Pooh: I don't see any insult, nor did I intend to insult you or anyone else. If I did I apologize.

I haven't been "burned".... I haven't been hacked ever.... to my knowledge.....

Let me clarify my position a little here......... There are three kinds of "hats":-

1. Whitehats
2. Greyhats
3. Blackhats.

Whitehats are the good guys.... They are the ones that work on security, for security from the defender's point of view. I have nothing to fear from them.

Greyhats are the ones who work on security, for security from an attackers point of view. They warn the vendor, publish their results and suggest methods of mitigation until the patches arrive. I have nothing to fear from them.

Blackhats are a different breed altogether. They work on security for _in_security from an attackers point of view. They do not warn the vendors, publish their results or do anything else beneficial other than the eventual benefit that thier work is uncovered, analyzed and published by the other "hats" _or_ they "publish" their "results" into the malicious world to be used by others with malicious intent against those who do not know how to protect themselves. I have something to fear from these people. Their intent is self serving. Whatever their eventual goal is they move forward trashing systems, lives etc. with no regard for the rule of law or even civil behaviour. When they are done they let the less talented use their knowledge in handy dandy little packages, (scripts etc.), to unleashed their particular brand of mayhem upon others.

I fail to understand what you don't see here. People who maliciously attack others be it physically or virtually are criminals yet you are supporting them as I said in my previous post like they are some kind of "knights in slightly tainted armour". There is nothing honorable about them or their intentions. They are there for personal gain, (whatever they see that as), regardless of the cost to others.

You will note that throughout this exchange I have maintained a single thread.... the concept of malicious behaviour. This isn't a fun thing, nor is it an acceptable thing. It is behaviour designed to harm others. Sorry, but in my code of ethics that is unacceptable. I see myself as someone better able to protect myself, (both physically and virtually), than your average Joe on the street and, as such, have always "championed the underdog" both physically and in the virtual world. I am capable, (physically and virtually), of "picking on" a very large subset of the population just as a thug or a blackhat would do. But I chose not to. The fact is, I chose to use the physical and virtual "power" I have against those people who would harm the less "adept".

Now, maybe, you can see that I'm not picking on you for being a grey hat. Now, maybe, You can better understand the way _I_ see the world and understand that it is not unbalanced and is not based in anger or in frustration. I tend not to get angry - it clouds my thinking when I plan my response...... .

As to the end of our "friendship".... I wasn't actually aware that we had anything in particular going on.... I don't have a lot of friends because most people simply do not measure up to the standards I set. Having said that I have seen nothing in the past from you that would exclude your from the rather small group I do dub friends. Your choice, I'm not one to force people to do things they don't want.