It's only extortion if there's a threat implied.
Think of it this way:
1) If there is an exploitable hole, your box is insecure.
2) Assuming I don't cause any damage[*], all I'm doing is
alerting you to a security problem.
It's not really ethical to do this, but it's not extortion either. It's
more like a locksmith walking into your locked office at night, and leaving
a note that says: "Your locks suck - I was able to pick them in under 30
seconds. Call me at <number> and we'll talk about getting you some real
security".
Yes he was trespassing, but it's not extortion. Some might call it
"breaking and entering", but assuming the lock still functions (in what is
now recognized as a limited capacity), I wouldn't agree with the "breaking"
part.
Extortion would be, for example, if I hacked your box, deleted some
unimportant data, and said that if I didn't get paid, I'd come back and
delete some important stuff.
[*] Some companies try to claim that someone breaking their security causes
damage in the form of losses to upgrade/update/fix their security. This is
a fallacy, the hole was there before the 'hacker' exploited/called
attention to it.
At 06:15 PM 00/04/05 -0400, you wrote:
>Gee sounds like a classic mafia protection racket. Pay us or your business
>will suddenly have some broken windows. Most places call this extortion.
>
> - Steve
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jennifer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2000 12:57 PM
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Re: Security holes revisited -- reward offered
>
>
>At 08:29 AM 4/5/00 -0500, you wrote:
>>So what do you guys think about part time hackers that attempt a breakin,
>>post general results on a website, and then ask for payment to fix your
>>problems?
>
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Tim Lieberman Take a break and have a listen,
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