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Comment by hnthrowaway0315 | Hacker News Reader

I don't get the logic here. If I had the ability to pull off a sophisticated hack, why shouldn't I sell my skill to say a corporation or intelligence agency but instead tried to grab quick dough and got caught? Am I stupid enough to believe that I can be out of the radar of state power?

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Nothing about this was sophisticated.

I mean the fact it got carried out successfully might say something. I don't know about the tech details though...

Internet exposed DB on a server with default credentials... not much of a hack, no less damaging for that though.

It was not a sophisticated hack. He just happened to find MySQL server which was left on DMZ/public internet with root and no password. Then he just dumped the database to his computer. Basically script kiddie who thought he was lucky.

People have varying motivations for committing crimes. Highly skilled (or just simply lucky) black hat hackers can potentially make millions, which is far more than governments and corporations will hand over for equivalent activities.

They don't 'make millions' they steal millions. Just like a bankrobber can get their hands on more money than a typical bank will pay to their tellers.

He managed to put his entire /home folder in the leak, which lead to his identification. I am not sure I would like someone like him to work for my intelligence agency.

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