from Hacker News

Elite Hacker Barnaby Jack 'overdosed on drugs'

by braveheart1723 on 1/4/14, 12:58 AM with 64 comments

  • by girvo on 1/4/14, 1:33 AM

    Heroin, coke, and alcohol. Quickest way to overdose, even if it is fun... RIP mate, we'll miss you.

    My worst OD was with that mixture as well, only I was lucky enough to have people with me and live in a country where calling the emergency services doesn't end with police at your door for overdoses. Narcan in the back of the ambulance brought me back. I got clean a month later, and am still clean 20 months later.

    Some of my friends weren't so lucky, and neither was Jack, the poor bastard. He did awesome work. Mudge had an awesome talk at Defcon where he told a story about Jack in Dubai, go have a listen, it's well worth it.

    Drug abuse (opiates in particular) is more common in our field than we think, I believe.

  • by tacoman on 1/4/14, 1:38 AM

    I didn't know him, but was familiar with his work and this obviously is all very sad.

    Infosec is a very strange slice of the tech industry/IT. I've been a generalist sysadmin for more than 25 years so I have broad exposure to most of the specialties in the industry. What strikes me about infosec is how the cult of celebrity is very prominent. Maybe it's just where my interests lie, but I can name a dozen high profile "hackers" or infosec researchers. If you ask me to name the names of linux kernel hackers or nginx hackers or whatever and I'd struggle.

    Also, it seems like every week there is a security conference somewhere in the world. I guess maybe it's sexy or flashy but the security industry seems to have proportionally way more extrovert-type people in it.

  • by danso on 1/4/14, 1:24 AM

    He died in July but the autopsy has only just been made available? Or did the news of his death just fall off the radar so much that no one checked the coroner's office earlier? (coroner reports in newsworthy cases are generally public record)

    For reference sake, Paul Walker, the star of "Fast and Furious", had his autopsy reported on today but he died on Nov. 30 (roughly 35 days) http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/03/paul-walker-autopsy-report-rog...

    Michael Hastings, the Rolling Stone reporter who also died in a car accident, died in mid-June and his autopsy report was made available in mid-August: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/21/michael-hasting...

    Both of those deaths may have been more in the news than Barnaby Jack's, but they also involved fiery car crashes. It's possible that Barnaby Jack's death was just forgotten about, which is not unheard of (how many people not related to you can you recall the date of their deaths, a month later?). I guess you can assume that news orgs don't follow up as quickly on non-celebrities, and that tech advocates don't do as much public records requesting.

  • by kayoone on 1/4/14, 1:25 AM

    I remember the conspiracy theories surrounding his death so close to the event where he would reveal how to hack pace makers... Since his family/friends said nothing and he had drug problems in the past, this seemed like the most plausible reason for his death to me. Incredibly sad.

  • by ChuckMcM on 1/4/14, 1:42 AM

    My Dad once said, the world would be a better place if drugs and alcohol only killed people we didn't care about. Sadly the world is not like that.

  • by mortdeus on 1/4/14, 1:46 AM

    I'm not usually one for indulging in conspiracy theories, but if there was ever a shady coincidental happenstance. This "overdose" definitly deserves to be looked at more thoroughly under a metaphorical blacklight.

  • by himal on 1/4/14, 1:38 AM

  • by MyNameIsMK on 1/4/14, 1:13 AM

    Why was he doing drugs?

  • by _hnwo on 1/4/14, 2:38 AM

    RIP mate. i was still coming to terms with you being gone and this news article just brings everything back.

  • by quantumpotato_ on 1/4/14, 2:27 AM

    Did anyone know him to have a drug problem? I still find the timing suspicious.

  • by extx on 1/4/14, 1:23 AM

    How well know was he? Will HN have a black banner to remember him?