PHRACK PRESS RELEASE 2002:003				3rd November, 2002.
*  FOR _IMMEDIATE_ RELEASE  *				Phrack High Council.
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There is an ignorant facet of human nature that refuses to ascribe talent,
skill, and craftsmanship to works of evil. From the infamous Maryland sniper's
shooting ability to the Bali bomb makers; from Jack The Ripper's anatomical
and surgical knowledge to Hitler's ability to sway large crowds -- all acts of
"evil" must arise from stupid and incompetent people, lest the foundations of
safety and morality be shattered. A Hannibal Lecter can't exist in the world.
Such is the story of the Brian McWilliams article...

Original version [http://www.blackhatbloc.org/wired20020813.html] and Brian's 
updated version [http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,54400,00.html].
Brian told us that some SecurityFocus personnel, the leader of ISS X-Force,
and a handful of other "security experts" were annoyed by the fact that ~el8
(not PHC) were praised as being talented (which they are).

Brian also suggested, in his own words, "<bmcw> Perhaps ~el8 can reclaim their
respect in other ways? There is a lack of newsworthy material these days. :)"

The capitalist machine of infosec can handle a few pieces of grit in its cogs
and pulleys, but it would damage business if the consumers saw the machine
could be toppled and steamrolled by people who don't deceive and exploit the
general public yet are painted as the real problem in said capitalist
machine's daily risk assessment output.

The infosec industry is a bunch of first-rate criminals, and the fact 95% of
it consists of unskilled losers is truly laughable. Perhaps we too are unable
to name works of evil as being competent.

		*		*		*		*

The following lines were removed from the revised Wired article "White-Hat
Hate Crimes on the Rise" ->

"The only real difference is that the el8 guys are not script kiddies. Nothing
has changed, other than the bar has been raised," Manzuik said.

Indeed, some of Project Mayhem's recent victims appear to be honoring a
recurring line in Fight Club: "The first rule of Project Mayhem is you do not
ask questions."

Other Honeynet members refused to comment on el8's published threats against
their project, although one Honeynet participant conceded that "there are
people in the movement that may be able to make some of their claims come
true."

The following lines were, conveniently, left in the revised article ->

According to Steve "Hellnbak" Manzuik, co-moderator of the VulnWatch security
mailing list, hacker feuds are nothing new, and Project Mayhem isn't the first
time that security professionals have been attacked by "script kiddies," or
inexperienced hackers.

[...] Hines said. He reported that FateLabs.com was knocked offline last week
by a denial-of-service attack immediately after the security firm published an
advisory about a security bug.

"One of these days, these kids [...]"