Hack and tell: Teen hacker Mafiaboy writes memoir

Michael Calce, aka "Mafiaboy," has written a memoir about how he temporarily shut down a handful of major Web sites and led the FBI and Royal Canadian Mounted Police on a manhunt when he was 15.

Due out next week, "Mafiaboy: How I Cracked the Internet and Why It's Still Broken," is a tell-all book and "cautionary tale" about how the teen (now 23) learned to hack from other "online rebels," according to The National Post.

His denial-of-service attack brought down the Web sites of CNN, Yahoo, Amazon.com, eBay, E*Trade Financial, and several others for up to several hours in February 2000. Calce ended up pleading guilty to more than 50 charges.

Meanwhile, another famed and formerly jailed hacker, Kevin Mitnick, is writing a memoir of his own.

[n3td3v]

The best hackers don't get jailed, mawhahhahah.

[caswell1515]

loser

[n3td3v]

@caswell1515

If they were that good at hacking, they wouldn't have got caught!

[RighteousSoutherner]

Tell me crime doesn't pay in this country! The chump's proceeds from book sales should be split up and given to the businesses or organizations he took down. I know if I was one of them, I would sue the punk for every last nickel in his pocket. Hit him where it hurts and make him homeless if possible.

[t26l]

If you don't approve of it, don't buy it. The problem is not the criminals and various other lowlifes that attempt to profit from their actions. It's the people who buy their stuff.

[sythara]

Exactly, hit him where it hurts, don't buy the book and thus make him money.

How sad and cruel of you to wish to make someone homeless. You must be a very evil and inconsiderate person. I pity you.

[SMB-IL]

I think the user name says it all about what this person wishes for.....

[dissent3125]

When your business plan relies upon a website that can be disturbed by the actions of a 15 year old then you need to re-evaluate how things are done. I think it is important that people like Michael Calce continue to expose the vulnerabilities of the digital age.

[GreyHatGrp]

Mafiaboy is not a HACKER, he is just a "script kiddie".

In hacker culture, a "script kiddie" is a derogatory term used to denote juveniles who lack the ability to write sophisticated hacking programs on their own, but use programs developed by others to attack computer systems and deface websites. Their objective is to try to impress their friends or gain credit in underground hacker communities.

[donnie0526]

and you know this how? lololo everyone is a wanna be

[DC_weNDy]

GreyHatGrp is completely correct.
All 'Mafiaboy' is is a self glorified "script kiddie", and a media glorified criminal.
Unfortunately he gained no credit in any undergound circles, but provided a few laughs.
Its Doochers like this that give credible hackers a bad name.

[Hacker_Forums]

The only hackers that get caught are those that open their mouth. Most of the time they just HAVE to tell someone.

<a href="http://www.hackerforums.org/">Hacker Forums</a>

[rcardona2k]

I'm not sure what's in the book but hackers to a certain extent need script kiddies who can get away with major offenses with a slap on the wrist and to turn all of those theoretical threats into reality while they laugh from the sidelines. Mafiaboy shouldn't done what he did but was he recruited as a pawn like a moth is drawn to the flame?

[ChrisLang]

As I have heard the story told, the scripts were written by someone else I knew. A server admin that wrote the script only to show how easily it could be done. It was the script kiddies that actually used them.

Can't get to the bottom of that one, just a story I heard in passing over the years. The server admin friend of mine of course was barred from the biz, that much is true. After years of not being able to hold a job he either died or killed himself, we are not sure.

If the story my friend told be is true, I hope this little bastard gets sued civilly now that he is out and does not make a dime off the book.