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Sony hacking suspect smashes computers to get out of prosecution

Celcius

°Temp. member
Why not just replace the drives with identical brand-new drives, install an OS & make it look like the pc was used for playing solitaire, and then give the pc to the police?
If he knew he would eventually have to hide evidence, would using SSD's be safer than using HDD's?
 

Rootbeer

Banned
VERY smart. I'd take obstruction of justice charges over the alternative any day if I were in such a position. I never knew just how serious the difference between the two could be until now.
 

Coxy

Member
data can still be recovered from a smashed drive, smashing a hard drive wont save you, he got off by hiding them
 

big_z

Member
i would have taken out the drives, smashed them and tossed the remains in random garbage cans. then i would replace the drive and load it up with cat pics. smashing the computer itself is pointless.
 

Principate

Saint Titanfall
i would have taken out the drives, smashed them and tossed the remains in random garbage cans. then i would replace the drive and load it up with cat pics. smashing the computer itself is pointless.

Depends how much time he had and lets be honest he wasn't going to get those computers back in a long ass time if it all, probably didn't lose much by doing it.
 
data can still be recovered from a smashed drive, smashing a hard drive wont save you, he got off by hiding them

What I don't get is how he even knew to do that. I though search warrents were served then and there. He smashed things, which suggests he had forewarning of what was coming.
 

Sendou

Member
^

The FBI initially interviewed Miller in 2011.

When they came back with a search warrant, they found that his hard drives were nowhere to be found and that Miller had smashed his computers.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Clearly a well thought out economic gamble, but he'd look like an idiot if they had enough on him to get him without the hard drives because he'd have both charges.

I think perhaps the better move might have been full disk encryption using something like TrueCrypt. With a sufficiently complex master password and a plausible deniability partition he'd have a few opportunities to defend himself using either silence or misdirection (depending on if the court viewed encryption passwords as compellable, which as far as I can tell is a mixed issue in jurisprudence right now).
 

GungHo

Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
Why smash them? Why not just format the drives?
DOD 5220.22-M and DBAN wipes take some time. Destroying the platters is a lot quicker (though not fool-proof... platters can still be reassembled). Ideally you'd do both. Wipe it, drill it, and turn it on and listen to the platters shatter when it spins, then replace the drive in the computer so no one's the wiser.
 

kamakazi5

Member
Why would you take any chances facing 20 years in prison? If I was facing that kind of charge I would do everything under the sun to destroy any and all evidence.
 

Principate

Saint Titanfall
What I don't get is how he even knew to do that. I though search warrents were served then and there. He smashed things, which suggests he had forewarning of what was coming.

No it takes time, he was interviewed I'm guessing not arrested, so he put two and two together made sure the safest bet was to get rid of all the evidence.

Though he could have and should have got rid of all the evidence shortly after the crime. They wouldn't have even been able to charge him with obstruction of justice then.
 

Mugaaz

Member
Depends how much time he had and lets be honest he wasn't going to get those computers back in a long ass time if it all, probably didn't lose much by doing it.

I agree, people saying this is a gamble are insane. They were going to take all his machines period.
 

Jarsonot

Member
So I better not destroy my hard drives in case the Feds eventually serve me a warrant?

How is destroying his drives illegal BEFORE a warrant was issued?
 

Akira_83

Banned
So I better not destroy my hard drives in case the Feds eventually serve me a warrant?

How is destroying his drives illegal BEFORE a warrant was issued?

this

he shouldnt even get house arrest IMO

he can destroy his own shit unless there is a warrant already established that classifies his computers as evidence

hope he has a lawyer

a year of house arrest is still no cakewalk... what about a job?
 

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
I'm guessing the punishment for destroying evidence is less severe than the total punishment for whatever he had on his computers.
 

marrec

Banned
Clearly a well thought out economic gamble, but he'd look like an idiot if they had enough on him to get him without the hard drives because he'd have both charges.

I think perhaps the better move might have been full disk encryption using something like TrueCrypt. With a sufficiently complex master password and a plausible deniability partition he'd have a few opportunities to defend himself using either silence or misdirection (depending on if the court viewed encryption passwords as compellable, which as far as I can tell is a mixed issue in jurisprudence right now).

I'm a bit confused about how the FBI had knowledge of the harddrives that were destroyed or missing. Surely the guy had secondary computers that he used for everyday activities, so how did plausible deniability not save him from house arrest anyway?

Maybe the FBI had cataloged his computing devices in 2011 when he was first interviewed?
 
I'm guessing the punishment for destroying evidence is less severe than the total punishment for whatever he had on his computers.

well, since you can't know the scope of what he had inside it, it's a what if scenario that law can't enforce
 

Mokubba

Member
i would have taken out the drives, smashed them and tossed the remains in random garbage cans. then i would replace the drive and load it up with cat pics. smashing the computer itself is pointless.

I would not risk anything for 20 years in prison.
Everything gotta go
 

Artadius

Member
Should have...

oaX9CuN.jpg
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
Damn, I'm kinda glad he got out of that. I know what he did was illegal nonetheless but 20 years is fucking excessive for that kind of thing.

His intellect can be used for better things. I hope he learned the lesson.
 

Basil

Banned
Wow... I always had an image in my head of the average anonymous member and dat image is not of dudes who could win a fist fight with a desktop.

Housebound went all Brock Lesnar in Triple H's office on dat bitch and the FBI got Moriarty'd by a criminal genius here.
 

marrec

Banned
I would not risk anything for 20 years in prison.
Everything gotta go

If you're that worried about it then you have a contingency drive/computer that is walled off from any illegal activity. It's not hard to do and allows you to destroy what you need without an interruption of non-illegal activities.
 

Acheteedo

Member
This is like a "what to do if you're being arrested for hacking" guide now. 1 year house arrest vs 20 in prison, no brainer.
 

Principate

Saint Titanfall
If you're that worried about it then you have a contingency drive/computer that is walled off from any illegal activity. It's not hard to do and allows you to destroy what you need without an interruption of non-illegal activities.

None of that matters they would have taken ALL of his computers for evidence and he wouldn't have seen them for a long ass time until that stuff had gone through all the bureaucracy. The only way I'm guessing he could have gotten out of the house arrest is That I assume the FBI knew what computers he had before the warrant, so he would have needed to dispose of it long time before the FBI got involved.
 

Grym

Member
He was probably innocent. I smash and hide HDDs as a hobby. I'm sure there are others who do as well
 
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