Rattle wrote:

] ] Timmins and Botbyl, known online as "noweb4u" and "itszer0"
] ] respectively, are also part of the Michigan 2600 scene -- an
]
] ] informal collection of technology geeks that meet, blog, eat
]
] ] pizza and attend hacker conventions together, but generally
] ] balk at penetrating systems or otherwise committing
] felonies.
]
] I was actively involved in "the 2600 scene" in the southeast
] several years ago. This would not have been condoned
] behavior. I'm sure for the bulk of the people in the mi scene
] it isn't there either. But this also doesn't really surprise
] me..

speaking as someone who was actively involved in the scene in MI, I can say that it was much more 'aggressive' than other places I've been (sans SF). Growing up, there were numerous hacking and piracy rings, and several wars and alliances between groups (including a large scale hack of AT&T telephony switches carried out with the infamous 414's in 1986, resulting in numerous juvenile records). While I can probably say with out much qualification that things have likely settled down a bit since the late 80s, that might not be saying much.

Of course, if you really read between the lines of this event, what you should be picking up on is that Lowes was woefully unprotected. When are companies going to get it through their heads that you can't just buttress the firewall? You secure your inside network like it's just as untrusted as your outside network. Sheesh.

RE: SecurityFocus HOME News: Wireless hacking bust in Michigan