Comments on: Carleton U hacker faces 10 years

By: respect please

respect please — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:57:53 +0000

Obvioulsy, this is a serious matter and the appropriate response to Moufid’s actions is a subject for valid debate. Personally, I think the response is a bit overboard and would seem to be the result of embarrased (and frightened) IT folks are Carleton trying to deflect blame from thier own sloppy security as well as scare others from repeating the offence. In the end, I think it will only backfire on the school.

More importantly, the tone of the conversation is worrisome. I think some of the comments regarding this man’s background are racist and inappropriate. We know nothing about him (except his name) and especially about his beliefs and ethnic background. Even if he does prove to be a muslim, so what? Nothing in the article suggests that religion or political views had any relevance to the equation. The danger is that such racist intolerant comments will only further to alienate decent Canadians with islamic backgrounds and make it more likely that, once marginalized, they will lash out against an opressive bigoted society. This is not the model of tolerance and respect we deserve from one another. Let’s keep our opinions on such matters to ourselves until the facts are in Also, think for one minute. If this guy was a so called radical with ill intent, would he have reported his deeds in a 16 page report to school authorities? I think not. People, let’s have some civility and respect and wait till the facts are fully reported before we engage in uncalled for and irresponsible speculation.

By: David

David — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:49:31 +0000

Not been cooperating says it all.

By: David

David — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:48:54 +0000

This one broke laws easily and should be taken to task harshly before he begins to take other laws in the same way and work to kill our way of life.

By: David

David — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:47:32 +0000

Yes Artic, that is how they are becoming. The more the moderate muslims stay quiet, and even agree with those of extremist varieties, the more we must be careful of the as even the moderates are then dangerous. Either they speak up or they will be taken as identical to their extremist ilk. Racist? No, I hate all muslim extremists and if the moderate ones stay quiet about the extremist ones, then they are also extremist.

There are so few of the moderate ones willing to speak up. I could care less for any of them. They prove that Trudeau’s vision of multiculturalism is unworkable. This is about radical Islam and how even the moderate and non radical are every bit as dangerous by their silence as their radical brethren.

By: Arctic

Arctic — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:17:24 +0000

Derek, you’re just a pathetic racist. You think just because he’s muslim he should be locked in for 10 yrs. Sad, is that how Canadians are becoming?

By: Yoda

Yoda — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:50:50 +0000

Well done buddy! Keep up the good work, I want to see more students like this.

Why is he getting time for this? In a school environment, this ought to be praised.

By: Jordan Harding

Jordan Harding — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:38:47 +0000

It’s very obvious that the police and the school have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about.

let’s see.. here I found a video of how to use your ipod to bypass magnetic card reader locks:
http://www.hackszine.com/blog/archive/2008/08/magnetic_stripe_card_spoofer.html

I guess I’m going to jail for life.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:44:55 +0000

10 years for reporting the process of hacking and telling students that their cards are not safe is ridiculous. The kid is obviously a smart one and should only be punished light for his negligence. Aside from that, there is nothing more.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:57:35 +0000

Stupid. Ignore this school. Do not go there. It prefers to keep insecure computing environment and being ignorant. The guy demonstrated flws with their system and punished for this. Police is even worse. They are supposed to know better how to use better judgment. Just another step in which they are discrediting themselves.

By: andrew s

andrew s — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:39:59 +0000

that is just ridiculous. he was whistle blowing a security risk students face, and he is punished?! The university should be punished for putting in place such a weak crippled system! how dare the government try prosecuting this person for doing the right thing!? flaws should be exploited and corrected! ANYONE who works with computers enough knows this, and are happy to fix these flaws.

wow. i honestly hate the system today. once again, i plead, the institutions involved to pull their head out of that place…

the rcmp and carleton should be ashamed.

By: lol

lol — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:15:58 +0000

this is how canadian government so fuck up.. they just try to make some big shit to the public “10 years jail for hacking”..
don’t they have better thing to do with out tax money.. .. there are so many problem out there..suck as killing, violence, gun…..
they should put OUT TAX MONEY to those thing, ….. ….
they just waste out tax money on putting kids in jail because they download couple mp3 songs with p2p software….

By: James

James — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:05:32 +0000

Gustav I suspect you’re not the brightest crayon in the box or at least not well informed. The law is certainly not a subject you have a functional understanding of.. I would suggest avoiding comments on the subject.

Convictions ARE based on intent (google the difference between mens rae / actus reus for a full understanding). There seems to be little doubt the kid hacked the cards but it remains to be seen whether he intended to damage or harm the people or system he hacked into. Crossing my fingers the kid gets off. Hope a smart consulting firm sees the kids creativity and offers him a job.

By: Ultra

Ultra — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:12:28 +0000

10 years for hacking, oh my! And people who do violent crimes get off with much less, where’s the sense in that?

By: Derek

Derek — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:55:33 +0000

Mansour Moufid is not helping with the investigation. This is a good thing. Those who do not help with the investigation against them are routinely given up to two thirds longer sentences and it is a good thing to have such as this fellow locked up. His name says everything. I wonder what he would be hacking when he becomes adult. Our security centers perchance…

By: Gustav

Gustav — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:24:31 +0000

If this kid broke into your house but didn’t take anything, would you be ok with it? If he published your alarm system code just to prove how insecure it was, would you be ok with that? If he took your car out for a joyride, and left money for the gas he used, would you be ok with that?

The fact is he broke the law and should be punished. Conviction should not be based on intentions. However, intentions do often factor into sentencing. I suspect will get a light sentence.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:07:25 +0000

Whatever his motives were, what he did was wrong. if you want to think of it in a physical sense, it would be akin to someone taking a brick and smashing a store window to let the owners know the window wasnt shatter proof. if he truly wanted to raise concerns, he should have gone the legal route, even if it would have taken longer. who knows, perhaps they would have comissioned him to do something. prob not, but we will never know. that added to the fact that he apparently had other computer related incedents in the past does not paint the picture of some cyber vigilanty hero, rather someone with too much time on their hands and the potential for harm

By: Tony

Tony — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 06:06:20 +0000

What’s missing from the story is that the report included the personal information of students and was published under a fake name. Sure, it sounds like the student had academic intend and this shouldn’t call for a criminal record; but all of this could have been demonstrated in a more responsible manner.

By: Â¡uoods

Â¡uoods — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 01:20:08 +0000

So this was done as a proof of concept, yes?

He didn’t do anything else with the data did he?

If he didn’t and it was a p.o.c. to show the university then there is no reason at all to incarcerate him.

Instead, as a result the university will probably not fix the problem, and end up screwed when a truly malicious person come around. And this time the heads won’t know because the guy won’t tell them. The university might deserve it, but not the students. There should be an uproar there.

By: Peter

Peter — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:49:31 +0000

He should be hailed a hero and given a government computer job.

Put in jail because he was honest and tried to fix vulnerabilities in the network??

That’s more than stupid……….but criminal in itself to put him in jail.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:24:28 +0000

He set out to expose a major vulnerability that will now be fixed as he intends.
Jail is for criminals, not whistle blowers.