"I built CS hack tools as a child based entirely off of my 4 YEARS of experience PLAYING COMPUTER GAMES and USING A COMPUTER from age 9 to 13. Those TEAMS of engineers at PunkBuster in their 20's and 30's are bitches. Btw I'm not a fast learner and did terrible in school. ...Oh, and I got a job as a programmer at 15 by showing the company a counterfeit work permit from my school. Ya know, those permits high schools give out to 15 year olds that let them work instead of attending school." I don't see why Samy Kamkar and all these world famous hackers would be giving full out biographies to some random kid on youtube, whose videos get under 50k views, for nothing in exchange. Not to mention one that promotes darknet conspiracies and clearly either does not have much 'technicalknowhow' (let alone 'hackingknowhow') or is at least pretending not to for the sake of garnering views from people who don't know any better.
it sounds crazy , but if you only knew what the internet was like back then . you could easily follow a pretty normal rabbit hole on a forum that eventually leads to hacker forums where they would teach everything and the sites didnt get taken down for years . you were allways like 5 random clicks from being shown blackhat stuff if you were a techie.
@@myname-mz3lo Oh I know, I remember finding anything and everything when I was that age too. You can still find that stuff on the internet though, it just takes a bit more digging and inconvenience than before. I just meant that even if a 30 year old adult could learn that much that fast, it would still be extremely impressive. To be the first one who figures out how to hack/cheat a game? Let alone that game being CS. Let alone being first at anything on the internet. It's just really hard to fathom someone so young being able to do that. The intelligence is what's hard to believe, not the fact that you could find out how to do that stuff online.
This is crazy. Anyone who had a Myspace account automatically had a friend called Tom, that was Thomas Anderson, co-founder of Myspace. I would have rather been Sam's friend. The effect of Sam's worm was no worse than Tom's actions.
You're comparing the actions of a hacker to a guy that founded a social media website. Tom being automatically added as a friend is orthogonal to you being a friend to a hacker. Besides, what will you think or do when your hacker buddy takes your PII and sells it on the internet... I bet you won't care right?
@Steve Barnes then you are an idiot on Linux waiting to be compromised. Using an OS because you think it is not being targeted is also very myopic. That's the same stupidity apple users said, til they started finding out they had been owned longer than shares of Berkshire Hathaway.
Samy's worm was basically one of our lab exercises in our Web App Security class at school. The prof set up a fake version of Facebook and we were able to replicate the worm on the site. He certainly is a hacking legend hahaha.
Edit:I found it. XSS vulnerability. How did it actually write to the db? Was it an ajax call that replaced query string or post values or something like that? I'm still watching so I appologize if it's explained later in the video.
Instead of giving this man a job they imprisoned and withheld him from doing amazing things across various sectors. Sammy sounds like a genuinely good guy. Wish y’all all the best
I feel like the punishment for hacking MySpace was way too harsh. That's so much community service and ridiculous to say you can't use a computer or the internet are they going to seriously be over your shoulder constantly making sure how would they seriously know?
@@SecuR0M somebody didn't pay close attention here. It's made pretty clear there was no criminal thought or intent. It's like pulling a fire alarm with no reason. It doesn't say it's illegal, it could be funny between friends, but it's probably not going to go well. Sure you can argue common sense, but unless MySpace specifically listed in it's T&C that you can't run a code on your profile (which was half the draw of the site), it's a moot point. Realistically, with Samy reaching out anonymously to try to help and MySpace's lack of reaching out to Samy, he shouldn't have been charged.
@@trail_mix24 "I stole with the best intentions" isn't a defense lmfao No, he absolutely deserved it sorry. He did a crime and got punished. Executing malicious code on a website is illegal. Intent is a non factor lol. It can be an accident and it's still a crime. Blame the lack of classes of computer crime but don't say it's not true. Pulling a fire alarm in a theater that results in FD arrival is a crime too lol. This isn't "common" sense it's just the law. It was probably less well known in the 00s than now.
@Kat Tsun okay wow you really missed the bar here. I never said anything about theft or theaters first of all. My anecdote on the fire alarm was based on when my old neighbor pulled it at 5am in my apartment complex. It was illegal, yes, but he was not fined or cited at all. It is a grey area of the law that is down to if someone feels like pressing charges. As for Samy, he stated more than once it was a dumb prank that went wrong. Did he deserve the punishment? Not really. If you look at many other hackers and what they do after their screw ups, you'll see most go back in as a white hat. I've personally done a lot of stupid things without thinking of the consequence. Like driving a go kart with no brakes into a hairpin at 45mph. Was it smart? No. Was I trying to be funny before I realized I messed up? Yes. Did I flip and hurt my ankle? Absolutely. The community service is fair, but barring him from his only income is how you turn a good man with one mistake into a criminal. Either way, it's people like Samy who reveal holes in web security. Most anymore do it to get paid, but this was 2005. If not Samy, then someone else would have
@@trail_mix24 @john bales You asked if the punishment was "deserved". Yes, obviously, because a crime was committed. You're conflating deserved with either justifiable or proportional and I'm not sure which. Both are temporal, as justifiable punishment varies over time due to changing moral outlooks of societies, what is a crime worthy of death in one time is worth a fine in another. The other is whether or not the "punishment fits the crime" which is determined by laws and, at least in Anglophone Common Law, jury sentencing. That's how the notorious Bloody Code ended in Britain. A crime occurred. A trial was held and found to be satisfactory to Constitutional rights and general conduct. A penalty was thus deservedly applied as the crime was found to be true without manipulation. Whether that punishment was just is an entirely different question, obviously. Whether the ancient application of Lex Talonis, eye for an eye, etc. can apply to "I hacked Myspace" is a tad dubious to say the least. IMO the kid got off fairly well compared to some other cases tbh. 3 years ban on computer use and probation beats 5 tears in jail and a felony. You'd know that if you read the wiki page or listened to the podcast lol. He's greyhat not white hat anyway he makes free to use spyware in his spare time that the DPRK and NSA love to use. It did not actually impact S. Kamkar's career (it probably helped it) and he is still considered a knowledgeable SME in any case lmao. Pompompurrin and Goatse Sec got booty blasted in comparison. The op is just one of those actual loonies who thinks wildly lenient sentences are harsh lmao.
