OK, this was no cryptomeister able to crack the 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard. This was no computer-cracking expert with a bizarro name and the patience to poke into every port to find an opening. Once you've figured out how to pose as one of the top dogs, the next 199 are easy. Among the accounts allegedly breached were those of Steven Spielberg, Martha Stewart, George Lucas, Larry Ellison, Paul Allen and Ted Turner. When he wasn't pretending to be the rich and the famous, Abdallah was scrubbing pots and pans at a New York restaurant, according to the report.
Timing is everything.
The account of Abdallah's alleged identity-theft crime spree came at the same time Microsoft was introducing its HailStorm product in Redmond. Central to the HailStorm idea is a turbocharged version of Microsoft Passport. The Passport concept makes great sense. It moves identification to the user rather than the device. But before Passport or several competing products can be adopted, the hurdles to overcome are many.