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Comment by freshyill | Hacker News Reader

That's a lot to read, but the gist of it seems to be that this guy doesn't care for Brian Krebs. Who is this anonymous writer? Does this person have some sort of credibility other than the four posts on this blog?

For what it's worth, one of the other four posts is a complaint about Ryan Block's customer service call with Comcast.

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The gist is NOT that this guy doesn't care for Brian Krebs. The gist is that Brian Krebs, along with Hold Security, worked together to create a panic frenzy among the uneducated[0], business class by publishing stories and doing interviews with major media outlets all to try to sell a 120/year service that is the equivalent of querying Russian forums and ircs for people mentioning your site in credential sales.

It's a total sham and, personally, I've lost a little respect for Krebs.

edit: [0] By uneducated, I meant only technologically, not anything else. Sorry if anyone was confused.

IDK, it seems like a valid business practice to me - like how stories of virusses running rampant boosts (ineffective) virus scanner sales, or pictures of six-pack abs boosts sales of ab crunching devices.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

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Would you like to Run or Save NotAVirus.scr?

You are spot on.

Most of the stuff you read on Krebs blog is sourced from shady forums based out in Russia.

Same type of forums that were bouncing around US providers in early 2000 and were targets of massive DDoS attacks.

(ie: ryan1918.com, etc).

His 'research' is basically going to those forums and translating/organizing activity for public consumption.

> Who is this anonymous writer?

Oh, hello. That'd be me.

> Does this person have some sort of credibility other than the four posts on this blog?

Sure do.

The intent here wasn't to bash Krebs so much as bash Krebs using the same perpetual source of a company that he is a consultant for. Krebs is an OK guy -- I'd just like to see him utilize a variety of sources versus a reference loop between him and the groups he advises for.

>For what it's worth, one of the other four posts is a complaint about Ryan Block's customer service call with Comcast.

I saw that too, read it, and immediately got the sense that this guy has a vast superiority complex and he aims it at the latest headline-grabbing internet journalist or blogger so he can get his fifteen minutes as well. Specifically in the Ryan Block article, he acted as if he was having an ongoing conversation/interview with Block, when in fact it was his one-sided commentary on a couple of tweets. Very misleading, and it definitely left me unimpressed.

Besides, if what Block did really was illegal in California (two-party recording is something I've dealt with professionally in the past, Block was covered when both parties mutually consented to being recorded at the beginning of the conversation), why was the legality issue never discussed in the media except by this guy?

It didn't seem like this was anything against Krebs, the author just continued to point out that Krebs did have something of a vested interest in pushing this (Hold Security in general) as legitimate.

I have no idea who the author is, but the content does seem plausible/correct/interesting. I will admit to not really believing the original story myself (a safe statement now that others have more publicly stated the same thing, but honestly I didn't) so there might be some bias in believing this side, but this isn't the only person questioning and some are very credible.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/08/over_a_billio...

The article is certainly plausible, and very probably correct—but it always seems worth noting when someone completely anonymous writes something like this. This person is quick (though not necessarily incorrect) to call others' motivations into question. But since nobody knows who this guy is, nobody knows his motivations either.

Maybe this person just a concerned observer. But I don't think it's necessarily crazy to wonder if it's another attempt to discredit somebody like Krebs, who has had SWAT teams show up at his door and had heroin mailed to him because of his work.

> but it always seems worth noting when someone completely anonymous writes something like this [...] since nobody knows who this guy is, nobody knows his motivations either.

I'm the author and your point is 100% valid. Not that you needed me to validate it.

It's a powerful thing, anonymity. Use it wisely!

> For what it's worth, one of the other four posts is a complaint about Ryan Block's customer service call with Comcast.

It's also a reasonable and well constructed (if unpopular) opinion. Thank you for highlighting it, though I suspect it didn't quite have the effect you were after.

> Who is this anonymous writer?

Indeed. Who is "freshyill"? Sounds fishy to me.

He is 'one of the main dudes of the Internet', apparently.

No doubt.

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