Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersecurity Agency CISA

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by edm0nd on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:23PM (#43110737)

He's not innocent. He was a member of the cybercrime skid community called "The Com" that is regularly involved with cryptocurrency thefts, ddos attacks, and sim swapping. It's not normal. Dude is a blackhat skid with some crazy access to shit he shouldnt have access to imo.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/02/teen-on-musks-doge-team-...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by keepamovin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:18PM (#43111056)

Ok, alright, well if that's the truth then I agree with you. I just don't happen to know whether he's blackhat or just infiltrating. Shrug.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by lostmsu on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:32PM (#43110786)

> archipelago of Discord and Telegram chat channels

> He's not innocent.

Are you for real?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by nobankai on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:58PM (#43110939)

The recent KrebsOnSecurity goes into why this is no joke. These are cybercriminals trading in fraud, pig butchering, illegal pornography and swatting attempts.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by keepamovin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:27PM (#43111146)

Isn't he just chatting on there? Can you point to something in the article that's conclusive? Seems like desperate reaching.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by nativeit on Thursday February 20, 2025 @12:44PM (#43117797)

Shouldn't this kind of high-level access to federal systems come with a bar that's higher than this? Shouldn't even the appearance of impropriety be sufficient to bar this person from these kinds of positions where the largest datasets of sensitive information are stored?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by nobankai on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:12PM (#43110677)

> The presumption of innocence should direct opinion, not implication

Give me one (1) good reason to assume Elon's appointees are acting in the interests of American taxpayers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by john2x on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:20PM (#43110713)

Oligarchs are technically American taxpayers

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by cjonas on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:21PM (#43110725)

Most them pay less than the average dentist.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by deadbabe on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:21PM (#43110721)

They get a % of the amount they save.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by wheelerwj on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:35PM (#43110803)

Bullshit. That would create the most perverse incentive structure Ive seen. Possibly ever.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by keepamovin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:17PM (#43110700)

Democracy not good enough fer ya? I'll explain: Because Elon was appointed by Trump who was appointed by the will of the American taxpayer? It should be commutative.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by Volundr on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:22PM (#43111098)

I don't understand why people think this means he should be given unilateral goodwill and authority. Honestly I don't think any of the people saying it really believes that. If they did, the same logic would apply to Biden and Obama and anyone questioning them would be questioning democracy. Yet somehow this 'will of the people so it must be good' only showed up when Trump was elected.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by keepamovin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:29PM (#43111157)

Is he given that tho? Delegation is not infinite indulgence

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by Volundr on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:49PM (#43111255)

Bypassing the normal security procedures to ram a random person with a very shady background into our security apparatus seems like quite a lot of indulgence to me. I definitely don't believe Obama would have been granted the same.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by nobankai on Thursday February 20, 2025 @12:07PM (#43117265)

The line between infinite appointments augmented by a presidental pardon and infinite indulgence is pretty thin.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by WorkerBee28474 on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:20PM (#43110715)

> Give me one (1) good reason to assume Elon's appointees are acting in the interests of American taxpayers.

Because they are American taxpayers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by free_bip on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:24PM (#43110746)

That doesn't feel like a very convincing argument if you already believe that Elon, Donald, etc don't have the interests of the American taxpayers in mind... Given that they are also American taxpayers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by WorkerBee28474 on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:37PM (#43110814)

Let's be honest, if someone hates Elon/Donald/etc. then there is no argument that will convince them that everything they do isn't the worth thing to ever happen to America.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by nobankai on Thursday February 20, 2025 @12:04PM (#43117225)

I don't passionately hate either, I just can't follow your logic. If these men are working to make six-figure salaries more profitable, then they could absolutely fuck over the majority of Americans while lining their own pockets and that of their employers.

How are the real taxpaying Americans supposed to hold them accountable? Where is the oversight board looking to ensure essential social services stay available? It all seems like a recipe for disaster - love them or hate them, Elon and Trump have obvious conflicts of interest that make this process disturbing.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by FlamingMoe on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:22PM (#43110729)

One good reason? Look at the financial state of the country. We’ve been running trillion-dollar deficits, ballooning debt, and unsustainable spending for years. If Musk’s appointees are doing the opposite of what got us here—cutting waste, streamlining bureaucracy, and questioning sacred cows—that’s at least some indication they might be acting in taxpayers’ interests. The real question isn’t why assume they are—it’s why assume the status quo was working in the first place.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by analog31 on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:35PM (#43110806)

>>> why assume the status quo was working in the first place.

Spending has been "unsustainable" for 40+ years, ever since Reagan gave up on trying to get his own party to reduce it. I'd say that's a pretty good indication that the status quo was working well enough.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by jrs235 on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:15PM (#43111039)

Pretty sure the US had a surplus in the 90's!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by thelock85 on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:26PM (#43110752)

So the problem is the reason to assume goodwill from the people tasked with fixing it?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by chonkerz on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:29PM (#43110773)

I'd feel better about this effort if they just benched the kid and replaced him with someone else. DOGE of all people should know that people are replaceable. Why did they put him specifically, with all that baggage, inside a cybersecurity agency? This doesn't feel right.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by dashundchen on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:06PM (#43110982)

Again, this is so easily disproven. How are you buying this at all?

