Inmate hacker locks down jail computers
A UK prison computer system was left in lockdown after jail bosses gave a convicted cybercriminal the task of reprogramming it, the Sunday Mirror reports. Douglas Havard, 27, an inmate at Ranby Prison, Nottinghamshire, was asked to take over a project to create an internal TV station using the jail's computer network. Havard is …
...stupid. How daft can a prison boss get before he is too stupid to even breath?
<Fail because that´s what the prison bosses parents did>
"The prisoner was not able to access records of any other prisoners." ..... Errr, he may not have to if he can just talk to them.
And the quote above might be more accurately shared as ..."The prisoner was not thought able to access records of any other prisoners." ...... for is that not more likely the truth.
can't be the brightest hacker in the world because.
1) he got caught and sent to jail in the first place
2)He locked everyone out, would it not ahve been better to set up a few admin accounts for himself, not change anything else and then be able to play with things as and when he wished?
MI5 IT strategy:
Step 1 = Hire miscreants for hacking division based on deviant skillset
Step 2 = Lunatics take over asylum
Step 3 = ?
Step 4 = Profit!
Could have had nice cushy job knocking together some code instead........
"The prisoner was not able to access records of any other prisoners."
That makes it all ok then. The human rights of the prisoners was not breached. Thank heaven.
Well that's just dim. Dim on the part of the people in charge, unless they did assess the risk properly and knew he really *couldn't* access any personal data, concluding that he couldn't do that much damage.
However, it's even more stupid on the part of the crim - he could have either a. Done the job as requested and used it to make himself a bit more employable on his release, along with probably time off for good behaviour, or b. done the job, left himself with a way in but not locked anyone else out, or c. deliberately 'failed', but still left himself with an admin account or backdoor, or d. done the dumbest thing of all and brought the whole situation crashing down around him. Sounds like a real evil genius, this one.
Maybe he knew he couldn't get away with it for long, so just opted to do the most damage he could in the time he had?
Obviously the difference between knowledge and wisdom. This fool has a chance to do something that might get his sentence reduced, give him continuing access, and possibly just keep himself from going insane with boredom, and the first thing he does is act like a 14 year-old and play Hax0r.
At least he's proven that he's in the right place.
Now we just need to add Mr Bean and a laugh track.
Given that they had to hire "external consultants" to get them back in after something as simple as a password change, I would have no confidence that the prison bosses have any clue about what he did to the system.
Full restore from a known secure backup taken before he started messing around is indicated, before they have a bigger probklem (mass breakout?) on their hands later. Plus another couple of years on his sentence, pour encourager les autres.
"Another inmate at Ranby Prison recently managed to get a key cut that was capable of opening every door at the jail."
I'm not sure what the dumbest thing about this actually is? Is it the fact that the inmate sufficient details to get a master key cut? Is it that a key somehow reached the prisoner from the outside world (presumably that's how it was done)? Or is it the fact that the entire prison has similar locks that can be opened by a master key?
Actually I think I'd go for the last one. That really is staggeringly dumb in a prison.
Did he just make eBay purchases with phished details?
My dad buys and sells on eBay all the time, but I wouldn't expect *him* to be able to set up a network TV stream...
I imagine he bought himself enough time during the lockout for his auto-creditcard ebay phishing program to run and net him a nice paycheck for when he gets out.
The extra time inside for his offences just means more interest on his bank account.
A bit surprised they got outside consultants in and didn't just ask another prisoner to help them given how stupid they clearly are.
More to the point, on discovering this problem do you think they:
A) Closed the entire gaol while they replaced all the locks.
B) Retrieved the copied key from the miscreant and wrote a report on the issue.
C) Retrieved the copied key from the miscreant, removed any bars of soap with suspiciously key-shaped imprints from cells and wrote a report on the issue, drawing attention to how clever they were to think of the bit about the soap.
A convicted fraudster and money launderer being asked to help sort out the Prison's budget and wages...??
@Grease Monkey:
Each prison block has a seperate master key, as it would be impossible for a screw to carry a full complement of cell keys.
What happened to the good old days where if crims pulled this kind of behavior they'd be taken into a dark room, sat on a chair, and severely *ahem* rehabilitated *cough* with a phone book.
Perhaps if the 'guvnor wanted a knock off plasma from Fleabay instead.....
Well, a fraudster is the perfect person to help with budget issues, I think.
The place is crawling with criminals!!
Heh nice post....it made sense the first time through :)
@Hugh Jorgen
Only a phonebook? Im partial to the rubber hose and barbed wire approach myself.
A.) They're idiots for giving him access...
B.) He's an idiot for mucking up what could have been an interesting project to while away time behind bars...
Thankfully, I have never been interned at the government's pleasure* so I can only hazard a guess -- but I know if I was in there I would want to be "restricted" from socialising with the general population.
*has fuck all to do with Liz
If you can reset passwords you can access any file you want.... dah...
What next, "Mr Jones, as a convicted paedophile you seem to know the most about children, why don't you set up our new day care centre?"
.... His middle name must be "Eckles". "Nobody's perfect!"
Yes in times past prisons have run prison shops.
Convicted fraudsters have been put in charge of these shops.
Money has been siphoned away through imaginary suppliers.
A mate was an accountant working on prison accounts. It seems prison governors never learn.
Maybe they should lock them all up. Fuckwits.
Sign up, sign up for The Register's weekly IT security newsletter - click here
