GAHH. For pure, unbridled pain, watch this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=a... (a little TV snippet with Ankit Fadia). This man repulses every tiny little fiber of me. From the video (referring to makers of anti-virus software) - "They create the virus, they infect your computer... this is a well known fact within the security community"
Also, his technical expertise extends as far as advising people to install anti-virus and anti-spyware software to protect themselves. Brilliant.
In his defense he was 14 years old at the time he wrote a book that was 66% his original content, I don't think many 14 year old will think about plagiarizing when writing a book. The publisher is responsible for publishing a badly written partly plagiarized book. I presume the publisher didn't care and just saw dollar signs in marketing a 14 year old 'prodigy'. Now 9 years later, he either believes that he is a great hacker because people have being telling him this for the last 9 years or he is to afraid to tell he isn't. In the end of the day the publisher and other s around him are responsible for his image. I feel bad for him when he is unmask by the big media as a fraud. Because when that happens he will be 23 or so years old and a world known fraudster. In my view this is not his fault has he was to young at the time to understand what was going on and what impact it would have on his life, the soul responsibility is with the publisher and his parents.
Ouch. If his accomplishments in getting money out of people are real, then this is a painful reminder how far you can go on zero skills and 100% chutzpah.
>>then this is a painful reminder how far you can go on zero skills and 100% chutzpah.
Nearly 99.99% of Top/Middle management layers in Indian IT are taking big sum salaries back home all because of the mad rush for promotions and multiples of 10 digit hikes during 90's. Most would not last a day if they were to join the industry as programmers today.
They are all Ankit Fadia's with different names.
The actual and real hardworking ones rarely make it big.
Isn't the rage against this guy the same as those against MBA's. People feel being good at one thing means good at everything else Eg: All programmers are supposed to be rich and good at money games. And if they are bad at something they must be bad at every thing Eg: An MBA who is bad at some aspects of work, now as assumed should never be paid well.
This guy might be no hacker, but is darn good at marketing. Just have a look at the way he has sold himself. Even if all he has done is written plagiarized books and taught novelty windows tricks.
This actually speaks volumes about how thins workout in the real world. All sweat and blood aside. Selling your self, blowing your own trumpet and learning to play the money game is crucial if you want to be rich.
Merely a cubicle slave 16 hour work day nerd hacker is not going to be rich or successful. Because hard work is one of the many qualifications needed to be successful.
Well, most Indian programmers know Ankit Fadia is a joke, and I understand collective fun we had - but at the end of day, this news is not hackernews worthy.
Well, this shows he is not competent in what he proclaims to be an area of his competency.
I don't know how old is he now, may be in his 20s. I remember seeing him on TV few years back, that time he came across as a bright kid (and was comparatively lean compared to the way he looks now). Then, he was in his late teens (or may be just 20), and had written a book on Computer security.
It seems, excessive media exposure at an early age, did come in the way of his development. In this video he is clearly challenging people to attack his site, in a boastful way. So can say, the deface served him right.
Well, when a security related issue comes up on HN, we usually get a link to someone like Bruce Schneier quite often.
Sorry, I guess I didn't count him in the same category of people who usually earn that moniker on these boards.
I am surprised that people saw enough merit in downvoting the asking of the question, though.
I don't see this submission as adding anything which is of interest to intellectually curiosity, or helping anyone learn or improve on something further, or any of the guidelines PG put down when posting something.
Nor have the comments from the posting generated anything significant, although several comments are about him being a fraud.
I'd have to stand by what I said, I don't see how this is Signal.
The hackers must be on a casual web patrol and they stumble on his website again. They must be then thinking, "oh! let's play some pranks." Blip, blip, blip, blip ... 10 seconds ... hacked. "WTF! That wasn't even funny."
He's not listed in the Alumni database, so I'm going to say no. (I couldn't manage to find anyone that I knew who wasn't in the database so it appears to be all-inclusive)
hmm, Stanford domain still has some artifacts, looks like it was some sort of assignment report during his 1st year course (STS 145: History of Game Design, Henry Lowood)
https://twitter.com/ankit_fadia this is his twitter acct. you can blast him off there as well. he is a self-proclaimed ethical hacker. The previous sentence is correct till the point "self-proclaimed".
Also, his technical expertise extends as far as advising people to install anti-virus and anti-spyware software to protect themselves. Brilliant.