Byron Sonne, G20 Bomber, Was a CISSP –UPDATED: Certification Suspended
Byron Sonne is an activist lefty in Toronto. He set out to agitate and stir up trouble at the G20 Summit in Toronto and as it turns out he succeeded. Cops raided his house and arrested both him and the woman whom he refuses to marry, for possession of explosives.
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The story would have ended there, but this guy also holds a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, issued by ISC2. This is his logo from his site at Halvdan.Com
The CISSP is a very well respected and difficult certification to obtain. I have one too, and I am very proud of my hard work and experience that allowed me to obtain the cert.
But there is a code of ethics that accompanies this certification, and if you are seen to violate that code you are supposed to be stripped of your cert. We’ll see whether or not ISC2 will strip Byron Sonne of his. The ethics say:
Code of Ethics Preamble:
?Safety of the commonwealth, duty to our principals, and to each other requires that we adhere, and be seen to adhere, to the highest ethical standards of behavior.
?Therefore, strict adherence to this Code is a condition of certification.
Code of Ethics Canons:?Protect society, the commonwealth, and the infrastructure.
?Act honorably, honestly, justly, responsibly, and legally.
?Provide diligent and competent service to principals.
?Advance and protect the profession.
I wonder if Byron still thinks that his agitation and terroristic activities were worth it now that he will likely be stripped of his cert and lose his job? Maybe he can get other lefties and anarchists to pay some speaking fees and provide security services for these louts?
Thanks to Mikko for the story.
UPDATE! I sent a complaint to ISC2 about Byron Sonne. I received this just now as a response:
Dear Mr. Belcher,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Be assured that we will continue to monitor the situation as it progresses. Until there has been a resolution in the matter, Mr. Sonne’s certification has been suspended.
Thank you for your concern for the certification.
Sincerely,
Marcia Thorpe
Senior Manager of Member Services
(ISC)2
Security Transcends Technology
You’re a moron. He bought precursors legally to see how the police would contact him. See Globe & Mail, if you know how to read.
He bought them “legally” yet somehow is under arrest. Who’se the moron? See Associated Press link in the post, if you know how to use a mouse.
G20eh, so he bought the components legally to see what? How the police would contact him? How’d that turn out? Was it a surprise? I bet it was a surprise. I bet he didn’t think they would arrest his wife and seize their computers, did he? Did he think they would send him a love note? And you claim I’m the moron??!
Wow. I’m not going to get in to the name-calling (though, Pat, you did just undercut your entire argument in that last comment).
Here’s the thing… Byron’s actions may have been ill-advised, but nothing he did was illegal.
It’s not illegal to buy fertilizer, hair bleach or nail-polish remover. It’s not illegal to listen in to police communication with a scanner. And it’s not illegal to give a talk at a meeting about how to do so.
Argue that he’s stupid and what he did was likely to land him under suspicion – I’ll go along with that. But to argue that he’s unethical because he did things that were illegal is total bullshit – you can’t back it up.
Ironically, from what I’ve seen, none of the things he did are things that half of the speakers at Defcon or HOPE couldn’t also be arrested for.
As an aside… what ever happened to “innocent until proven guilty”? I’m glad to see that Pat and ISC2 are firmly ensconced on the “let’s try people based on vague charges in the media” bandwagon.
-Mike
The ISC2 should not have reacted to this until the situation resolves itself. Obviously just because someone is arrested does not mean they are guilty of what they’ve been accused of. This kind of reaction contributes negatively to the reputation of the CISSP in the security marketplace.
Byron Sonne has been in the security community for quite some time contributing valuable written research, and so probably deserves some berth until the justice system has progressed further than simply arresting someone and scattered media reports.
All things considered though, I think losing his CISSP is not high on Byron’s list of concerns at the moment.
That clown plate is hilarious.
Wow,
You’re just a big bucket of fail aren’t you.
Further to Mike Murray’s points…
1/ Do you have acetone and peroxide in your bathroom cabinets? I bet you do.
2/ Do you have alcohol in a glass container? I bet you do.
3/ Do you have principles sufficient to take the risk that you might have an uncomfortable visit from the law. I bet you DON’T.
4/ Do you know any CISSPs who have done less than their level best to provide service. I know dozens of incompetent boobs who carry that cert.
Until you can put yourself in the class of people who are willing to stand on the line for what they feel to be unbounded and excremental behaviour on the part of petty politicians who pass secret laws in direct contravention of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, you can pretty much sit down and shut up.
Also, I’ve reported you to the ISC2 for failing to uphold society – even in your country it is considered honorable and just to proffer innocence until such time as a guilty conviction is obtained.
“The CISSP is a very well respected and difficult certification to obtain”
Eh, “not so much” in my experience.
Also, I find it interesting that someone lambasting a “martyr for liberty” – someone whose stated public goal was to test the point at which his government was willing to transgress on his liberties would link to “Stop the ACLU”, “The Right Rant”, and “Michelle Malkin”.
So are you for big government or against – or just kind of philosophically confused?
Great post! I can’t think of a better way to wreck your reputation amongst the people who really matter in the computer security field. And I’m talking about you, not Byron.
Good luck, now this is all over Twitter and Google, you’re going to need it.
I hope all those LinkedIn contacts of yours know that you’re willing to throw a fellow professional under the bus for something you read in the media. I’m appalled to think that there’s only 2 degrees of separation between myself and a scumbag like you.
Police frequently arrest activists for a number of reasons. Often they will arrest solely for the purposes of being able to temporarily detain, in which case the charges get dropped.
Unless you have some personal issue with Byron, you might want to treat this a bit more reasonably by waiting until there is a trial and actual evidence instead of contributing to the destruction of a stranger’s career.
This article is utterly inappropriate. Byron has the right to be presumed innocent — and there are good reasons to believe he didn’t break any laws (cf. accounts after the initial hype died down).
From where I’m standing it would appear that you are sacrificing someone’s reputation for your own amusement — or perhaps hits? Either way, it isn’t ethical.
@Alex- So not so hard to get a CISSP? I guess Sonne won’t miss his much then, eh? I don’t like big government that much either, but you certainly don’t go around posing yourself as a risk to national critical infrastructure- a clear violation of his ethics. And a violation which ISC2 felt would merit a suspension. If he is not convicted it will be up to ISC2 to determine his status.
You sir, are a raging assclown. A monkey could get a CISSP.
Nice to see that you like to be judge and jury.
Seems like there’s not a lot of fellow security professionals sharing your train of thought now, is there ?
I’m pretty sure you won’t miss your certification much either.
You’re an idiot, and when the publication ban lifts, you will see how silly and petty you are. But hey, guilty until proven innocent, right?
I really don’t understand why the Canadian press makes it sound like it was a prank by a twelve year old. Is it because he’s allegedly a leftist who lives in a million dollar home with his commom law wife (whose father allegedly holds the mortgage for 1.1 million). If he were a working class conservative who was actually married and purchased his home on his own I bet they wouldn’t be so supportive.
You have no idea .. obviously Byron is good / positive individual. PS: CISSP – is easy and practically worthless.
So Byron isn’t missing his cissp then while he rots in jail? Good for him.
Proecting the commonwealth? We kicked you british imperialists out during the American Revolution. If you signed a document saying you will protect the commonwealth then you are a traitor to the United States and everything it stands for.
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