http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/cybercop.html
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Why the Pentagon’s toughest Internet crime fighter likes hanging out with blackhat hackers.
By Robin Mejia
LOCATED ON THE LESS FASHIONABLE north end of the Las Vegas strip, the Riviera Hotel and Casino has seen better days. Even the girls in posters for the hotel’s topless revue could use a makeover. But hey, it’s cheap. Which is why 6,000 hackers have descended upon it for DefCon, billed as the “largest underground hacking event in the world.” So while the hotel is no doubt happy for the business, it’s also – in classic Vegas fashion – hedging its bet. Employees received a memo warning them to be on the lookout for people skimming guests’ card numbers. Credit card processing has been suspended in the food court. The Riviera doesn’t need the grief.
Yet the Riviera’s conference facilities are strangely tranquil. In the “chill-out room,” a bored-looking cashier is selling burgers, chicken sandwiches, and salads to people too focused or too lazy to walk across the hotel to the Quizno’s. On the wall next to the bar, someone is projecting usernames and the first few letters of the associated passwords – noobs sent that info unencrypted over the conference’s wireless network. At the front of the room, a middle-aged man in khaki shorts sits with a small group having a beer. He’s graying, a little thick around the middle. Across the back of his polo shirt are the words dod cyber crime response team – as in US Department of Defense.
A big guy with a shaved head walks up. “You’re Jim Christy,” he says, smiling. He has a hint of an accent.
Christy smiles back: “What’s your handle?”
“Oh, I don’t really have a handle.”
All hackers have handles. Christy pushes it. “But really,” he says, “what’s your handle?”
“Most guys go through that phase for a while, but for me, it was really just a couple of days. Not enough time for a handle.” They’re both smiling. Neither has broken eye contact.