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Businesses The Almighty Buck

Inside the Billion-Dollar Hacker Club 58

An anonymous reader writes "Here's an inside look at the personal successes of the elite hacking group "w00w00". From the article: 'For this group of old friends, assembled for an impromptu reunion, the venue would feel familiar: an online chat room running on a secure private server. Each were former members of the elite hacking group "w00w00" and they had reconvened that afternoon to celebrate and share in the success of one of their own. In some ways it was just like old times. But rather than success being the discovery of a new software exploit or penetration of a computer network, this was something more extraordinary. One of the group's former members had just sold their company for $19 billion dollars."
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Inside the Billion-Dollar Hacker Club

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    Not much to add...

    The link in the summary is broken.

  • the missing url (Score:5, Informative)

    by Idimmu Xul ( 204345 ) on Sunday March 02, 2014 @04:06PM (#46383519) Homepage Journal
  • Only like the criminals the news likes to call hackers.

    • by lesuth ( 2998957 )

      Only like the criminals the news likes to call hackers.

      Blurred lines that requires the clarity of ethics to make sense.

      I submit the thought that there are more than one type of 'hackers'. In a classroom or in a setting where the effects can be reversed, then hackers can be beneficial, ala the recent article Teach hacking in high school. [slashdot.org] Even Mitnick's extreme actions had the benefits of highlighting the ineffectual.

      But this thought has been common. Affecting the hacker's morality with something like the Association of Computing Machinery's Code of Ethics [acm.org] is

      • by Anonymous Coward

        But this thought has been common. Affecting the hacker's morality with something like the Association of Computing Machinery's Code of Ethics is a tough challenge, but worth it.

        Strike out 1.5 and I'll buy in. 1.6 is enough.

    • What does your dictionary say? Here's mine:

      hacker (n.) a person who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Fuck these grey beards - don't they know the internet belongs to facebook and twitter now?

  • I think the article must have gotten it wrong.. I've heard several other places that WhatsApp sold for 16 billion.

    I know it may not seem like much.. but, personally, I consider a $3 billion discrepancy to be something.

  • "One of the group's former members had just sold their company for $19 billion dollars."
    Orly? Which one was it? :-P
  • w00tw00t? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by pepsikid ( 2226416 )
    Are these the dicks who are constantly filling my weblog with:

    140224 042320 69.174.245.163 - 69.174.245.163 /var/www/html/w00tw00t.at.blackhats.romanian.anti-sec:) 401 401
    140226 084433 64.15.159.21 - 64.15.159.21 /var/www/html/w00tw00t.at.blackhats.romanian.anti-sec:) 401 401
    140226 210354 122.49.0.220 - 122.49.0.220 /var/www/html/w00tw00t.at.blackhats.romanian.anti-sec:) 401 401
    140301 232858 46.105.100.220 - ns382685.ovh.net /var/www/html/w00tw00t.at.blackhats.romanian.anti-sec:) 4
    • by Anonymous Coward

      no, a simple google will reveal the cause of these.

      perhaps you should look for a new job...

    • you are a noob, as is anyone who modded you up. does nobody on slashdot work in IT anymore?
  • I think one of the most intriguing thing in the article is the mention of an "attention economy" startup, Belua [angel.co]. The name does fit belua (not bellua), ae, f a beast, wild beast, monster: fera: saeva, H.: Lernae, the Hydra, V.: in usu beluarum: quantum natura hominis pecudes reliquaque belua, lower animals. Hobbes' Leviathan [wikipedia.org] comes to mind.
  • They haven't been in the press enough recently...

  • by Anonymous Coward

    I hate it when highly speculative and non liquid asset classes are reported in the media as cash. It shows genuine lack of good faith to do this.

    By this metric, anyone can be a *illionaire. Just form your own company, then come up with ridiculous IP and have your company bond the IP (with UCC statement) to a "value" that you and your company agree upon! You can be a billionaire or whatever you like. What's that you say? Such shenanigans is acting in bad faith and nobody in their right mind would give y

  • by viperidaenz ( 2515578 ) on Sunday March 02, 2014 @08:18PM (#46384767)

    Inside the Billion Dollar Kindergarten - One of the kindergartens former students recently sold their company for $19B.
    Inside the Billion Dollar High School - A former student recently sold their company for $19B. ...

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Inside the Billion Dollar Kindergarten - One of the kindergartens former students recently sold their company for $19B.
      Inside the Billion Dollar High School - A former student recently sold their company for $19B. ...

      Nobody who made a billion dollars ever completed Kindergarten. They all drop out and start their own firms early. If you're in Kindergarten you're doing it wrong.

    • +1
    • Inside the Six Billion Dollar Man - recently sold his cybernetic kidney for $19B...
  • "THE" billion dollar hacker club? Seems to me there are several of those.

    Two instances just from the public record: First there's the Homebrew Computer Club, founded in '73, which includes a number of leading lights in the Silicon Valley part of the industry, including Jobs and Woz. (Apple alone has WhatsApp beat by a factor of neary 25, as of today's close.) Then there's the (invitation-only) Hackers Conference, Founded by in '84, whose membership may not have as high a percentage of people who made bi

  • Thousands of hacker wannabes from the 90s haven't done much of anything with their lives, and are working in boring ass jobs with normal lives.

If I want your opinion, I'll ask you to fill out the necessary form.

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