>>>> Up until the 90s the KGB was paying hackers to hack U.S. servers of interest. This is documented in Clifford Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg.
Interesting you bring this up. When I read Levy's book, "Hackers" in the late 1990's, he made it seem like Koch and his buddies were more or less thrill riding and trying to make a quick buck on the side by selling information to the KGB. I think he even mentions the stuff they gave the KGB was pretty worthless.
If I remember correctly, Levy even downplayed Stoll's book and the work he did, minimizing the importance of the arrests that followed.
There is a some controversy about how Koch died, and many think the KGB may have been involved:
"Koch was found burned to death with gasoline in a forest near Celle, Germany. The death was officially claimed to be a suicide.[2][3] However, some believe there is little evidence supporting suicide and many believe that Koch was killed in order to keep him from confessing more to the authorities. Why Koch would be targeted and not Pengo and Urmel is unknown."
Interesting you bring this up. When I read Levy's book, "Hackers" in the late 1990's, he made it seem like Koch and his buddies were more or less thrill riding and trying to make a quick buck on the side by selling information to the KGB. I think he even mentions the stuff they gave the KGB was pretty worthless.
If I remember correctly, Levy even downplayed Stoll's book and the work he did, minimizing the importance of the arrests that followed.
There is a some controversy about how Koch died, and many think the KGB may have been involved:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Koch_%28hacker%29
"Koch was found burned to death with gasoline in a forest near Celle, Germany. The death was officially claimed to be a suicide.[2][3] However, some believe there is little evidence supporting suicide and many believe that Koch was killed in order to keep him from confessing more to the authorities. Why Koch would be targeted and not Pengo and Urmel is unknown."