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Elite Hacker Barnaby Jack 'overdosed on drugs'

m.bbc.co.uk

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Re: Elite Hacker Barnaby Jack 'overdosed on drugs'

#11

Post by kayoone »

danso wrote: post #6

He died in July but the autopsy has only just been made available? Or did the news of his death just fall off the radar so much that no one checked the coroner's office earlier? (coroner reports in newsworthy cases are generally public record) For reference sake, Paul Walker, the star of "Fast and Furious", had his autopsy reported on today but he died on Nov. 30 (roughly 35 days) http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/03/paul-w…

i believe his family kept it back as they also didn't want to say anything about the reason of his death.

Re: Elite Hacker Barnaby Jack 'overdosed on drugs'

#13

Post by meowface »

MyNameIsMK wrote: post #4
zaporozhets wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For recreational purposes most likely? It's sad that this highly intelligent person has died, but drugs are a thing. And people do them, and sometimes it gets out of hand and those people die. There's nothing too unique about this.

This whole thing sounds highly suspicious. There was also no reason for the downvote.

Accidental drug overdoses from heavy drug users are suspicious? They happen all the time, unfortunately.

Re: Elite Hacker Barnaby Jack 'overdosed on drugs'

#14

Post by girvo »

Heroin, coke, and alcohol. Quickest way to overdose, even if it is fun... RIP mate, we'll miss you.

My worst OD was with that mixture as well, only I was lucky enough to have people with me and live in a country where calling the emergency services doesn't end with police at your door for overdoses. Narcan in the back of the ambulance brought me back. I got clean a month later, and am still clean 20 months later.

Some of my friends weren't so lucky, and neither was Jack, the poor bastard. He did awesome work. Mudge had an awesome talk at Defcon where he told a story about Jack in Dubai, go have a listen, it's well worth it.

Drug abuse (opiates in particular) is more common in our field than we think, I believe.

Re: Elite Hacker Barnaby Jack 'overdosed on drugs'

#16

Post by tacoman »

I didn't know him, but was familiar with his work and this obviously is all very sad.

Infosec is a very strange slice of the tech industry/IT. I've been a generalist sysadmin for more than 25 years so I have broad exposure to most of the specialties in the industry. What strikes me about infosec is how the cult of celebrity is very prominent. Maybe it's just where my interests lie, but I can name a dozen high profile "hackers" or infosec researchers. If you ask me to name the names of linux kernel hackers or nginx hackers or whatever and I'd struggle.

Also, it seems like every week there is a security conference somewhere in the world. I guess maybe it's sexy or flashy but the security industry seems to have proportionally way more extrovert-type people in it.

Re: Elite Hacker Barnaby Jack 'overdosed on drugs'

#17

Post by dpifke »

danso wrote: post #6

He died in July but the autopsy has only just been made available? Or did the news of his death just fall off the radar so much that no one checked the coroner's office earlier? (coroner reports in newsworthy cases are generally public record) For reference sake, Paul Walker, the star of "Fast and Furious", had his autopsy reported on today but he died on Nov. 30 (roughly 35 days) http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/03/paul-w…

The SF Medical Examiner is particularly slow, per a recent article in the Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-medical-examiner-l...

Re: Elite Hacker Barnaby Jack 'overdosed on drugs'

#20

Post by anigbrowl »

MyNameIsMK wrote: post #4
zaporozhets wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For recreational purposes most likely? It's sad that this highly intelligent person has died, but drugs are a thing. And people do them, and sometimes it gets out of hand and those people die. There's nothing too unique about this.

This whole thing sounds highly suspicious. There was also no reason for the downvote.

I don't see why. Lots of people take drugs, they're very available in San Francisco, and that particular combination is famously risky. Sure, common sense would tell you that the risk isn't worth it, but people often take foolish risks in pursuit of a good time.
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