Musk and Trump are not concerned about debt or spending. If they were, Trump and Republicans wouldn't be rushing a billionaire tax cut bill that will add tens of trillions of dollars to the national debt.

If Trump cared about debt he wouldn't have run up $8 trillion in debt his last term with PPP helicopter money and more billionaire tax cuts.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by jrs235 on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:17PM (#43111052)

There is a cult that believes every word their demagogue says, even if they are contradictory to each other or his actions.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by nunez on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:22PM (#43111099)

Or proposing a bill to add Trump to Mount Rushmore.

Or proposing to create a PIF-like Sovereign Wealth Fund while gutting USAID, an organization with approved budget for many many years that actually provides assistance efforts globally.

Or proposing to invest $500B on AI development, which, coincidentally, just so happens to be the amount Sam Altman asked for to develop Stargate.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by woodruffw on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:24PM (#43110743)

> The presumption of innocence should direct opinion, not implication, but the links should be noted.

The standard in civil service is historically and conventionally "beyond even the appearance of impropriety," not "presumption of innocence." I think the person in question falls well below that standard.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by evanjrowley on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:42PM (#43110845)

There's been a long-standing exception for hackers going back to the '90s, although this has changed in recent years because the cyber security field has become saturated. While at the DOJ under Janet Reno, my uncle bypassed all of that just to have random hackers from Black Hat pen-test USCIS. They even got arrested and let out of jail following a successful attempt to print a greencard for "Mr. Kan G. Roo" - Some exceptions to that rule have been employed in positions of authority for decades, and for good reason too.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by woodruffw on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:44PM (#43111225)

The fact that hackers have been productive civil servants doesn't really change the standard. To make it explicit: there is no obvious mitigating qualification in this case.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by keepamovin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:18PM (#43111062)

Yeah, that makes sense based on my experience, tho the problem is appearance - they often fabricate it without substance - leads to a huge level abuse, and erodes trust in the authorities you thought you could. A system that rewards liars and punishes honesty is not good.

I think it also contributes to a culture of corruption - ie, given how resistant some of these civil service positions are to being fired in practice, I wonder how much they carry their vaunted morals through.

Once you're in: do whatever you please! This also supports the appearance - "we are beyond reproach so we couldn't be doing anything bad." Plus, the secrecy shield to block accountability. Likely all enables the level of corruption and perversion that's so obvious.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by eightysixfour on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:25PM (#43110749)

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/02/teen-on-musks-doge-team-...

The details are quite clear.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by keepamovin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:23PM (#43111106)

Can you point to some? What I saw was tenuous at best. He was chatting with people in The Com. So...?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by hn_throwaway_99 on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:24PM (#43110747)

That's not what's going on here. This was discussed at length on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42981756

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by keepamovin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:24PM (#43111115)

Not sure the thread concludes what you think it does: top comment is basically a shrug this is normal.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by cantSpellSober on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:21PM (#43110727)

Yes unfortunately this is much more specific than "cyber researchers interacting with cybercriminals"

> Coristine was fired from a company after leaking internal firm secrets to a competitor

...and now has physical access to building facilities at CISA

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by keepamovin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:21PM (#43111092)

I don't know, in those situations how can you tell? Based off of this reporting it's not conclusive. May have just been a junior they landed blame on for some issues with competitors?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by cantSpellSober on Thursday February 20, 2025 @07:30AM (#43113921)

Sure, maybe the teenage hacker was acting in good faith.

> Based off of this reporting it's not conclusive.

The (linked in article) Krebs article is pretty damning, including screenshots of why he was fired.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/02/teen-on-musks-doge-team-...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by chonkerz on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:22PM (#43110732)

He wasn't interacting with them as a researcher does. He was working for them as an employee. And then they fired him and accused him of leaking, and publicly humiliated him.

No one even knows what this kid is doing inside CISA's network!!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by keepamovin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:20PM (#43111077)

I think you're getting confused based on the article which says he was interacting with "The Com", and working for Path Networks which he was fired from for leaking.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by benatkin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:13PM (#43110684)

There's already a reasonable approach to this, which DOGE is opting out of. Those who are https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_hat are carefully given positions that require their specific skills, and aren't given run of the mill security sensitive IT roles.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by keepamovin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:15PM (#43110695)

Fair enough but is he really gray hat? We don't know. Or is he just whiter than white but walked in the shadow lands to gather sacred mushrooms?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by benatkin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:44PM (#43110853)

He's either grey hat or deny hat...the allow hat ship sailed.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by keepamovin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:19PM (#43111064)

I don't get your joke, but thanks! Heh :)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by benatkin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:34PM (#43111187)

You said whiter than white when I just gave a link to the page about grey hat hackers, not endorsing the name grey hat, so I said allow hat instead of white hat and deny hat instead if allow hat to mirror allowlist/denylist in place of whitelist/blacklist.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by keepamovin on Thursday February 20, 2025 @05:47AM (#43113242)

Oh hahahaha! :) that was quite a few levels of indirection

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by chonkerz on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @10:27PM (#43110763)

If only they bothered to do a real background check

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersec... by keepamovin on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:19PM (#43111067)

I do agree that vetting would be a good idea - did they tho? We don't know. That's the thing. I guess DOGE is sorta like move fast and break things applied to gov? Hah :)

[ Parent | on HN ]