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Yes, the security of Stratfor was unacceptably lax, and yes, getting mad is generally a waste of energy, but you can't legitimately compare the criminals who broke into Stratfor and committed credit-card fraud to a five-year-old who's gotten into the cookie jar. They are old enough to take responsibility for and be held accountable for their actions; a five-year-old is not.

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And, unlike a five year-old, they have the aptitude to pick specific targets and continue to do so. Tactics of a hack are secondary. Intrusion is intrusion, and whether or not they sneak in like a spy in a James Bond movie or just walk in the back door is far, far down their list of their goals.

Can we get past relating them to children now? Many of them are professionals, and if we're lucky, will soon enough be ones who are running next Stratfor. Afterall, folks like these guys founded the infosec industry.

Interesting, I hadn't thought along those lines when I wrote that because I was focused on how lax the security was, and not thinking about culpability. I updated the post with a note about that.

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