Adrian Lamo

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Adrian Lamo bigraphy, stories - American journalist, hacker, and orator

Adrian Lamo : biography

February 20, 1981 –

Adrian Lamo (born February 20, 1981) is a Colombian-American threat analyst and "gray hat" hacker. He first gained media attention for breaking into several high-profile computer networks, including those of The New York Times, Yahoo!, and Microsoft, culminating in his 2003 arrest.. Wired.com. Retrieved on March 10, 2011. In 2010, Lamo reported U.S. serviceman Bradley Manning to federal authorities, claiming that Manning had leaked hundreds of thousands of sensitive U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks. Manning was arrested and incarcerated in the U.S. military justice system.

Notes

Personal

Lamo was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Mario Lamo and Mary Atwood around 1981.

Popularly called the "homeless hacker" for his transient lifestyle, Lamo spent most of his travels couch-surfing, squatting in abandoned buildings and traveling to Internet cafes, libraries and universities to investigate networks, and sometimes exploiting security holes. Despite performing authorized and unauthorized vulnerability assessments for several large, high-profile entities, Lamo refused to accept payment for his services. 

In the mid-1990s, Lamo became a volunteer for the gay and lesbian media firm PlanetOut.com. In 1998, Lamo was appointed to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning Youth Task Force by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

During this period, in 2001, he overdosed on prescription amphetamines.

In a 2004 interview with Wired, an ex-girlfriend of Lamo’s described him as "very controlling," stating, "He carried a stun gun, which he used on me." According to the same article, a court issued a restraining order against Lamo.

Lamo disputed the accuracy of the article and wrote, "I have never been subject to a restraining order in my life". 

Lamo claimed in a Wired article that in May 2010, after reporting his backpack stolen, an investigating officer noted unusual behavior and detained him. He was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome after having been placed on a 72-hour involuntary psychiatric hold, which was extended to a total of nine days.

As of March 2011, he was in hiding, stating that his "life was under threat" after turning in Bradley Manning.

Film and television

Lamo was removed from a segment of NBC Nightly News when, after being asked to demonstrate his skills for the camera, he gained access to NBC’s internal network.

NBC was concerned that they broke the law by taping Lamo while he (possibly) broke the law. Lamo was a guest on The Screen Savers five times beginning in 2002. 

Hackers Wanted, a documentary film focusing on Lamo’s life as a hacker, was produced by Trigger Street Productions, and narrated by Kevin Spacey.. Wired.com. Retrieved on March 10, 2011. Focusing on the 2003 hacking scene, the film features interviews with Kevin Rose and Steve Wozniak. The film has not been conventionally released. In May 2009, a video purporting to be a trailer for Hackers Wanted was allegedly leaked to or by Internet film site Eye Crave.

In May 2010, an earlier cut of the film was leaked on Bittorrent. 
According to an insider, what was leaked on the Internet was a very different film from the newer version, which includes additional footage. On June 12, 2010, a director's cut version of the film was also leaked onto torrent sites. 

Activities

Lamo first became known for operating AOL watchdog site Inside-AOL.com.

Security compromise

In December 2001, Lamo was praised by Worldcom for helping to fortify their corporate security.http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/09/05/fbi_reportedly_hunting_adrian_lamo/ In February 2002 he broke into the internal computer network of The New York Times, adding his name to the internal database of expert sources, and using the paper’s LexisNexis account to conduct research on high-profile subjects. The New York Times filed a complaint, and a warrant for Lamo’s arrest was issued in August 2003 following a 15-month investigation by federal prosecutors in New York. At 10:15 AM on September 9, after spending a few days in hiding, he surrendered to the US Marshals in Sacramento, California. He re-surrendered to the FBI in New York City on September 11, and pled guilty to one felony count of computer crimes against Microsoft, LexisNexis and The New York Times on January 8, 2004., Wired.com, January 9, 2004., SecurityFocus, January 8, 2004.