Reporters booted from conference for hacking

But in a case of reporters spying on other reporters, three journalists working for the French publication Global Security Magazine were booted Thursday from the hackers' conference after they were allegedly caught hacking into the private computer network set up for the media.

The French journalists captured what they claimed were usernames and passwords of reporters from at least two media outlets--eWeek and CNET News. The eWeek reporter told organizers his login credentials looked like they were legitimate, while the CNET information appeared to be bogus.

Black Hat attendees are warned that the conference's public wireless network is being monitored by hackers. People who send sensitive personal data over it are cautioned they might have that information posted on the Wall of Sheep, a forum to embarrass security professionals who don't follow proper security procedures themselves.

The separate, wired Internet connections set up for reporters are supposed to be off-limits to hacking and the Wall of Sheep. Even so reporters who didn't take the extra step and log onto the Internet through an additional secure connection like a virtual private network, risked having their data exposed to colleagues sitting just feet away.

It didn't appear to be a complicated hack.

The network was working properly, but it wasn't set up to shield each journalist's computer from one another. The French journalists--identified by organizers as Dominique Jouniot, Marc Brami, Mauro Israel--apparently set up their own server to siphon off traffic passing through the media room's central router.

Brami is listed on the magazine's Web site as director of parent company S.I.M. Publicite, while Jouniot and Israel are on the "scientific committee."

Brami said in an interview with The Associated Press that Israel was responsible for the hack and that he and Jouniot didn't know about it.

"I can't explain why he'd do that," Brami said. "He thinks it's some kind of game for him. I'm very angry with him. I've had a partnership with Black Hat for three years."