Goatse Exposes Breach – in more ways than one!
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AT&T involved in Goatse phish
An AT&T security breach that compromised the email addresses of Ipad owners is being investigated by the FBI. They must have nothing better to do than check out a hacker group, Goatse Securities who uncovered the flaw.
After all, no real sensitive information was uncovered – people give their email addresses out all the time. They might be susceptible to spam or at worst, a phishing scam. And dutifully, AT&T was quick to fix the problem.
Yet the FCC gots involved as well. Jamie Barnett, chief of the FCC’s public safety bureau told the Washington Post that “I am concerned about the report of a security breach to AT&T’s network that exposed the personal data of more than a hundred thousand iPad users…the FCC will continue to work with all stakeholders to prevent future security breaches that violate consumer privacy and undermine trust in America’s communications infrastructure.”
Are they overreacting? If it had been more than email addresses available to the hackers there certainly could have been worse trouble for them. Goatse was quick to defend its actions.
“All data was gathered from a public webserver with no password, accessible by anyone on the Internet. There was no breach, intrusion, or penetration, by any means of the word,” says Goatse’s company blog.
Interesting choice of words, and an even more interesting choice of a hacker name.
“Goatse” is the now retired web address of a shock site that showed a naked Kirk Johnson (the “Goatse guy,”) doing something to his butthole better left unseen. It made the designation “NSFW” necessary. It has nothing at all to do with goats.
Imagine doing this
Now, with your butt.
If you have been living in a virtual cave or have sophisticated
friends without a juvenile sense of humor (i.e. you are not a
frat boy) you may not have encountered the real shock site,
or any photos of the goatse guy. This is true of most of the,
population, making goatse a whimsical inside joke for those
“in the know.”
“The dataset was not disclosed until we verified the problem was fixed by the vendor. Your iPads are safer now because of us,” says Goatse.
Maybe so. But how many people are going to get curious about the group’s unusual name and do a search for Goatse? When that day inevitably happens, the press will have to hush about it or draw even more attention to the crude internet meme. Either that or everyone will get jolted into a better sense of humor.
Goatse – horror to humor
According to Know Your Meme
Comedian and host of The Tonight Show Conan O’Brien, has often commented that his favorite audience reaction is one where horror turns to humor, and it is this reaction that Goastse inspires — at first a sense of horror, but once time has passed and we gain the ability to cope (or rather if we gain the ability) we begin to find the humor in it.
This totally explains why the hackers chose that name. Either that, or they are not so subtly implying that they, too, work by “going in the back door.” Or maybe that their founder is a big a-hole.
If you are a goatse virgin, and want to cut to the chase and just see it for yourself, here is a NSFW link to the Encyclopedia Dramatica page that tells- and more importantly shows– you all you might want to know. And if you click the link and find it shows more than you can handle, for the sake of all that is holy do NOT scroll down to the bottom of the page.
Were you ever shocked, then amused by a Goatse experience?
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Why has Keith Olbermann not said anything about this or Rachel, cracking up while doing a report on this. Or have they and I just haven’t seen it? I kind of knew what this was, but like an idiot I did the scrolling, even though I was warned not to. It is just who I am, don’t like to be told not to, or to do something. Let’s just say, my eyes have seen things that can never be unseen now and my brain bleach container is empty.
Or John Stewart? Or anyone? Are they such intern00bs that they don’t know what goatse is? Or is it that they have better taste and discretion than I do?
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. At least you didn’t watch his videos. There are amazing feats of intestinal fortitude required- both from the performer’s and the viewers points of view!
I can sit and watch medical shows doing surgery and not get squeamish so I think I could do that. I’m not going to because I have to turn in some homework, and go for a late breakfast with some friends of mine and I want to be able to eat.
Mother Hen, I am detecting a pattern here….just saying
Now neither of these things had anything to do with me. Those hackers chose the name goatse, and can I help it if the news media keeps talking about it (and I crack up each time) blithely ignoring the hideousness that awaits the hapless googler?
Besides if you see a pattern of perversity, you have only yourself to blame. I was a blushing innocent before you met me you know.
Your innocence was only exceeded by your modesty. But since then, your halo has only been partially tarnished.
There are things on this earth worse-looking than Glen Beck. We now have proof.
Au contraire mon ami. Worse looking than king of the Beckerheads, would be him actually doing this. See, now YOU need the brain bleach don’t ya? You are so welcome. I now need to find my happy place, I’ll be back after I find it.
Ay! argh. ptui, ptui. retch. aash. eeek.
You have gone to the edge and stepped beyond. There is no turning back for the actions you have chosen. You have gazed into the realm of sheer madness and left behind all things of humanity, traveling thru hyper-dimensions of unspeakable horrors.
(can you tell I was reading H.P. Lovecraft last night??)
I wonder if Goatse Securities’ boss is John Waters.