I was told by some Mexicans that the cartel is already employing (as in paying salaries to) numerous hackers and IT professionals. They have very high level of banking access and technology that rivals government spy agencies. Unlimited funds will do that for you though.
From my personal experience, that's saying they have bored inexperienced coders, who use outdated tools and techniques that any CS sophomore would laugh at. And are much more worried about working the internal politics to get promoted. Than to get any actual work done.
I'm just curious - are you implying that you've personally encountered this sort of thing at government spy agencies or just that much of the government seems to have these characteristics?
Kidnap is funny though, they could kidnap someone and say comply with everything we tell you. If either you or your family leave our control (they could be in separate places) or signal for help we will kill you both. The only escape would be to perfectly synchronize it.
Would work especially well if two or more kidnapped hackers were forced to monitor each other, adding a prisoner's dilemma to the mix. If one failed to catch the other's escape he/she and their family would be killed.
So it isn't impossible to enslave security professionals.
>Would work especially well if two or more kidnapped hackers were forced to monitor each other, adding a prisoner's dilemma to the mix. If one failed to catch the other's escape he/she and their family would be killed.
And you just described what would be an amazing cyberpunk novel.
Two security professionals both try to escape and prevent the other from escaping at the same time. If done right it could quickly become the best kind of thriller; the one where you're actually speculating as to what happens next.
That seems to make more sense than kidnappings. If kidnapped hackers have the expertise to break into things and the Internet connection to do it, they'd be able to send messages and get help.
