More news, this time from Forbes, on the storm roiling around HBGary Federal.

I don’t outright condone hacking incidents like this, but as has been said elsewhere, it is hard to feel sorry for someone who has had their closets turned inside out for skeletons…and indeed many (fresh) skeletons are found. It is also hard to exonerate the attackers because any target they attack likely has similar skeletons…or if they don’t, then the damage done in finding that out does everyone a disservice.

In our world today, the “hacker ethic” that information (and secrets) tend towards being public needs to be remembered by business leaders. Yes, there are secrets to be kept (an arguable point I won’t argue), but keep in mind that you really, really, really have to be conscious of keeping those secrets secret in today’s world. (This can dive into why pen testing isn’t and won’t be “dying” any time soon…)

No, I’m not ignorant enough to think that these sorts of business dealings, coercion, and borderline shady approaches don’t happen on a regular basis with most individuals and corporations. But as much as possible I believe people should act with some degree of integrity and respect, including corporations.

I have this weird internal compass that has sympathy towards things like the “hacker ethic” as well as aspects of Randian objectivism… It all makes sense in *my* head anyway!