Re:The Fall of Hacker Groups
by at-fates-hands on Thursday December 11, 2014 @01:18PM
(#8736232)
While I agree with most of what was said in the article, it leaves out some important factors in why hacking groups are less visible today.
1 - The role of government. Once the laws caught up to the hackers, and the CFAA was passed in 1986, it gave the government a lot more teeth to federal laws targeting computer crime. Shortly thereafter, you have what some refer to as the "Hacker Crackdown" from 87-90 which went after LOD, MOD and smaller groups. Some went to prison, others went or tried to go legit. I think hackers realized groups tend to have more visibility with the feds and you're more vulnerable to getting caught compared to just working by yourself.
2 - Size and structure. Since most of the groups are pretty closed by nature, when a group is disbanded or law enforcement breaks them up, there's never enough "new recruits" to take the flame and continue on. Look at LulzSec. They had a huge run, but once Sabu flipped and turned most of his crew into the feds, there wasn't anybody else left would/could carry torch any further. So even when you have a high profile group, once it takes a hit, it's rare for them to bounce back. Anonymous is the exception to this rule, but it seems they like the decentralization approach their structure since it assures the group can carry on if/when the feds start to arrest its members.
3 - Knowledge transfer. Not only does size affect the lack the groups today, but also the lack of knowledge transfer. Back in the late 90's I knew a bunch of college guys who were hackers. You could ask them anything and most of the time, they'd let you in on how they hacked email, how they found open servers, etc. Nowadays, somewhat because of law enforcement, somewhat because people now see their hacking techniques as trade knowledge, they're much less open about how they ply their trade. This means every kid who wants to learn how to hack is on his own. There is no MOD or LOD or LulzSec to prove yourself to, to get entry into the club and get higher levels of knowledge. Hackers, are now, left to their own means to seek out and find their own knowledge. As such, the cycle perpetuates itself because now instead of wanting to share this knowledge, they have the attitude, "I found this by myself, go find it on your own." which makes people less likely to form a group to share knowledge.
1 - The role of government. Once the laws caught up to the hackers, and the CFAA was passed in 1986, it gave the government a lot more teeth to federal laws targeting computer crime. Shortly thereafter, you have what some refer to as the "Hacker Crackdown" from 87-90 which went after LOD, MOD and smaller groups. Some went to prison, others went or tried to go legit. I think hackers realized groups tend to have more visibility with the feds and you're more vulnerable to getting caught compared to just working by yourself.
2 - Size and structure. Since most of the groups are pretty closed by nature, when a group is disbanded or law enforcement breaks them up, there's never enough "new recruits" to take the flame and continue on. Look at LulzSec. They had a huge run, but once Sabu flipped and turned most of his crew into the feds, there wasn't anybody else left would/could carry torch any further. So even when you have a high profile group, once it takes a hit, it's rare for them to bounce back. Anonymous is the exception to this rule, but it seems they like the decentralization approach their structure since it assures the group can carry on if/when the feds start to arrest its members.
3 - Knowledge transfer. Not only does size affect the lack the groups today, but also the lack of knowledge transfer. Back in the late 90's I knew a bunch of college guys who were hackers. You could ask them anything and most of the time, they'd let you in on how they hacked email, how they found open servers, etc. Nowadays, somewhat because of law enforcement, somewhat because people now see their hacking techniques as trade knowledge, they're much less open about how they ply their trade. This means every kid who wants to learn how to hack is on his own. There is no MOD or LOD or LulzSec to prove yourself to, to get entry into the club and get higher levels of knowledge. Hackers, are now, left to their own means to seek out and find their own knowledge. As such, the cycle perpetuates itself because now instead of wanting to share this knowledge, they have the attitude, "I found this by myself, go find it on your own." which makes people less likely to form a group to share knowledge.