Was Mr. Mooney conduct malicious and should he be prosecuted by Twitter

If anything, only Twitter will decide the answer to that question despite how everyone else feels about it. The “kid” here, and the company, ought to be ready to deal with the results of their choices.

…twitter did not ask to be attacked.

Although i do believe such things are against the law it does give a gain and force twitter to move forward with their security. This is the way Microsoft fixes security patches, they either get hacked and exploited or they hire hackers to find them.

MHB,

You’re right. I did not consider that.

Then it begs the question: How can you get a company’s attention when
you know there is a serious problem that should be addressed?

Send some worms?

I don’t know anymore about this than I wrote here either.

The only thing that truly bothers me is the guy who hired him, if he knowing let the kid release another worm after he hired him, but that is not clear.

On the other hand how many e-mails do you think Twitter gets a month from people saying they found a hole in their system. It’s probably not the first e-mail they got like this, nor is every e-mail sent a valid threat.

The only thing I know about this case is what was written here.

It says no damage was really done which means to me no malicious intent.

It’s curious that those who think this kid should be prosecuted have nothing
to say about the failure of Twitter Execs to take any action when warned about
the security exploits.

To use one of the metaphors above, this kid broke into a bank to show that
the security system sucks but he didn’t take anything.

He just wanted to show the security vulnerability.

What kind of criminal is he?

He didn’t steal anything and now that the exploits are known may have
actually prevented future robberies.
—

“You don’t punch someone in the face and then explain how they could have avoided getting hit.”

He did not punch anyone in the face (“The worms appeared to do no damage”).

He faked a jab and showed the Boxer that he is holding his left arm too low.

Big difference.

He’s also only 17 and it is now a known fact that certain areas of the brain
affecting judgment are not yet developed.

What a B.S. excuse, “I was trying to help them”

Is a robber helping the bank by compromising their building or business? And let’s not even talk about crimers perpetrated against people? If people are vulnerable then psychos and sickos should take advantage of them for their own good and to make them aware of their vulnerability? What the hell is going on with peoples thinking?

And finally for those who can’t think past the surface. HELLO does anyone who thinks this guy should not be prosecuted have an Internet business or any investment in the Internet? If so have you a clue of the battles that we have and continue to fight to gain the trust of consumers who have less and less reason to trust the internet with each instance of spam and news of worms like the 5 worms that this guy is alleged to have unleashed?

Every serious internet business owner or domainer or anyone with a monetary interest in the net should be calling for the maximum penalty in this case IMO.

No different than stealing from a store and then telling them what their security problem/s is/are.

And if ExqSoft had prior knowledge of that 5th worm, they’re equally at fault.

You don’t punch someone in the face and them explain how they could have avoided getting hit.

How would any of us feel if it had been one of our sites?