Its the problem with being 'in the trade'
I've seen quite a few generic hacking pictures featuring a bit of meaningless Javascript, probably just purloined from a web page the designer had open at the time. The waterfalling green screen numbers dates from the early 80s, as does the whole Matrix ethos (has everyone forgotten that the Matrix featured landlines, modems and acoustic couplers?). The problem with this loser/loner image is that it perpetuates a myth and so blinds us to the real problem. I don't know any hacking outfits but I suspect a lot of them are indistinguishable from a legitimate software operation on the surface. It may even be fronted by a legitimate business to deflect scrutiny (and also act as front-end vetting for potential new employees). It, like any other operations, may well use both on-site and off-site consultants.
I've never worked at this type of operation but I remember my son having a summer job when he was a student that looked decidedly dicey. The company itself looked legitimate but seemed to have two tiers; he got sucked into the second tier because he was smart, computer savvy yet totally ignorant. ("Ideal fresh meat") The company itself described its operation as "Search Engine Optimizers" or some such, a trade which I regard as a bit near the edge to start with, but the outer tier was doing just nuisance stuff like making up fake blog posts. The other lot -- suffice to say, when he described what he was being asked to do I recommended he leg it (and effectively paid him to do it). This sort of business is, as you can imagine, one that's here today, gone tomorrow but pops up down the street with a different name but same players. Its probably both 'in the cloud' and largely off-shored these day (but you can be the principals are still active, assuming that they're not in jail).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
