The guy successfully executed more than 200,000 DDoS attacks; at ~$15 an hour[1][2], he almost certainly made millions.

[1] https://securelist.com/the-cost-of-launching-a-ddos-attack/7...

[2] https://www.missioncriticalmagazine.com/articles/93185-the-d...

And TFA does not mention any fines. Does he get to keep the money? He used public defenders so legal costs were minimal.

Criminal convictions are typically accompanied by asset forfeitures. No, you don't generally get to keep the proceeds from crimes you're convicted of.

Unless you work in finance.

That's pretty much any "respectable" industry really. The government will usually take their cut, but it'll be far less than the profit a company's illegal actions brought in, and the victims of the activity get shafted instead of being made whole.

And if you didn't pay taxes on your illegal income the feds get you for tax evasion too, like how they got Al Capone.

At lest from the news I’ve seen some of these guys don’t want those jobs / can’t get them for some reason or another (tech skills aren’t all it takes skill wise to get these jobs) and they seem to really identify with the idea of some sort of online hacker bad guy persona.

why would you want to work for evilCorp when you just be evilIndy (bullwhip and hat not included).

I’d imagine it’s moderately passive income, a few hours here / there but not full time.

Considering that most skilled tech work generally makes plenty to live on, lots of us don’t optimize for maximum salary (or want a “salary” at all).

And “risk” isn’t something that gets shown to you in an excel spreadsheet and then rolled on a die when you start a project. It’s something that you assess for yourself, from very little data, and with your own particular risk tolerance.

With all that in mind, choosing to work in an unauthorized industry is no different than working in any other industry: startups, fintech, enterprise, whatever.

You do it because you like what it represents, or who you work with, or the way it feels, etc; or because you don’t feel like you have other choices for whatever reason.

when choosing to go the crime route if the risk of getting caught is worth the gains seems like the biggest factor not if the work is cool.

But then he'd have a boss.

Honestly, if he's playing the long game, he wants to go inside- there is quite literally no better place on the planet for networking than prison.

Having spent eight years inside, I really don't think it's as good for networking as you imagine.

For a start, everyone inside is a criminal that failed, that got caught.

There are almost no tech guys locked up, it's 99% drugs, sex crimes, theft, murder, guns; so whatever crime you're planning, it'll have to be something regular.

I managed to use the contacts I made to become a drug dealer for a few months when I got out to make some quick cash, but that quickly died out. And anyone from inside that you would really want to hang out with (and there will not be many) will probably be someone who is really trying to go straight and not go deeper down the rabbit hole.

Just my 2 pennies. Reality isn't TV.

At least he’s guaranteed a Darknet Diaries episode when he is released.

if your goal is networking with people who are mostly too stupid to read, you are correct