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Hacker's Plan to Rule Black Market in Stolen Credit Cards

wired.com — The heat in Max Butler's safe house was nearly unbearable. It was the equipment's fault. Butler had crammed several servers and laptops into the studio apartment high above San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood, and the mass of processors and displays produced a swelter that pulsed through the room.

Who dugg this? Made popular Dec 24, 2008

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91 Comments

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  • inactive, on 12/23/2008, -1/+56Wow... what a story!

    I think I would've stopped when I was making $100 an hour doing penetration testing :D
  • semperfidoordi, on 12/24/2008, -4/+44...thats what she said.
  • 7m7uf, on 12/24/2008, -1/+33FTA: "Butler was charged with assault with a deadly weapon—his hands."

    Sounds like something from a old kung-fu movie or something.
  • sockpuppets, on 12/23/2008, -4/+34I like to give people Starbucks gift cards for Christmas with no money on them. Makes for good comedy.
  • MikeZila, on 12/24/2008, -1/+23So he hacked like eight Gibsons?
  • Bub978, on 12/24/2008, -0/+22I can't believe I actually read that whole thing. Fascinating stuff.
  • k1down, on 12/23/2008, -1/+19I am inspired.
  • existentialduck, on 12/24/2008, -0/+18hackers' plan = all hackers together
    hacker's plan = one hacker
    hacker = guy who coughs a lot
  • Changa, on 12/24/2008, -2/+18I am sick of the use of "concert pianist" to describe hackers using their computers.
  • akchrs, on 12/24/2008, -1/+17<credit card company on phone> Sir, we'd like to inform you that we had a massive charge for pornography charged to your Visa and it could be hackers!!! <long uncomfortable silence> um..... sorry to... um... bother you sir...
  • jrhelgeson, on 12/23/2008, -5/+20Funny that people who live in the USA think they can get away with this stuff. Sorry. If you engage in this activity and you live here, your time will be short. CItizens are the only ones the Feds can go after and actually catch. They've tried catching the big phish overseas and have essentially given up. Silly carders!
  • Iamien, on 12/24/2008, -0/+14Very good read.
  • inactive, on 12/24/2008, -1/+14"Laided" is when the FBI raids you and you get royally *****.
  • museamongmen, on 12/24/2008, -0/+11I read that story in my Wired magazine a few days back. Wired brings some very interesting articles but this one in particular was my favorite.

    Hmm, I liked how his girlfriend's name was so Hollywood cliche` (Charity Majors).
  • MrMonarchy, on 12/24/2008, -0/+9"Hacker's" refers to the hacker(Max Butler)'s plan, not all hackers. I agree with you though
  • z00k, on 12/24/2008, -1/+10... Laided?
  • Gareth321, on 12/24/2008, -0/+9There's a questionable amount of money to be made but once you step over that line you're no better than a common thief. I used to dabble, but more for fun. It gives you a god-like sense of power and achievement when you take down a kiddie-pr0n website. Most of the good hackers do it for recognition in an underground world where their true identity will never be known. Seems counter intuitive to me.
  • justinlilly, on 12/24/2008, -0/+9Amazing story. I really like the tone of the article. It was almost like a suspense movie. Great writing and a great story.
  • pwnsey, on 12/24/2008, -1/+9Hack the Planet!
  • memorex386, on 12/23/2008, -4/+12Pinky: Gee Max, what do you want to do tonite?
    Max: The same thing we do every night, Pinky- try to take over the world.
  • Gizmo688, on 12/24/2008, -0/+8I remember seeing Kevin Rose make some sort of self destructing hard drive back when techTV was around. Woulda been useful for this guy...
  • mredamon, on 12/24/2008, -1/+8I believe you are reading that wrong, buddy. The plan belongs to the hacker, hence the possessive.
  • bashturd, on 12/23/2008, -0/+7read this in wired last night, very good story.
  • divinediva, on 12/23/2008, -1/+8They were pocked with snitches and security holes.
  • et3rnalnigh7, on 12/24/2008, -1/+84chan makes you cool and original!
  • jcm4, on 12/24/2008, -1/+8Great read!
    Very interesting insight into the underground hacking community.
  • dmac23, on 12/23/2008, -3/+9awesome story
  • BedPost, on 12/24/2008, -0/+6If you have time, read all of it. It's quite good.
  • jocelynre84, on 12/24/2008, -0/+6What about the carding websites in the first place, don't they get in trouble too?
  • royalprince72, on 12/24/2008, -0/+6Quite a good read
  • theandyj, on 12/24/2008, -0/+5Well they were set up in other countries were that stuff isn't looked down on so much.
  • semperfidoordi, on 12/24/2008, -0/+5What? That isn't poetic justice at all.
  • StarFingHipster, on 12/24/2008, -1/+6Personally I think hackers that go at it for stealing identities for money (or health plans as I saw on the news one time), are scum, but it's always fascinating to hear about them, and you do kinda have to admire their dedication and audacity.
  • Sefus, on 12/24/2008, -0/+5Max just likes to hack.
  • inactive, on 12/24/2008, -1/+5Thanks for teaching me some tips officer!
  • jamaph, on 12/25/2008, -0/+4That line was verrry cheesy

    Loved the article though. The writer had a strong voice. It was like Dateline haha
  • qubesquare, on 12/24/2008, -0/+4Longest webarticle i have read to date. Maybe i dont have ADD after all.
  • Jinstevens, on 12/24/2008, -0/+4That's the best article I've read in Wired ever. It read like novel. Utterly gripping. I'm just amazed at what Butler managed to accomplish, and even more amazed at the means used to catch him.
  • diemunkiesdie, on 12/25/2008, -0/+3I actually googled the phrase "a ***** piece of ***** on my shoes" that they mentioned in the article.
    Apparently that was an exchange that took place in the comments section of this site: http://afterlife.wordpress.com/2006/07/12/carding- ... Their comments are a pretty interesting read as well.
  • lysdexic, on 12/24/2008, -0/+3Nope. Not a word.

    http://www.letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=define+lai ...
  • jcaino, on 12/24/2008, -0/+3I know they managed to nab a dude from Romania just a few years back....that was a pretty big bust if I recall - and quite rare at that.
  • Wade, on 12/25/2008, -0/+3In the words of Lex Luthor...

    WROOOONG!
  • Nauree, on 12/24/2008, -6/+9I tried to get into hacking when I was 10 years old. I realized, then, that is was kinda stupid. What use is it to read some random person's email? I didn't care. 7 years later...I got laided.
  • s0nicfreak, on 12/25/2008, -0/+2It's a bit difficult to put a website in jail.
  • matt9189, on 12/25/2008, -0/+2it would seem most diggers have the attention span of a 5 year old. this forum is empty and no one's comments are being dugg or buried. I thought it was a fascinating article, one of the more interesting reads I have found
  • travis6690, on 12/25/2008, -1/+3Reply button. Use it.
  • QuPop, on 12/25/2008, -1/+3holy crap that was a good article... it would be a interesting book too
  • DaDrake, on 12/24/2008, -4/+6He fought the law and the law won.

    Poetic justice.
  • JCH897, on 12/24/2008, -1/+3Interesting. If someone wrote a book about him, I'd read it.
  • hutch1973, on 12/24/2008, -1/+3Great read.
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