From: Ralph Logan <rlogan@medusa.blackops.org>
Approximately a year and a half ago, I attended Defcon V. Information
Security professionals attend Defcon regularly to see old friends, form
new relationships, and generally relax in an environment where we can
speak about familiar topics without having to stop and explain years of
computer knowledge to the general public, managers, clients or our bosses.
According to the Official Defcon V page there was a panel discussion
moderated by:
Carolyn P. Meinel - Moderator of the Happy Hacker Digest and mailing
lists. She will preside over a seperate[sic] Happy
Hacker discussion pannel[sic] that
will cover the topics of wether[sic] or not "newbies"
should hav[sic] information handed to them, or should
they learn for themselves?
Having established relationships previously with other Information
Security Professionals, I was surprised her name had never been mentioned,
so I decided to sit in on the panel. Understanding that this was an
informal convention, I was not expecting strict guidelines or 'stuffy'
behavior from any of the panel members, but the complete ignorance and
irrelevance of Ms. Meinel's statements, retorts and reactions to open
questions amazed me. I left the panel discussion early.
Over the last year, I have kept a watchful eye on this person, Ms.
Meinel. I researched her history, read her list, watched other mailing
lists, and attempted to understand how and when she became a 'Security
Professional'. Knowing the experience and educational backgrounds of
other Information Security Professionals, I could not grasp how the
moderation of a mailing list qualified her as a 'Security Professional.'
I received a document sent to Mike Bellus of the FBI outlining Ms.
Meinel's services as a consultant. In the description of the "3-day
Beginner Hacking Course" she was proposing to the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, Ms. Meinel roughly portrays one of her services as
"...designed to go far enough in these three days to teach serious
proficiency at catching email criminals such as mail bombers."
Such are the 'skills' that Ms. Meinel encourages in her followers on the
"Happy Hacker" mailing list and journal, although the 'skills' Ms. Meinel
teaches on her list are just sufficient to get a new computer enthusiast
in enough hot water to send them to prison. She of course throws in an
occasional 'Don't do this or you will go to jail' comment, but let's
compare that to setting the cookie jar in front of the hungry child, shall
we?
Questions began to form in my mind: 'Is Ms. Meinel attempting to generate
business for herself?', 'Is her skillset really this limited, or is she
teaching new computer enthusiasts just enough to set off the warning
signals with potential clients?'
I watched at a distance as Ms. Meinel continuously poked and prodded her
way around the underground scene with inflammatory accusations, ridiculous
claims, and pious retorts to intelligent queries. Taunting the
underground personalities with challenges, then turning to Federal
Officials and accusing innocent people of terrorizing her, Ms. Meinel has
unjustly accused many people of criminal activities, with not the
slightest bit of evidence.
It was obvious to me that Ms. Meinel had an agenda other than simply
helping the uninformed in her 'Happy Hacker' mailing list. Sure enough,
in early 1998 her book 'The Happy Hacker' was published.
Interest waned after the book was released, as myself and other security
professional associates realized that she was a harmless charlatan.
At Defcon VI Ms. Meinel was amazingly quiet.
A few months later, my current military client and I attended NISSC
(National Information Systems Security Conference).
One session of the conference concerned 'The Future of Information
Security'. Included in this session's audience were professionals from
the Department of Justice, National Security Agency, Federal Bureau of
Investigation, Secret Service, security professionals from the 'Big Five'
accounting firms, Microsoft, and INFOSEC Professionals in the private
industry. The panel discussion soon moved to 'How are we as INFOSEC
professionals going to police the integrity of our profession?' When
someone mentioned the content of Ms. Meinel's recent 'Scientific American'
article, the entire audience burst into laughter. It was a satisfying
moment for those of us following Ms. Meinel's less than illustrious
career: to finally see that our fellow PROFESSIONALS see her for what she
is, and not what she purports to be. I returned home from that conference
with a sense of satisfaction, knowing that other INFOSEC professionals see
through the charade that Ms. Meinel is creating.
The most disturbing part of this last year and a half of watching Ms.
Meinel, is her uncanny ability to pull the wool over the eyes of the press
and the limited amount of the public that listen to her. I am afraid we
are going to see more people in our industry playing these games with
potential clients and the public, and we must constantly guard the
integrity of INFOSEC, for integrity is a mainstay of any INFOSEC
professional.
It was with shame that I read your article after my boss pointed it out to
me, asking if I was familiar with Ms. Meinel.
This letter is not for publication, only to ask you to please research
your publicized writers before publication in the future.
This is not a letter to taunt Ms. Meinel, for I have no desire to respond
to her, correspond with her, or even give her an attempt to justify her
ever downward spiralling 'career' as a 'Security Expert'.
Ralph Logan
Senior Information Management Specialist
Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.
The opinions stated in this correspondance are in no way representative of
my employers.
-o-
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Received on Sat Nov 7 13:20:01 1998