Featured Image Credit: Kjersti Flaa/YouTube/Zay Nyi Nyi/Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Technology, World News
Amelia Jones
Topics: Technology, World News
An unmasked Anonymous hacker was asked in an interview what he believes the 'biggest threat' to mankind is currently - and his answer might surprise you as much as it did his co-interviewee.
Hacker Christopher McKinlay was sitting down alongside former FBI agent Michael Panico to talk hacking and security with reporter and podcast host Kjersti Flaa, as the pair consulted on the 2015 Chris Hemsworth movie Blackhat.
McKinlay is perhaps most famous for hacking into dating site OkCupid to make himself LA's most popular male figure over a three-month period - where he met his then-fiancee, as well as being involved with Anonymous 'for a number of years'.
Panico's focus in his FBI role was on 'cyber crime specifically' and 'investigating cyber-intrusions.'
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But when Flaa asks what she believes to be a pretty straightforward question during the interview, which was posted in 2017, she is a little taken aback by McKinlay's response.
"So who do you think is the biggest threat [to mankind] right now?" Flaa inquires.
McKinlay doesn't skip a beat in his firm and definitive answer.
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"I think the biggest threat is the FBI, the NSA and their counterparts in foreign governments," he begins, seemingly unphased by the former FBI agent sitting by his side.
"I mean, these are all essentially companies that try to justify their budgets in various ways, often by scare-mongering with virtual impunity.
"We'll launch exactly the same kinds of assault and they'll lock people up for decades."
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Flaa laughs at his deadpan and honest response as Panico awkwardly responds: "Well I obviously have nothing to do with that.
"I don't think the government is the worst entity in the world. I mean there's plenty of criminals out there and there are plenty of unscrupulous people out there, who are launching attacks, real attacks that we see all the time," he argues.
"And you know, understandably security and privacy are opposite ends of the same spectrum, right, so there's always going to be a democracy, I would hope, a healthy debate between what the governments do to protect us, and, you know, the rights of citizens."
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McKinlay seems amused by the awkwardness of the exchange and responds: "Yeah, and you can find that debate right here."
To which Flaa laughs and responds: "Let's start the debate!"
The group then go on to discuss 'how can we protect ourselves from these things happening'.
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McKinlay responds: "Ground zero is to use strong passwords, long passwords, different passwords for every site.
"More generally I think it's important that all of us as consumers demand security as a priority to companies that we do business with," he continues.
"Too much, the MO, breaches happen and we'll put out the fires and we'll keep going, but we don't make it a forward priority."
Panico agrees: "Yeah, that's true I think we should vote with our dollars with our participation, so when certain entities that we deal with are proven to not have good security, we should probably move to ones that do have good security and incentivise institutions, and organisations and companies to provide security for their customers."