Reformed LulzSec hacktivist joins payments firm

A payments firm has hired reformed LulzSec hactivist Mustafa Al-Bassam (formerly known as tFlow) for a new blockchain research project. London-based payments group Secure Trading has taken on Al-Bassam to help develop a platform that applies the verification benefits of blockchain technology in order to improve the visibility …

[Anonymous Coward]

I love how a few years ago blockchains were going to solve every problem known to man, and the media lapped it up.

Didn't hear any followup on that though.

[Anonymous Coward]

Financial organisations are very interested in the technology mainly for international money transfer. But it's large and complex and needs to work within legal and corporate frameworks so will likely be a long time in the making.

[Oli 1]

The music industry also seems to think its going to solve their problems

Cant see how though...

[Anonymous Coward]

There are plenty of kids with talent out there

So why should this criminal brat get a leg up into a cushy gig after what he's done? Lulzsec were just a bunch of mindless script kiddies who released personal details of people who'd done no wrong and caused millions in damage - not security experts. Seems to me this is just some PR stunt by the company concerned. I hope it backfires badly for both parties and with any luck he'll come face to face with someone who he caused grief for and will get a fist in the face.

[m0rt]

Re: There are plenty of kids with talent out there

Whereas you may have a point:

"Lulzsec were just a bunch of mindless script kiddies...not security experts"

If so, then the I would actually be more angry toward the companies who they compromised for not employing bonafide security experts and practises.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: There are plenty of kids with talent out there

Believe me - Secure Trading are not the company they pretend to be.

This is not such a cushy gig, id be surprised if he still works there in a few weeks

[Anonymous Coward]

Reformed?

I'll have you know, I saw this man eating 5 biscuits the other day. When you offer a plate of biscuits, having none is rude, we can all agree. Having 1-2 is customary, 3 will precede a cheeky "you're pushing it" look. When we get to FOUR, the party is ruined; nobody takes FOUR WHOLE BISCUITS, so when Mr Al-Bassam here too FIVE from the plate, we were speechless. One girl cried a little, whilst my wife whispered "oh god, how did we let it go so far?".

The bare doilie on the plate had an expression of contempt and abuse on it's face, to say the least.

[Matt Bryant]

You forgot....

...to include "convicted criminal" in your description of Mr Al-Bassam. As to his capabilities as a "security adviser", he obviously wasn't very good as he was caught in less than six months. I can only assume this is just a PR exercise and Mr Al-Bassam will not be let anywhere near anything remotely secret or financial.