Sounds about right, the DA probably thinks that he will national security risk, and a possible threat to the people. Not saying he is, but that’s what probably is going through his mind.
The DA trying to prevent him from using computers for the rest of his life is on the same level of response as Samy's thinking that what he did will only impact a few people and not be anything serious. Neither party truly understands the ramifications of their actions.
This is one of the best interview videos i have ever watched. The vibe in your videos hit different, the subtle narration, everything, awesome! Props to you jack! im a proud sub of your sick channel now :)
this your best watch? u should check out the episode about the global destruction *notpetya* caused that ultimately led to the downfall of *maersk* - world's biggest logistics company
how this only has 100k views and 100 comments makes me proud to be here, sad for those who aren't. will definitely be sharing! this is crazy! thank you both
Samy is honestly one of my heroes. He started openpath, a controlled access system, that my company uses and I wrote scripts for before learning that Samy was the owner.
His mindset as a kid about being able to ship ants to people is really awesome. It's funny how differently my mind works. My first thought was "people buy ants when you can harvest them in your yard for free"? 😆 Oh and didn't he already do this guy's story before? I know I've heard his story
one of your best episodes Ive seen from your channel. Plus this guy/hacker is just a straight genius in so many different ways. I thinks is so awesome and just amazing hearing stories like these and hearing different things people are able to build by coding and just know how computers/internet actually work and all the endless thinks going on all around everyone. I hope some day i can learn enough to be able to do a 1/4 of what this guy is able to do, sounds all self taught as well. This is probably my second year now of really diving into computers and the whole online Eco system that powers its self. I'm a old-er man now and wish i was able to learn more things around technology growing up but that was different times 30 years ago or so. Plus i know my parents were never able to even afford a PC. I have a 4 year old son that i have full custody of at the moment I'm trying to show him and teach him the value of just hard work to the best of my abilities and praying to god i do everything right that he grows up to be a respectful member of society while treating others with kindness, never judging anyone and always doing the right thing. I plan to get him involved in as much things around computers/technology in a good way not just learning how to play video games. I hope hes even interested in things like this and gets attached where he just wanted to learn everything and anything he can get his hands on. If anyone even reads my little life story here i decided to post in the comments (lol) I'm sorry, hope is brought maybe a little smile even if smiling and saying "this guys sounds crazy and like a weirdo dad". I'll take that. Keep the great videos coming, love your channel. 👍👍👍
i like how he is trying to be humble that he is not a fast learner despite the fact that he did something difficult at young age more than just normal programming
thats the burden of being a savant, you tend to be an expert at something but struggle at everything and thats why he interpreted it as a slow learner.
this is top quality content. i am genualy having fun learning about his story and its 5AM here in Portugal and i should be sleeping by now... Samy you should be adopted as a Myspace child and taken care ahaha
Very interesting guest, enjoyed hearing his story. I can't imagine having my right to use a computer taken away from me as a Software Developer loosing my lively hood to make money and contribute to society.
Lol this man is AWESOME! Also, X-Files is still one of the best TV shows EVER, except Doctor Who. Also, I was one of those who got his message on MySpace 😂😂😂 and yes, the audio streaming was absolutely horrible, but I used to go to a particular artists page because I couldn’t find one song of hers that I found later, because streaming services exist now😊
he was not trying to steal stuff, he was trying to play the game. there is difference between a thief, and a gamer. A gamer is not trying to get something, they are simply trying to prove they can win.
I can't believe they wanted to take away his access to computers for the rest of his life. That's ridiculous. Especially when you consider how little time some people get who are actually a danger to society. Not to mention how easy some people get off, especially those with money.
Technically you can quite easily remove the worm, by using a second worm that spreads to everything, deletes the first worm, then, at a predetermined time wipes itself.
I completely remember this. We were all like "Who T F is Sammy?" Then nothing. This is the kind of shit that has always scared the crap out of me. I would have cried like a baby.
I remember MySpace very clearly. I remember people talking about the friends list thing. It was a harmless virus. All just giggles. No real damage. No real harm.
@@EnjoyCocaColaLight Not disputing that but it was still the cause of getting them to have to do that to fix it and solve the problem. That's akin to vandalism. Marking territory, Spraying a logo on buildings, etc.
This is the best way to start my morning, you are the best of the best i hope you never stop making videos, literally the only thing i look forward to every week you have no idea
I had a similar story in getting into programming, I was DDoS'ed one day and I thought to myself holy shit there's no fucking way, I was 12 and 10 years later Im still way to passionate about computers
Yep. The GPS location thing is terrifying. I noticed this recently, I open google maps in edge by accident and was terrified to see my exact location. When I tried it in Firefox, it was completely incorrect. And i don't have a GPS module in my PC. So I'm really going to have to finally migrate to Linux, cause this is disgusting. But it's good to finally have an explanation for this terrifying thing. 🤮 Also, thank you so much for this episode!!!
thats not how it works mate you dont need a 'gps module' in your pc your the kind of person that needs to get off the internet it uses your wifi/ip to tell were you are sped
this podcast was playing in my living room, one by one all my family and my friends came and sat to listen this masterpiece. I could not believe the story. The content is amazing
It’s so cool that I’ve heard about all these hacks and concepts and research papers individually but had no idea they were connected by one guy. I love the hacker mindset
I don't know this SAMY dude but our learning styles is practically the same. I have short attention span on things I find that doesn't make me happy, but when it comes to 3d modelling (which is something I find fascinating and fun) I'm practically all in on every youtube videos and pirated online courses. There was nothing that could pull my attention away from learning, I can even remember how many times an earthquake occured and I briefly paused and thought to myself, "I mean fuck it if my PC gets destroyed I might as well die of boredom anyways, let's continue" I Respect that my guy 👍✨
This guy is SOO me. I feel a lot better lol. I'm not a fast pace learner but one day I seen a .sqlite file on an old laptop and wondered why It wasn't. txt at the end haha. Almost 2 years ago. Now I have shelves filled with sqlite python IoT C++ ect. I'm addicted and don't want to stop. It was a hobby that now I do or if I can't, I'm thinking about it. Every bit was slowly self taught by trial and error or online.
