Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Enter Digerati
Digerati first appeared in #ssgroup in late 2005. On the surface, his participation was unremarkable. He often regaled his mates with intelligent discussions about bots, trojans, and even Judaism. And he demonstrated a rare combination of technical acumen and deep connections in the hacker world.
Within a few weeks, the #ssgroup elders made him a channel operator, a designation that carried plenty of status in some hacker circles because it allowed him to exercise a great deal of control. Ejecting rowdy visitors, bestowing operator status on others, and protecting the channel from hostile attacks were all part of his responsibilities. But there were unsettling elements to Digerati that became more apparent with time.
"When he started coming into the room, it always circled around sex," Campbell recalls.
Things came to a head in January 2006, when Digerati betrayed his penchant for online sex with boys. During an online gathering with webcams to celebrate Campbell's 25th birthday, he exposed himself before the entire gathering, which included members as young as 13 years old. According to three people present, he repeatedly engaged the younger members in private messages the elders were later able to access.
"He took off his pants and underwear," Campbell says. "He was encouraging them to join him, daring them, calling them chickens. After that night, I started fighting with the admins on the site to ban him."
About a month later, the #ssgroup leaders yanked Digerati's coveted operator status. Almost immediately, the attacks began - distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks so potent they caused #ssgroup and Taunet, the IRC server that hosted the channel, to become completely unreachable. The data floods were so fierce they sometimes inflicted damage on Taunet's internet service company as well. Taunet switched to a company that claimed it was able to withstand DDoS attacks, but the move didn't help.
"We were always DDoSed off the freaking net," Ward laments.
Over the next year, Digerati's online opponents would resort to a variety of tactics to get the hacker off their backs, but none of them worked. When diplomacy failed, they reported his repeated online liaisons with boys to university officials and then to the FBI. When those efforts bore no fruit, some opponents formed a vigilante posse that hacked the university's servers and spammed students and administrators with hundreds of flyers emblazoned with Digerati's portrait and a detailed description of his alleged online conduct.
After learning Digerati was under suspicion for hacking offenses, the posse even hacked into the university's mail system and intercepted hundreds of emails sent between school administrators and FBI investigators discussing their probe.
Next page: The Grooming
COMMENTS
No back doors
ZeroFool the simple answer is, you are mistaken, I never backdoored Digerari, regardless of what he has told you, he was never backdoored. not by me at least, and not by any member of SSGroup.
Its no longer a matter of discussion of whether he participated in these activities. That's already been determined. This story hopefully brings to light the failing system the US has in matters of plea bargaining with child predators. the system needs changing and that can only come from awareness of the problem.
backdoors but no cp??
this is one i have outlined many times on various websites. why is it that members of SSG had backdoors on Dig's box notibly CM2 but how come no CP was ever noted? publically. all the shiz you did pull to public for him was nothing that could be compared to that.....
Clarification
@John
""Cool Mo Fo - remeber when you ran that 'beta' client with a backdoor bound to it? I sure do.
I remember people saying it was a practical joke, and they didn't mean anything by it.""
Well John actually no I don't. i have never been backdoored by anyone, ever..And anyone with a shred of knowledge in the field could avoid being "backdoored" as well.
For you to start with your claim that I have, pretty much indicates that you aren't too researched on this whole thing.
I don't dispute that Digerati was a helpful person, most pedophiles are very nice and helpful, and sometimes even very well respected (hxxp://www.capemaycountyherald.com/article/39293-pedophile-judge-faces-disbarment). Pedophiles are judges teachers policeman firefighters and your regular everyday scumbag. The point is that your method for character judgment is flawed, as it is completely obvious that Ryan/Digerati was caught red-handed with not just a few pictures of child porn, but thousands of them, therefore its completely obvious as well that he engaged in this activity whether you thought he was a good guy or not.
you then further state :
""If anyone has any actual evidence or is a witness to any of the stuff that's been mentioned, then they can have a say.""
I am a witness to the actions outlined in the above story, I do have/did provide evidence, and would testify to that extent in a court of law.
and :
""ZeroFool has been known to talk to Digi whilst all this was going on - and if he says that Digi wasn't as bad as he's being made out to be, then that's enough evidence for me.""
Yea, who cares what the federal government, the judges, the prosecutes, lawmakers, law enforcement, federal investigators, computer forensics specialists, and judicial system say, as long as ZeroFool (now around 16 years old) says its not so then it must not be so, even considering the fact that his words may be tainted by partiality, as is indicative of his responses here, i.e. "child porn is not legal in some countries." I'm sorry by that sounds more like a justification than a defense.
@ AC
I agree with your position, but maybe you should check your replies direction, I believe your response there should be aimed at ZeroFool and not me lol as the replies you cite are his and not mine...
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Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
