Hackers' bragging rights at stake at RankMyHack.com

Screenshot of RankMyHack.com home page

Is hacking cool if you have to advertise you're doing it? Isn't the whole point to be on the DL? Well, some are throwing out that notion and going for the glory on RankMyHack.com, "the world's first elite hacker ranking system."

On this site, hackers are obliged to "submit proof" of their website hacks in exchange for "Ranking Points" that can earn them "a place on the leaderboard of legends. The bigger the site, the bigger the points." The sites, times and dates for hacks are listed under each username.

Feeding off the gamer part of hackers, the site then allows them to use those points to "duel" with others on the site "and protect your legacy in one on one digital combat."

The New York Times reported that the site has already taken in evidence of more than 1,200 hacks. The Times' Riva Richmond gives us some more behind-the-scenes insights:

The site was created by a hacker nicknamed Solar to bring a little accountability to the online forums and chat rooms where hackers gather to learn tricks of the trade, buy and sell contraband and form alliances. There, eBay-style ratings systems meant to establish reputations are routinely abused, morality tends to be fluid and anonymous young people often talk big while carrying a small stick.

RankMyHack offers a way to separate the skilled from the so-called script kiddies by verifying hacks using codes that participants must plant somewhere on sites they have compromised.

So far, the top ranking hacker on the site is a user named Mudkip, who has nearly 4 million points hacking just 16 sites. But one of the sites was huffingtonpost.com, which gave Mudkip 1.6 million points as the site with the highest amount of points possible.

The closest hacker to Mudkip is Rafael, who has 1.7 million points. His biggest hack: stackoverflow.com on August 14, for 1.2 million points.

The site also provides a resources page that gives links to mainstream hacking resources, forums and tutorials. They're not even paint-by-numbers hacks as much as links to sites that alert the average web surfer to dangers that lurk outside and give them tips on how to fortify against it.  

Hacking doesn't mean that these sites have been damaged, only that the hackers have been able to breach defenses. Just because they can, doesn't mean they took advantage of those vulnerabilities.

As Richmond writes, "Solar argued that the hacks would occur regardless, and that the site was positive because hackers did not need to do damage to prove they had infiltrated a site."

There are already some interesting theories about the site itself.

VentureBeat muses, "Of course, it would be really brilliant if RankMyHack.com were a fake site created by law enforcement to entrap criminal hackers." CNET ascribes some kind of money motivator to users: "There also appears to be some sort of monetary compensation for hacking. In the site's membership rules, it says that users who enter hacking competitions will receive 'payouts' from Rank My Hack via PayPal within seven days of a competition's closing date."

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Man Utd to sell off stake in club

18 August 2011 Last updated at 22:39 GMT Football is one of the fastest growing sports in Asia Manchester United is to sell off a significant stake in the club in Singapore to partly pay off its gross debts of £515m, the BBC has learnt.

BBC sports editor David Bond says it is understood the club has now lodged a listing application with the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Our correspondent says it could raise between £400m and £600m for the club.

It is understood the club wants to complete the listing by the end of the year.

The owners, the Glazer family, removed the Old Trafford club from the London stock market following their successful takeover in 2005.

A partial share sale, of between 25% and 30%, would also mean that no outside person could take control of the club.

At the same time, it would provide the Glazers with much needed cash that would help pay off some of the debt that was taken on to finance the takeover.

As well as the debt issue, analysts have seen a Singapore listing as an aggressive move by the club to create an even stronger presence in Asia.

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Raising some cash would clearly be hugely beneficial to a family which has been pilloried for burdening the Premier League's trophy asset with too much debt”

End Quote David Bond BBC sports editor United has more than 300 million fans around the world and more than 190 million of those are in Asia.

The region has become a growth area for the club and other Premier League teams.

David Bond said that the flotation would also be an opportunity to see what value the stock market puts on Manchester United, with an overall valuation of the club of anything up to £1.7bn.

'Poisoned pill'

The Manchester United Supporters Trust, which opposes the Glazer family's ownership of the club, was suspicious about the flotation.

"The share sale will be in the Glazers' interests - to pay down their debt - not the club's," said its chief executive Duncan Drasdo.

The Trust wants to see Manchester United owned by its fans, and is concerned that the Singapore listing could provide a "poisoned pill" to such hopes.

"By reducing the Glazers' personal debt we will continue to be saddled with these absentee landlords," Mr Drasdo added.

'Complexity'

Despite the club's hopes for a listing by the end of the year, according to the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) website, "depending on the complexity of the companies, the listing process may vary between four months to two years".

And the SGX also says that any business seeking a listing will have to appoint a Singapore-based financial institution to be its sponsor and lead manager for the listing.

In March, Manchester United's parent company said it made a loss of £108.9m in 2009-10. Red Football Joint Venture is the Glazer family parent company that owns the Old Trafford club.

Its loss for the year to the end of July 2010 included one-off costs from setting up a £526m bond scheme last January to replace outstanding debts of £509m.

There was also a drop in player sale income compared with the previous summer when Cristiano Ronaldo was sold.

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