Keep going and you will be able to work in software development in no time, maybe already can… average beginner salary of $60K and normal to make $100K+ and most are now from home or wherever you want to be… as a self taught developer you can find plenty of jobs… not all jobs (because some still require degrees) but plenty if you put yourself out there and have a few projects as a portfolio that you can show for your skills. It’s funny how some folks find out that they actually learned a full blown high pay profession by accident just because they messed around with code for a hobby and got addicted to it.
Have you been tested for ADHD or ASD? Might be worth the check! Could help you learn tools to be super successful and use a potential disorder as a super power.
@@JakeRLabrador I second this on getting tested for disorders. I was diagnosed with a learning disorder when I was in middle school. I couldn't remember a strong of words if I was asked the repeat them, even if they were similar objects. In high school, I realized I had a visual memory. And the only reason why I was failing, was because I was trying to remember 30+ letters in the words. So instead I visualize the item. Which is much easier lol.
learning that you can write entire files with notepad changed my life as a kid just save as .bat or.vbs and a single line of code can destroy a person's PC. (deltree /y c:/*.*) if they're on winxp
Randomly found your channel 3 days ago since in learning about programming i guess your channel showed up in recommended, an i have been bingeing , i love how you do your podcasting
"Even I can't hear ultrasound" lol Samy is freaking awesome, I just realized when I found this video that I haven't heard much from or about him lately.
Lol @ that first guy that punked Samy and kicked him out of a chat room. To think, that seemingly inconsequential action would trigger a chain of events that would lead to the biggest website in the world going down.
Thanks Sammy, confirmation of theories of the tracking that I've had for a while. Like how your phone will engage the location symbol when you plug in the charging cord. Even with location turned off.
It's too bad he's not a more cludgy programmer, he could have just wrote another worm that deletes the old worm, reverses it's effects if found, and maybe delete its self after a few months.
Lmao, referring to someone else's comment below. So basically Samys worm and "Sammy's my hero" probably ended up on Tom's myspace page. And Tom thinking " who the f*** is this guy Samy" and "how does he have more friends than I do." Is priceless!! would have loved to have been there to see his face at that time."
Brilliant! Thank you so much for this and all of the hard work you've been putting into these episodes. Great quality and keeps my interest every time.
Sammy is just such a cool and brilliant guy. I currently work in digital radio and have been wanting to put out content that discusses these types of things and this has been a treasure trove of knowledge that I will definitely be looking into and writing about.
Alexa/ring and all other devices related to them have transceivers in them that operate on the commercial band, and have a few mile radius to them, even if they aren't connected to the internet, as long as you're within range of the radio, and have power, it will communicate with all other devices and relay information. Multiband radios have come a long way, and you can actually transmit and receive information across them like wifi for computers, albeit slowly and unencrypted, so God only knows what they're using this for.
9:00 Really? He never thought, "Hey I like your cheat codes. Will you code for us? By the way, this is Special Agent Anderson with the FBI. My job is to catch hackers."
oh hi! the early counter strike cheat community was fun. getting your wallhack cheat blocked by punkbuster and then tinkering the code again, to get it working again, back and forth with punkbuster... that were some fun times in early teenage
Great Episode! Reminds me of the time I worked out that i could change to colour of text in a MMO with Hex and then make it look like a rival was mouthing off to the point the GMs would take one look not check and 3day ban. We ruled the server until I abused it too much and then it got patched.
Yeah, cause, you know, nothing says trustworthy and easy background check like a criminal history does.... The fallacy that hiring the criminal to stop crime very often doesn't work out as intended. You don't hear about the 10,500,413 failures doing that stupid shit, just the one fool that gets press somehow. Look at Mr. "Catch me if you can" working for the FBI. He was full of shit, he lied about his exploits and everyone at rhe agency knew it. The only thing be did worth a damn was some stuff on check fraud countermeasure work, that's IT. He can't get work these days because people know what a fraud amd a fuckup he is. Which is NO surprise given his background and nature! Only a complete dumbass expects that situation to work out differently.
@@atomicjacob6413 Nope, you fail background check on being a convicted felon, and anything that requires a "public trust" or security clearance will fail on that and in many other areas.
Lol the secret service bros seem pretty chill. I said that, till they were pushing for jail time and a lifetime computer ban. Were these the same people that laughed about unlimited laundry? Was genuinely feeling bad, that they were gonna take his livelihood away forever, till they said he could get it back. Genuinely felt happy when he could use computers again
Good on Samy. The unintended consequences of his mischievous early MyFace debacle he has turned around into a constructive and powerful 'watchdog' mission. Great stuff. I have not owned or used a bat-phone for about 25 years, because I learned quickly that they can quickly become the masters of you instead a convenient tool. And that was long before the Smart Phone came along. Now that surveillance has become the norm with these gadgets, I think every week how convenient it would be to have a Smart Phone with the myriad of applications that can be so powerful. But when I see 95% plus of all people on the street seemingly staring at their boots while they walk, I go NAH! Especially when I would have to spend so much time managing the intrusive ads and nonsense that apparently cannot often be blocked. I am not a luddite, but I would rather be close to that, than endure the B.S. corporate powers enthrall us with in exchange for sneaky and intrusive observation of my life, habits and preferences. NOT a good transaction in my view.
He could have written a cannibal worm which would do the same thing as the first one except in a tree list where it starts removing the code from the people who have only 1 friend infected, then 2 friends and so on until the tree is eaten up. It's kind of a depth first search with a few virus cherries on top.
I think we need a law that makes it illegal for an electronic device to collect or report any information about devices that aren't owned by the same person. For one device in one person's home to report information about devices in a neighbor's home is equivalent to being a peeping tom. It doesn't matter if the neighbor leaves their window shades open enough to see through. It's still wrong to spy on them.
