Hacker hired by News Corp. to damage DISH Network?

by Stevie Smith - Apr 25 2008, 12:51

Referred to as the second-best computer hacker on the planet, Christopher Tarnovsky has this week taken to the stand and implicated media giant News Corp. in the recruiting of his dubious services to help launch an attack against rival TV service the DISH Network. $World\'s second-best hacker claims he was hired by News Corp\'s NDS Group. Credit: d70focus/Flickr.$

World\'s second-best hacker claims he was hired by News Corp\'s NDS Group. Credit: d70focus/Flickr.

Giving his testimony in a corporate spying lawsuit brought against News Corp.’s NDS Group by EchoStar Corp. (which has since split into EchoStar and DISH), Tarnovsky insisted that, while he was hired specifically to create pirating software, he did not use it to attack the DISH Network in any way.NDS Group, which delivers security solutions for a global satellite network, has strenuously denied allegations that it used Tarnovsky’s talents to penetrate the DISH Network security system. NDS claims that it was merely working to reverse engineer the technology -- something quite common in technology circles when it comes to learning how a product or system works. According to a Reuters report, Mr. Tarnovsky’s initial cash payment was in the region of $20,000 USD (secreted within electronic devices mailed to him from Canada) and subsequently led to a decade of payments issued regularly by publishing house Harper Collins -- also a News Corp-owned business.DISH Network’s legal team in the case has said that Mr. Tarnovsky was hired to hack into the DISH satellite network, remove its security protection, and then contribute directly to almost $1 billion USD in resulting loses by spewing out pirated network smart cards.Clinging to the notion of a conspiracy designed to set him up, Mr. Tarnovsky admitted to creating a device known as ‘the stinger,’ capable of interacting with and influencing any smart card, but denied having used it directly. If the southern Californian court rules against NDS in the case, it could well be facing hundreds of million of dollars in potential damage charges. The case is expected to run on for another three weeks.

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GeneApr 25th, 2008 - 13:21:28

Funny, NDS hires a person to use a device to hack the access card.
NDS/Directv sent letters and sued 30,000 subscribers for using a device
to hack an access card.

Difference is the device 30,000 were sued for were legal and were called
smart card programmers. Old Tarney, was hired with the intent to use
an illegal device to hack in which resulted in millions of illegal access cards sold.

Newscorp/Directv said in 30,000 cases that this is wrong. When defending there own employee Newscorp/directv says it is OK.

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JoeApr 27th, 2008 - 21:25:21

Problem here is the press is not really telling anyone the truth of what was said in that courtroom.

It too bad. I was there. I heard it all and none of it is even close to these lies the couple of reporters wrote.

I don't understand it. Totally blows me away that his testamony was recorded (every word of it) into a transcript which will eventually be public record so why would reporters exagerrate and take a piece of words and mix it with lies?

So much for the truth through the press.

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LexSep 11th, 2008 - 10:55:32

lol

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Hacker hired by News Corp. to damage DISH Network?

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