Hacker who stole 120,000 bitcoins wants a second chance—and a security job
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Well, good for him. Especially if he helped recover all the assets. Not many take a lesson from something like that and those who do usually spend they lives being way more useful to their surroundings and the society. Hope the same for him.
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Theft is wrong, but... I just got done flushing something that provides more actual value to the world than 120,000 bitcoins.
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If he’d been caught today, he’d just have to pay the pardon fee and then go back to scamming people out of cryptocurrency.
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So, what then ? He should be barred from ever touching an eletronic device again ? He doesn't have a chance a rehabilitation ? His galaxy brain shouldn't be used by the good guys ?
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I hope they put him on a team with the Mirai Botnet kid.
I don’t think we can have too many high end blue teamers who grew up in the age of the cloud/IDaaS.
I don’t think we can have too many high end blue teamers who grew up in the age of the cloud/IDaaS.
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No, you're just reading tea-leaves. Listing things in ascending order of importance is quite common in phrases like that.
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It's not like in the movies where you have superstar hackers who can rattle away on a keyboard for a few seconds and break into anything. He got "lucky" (in a way), but what can he add from his list of tricks that aren't already known? Besides, really good hackers wouldn't go for bold like that, but sneak into the background noise going unnoticed. I think he's more of a hacker celebrity than a real expert.
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Sure he can get a security job, but I would not trust him with anything touching financials. I suppose he can be a politician though. We apparently have no bars too low for that job.
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He’s a thrill-seeker and this is just the next chapter in his adventures. It’s possible that he’s sincere.
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I wonder how many people feel this way (hackers or otherwise) and would benefit from being pulled into some kind of community instead of being left to their own isolated paranoia. IMO that's a huge driver of the problems and division in our society. This guy may have never done this if he'd felt more connected to people around him and found value in his work. Not saying he's blameless, just that societal problems hurt us all. (Though I can't say I'm going to cry any tears over people losing mounds of Bitcoin.)
Most people want to feel good about the things they do. I'm glad he found a path to that, even if it cost him a lot on the way.
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As he says his life was “upended” while his victims were just “affected,” it doesn’t sound like an ascending order was his intent.
I hope he has reformed, but I’d be profoundly skeptical if looking to hire.
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And they are continually digging under the bar so they can lower it even more.
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Absolutely.
But, be careful what you wish for. It's what feeds cults.
See the GOP. ICE. Turning Point. etc etc.
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I'm all for paying your debt to society, and then moving on. At the same time, second chances aren't infinite. I sincerely hope he gets one and makes the most of it.
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One notable example is the late Kevin Mitnick, who was convicted of multiple phone and computer crime cases in the 1980s and 1990s. Mitnick eventually started his own security consulting company and became a penetration tester and public speaker for many years before his death in 2023.
Mitnick was a what one might term a sport-hacker. I can't imagine his rehabilitation would have proceeded the same way had he stolen millions (let alone billions) of dollars from financial institutions.
Mitnick was a what one might term a sport-hacker. I can't imagine his rehabilitation would have proceeded the same way had he stolen millions (let alone billions) of dollars from financial institutions.
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I’ve been secretly hoping that one of his type would figure out how to hack DJT’s crypto kickback empire and hurt him where he cares most. Looks like it’s up to the Ruskis, the North Koreans and the Chinese to take that on.
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ReadandShare
Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
FDR said once, "it takes a thief to catch a thief". The experiences and smarts of a reformed thief should not be underestimated. In any case, people deserve a second chance. Hire him at a lower level, keep an eye on him, until he re-earns his trust.
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chaos215bar2
Ars Praefectus
I would argue that most of the success of these cults, and also most of the reasons for people turning to criminal paths, is that too many people spend a lifetime being taught through experience that society is the adversary.
Most people want to be the "good guy", but if you don't treat people with respect and give them the tools they need to succeed, then the definition of "good" can pretty easily flip to "winning" against everyone else in a fight to get what you feel you need to do well in life.
And honestly, it's kind of a wonder this guy feels the way he says he does after spending ~4 years in US prisons. They don't exactly tend to broadcast a message that anyone else cares about your future success once you've supposedly paid your debt to society.
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Per the article, Lichtenstein was trying to get quick money because his startup wasn't doing well. From other reporting, it's quite clear that his main motivation was to maintain his accustomed lifestyle; tellingly, he and his wife (aka wannabe rapper Razzlekhan) spent profligately on all sorts of bougie crap in the wake of his theft. This man wasn't some disaffected undervalued outcast fighting the system, as much as he'd like others to draw that inference.
(Of course, that was 2016!Lichtenstein, and only time will tell if 2026!Lichtenstein has grown beyond his past self. I put no stock, none whatsoever, on anything people post on the humblebrag/braindroppings platform that is LinkedIn.)
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The guy was married and still stole the equivalent of billions. I think we can chalk this one up to good, old-fashioned greed and hubris.
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Both sound very neutral in tone, so I guess I don't get it.
There is a problem with the line of thinking that most released (now ex-)criminals don't deserve or can't be trusted with work, where the fastest way to get them to commit another crime is to prevent them from being able to financially support themselves in the first place.
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Came here to say more or less this. Mitnick was interested in the challenge, and in poking around in things. Despite the code he was charged with stealing, he was not in it for profit, and he didn't deprive anyone of their assets.
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I do. I don't care. He did his time. He's allowed to live again. Especially if he's now on the good side of the law. Especially since his crime is pretty meh, from a moral point of view. Stealing bitcoin from idiots/criminals ranks pretty low in my book.
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Why would they?
Trump has been and still is the best thing that's happened for them in generations vs the US.
You don't interrupt an enemy while they're committing suicide..
(and that's not discounting the possibility that Trump may be a Putin asset)
In fact, one or more of those grifting schemes may be how he's being compensated for the fine work against the US and it's western allies.
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He's only remorseful because he lost the $10B and got caught and needs a job now.
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How can that be? It’s 120,000 bitcoins, which were worth between $400 and $1000 in 2016.
So aren’t we talking a "mere" 50-120 million here?
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I suspect that they actually refer to the value at the time the pair was arrested, which is when the story made it into public consciousness. That was in 2022 when bitcoin was worth around $20k.
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The community voting is mixed, but you’re astute. People who actually work in security vetting/hiring don’t do it on vibes or patterns of speech. They look at vulnerabilities in the person. Are you in debt? Are you spending wildly? Are your contacts financially in trouble? There’s more, but financial vulnerability is massively exploitable. Just look at the president of the USA, who would never get a clearance due to incredible debt, lavish and uncontrolled spending, and contacts with all the same issues.
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I wish him well -- people deserve a second chance when they have paid their dues and are sincerely trying to move on.
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Why post the world's most generic hacker stock photo, instead of a photo of the guy? It came up after 5 seconds of looking up his story.
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