Firstly, any agreement to violate someone else's privacy isn't legal. So, if your device is spying on someone else and you know it and permit it, you are committing a crime. Secondly nobody in the US actually signs an agreement for these devices anymore. It's all "terms of service" that are clicked through. And often it's not even the owner that clicks it, it's the person at the mobile store that set up the phone for you and transferred the data from your other phone that clicked past the terms of service page. And that person doesn't have power of attorney to be able to bind you to an agreement with a third party on your behalf.
@@terrafirma9328 I see no logic in that assessment of me or your recommendation. 1) either you are a lawyer and I'm already talking to one. 2) or you aren't a lawyer and don't work in the legal field and therefore not any authority to lecture contract law. 3) or you are working as a legal aid and larping as a lawyer. 4) or you are an elected official that thinks they know enough. 5) or you know little about US law. You cannot, under any circumstances, make a legal agreement (contract) to compel someone else to do something that is illegal (an illegal activity), or grant someone else a right to do something you didn't have the right to do in the first place. Such an agreement is itself illegal. If the other person knows the agreement is illegal, but does the thing anyway, then that person is performing an illegal activity and you are at the very least an accessory.
exactly that! - the best way to learn anything is to love what your trying to learn - and want a goal for it after you have learnt it - the rest comes naturally - esp. if you have persistence - I am exactly the same and it works! had no idea about networking and now I'm building a domain network at home - for fun! lol
I tought i can hide my location after using vpn and block cookies, never thought that the device signal strength can expose your location, omg, having friends like Samy is a true blessing
I wonder if you kept 100 phones in a box wired with solar and hidden off the freeway on your long congested comute then you could manipulate the google maps system to work in your favor whenever you need it.
57:47 we live in a technologically advanced society, these kinds of things can both be beneficial or unacceptable depending on our own point of view unless you decide to give up everything and go live in the woods hunting for food, it's almost impossible to avoid this systematic integration i personally appreciate the benefits because it makes my life easier, embrace and adapt
The jump from "I was a tiny child playing CS" to "I then learned about packet sniffing and intercepting functions in the game's files" is crazy lol
😂
Is wild
"I built CS hack tools as a child based entirely off of my 4 YEARS of experience PLAYING COMPUTER GAMES and USING A COMPUTER from age 9 to 13. Those TEAMS of engineers at PunkBuster in their 20's and 30's are bitches. Btw I'm not a fast learner and did terrible in school.
...Oh, and I got a job as a programmer at 15 by showing the company a counterfeit work permit from my school. Ya know, those permits high schools give out to 15 year olds that let them work instead of attending school."
I don't see why Samy Kamkar and all these world famous hackers would be giving full out biographies to some random kid on youtube, whose videos get under 50k views, for nothing in exchange. Not to mention one that promotes darknet conspiracies and clearly either does not have much 'technicalknowhow' (let alone 'hackingknowhow') or is at least pretending not to for the sake of garnering views from people who don't know any better.
it sounds crazy , but if you only knew what the internet was like back then . you could easily follow a pretty normal rabbit hole on a forum that eventually leads to hacker forums where they would teach everything and the sites didnt get taken down for years . you were allways like 5 random clicks from being shown blackhat stuff if you were a techie.
@@myname-mz3lo Oh I know, I remember finding anything and everything when I was that age too. You can still find that stuff on the internet though, it just takes a bit more digging and inconvenience than before.
I just meant that even if a 30 year old adult could learn that much that fast, it would still be extremely impressive. To be the first one who figures out how to hack/cheat a game? Let alone that game being CS. Let alone being first at anything on the internet. It's just really hard to fathom someone so young being able to do that. The intelligence is what's hard to believe, not the fact that you could find out how to do that stuff online.
This is crazy. Anyone who had a Myspace account automatically had a friend called Tom, that was Thomas Anderson, co-founder of Myspace. I would have rather been Sam's friend.
The effect of Sam's worm was no worse than Tom's actions.
myspace didnt know sam, for all they knew he could have had malicious intents.
he had access to their browsers
You're comparing the actions of a hacker to a guy that founded a social media website. Tom being automatically added as a friend is orthogonal to you being a friend to a hacker. Besides, what will you think or do when your hacker buddy takes your PII and sells it on the internet... I bet you won't care right?
@@karlchilders5420 No, I won't. I don't even know what a PII is. I do, however, know that by using Linux I am safer than using Windows.
@Steve Barnes then you are an idiot on Linux waiting to be compromised. Using an OS because you think it is not being targeted is also very myopic. That's the same stupidity apple users said, til they started finding out they had been owned longer than shares of Berkshire Hathaway.
Samy's worm was basically one of our lab exercises in our Web App Security class at school. The prof set up a fake version of Facebook and we were able to replicate the worm on the site. He certainly is a hacking legend hahaha.
Edit:I found it. XSS vulnerability.
How did it actually write to the db? Was it an ajax call that replaced query string or post values or something like that?
I'm still watching so I appologize if it's explained later in the video.
Well it being a prank and not meant to be harmful might actually make it worse. Imagine what such a smart idiot could also do by accident.
@@Dave-nv5rv aaaaaaa
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Instead of giving this man a job they imprisoned and withheld him from doing amazing things across various sectors.
Sammy sounds like a genuinely good guy. Wish y’all all the best
They only give jobs to the ones with exploitable things in their past.
He didnt go to prison though? He was on probation for 3 years.
@@ExodusX13 wasnt it 2 years?
spoiler :(
@@croozerdog bruh why you in the comments before finishing a video
This is an NPR level quality podcast. You have a new fan.
I didn't know ira glass was so into computers 😂
I feel like the punishment for hacking MySpace was way too harsh. That's so much community service and ridiculous to say you can't use a computer or the internet are they going to seriously be over your shoulder constantly making sure how would they seriously know?
He has a probation officer and they likely peruse his finances now and again to see what he's purchased.
If you can't do the time etc...
@@SecuR0M somebody didn't pay close attention here. It's made pretty clear there was no criminal thought or intent. It's like pulling a fire alarm with no reason. It doesn't say it's illegal, it could be funny between friends, but it's probably not going to go well.
