November 8th, 2007
Vulnerability auction site founder arrested in Italy
Roberto Preatoni (left), one of the brains behind the WabiSabiLabi vulnerability auction site, has been arrested in Italy in connection with an international corporate spying scandal.
Details of the allegations are very sketchy but according to published reports out of Italy (Google translation), Preatoni’s arrest is linked to a 2003-2004 case involving Telecom Italia and Brasil Telecom. At the time, Preatoni was working as a pen tester for Telecom Italia.
A spokesman for WabiSabiLabi today confirmed the arrest and made it clear the allegations have nothing to do with the controversial eBay-like auction site which was launched earlier this year as a place to buy and sell vulnerability research information.
[ SEE: Auction site opens up for vulnerabilities, exploits ]
Here’s WabiSabiLabi’s statement on the arrest:
Roberto Preatoni Strategic Director of WabiSabiLabi has been arrested and remains in custody in Milan.
WabiSabiLabi can not comment on the open investigation or the statements being made in the press.
From newspaper reports we presume the arrest relates to events in 2003/04 when his former company was hired by Telecom Italia’s Security division to safeguard Telecom Italias’ interests and are unrelated to WabiSabiLabi in any way.
Mr Peatoni’s unfortunate arrest has not affected the day-to-day operations of the WabiSabiLabi.
Roberto Preatoni is well known for his terrific contribution to information security and civil liberty and we are confident that his innocence will be established if a case ever comes to court.
Preatoni, who also co-founded the Zone-H cybercrime archive under the hacker handle “SyS64738,” is a regular on the security conference circuit. He recently presented at Microsoft’s Blue Hat Briefings.
Ryan Naraine is a journalist and security evangelist at Kaspersky Lab. He manages Threatpost.com, a security news portal. Here is Ryan's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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