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To: Frederick Smart who wrote (27932)	8/29/1999 11:50:00 AM
From: PJ Strifas	Respond to of 42771

Hello Fredrick, I've always been alarmed by the notion that teen "hacker wizkids" get this celebrity-type notority which equates them to superstar athletes. They a lauded for their "talents" and abilities which is a good thing but can't we place this into perspective? Do we hire the best serial killers into the army because of their effecient killing styles or cold-blooded nature? Do we place these individuals into the CIAs "wet-ops" teams (assassinations) too? Let's look at car theifs....do repossession companies look to hire these people...probably. But at what risk? So I guess in one perspective it should be alarming and in another it could show prudence. Here's my problem with this "be a hacker get a great high-paying job" idea.... Are these "hackers" really that talented or are they merely exploiting known security holes which they learn about from government sites and others who openly publish information as a source of knowledge? I mean, there needs to be some "yardstick" to how good of a hacker a person is. Perhaps some others on this board could explain better what it entails to gain unauthorized access into a computer system that conforms to the current security bulletins of that system and has "plugged" the commonly known holes in their system. From experience I know that if you are diligent, gain the right knowledge of your system and take the time and effort to correct (patch) many of the security holes in your system, you increase you network's security factor exponentially. This will thwart the average "hacker-wannabe" and even frustrate the more keen ones. There is a group of people who understand more about systems than I can imagine. These people create software and situation that will compromise systems no matter how vigilant. These people are the ones who discover the "holes" in these system for which patches are created and released. There is a difference between these people and what I refer to as the common hacker. Now a person who can gain access into this type of system can be viewed as a valuable, productive individual. Someone gaining access into a system that has been neglected or incompetently run is not a feat that would garner this type of attention. Then again, what sort of message does this article send? The real message here is that this individual dedicated time and effort to learn, decipher and post his knowledge for others to read. He created an environment which is rich in resources as well as information. This shows a different aspect of the "hacker" type which rarely gets the media attention it deserves. If you ask most people, this article appears to reward those people this NSA agency is committed to fighting when it actually is trying to doing the opposite. Again Fredrick, another example of the government mismanaging itself. Or rather, some bureaucrat makes a good decision but the spin goes the other way..... Peter J Strifas