Sure you can argue common sense, but unless MySpace specifically listed in it's T&C that you can't run a code on your profile (which was half the draw of the site), it's a moot point. Realistically, with Samy reaching out anonymously to try to help and MySpace's lack of reaching out to Samy, he shouldn't have been charged.
@@trail_mix24 "I stole with the best intentions" isn't a defense lmfao
No, he absolutely deserved it sorry. He did a crime and got punished. Executing malicious code on a website is illegal. Intent is a non factor lol. It can be an accident and it's still a crime.
Blame the lack of classes of computer crime but don't say it's not true. Pulling a fire alarm in a theater that results in FD arrival is a crime too lol.
This isn't "common" sense it's just the law. It was probably less well known in the 00s than now.
@Kat Tsun okay wow you really missed the bar here. I never said anything about theft or theaters first of all. My anecdote on the fire alarm was based on when my old neighbor pulled it at 5am in my apartment complex. It was illegal, yes, but he was not fined or cited at all. It is a grey area of the law that is down to if someone feels like pressing charges.
As for Samy, he stated more than once it was a dumb prank that went wrong. Did he deserve the punishment? Not really. If you look at many other hackers and what they do after their screw ups, you'll see most go back in as a white hat. I've personally done a lot of stupid things without thinking of the consequence. Like driving a go kart with no brakes into a hairpin at 45mph. Was it smart? No. Was I trying to be funny before I realized I messed up? Yes. Did I flip and hurt my ankle? Absolutely. The community service is fair, but barring him from his only income is how you turn a good man with one mistake into a criminal.
Either way, it's people like Samy who reveal holes in web security. Most anymore do it to get paid, but this was 2005. If not Samy, then someone else would have
@@trail_mix24 @john bales You asked if the punishment was "deserved". Yes, obviously, because a crime was committed.
You're conflating deserved with either justifiable or proportional and I'm not sure which. Both are temporal, as justifiable punishment varies over time due to changing moral outlooks of societies, what is a crime worthy of death in one time is worth a fine in another. The other is whether or not the "punishment fits the crime" which is determined by laws and, at least in Anglophone Common Law, jury sentencing. That's how the notorious Bloody Code ended in Britain.
A crime occurred. A trial was held and found to be satisfactory to Constitutional rights and general conduct. A penalty was thus deservedly applied as the crime was found to be true without manipulation.
Whether that punishment was just is an entirely different question, obviously. Whether the ancient application of Lex Talonis, eye for an eye, etc. can apply to "I hacked Myspace" is a tad dubious to say the least.
IMO the kid got off fairly well compared to some other cases tbh. 3 years ban on computer use and probation beats 5 tears in jail and a felony. You'd know that if you read the wiki page or listened to the podcast lol. He's greyhat not white hat anyway he makes free to use spyware in his spare time that the DPRK and NSA love to use.
It did not actually impact S. Kamkar's career (it probably helped it) and he is still considered a knowledgeable SME in any case lmao.
Pompompurrin and Goatse Sec got booty blasted in comparison.
The op is just one of those actual loonies who thinks wildly lenient sentences are harsh lmao.
The DA trying to prevent him from using computers for the rest of his life for a prank worm is fucking mental.
The DA probably didn't even know how to use a printer
Sounds about right, the DA probably thinks that he will national security risk, and a possible threat to the people. Not saying he is, but that’s what probably is going through his mind.
Ya meanwhile in CA and LA in particular they are so soft on crime, let you steal up to a thousand dollars, very soft of pdf files. Fk LA.
The DA trying to prevent him from using computers for the rest of his life is on the same level of response as Samy's thinking that what he did will only impact a few people and not be anything serious. Neither party truly understands the ramifications of their actions.
@@nexusyang4832 big difference in motivation
This episode was full of great information and history, Samy...youre a cool dude lol
Lol what? This is a made up story, there's no real "information" or "history" at all.
I love Sammy's talks at DEFCON, etc.
Sammy is my hero. :)
I love them too
This is one of the best interview videos i have ever watched. The vibe in your videos hit different, the subtle narration, everything, awesome! Props to you jack!
im a proud sub of your sick channel now :)
this your best watch? u should check out the episode about the global destruction *notpetya* caused that ultimately led to the downfall of *maersk* - world's biggest logistics company
how this only has 100k views and 100 comments makes me proud to be here, sad for those who aren't. will definitely be sharing! this is crazy! thank you both
Only 1k likes as well, people are just lazy.
Samy is honestly one of my heroes. He started openpath, a controlled access system, that my company uses and I wrote scripts for before learning that Samy was the owner.
Jack your content is highly interesting and is my go to if I just want to listen. This episode is my favorite of all time.
Agree 100%. My favorite go to podcast
His mindset as a kid about being able to ship ants to people is really awesome. It's funny how differently my mind works. My first thought was "people buy ants when you can harvest them in your yard for free"? 😆
Oh and didn't he already do this guy's story before? I know I've heard his story
You'd have to harvest the queen and I don't think you'd enjoy sticking your hand deep into an ant-hill
@@vigigamehacker123 that’s metal as hell
He's basically famous, if your into this type of content you've probably heard of him before somewhere
@@vigigamehacker123 "Harvest the Queen" This happens on our planet?
@@vigigamehacker123 Young queens leave nest to start new colonies, but need to find one without wings, to know its pregnant.
Bro, you just interviewed a legend. Thanks for the formal introduction cause I never would have known about Sam otherwise.
this the most underrated storyteller channel right now, just amazing !
