So, a couple of days ago, this message hits the full disclosure mailing list.

It seems some clown claims to have pwned the publisher of the Harry Potter books, Bloomsbury. In his hands, he says, he holds the latest, unreleased Harry Potter book in electronic form.

So, someone with absolutely no proof claims to have illegally obtained a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which is due to hit bookshelves in roughly a month, by hacking into a Bloomsbury workstation.

We could just dismiss this as the unproven ramblings of a random moron... or we could put out a press release!! YEAH!!

The fine folks at Australian anti-malware company PC Tools actually put out a presser on this, which can be found here. Highlights include: "Is it true? Only two groups really know the answer to that question: the hacker and the publisher."

Well said.

Keep in mind that the "hacker" is no one of consequence -- the person behind this post could have made up the identity 10 minutes before posting. It's not like this person has an established identity or any respect in computer security circles.

In essence, PC Tools has put out a press release saying "some guy has claimed to have done something we have no way of verifying. But it could, conceivably be true so please write about it and quote our CEO!"

What makes the press release even more bizarre is that the horse has already bolted -- the story's already well and truly out. Why put out a press release now?

But yes, here I am having a go at PC Tools for putting out a press release, when in reality journalists themselves are thick enough to report on this rumour with no verification. I reckon I'll have to re-subscribe to Full Disclosure and make some claims of my own. Maybe about who shot JFK, how the moon landing was faked, who put the Who put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp and the reason Eddie McGuire was really "boned".

The truth is out there. Well, my version of it will be, anyway!

The only way to know if this claim is genuine -- while the publisher continues to stay silent -- is to read the book in about a month. The Full Disclosure post summarised the ending of the manuscript the "hacker" claims to have stolen. Until then, why waste ink? Why all this attention over one e-mail to a public mailing list from a clearly fictional identity?

If some mug at the pub claimed to have hacked Bloomsbury and obtained the latest Harry Potter book, the average journalist would laugh, and then look in to it. If they couldn't verify it they'd kill the story -- they wouldn't write up a story which said:

"SYDNEY, Australia -- A man in a pub claimed to have obtained a copy of the latest Harry Potter Book today."

Why can't they do the same when it's an e-mail to a public list? The story they are writing really is THIS:

"SOMEWHERE, Earth -- Someone capable of sending e-mail to a public mailing list using an anonymous handle says they obtained the latest Harry Potter book today."

Meh. I'm done rambling now. Don't forget to check out my weekly security podcast... this week's is a cracker.