Ten years ago, it was still common to refer to hacking groups by their creative and rather dark names like Cult of the Dead Cow, and handles like Master of Disaster. These days, hacker criminals (note the use of the adjective “criminals” to quality an otherwise non-negative “hacker” noun) have matured their practices from just being curious and annoying and destructive to being profitable. But so have the security pros. While there are still people like Major Malfunction and Phenoelit around (and many, many others), just look at my list of links to the right, especially the blogs. I now have more real life names than I would ever have had 10 years ago.
That’s not to say hackers do not have witty handles anymore, but there is that maturing going on in all facets of this industry. Curious, if nothing else. Me? I like the ability to use a handle to protect my identity online just a little bit more. Games, forums, IRC, IM…everything still asks for a unique username, so may as well blend that in with my industry handle. Better than being Avengerr26078 or Neo643389x!
Its funny, I had the same thoughts when K-otik formally changed their name to FrSirt and revamped their website to a more professional-looking site, along with instituting a pay-for-POC service.
They did it pretty smart in my opinion. They released solid POC’s. In fact, I believe Blaster’s code base was largely based on K-otik’s POC.