"Thought I'd just go over with coffee and doughnuts, say sorry" amazing 😂😂😂
one of your best episodes Ive seen from your channel. Plus this guy/hacker is just a straight genius in so many different ways. I thinks is so awesome and just amazing hearing stories like these and hearing different things people are able to build by coding and just know how computers/internet actually work and all the endless thinks going on all around everyone. I hope some day i can learn enough to be able to do a 1/4 of what this guy is able to do, sounds all self taught as well. This is probably my second year now of really diving into computers and the whole online Eco system that powers its self. I'm a old-er man now and wish i was able to learn more things around technology growing up but that was different times 30 years ago or so. Plus i know my parents were never able to even afford a PC. I have a 4 year old son that i have full custody of at the moment I'm trying to show him and teach him the value of just hard work to the best of my abilities and praying to god i do everything right that he grows up to be a respectful member of society while treating others with kindness, never judging anyone and always doing the right thing. I plan to get him involved in as much things around computers/technology in a good way not just learning how to play video games. I hope hes even interested in things like this and gets attached where he just wanted to learn everything and anything he can get his hands on. If anyone even reads my little life story here i decided to post in the comments (lol) I'm sorry, hope is brought maybe a little smile even if smiling and saying "this guys sounds crazy and like a weirdo dad". I'll take that. Keep the great videos coming, love your channel.
👍👍👍
You’re a real ass man dude, hope your kid grows up to do great shit for humanity
This autobiography of Samy Kamhar was awesome to listen to. I was held through it all the way through. Well done, and riviting.
These interviews are really fascinating to listen to, it inspires me to explore more about compters and technology. Love your podcast Jack!
I like how he looks after his mother. She was the one that gave him his first computer after all.
I heard an episode of yours once and I've been listening to every one since.
I go hit up the older ones to.
Keep it up, bro.
Thank you for this video. Samy has had one interesting "career". The way he looks into issues are very very cool.
Guy sells a company for 30m then says he can't pay him when he starts another one. Such bullshit.
Where does smart money put 30mil? Less liquidable investments.
@@terrafirma9328If you’re starting a new company invest your own money in, don’t just exploit your workers for free labor.
i like how he is trying to be humble that he is not a fast learner despite the fact that he did something difficult at young age more than just normal programming
thats the burden of being a savant, you tend to be an expert at something but struggle at everything and thats why he interpreted it as a slow learner.
this is top quality content.
i am genualy having fun learning about his story and its 5AM here in Portugal and i should be sleeping by now... Samy you should be adopted as a Myspace child and taken care ahaha
This it's crap
Please get a life
54m 1s 1n p0rtug4l?
8 am here
This guy is very intelligent. I have a hard time using jest in JavaScript.
Can't believe how great this podcast is. Great job.
Very interesting guest, enjoyed hearing his story. I can't imagine having my right to use a computer taken away from me as a Software Developer loosing my lively hood to make money and contribute to society.
:Mom I made an accident.
:Oh god! What did you do?
:I took down the myspace.
:Thank god, i thought you made a girl pregnant.
2 years probation is much better than 18 years of child support and a lifetime of responsibility. 🤣
I have been very sick for a few days unable to work, binge watching your podcast is keeping me sane thx a lot ! I love what you do
Lol this man is AWESOME! Also, X-Files is still one of the best TV shows EVER, except Doctor Who.
Also, I was one of those who got his message on MySpace 😂😂😂 and yes, the audio streaming was absolutely horrible, but I used to go to a particular artists page because I couldn’t find one song of hers that I found later, because streaming services exist now😊
Thank you Jack and Samy for your story and sharing with us on YT.
Samy: “none of this was with malicious intention”
Also Samy: proceeds to steal cc info 🌚
His revelations regarding Google's data collection shows his intentions are much better than these companies.
... you may have completely missed the point
he was not trying to steal stuff, he was trying to play the game. there is difference between a thief, and a gamer. A gamer is not trying to get something, they are simply trying to prove they can win.
I can't believe they wanted to take away his access to computers for the rest of his life. That's ridiculous. Especially when you consider how little time some people get who are actually a danger to society. Not to mention how easy some people get off, especially those with money.
What a fantastic episode. This guy has some crazy way of viewing technology. I like it.
Technically you can quite easily remove the worm, by using a second worm that spreads to everything, deletes the first worm, then, at a predetermined time wipes itself.
I completely remember this. We were all like "Who T F is Sammy?" Then nothing. This is the kind of shit that has always scared the crap out of me. I would have cried like a baby.
I remember MySpace very clearly. I remember people talking about the friends list thing. It was a harmless virus. All just giggles. No real damage. No real harm.
It brought the site down. That's harm.
@@terrafirma9328 no personal info was leaked so there's no harm
he should have said he was a d3m or ant1fa and he would have gotten off
@@terrafirma9328 Myspace decided to take the site down. The worm didn't take it down.
@@EnjoyCocaColaLight Not disputing that but it was still the cause of getting them to have to do that to fix it and solve the problem. That's akin to vandalism. Marking territory, Spraying a logo on buildings, etc.
This is the best way to start my morning, you are the best of the best i hope you never stop making videos, literally the only thing i look forward to every week you have no idea
I had a similar story in getting into programming, I was DDoS'ed one day and I thought to myself holy shit there's no fucking way, I was 12 and 10 years later Im still way to passionate about computers
Yep. The GPS location thing is terrifying. I noticed this recently, I open google maps in edge by accident and was terrified to see my exact location. When I tried it in Firefox, it was completely incorrect. And i don't have a GPS module in my PC. So I'm really going to have to finally migrate to Linux, cause this is disgusting. But it's good to finally have an explanation for this terrifying thing. 🤮
Also, thank you so much for this episode!!!
You can get VPN's nowadays for like $5/month, but I honestly have no clue if they work with Linux.
@@gotdangedcommiesitellyahwa6298 ofc they do
@@lardostyle Thanks for educating me. I have zero experience with Linux.
Linux needs more users
thats not how it works mate you dont need a 'gps module' in your pc your the kind of person that needs to get off the internet it uses your wifi/ip to tell were you are sped
this podcast was playing in my living room, one by one all my family and my friends came and sat to listen this masterpiece. I could not believe the story. The content is amazing
Google has suppressed most of the information about this geolocation lawsuit and max views on any video talking about it 1.6k that I could find!
