Do Not Ever Steal a Hacker's Computer

By Marcus Yam
published

This is what happens when you take a hacker's firstborn.

It goes without saying that you should never mess with a hacker. Stealing a hacker's computer would be like stealing his or her children.

Want to know what happens when a hacker gets his computer stolen? Check out this entertaining story that was relayed at DEF CON.

Skip ahead to 3:15 in the video to jump to the start of the story.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
56 Comments Comment from the forums
  • chickenhoagie
    this is hilarious hahaha. This guy is the ****. I want someone to steal my stuff just so I could own them like this guy did:)
    Reply
  • xurwin
    woah. sooo, hackers steal big money from big companies by pirating. then somebody steals their "baby" and look what they can do. it goes to show that those big companies can do nothing to hackers. tsk
    Reply
  • oopsmyeye
    zoz is my hero of the week.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    Nice teachings. I use TeamViewer + DynDNS to protect my babies and editable network config xD!

    But yeah, he got really lucky. If that computer were to be sold to another "knowable" person, he would've never gotten it back.

    Cheers!
    Reply
  • angelraiter
    Hahahaha! Awesome! But seriously! He got lucky this guy was retarded!
    Reply
  • aeurix
    The guy who stole his computer is a classic example of someone who applies for unemployment and welfare (as the new .pdf application forms on his desktop were proof).

    While there was a little bit of revenge and vindication for this hacker, most people never see their computer again...
    Reply
  • dgingeri
    it gives me great ideas on how to protect my machine. keylogger controlled by me, remote viewing software...

    (evil grin)

    whoever steals my machine won't know what hit him.
    Reply
  • mel_gibson_
    That was pretty low-tech, all around. From its vulnerability to its recovery process.
    Reply
  • jazz84
    Hey everybody! LOOK AT THE NERRRD!
    Reply
  • znegval
    I wonder how long will it take until someone talks crap about this awesome video simply because the guy owns a mac.
    Reply