Chris Wysopal
More info
- Alias
- Weld Pond
- Founded
- Veracode (2006)
- Known for
- L0pht, L0phtCrack, Netcat for Windows
L0pht's Weld Pond, who went from testifying before the US Senate to selling code review to the very companies he had once embarrassed.
As Weld Pond, Wysopal was one of the hackers of L0pht Heavy Industries, a loft in Boston. With Peiter Zatko he wrote the password cracker L0phtCrack, which showed how badly Windows NT stored passwords, and he ported Netcat to Windows. In May 1998 seven L0pht members sat before the Senate under their handles and explained that they could take down the internet in half an hour.
L0pht became the consultancy @stake in 2000, and in 2006 Wysopal co-founded Veracode with fellow L0pht alumnus Christien Rioux. The company did static analysis of compiled binaries, so customers could audit code they didn't even have the source for. He also co-authored an early IETF draft on responsible disclosure in 2002, long before bug bounties turned it into a business.