That was an awesome listen. Thank you Sammy. Keep playing. Keep Tinkering. Keep letting us know. #littlebrotherkickingBigBrotherinthenuts
It’s so cool that I’ve heard about all these hacks and concepts and research papers individually but had no idea they were connected by one guy. I love the hacker mindset
I remember the Myspace thing - happened to me and my friends. Amazing to hear this story
I’ve heard this story a thousand times but this was the first interview. Legendary status tale
Thanks Jack - another great episode. Samy is so freaking smart / intelligent, as are many of your guests. Really inspiring to hear these stories.
I don't know this SAMY dude but our learning styles is practically the same. I have short attention span on things I find that doesn't make me happy, but when it comes to 3d modelling (which is something I find fascinating and fun) I'm practically all in on every youtube videos and pirated online courses. There was nothing that could pull my attention away from learning, I can even remember how many times an earthquake occured and I briefly paused and thought to myself, "I mean fuck it if my PC gets destroyed I might as well die of boredom anyways, let's continue"
I Respect that my guy 👍✨
Definitely one of the coolest series on TH-cam. Appreciate all the info
This guy is SOO me. I feel a lot better lol. I'm not a fast pace learner but one day I seen a .sqlite file on an old laptop and wondered why It wasn't. txt at the end haha. Almost 2 years ago. Now I have shelves filled with sqlite python IoT C++ ect. I'm addicted and don't want to stop. It was a hobby that now I do or if I can't, I'm thinking about it. Every bit was slowly self taught by trial and error or online.
Keep going and you will be able to work in software development in no time, maybe already can… average beginner salary of $60K and normal to make $100K+ and most are now from home or wherever you want to be… as a self taught developer you can find plenty of jobs… not all jobs (because some still require degrees) but plenty if you put yourself out there and have a few projects as a portfolio that you can show for your skills. It’s funny how some folks find out that they actually learned a full blown high pay profession by accident just because they messed around with code for a hobby and got addicted to it.
Have you been tested for ADHD or ASD? Might be worth the check! Could help you learn tools to be super successful and use a potential disorder as a super power.
@@JakeRLabrador I second this on getting tested for disorders. I was diagnosed with a learning disorder when I was in middle school. I couldn't remember a strong of words if I was asked the repeat them, even if they were similar objects.
In high school, I realized I had a visual memory. And the only reason why I was failing, was because I was trying to remember 30+ letters in the words. So instead I visualize the item. Which is much easier lol.
learning that you can write entire files with notepad changed my life as a kid just save as .bat or.vbs and a single line of code can destroy a person's PC. (deltree /y c:/*.*) if they're on winxp
@@Aaron-zu3xn where do you type this code? On notepad? Command prompt? Do you send it? I barely know shi abt computers.
Randomly found your channel 3 days ago since in learning about programming i guess your channel showed up in recommended, an i have been bingeing , i love how you do your podcasting
"Even I can't hear ultrasound" lol Samy is freaking awesome, I just realized when I found this video that I haven't heard much from or about him lately.
I am so glad that someone told me about about Darknet Diaries, loving every second dude.
I knew the Samy story, or at least I thought I did, but I'm halfway through the video and have learned SO much more. Subscribed.
Oof ... hearing someone on the Internet say "When I was 9 years old ... IRC, Internet Relay Chat" REALLY makes me feel old xD
Bro got DDOSed and started a villain arc
Lol @ that first guy that punked Samy and kicked him out of a chat room. To think, that seemingly inconsequential action would trigger a chain of events that would lead to the biggest website in the world going down.
lmao , many years later I finally know why I had sammy as a friend on myspace. Funny stuff.
Thanks Sammy, confirmation of theories of the tracking that I've had for a while. Like how your phone will engage the location symbol when you plug in the charging cord. Even with location turned off.
It's too bad he's not a more cludgy programmer, he could have just wrote another worm that deletes the old worm, reverses it's effects if found, and maybe delete its self after a few months.
Lol NSA took myspace down before anyone else could edit the virus, probably the right call
Human sociaty as usual. "oh hey this guy is very talented, lets punish him for it"
Tall poppy syndrome
Lmao, referring to someone else's comment below.
So basically Samys worm and "Sammy's my hero" probably ended up on Tom's myspace page. And Tom thinking " who the f*** is this guy Samy" and "how does he have more friends than I do."
Is priceless!! would have loved to have been there to see his face at that time."
Samy Kamkar had some good defcon talks 👍
Everyone want friends,
others: buy a beer to their friends
Samy boy: create a worm that spread on Internet
One of the best things I have come across on TH-cam, thank you to the poster.
Brilliant! Thank you so much for this and all of the hard work you've been putting into these episodes. Great quality and keeps my interest every time.
hahahaha "some coffee and donuts and be like hey guys, I'm Sammy... Can I help do anything? ...Can I write some SQL queries?" hahahaha.
in the words of Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon 4 "they fuk ya they fuk ya they fuk ya with the cell phones"
I can't believe I listened to this whole thing. Excellent interview!
Sammy is just such a cool and brilliant guy. I currently work in digital radio and have been wanting to put out content that discusses these types of things and this has been a treasure trove of knowledge that I will definitely be looking into and writing about.
Samy made the perfect argument against the 'evil' stance. I think he brings transparency and is a hero.
Alexa/ring and all other devices related to them have transceivers in them that operate on the commercial band, and have a few mile radius to them, even if they aren't connected to the internet, as long as you're within range of the radio, and have power, it will communicate with all other devices and relay information. Multiband radios have come a long way, and you can actually transmit and receive information across them like wifi for computers, albeit slowly and unencrypted, so God only knows what they're using this for.
Can you damage or disable this?
We have used this openpath software at my job to unlock the gate at my job.
9:00 Really? He never thought, "Hey I like your cheat codes. Will you code for us? By the way, this is Special Agent Anderson with the FBI. My job is to catch hackers."
It probably wasn't a thing that fbi went for in that time
this is the first episode I've seen from you, and I have to say that the quality is really good
I remember all of this, You should do an interview on myg0t and the story of how vile the older counter strike community was.
👍
Was expecting to listen a few minutes and move on. Well that didn't happen😃 Great podcast.
