Re: A problem of the basic paranoid and secretive nature of cybersec
Ugh, the "Idle hands are the devils playthings" excuse. That reasoning of why someone does something has been true. People will do bad things because they get something they want without expending effort and there is nothing discouraging them from doing it, neither legal nor social.
Yes, humans want to do things, but we as a society need to show people that being a predator will not be accepted. We need to show others in our communities that such behavior will not be tolerated, and encourage people towards positive behaviors.
Besides, he wasn't all that skilled, everything he did is something that everyone in the group learned years ago and are fairly basic techniques for a penetration tester (Covering tracks to avoid detection by logging and monitoring systems, using stolen identities to get around security procedures or elevate privilege, using weak systems to pivot an attack, and so on). The only remarkable skill he had was using those skills to be a shitty person. We have plenty of training materials and lab resources that if he did want to challenge himself, there were more than ample opportunities to do so, we also had plenty of open contracts that would keep someone occupied.
What needed to happen to keep him from doing those things was people in his life teaching him how to act like a person and to hold him accountable when he strayed from those expectations. He needed to experience negative consequences for predatory behavior instead of it being excused as "Boys will be boys" or "He hurts you because he actually likes you!". Or that behavior being excused because they have some skill or talent that is valued by the group.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
