The Web site of the
Washington Post appears to have inadvertently exposed the subject of a recent profile, a hacker who goes by "0x80" and makes a living by sneaking onto other people's
computers and spreading spyware and adware. A profile that ran over the weekend included a photo of 0x80 that was doctored to disguise his identity, but the jpeg contained metadata that included the
name of the town Roland, Okla.--presumably where the hacker resided. With a population of less than 3,000, many think that it's only a matter of time before 0x80 is caught, especially given the
article's detailed characterization of him. Readers learned that 0x80 is "tall and lanky, with hair that falls down to his eyebrows," lives with his parents "in a small town in Middle America," and
that the closest businesses are "a used-car lot, a gas station/convenience store and a strip club, where 0x80 says he recently dropped $800 for an hour alone in a VIP room with several dancers."
