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#HITB2012KUL D1T3 - The Grugq - OPSEC: Because Jail is for wuftpd

Hack In The Box Security Conference · 158K views · 2012-11-26 · 1:04:25

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Overview

The Grugq's Hack In The Box 2012 talk on operational security for hackers, drawing on hacker indictments and counter-intelligence research. It reviews OPSEC goals and methods for avoiding detection and arrest, with case studies of how hackers got caught.

On Hacker News

HN treats it as the go-to talk on OPSEC and pseudonymity, recommended in threads about Tor, Silk Road and staying anonymous online.

Recommended by 9 HN people across 8 months · HN mentions 2013–2024

Topics

Security & hackingPrivacy, surveillance & cybercrime
Search by tags
opsecanonymitytorgrugqhacker arrests

What people said

hackermatic · 2024-05 · Strong recommendation

Edit: Other commenters report that Android will silently re-enable cell data under various conditions, so this isn't a surefire solution, either. The Grugq created a tool for this a decade ago (sadly unmaintained): [LINK] as part of a presentation about operational security for hackers. It's a great watch if you're interested in how various (in)famous hackers thought they were secure and got busted anyway. [VIDEO]

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Esau · 2016-10 · Recommendation

I have to say that I had no use for YouTube until I realized that these kind of talks were on there. In addition to what you mentioned, some I like: The Gruqg on OpSec: [VIDEO] Russ Cox's ACME tutorial: [LINK] Jessie Frazelle on running containers on the desktop: [LINK]

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blauwbilgorgel · 2014-11 · Recommendation

Just because a data aggregation site does not show your data on the front-end, does not mean they deleted it from the back-end. So now you can charge 50$ for people to search in the "special" data pile, where people took the effort to remove it from the front-end. These data brokers crawl publicly available information. Telling them to remove your data, only slows down the doxxer, it does not stop them at all, since the data was already shared. It is not plugging the leak, it is mopping up some of the water. A false sense of security and a clear sign to the doxxer that you care about your anonymity (so more "lulz" to be had). A proper doxxing is also much more than entering a name in some search engines. Especially hackers do not like to be doxxed. For internet civilians who already put this data out there (on social media) a simple data broker doxxing is a mere reminder that such data is public to everyone, not just friends. Doxxing defense is guarding your anonymity online. Everywhere. Doxxing defense is knowing when to change persona's, and when to log off. That is: If you care about it at all. If you care about keeping your identity a secret online, see: [VIDEO] (The Grugq - OPSEC: Because Jail is for wuftpd).

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Sources

Video by Hack In The Box Security Conference, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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