Search engine turns the tables on hackers by exposing their info

   

Want to see a textbook definition of irony? Look no further than Indexeus, a search engine that primarily exposes the info of malicious hackers caught up in the very sort of data breaches that they inflict on others. As it was originally structured, people had to "donate" $1 for every record they wanted to purge from the engine's index; in other words, they had to pay to avoid the wrath of their fellow thieves. This was ostensibly to create "awareness" of susceptibility to attacks, but critics have complained that it amounts to extortion.

You no longer have to pay, however. Indexeus founder Jason Relinquo tells security guru Brian Krebs that blacklisting is now free due to the EU's "Right to be Forgotten;" he can't charge for a service that's supposed to be gratis. That purported desire to obey the law is rather odd when the indexed content is illegal by nature. Look at it this way, though -- if any targeted hackers are having second thoughts about their paths in life, this may be the excuse they need to make a clean break.