Played Counter strike as a kid. Then talked about learning how to learn later in life. You haven't reached "later in life" yet :)
oh hi! the early counter strike cheat community was fun. getting your wallhack cheat blocked by punkbuster and then tinkering the code again, to get it working again, back and forth with punkbuster... that were some fun times in early teenage
Great Episode! Reminds me of the time I worked out that i could change to colour of text in a MMO with Hex and then make it look like a rival was mouthing off to the point the GMs would take one look not check and 3day ban. We ruled the server until I abused it too much and then it got patched.
This is the type of guy the FEDs should be offering jobs to in Cyber security.
Yeah, cause, you know, nothing says trustworthy and easy background check like a criminal history does....
The fallacy that hiring the criminal to stop crime very often doesn't work out as intended. You don't hear about the 10,500,413 failures doing that stupid shit, just the one fool that gets press somehow. Look at Mr. "Catch me if you can" working for the FBI. He was full of shit, he lied about his exploits and everyone at rhe agency knew it. The only thing be did worth a damn was some stuff on check fraud countermeasure work, that's IT. He can't get work these days because people know what a fraud amd a fuckup he is. Which is NO surprise given his background and nature! Only a complete dumbass expects that situation to work out differently.
They're too busy getting paid by the CCP to add more holes to our national security.
They already do..
@@atomicjacob6413 Nope, you fail background check on being a convicted felon, and anything that requires a "public trust" or security clearance will fail on that and in many other areas.
I’ve always loved that intro
Lol the secret service bros seem pretty chill. I said that, till they were pushing for jail time and a lifetime computer ban. Were these the same people that laughed about unlimited laundry? Was genuinely feeling bad, that they were gonna take his livelihood away forever, till they said he could get it back. Genuinely felt happy when he could use computers again
best line in thhis episode: whatdo you get with a bored hacker? Trouble :D
Good on Samy. The unintended consequences of his mischievous early MyFace debacle he has turned around into a constructive and powerful 'watchdog' mission. Great stuff.
I have not owned or used a bat-phone for about 25 years, because I learned quickly that they can quickly become the masters of you instead a convenient tool. And that was long before the Smart Phone came along.
Now that surveillance has become the norm with these gadgets, I think every week how convenient it would be to have a Smart Phone with the myriad of applications that can be so powerful. But when I see 95% plus of all people on the street seemingly staring at their boots while they walk, I go NAH!
Especially when I would have to spend so much time managing the intrusive ads and nonsense that apparently cannot often be blocked.
I am not a luddite, but I would rather be close to that, than endure the B.S. corporate powers enthrall us with in exchange for sneaky and intrusive observation of my life, habits and preferences. NOT a good transaction in my view.
ok boomer
He got booted (flooded) out of a chat room and his dial up disconnected LMAO then he came back with a vengeance.
If he got a blue screen he probably got teardrop attacked (Fragmented packets)
Basically everyone's first experiences in IRC back in the day.
@@braincode95 ping of death
@@braincode95 maybe a kernel crash from a buffer overflow?
This was a great episode, awesome work as always Jack!
It's illegal to have more MySpace friends than Tom.
i actually enjoyed listening to this i watched the whole thing
Hacking always starts with iirc. I literally have the same story. That’s so crazy.
Teamspeak for me and text chats in mmos
He could have written a cannibal worm which would do the same thing as the first one except in a tree list where it starts removing the code from the people who have only 1 friend infected, then 2 friends and so on until the tree is eaten up. It's kind of a depth first search with a few virus cherries on top.
I think we need a law that makes it illegal for an electronic device to collect or report any information about devices that aren't owned by the same person. For one device in one person's home to report information about devices in a neighbor's home is equivalent to being a peeping tom. It doesn't matter if the neighbor leaves their window shades open enough to see through. It's still wrong to spy on them.
You signed the digital agreement to allow it, so stop crying.
Firstly, any agreement to violate someone else's privacy isn't legal. So, if your device is spying on someone else and you know it and permit it, you are committing a crime.
Secondly nobody in the US actually signs an agreement for these devices anymore. It's all "terms of service" that are clicked through. And often it's not even the owner that clicks it, it's the person at the mobile store that set up the phone for you and transferred the data from your other phone that clicked past the terms of service page. And that person doesn't have power of attorney to be able to bind you to an agreement with a third party on your behalf.
@@mjmeans7983 Talk to a lawyer, you clearly no nothing about what crime is or contract law.
@@terrafirma9328 I see no logic in that assessment of me or your recommendation. 1) either you are a lawyer and I'm already talking to one. 2) or you aren't a lawyer and don't work in the legal field and therefore not any authority to lecture contract law. 3) or you are working as a legal aid and larping as a lawyer. 4) or you are an elected official that thinks they know enough. 5) or you know little about US law.
You cannot, under any circumstances, make a legal agreement (contract) to compel someone else to do something that is illegal (an illegal activity), or grant someone else a right to do something you didn't have the right to do in the first place. Such an agreement is itself illegal. If the other person knows the agreement is illegal, but does the thing anyway, then that person is performing an illegal activity and you are at the very least an accessory.
exactly that! - the best way to learn anything is to love what your trying to learn - and want a goal for it after you have learnt it - the rest comes naturally - esp. if you have persistence - I am exactly the same and it works! had no idea about networking and now I'm building a domain network at home - for fun! lol
I tought i can hide my location after using vpn and block cookies, never thought that the device signal strength can expose your location, omg, having friends like Samy is a true blessing
I wonder if you kept 100 phones in a box wired with solar and hidden off the freeway on your long congested comute then you could manipulate the google maps system to work in your favor whenever you need it.
I think spoofing the location would be a lot easier 😅
57:47 we live in a technologically advanced society, these kinds of things can both be beneficial or unacceptable depending on our own point of view
unless you decide to give up everything and go live in the woods hunting for food, it's almost impossible to avoid this systematic integration
i personally appreciate the benefits because it makes my life easier, embrace and adapt
Thank you Jack, "Sammy is my hero"
Sammy never learned the lessons taught in Superman III. Poor Sammy.
Sammy is my hero!