumb people will focus on hacking but once you think it through you see there is…
Buy and sell art/jewelry to a third party who really, really likes your taste in art/jewelry.
Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring
#67This article missed a great opportunity to post that hacking scene from Swordfish as a counterexample of what hacking does NOT look like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Ds9CeG-VY
The day to day is one thing but the hiring interviews are another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRkvEJqsagU
Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring
#68Yes, cybercrime is boring, just like security is boring, or app development. The article is focusing on the mundane parts of the business side of certain enterprises (cybercrime-as-a-service), not the individual thrill of discovering something new & exploiting it or selling it to be exploited. Obviously being an article literally written by the opposition would mean it is going to paint their adversaries' life choice as one of a bored drone...
Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've noticed it before but never thought too deeply about it. Where did this 'stereotypical hacker' image stem from anyway? Computer 'nerds' are often cast with pressed button-up shirts, pocket protectors, and thick glasses. But if they are a 'bad nerd', they suddenly don a mysterious hoodie that covers their face as they work in a cave-like room like some kind of new-age techno-troglodyte?
I think it comes from recent popular media, like the Watch_Dogs games and the TV show Mr. Robot . Hoodies are a way to prevent people from seeing or identifying you, so media people use it as a visual shorthand for "this person wishes to conceal their identity". Back in the 90s, hackers were all cybergoth ravers; this image is more in line with the $CURRENT_YEAR zeitgeist in which pervasive surveillance is a top issu…
In an alternate universe, hackers could all have been rollerbladers. I want to live in that universe.
Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're going to try to launder millions (maybe tens or hundreds of millions) of dollars through an MMO and think no one will notice? Good luck.
This isn't something I made up. Criminals have been using MMO's in-game currency to launder money for over a decade. The trick is to launder slowly over a long period of time. Very hard to catch.
I used Second Life (I believe, but may have been something else) years ago (a decade ago?) because it was one of the easiest ways to put money into anonymous paypal accounts (anonymous credit cards that get accepted by paypal weren't really a thing here back then). I bought crypto, used it to buy their in game currency, then cashed out their currency to the paypal account.
You pay a few percents of fees, and it's not "the NSA will not be able to find you", but it was more than good enough for my mildly paranoid ass.