Thread by @dotMudge

It was 20 years ago on this day that my true identity, which until then had been a tightly held secret, was unintentionally leaked by the White House.

Rob’s write up, linked here, is a quasi-factual humorous take.

Here’s what actually happened. Thread.

1/n

https://twitter.com/vmyths/status/1234003592069165056

My name, Peiter Zatko, was a closely held secret both in the hacker community *and* the government.

In fact I was the Hacker Jeopardy final question after the White House leak.

Paraphrased: “...nobody knew his name”

To make it hard they used the short hair pic.

2/n

For several years I had been acting as a technical “voice of reason” for the NSC (National Security Council)

Before certain briefings made it to the president I was consulted. The goal was to understand technical challenges and *actual* state of the art.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St…

It was eye opening.

Numerous times existing capabilities within the “hacking” community were presented as 5+ years off (e.g. kernel root kits).

I was usually able to educate the cabinet members / staffers sufficiently and arm them with real world examples and data points.

4/n

The incorrect data I was helping refute often seemed misleading or wrong.

Principals later informed me how the misleading information that was trying to get in front of POTUS aligned with, and/or benefited, the originator’s budget (or upcoming budget request).

5/n

The NSC kept their technical source a secret from parts of the government.

I kept the extent of my involvement and impact a secret from the L0pht and general community.

OBhack: Even the parts of the IC, in which I was involved, didn’t know I was fact checking their briefs.

6/n

Given that I only provided technical explanations I was fine helping the government.

Smarter use of our tax monies? More informed senior leadership that can hopefully make smarter decisions and laws?

Yes please!

But back to the story...

7/n

In response to the first DDoS event that overtly impacted major corporations and commerce (remember Stacheldraht?) the President was holding a meeting in the Oval Office with heads of companies and senior technical advisors.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stacheldr…

8/n

I called the NSC the day before and said: “think I would provide value at this?”

They responsed: “yes. Our bad. Will put you on the invite list immediately. Fly down tomorrow and be here by 6am”

9/n

The subtext was basically:

Me: “I’ve been helping you folks look, and get, smart for several years. However the media still labels me hacker = criminal even though I’m not breaking the law. How about helping me dispel that image?”

Them: “That’s fair.”

Then it went wrong.

10/n

When I would physically go to the White House to meet up with members of the NSC (room 302 EEOB) I would usually process as a Visitor

I’d call in my name, SSN, other personal info, and it would be cleared and sent to the guard huts to be put on the list for the day.

11/n

The morning of the event the White House sends the raw access list to the various media organizations (newspapers and TV).

They hadn’t realized one of the names was supposed to be under cover.

Out goes the list with one “Peiter Zatko” attending.

Gets worse / funnier.

🤦‍♂️

12/n

One of the reporters we liked and with whom we had built a relationship, Ted Bridis of the Associated Press (AP), got in touch with us:

Ted: Is Mudge’s real name “Peiter Zatko”?

When this was relayed to me I immediately called the NSC.

Damage control!

13/n

I explained White House Comms sent out the raw access list with my real name on it.

NSC: “We’re on it!”

I felt relieved.

After all these people had titles like National Coordinator for Critical Infrastructure and Counter Terrorism, and Director of Transnational Threat.

14/n

I imagine the NSC called up the people responsible, because action was taken quickly.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t helpful action.

The team removed “Peiter Zatko” from the list sent to the Press, replaced it with “Mudge” and sent this second list to the press as urgent.

15/n

Now the press had two copies of the attendance list. One with my real name and a second one with my cover name where my real name had been before.

That was the only change.

So not only did the WH leak my real name, they essentially highlighted it in neon lights.

🤷‍♂️

16/16

Postfix: I’ll see if I stumble across some pictures from those days and the event.

I’ll try to post some that are appropriate.