Hidmyass

[theconscience]

How the -- did that kid make that Hidemyass just outsourcing?

HMA was sold in 2015 for like £35 million

 

[Conor]

What OP is talking about: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-32702501

 

[extremeboy]

though is it matters for you ?

 

[theconscience]

though is it matters for you ?

Yeah it matters greatly

For instance did this kid use Hostgator type service or have his own server? And how much did it cost him for servers per month?

How did this kid prevent hackers and Gov officials? However saying thatI read he had to give info if CIA and police wanted it so the service was really useless to those individuals I guess.

Also how the heck did he work out how to do that in the first place using other countries signatures?

 

[Capo Dei Capi]

Because it wasn't a type of company that needed a physical location to operate with a staff, just renting servers all over the world and or colocation.

 

[theconscience]

Yes but eventually he did have offices and hire his permanent trusty outsourced workers.

So he used rented servers in other countries?

 

[Capo Dei Capi]

Yes, you just have to go and rent servers in other countries.

 

[tb303]

Yes, you just have to go and rent servers in other countries.

Theres a bit more to it than that though. Isnt there.

He had to rent servers for VPN locations, set up a front end website that takes orders, software to connect, user database etc just for starters.

From the article

This took him just one afternoon sitting on his parents' sofa, and he gave the website a tongue-in-cheek name - Hide My Ass (HMA).

That doesnt sound like any 16 year olds I know to be honest.

 

[MisterF]

This took him just one afternoon sitting on his parents' sofa, and he gave the website a tongue-in-cheek name - Hide My Ass (HMA

That's pretty impressive, I take longer to work my way around some of the porn sites.

 

[MatteoMatt]

I used to use his VPN service back 5 years ago. It worked well from what I remember

 

[Deleted member 657006]

He fully retired know going around the carabian lol on a boat and slaves waving him down with cool air while drinking Champaign ...

Cleaver little sod ,was 19 and retired for life lol
Only took him 2 years to retire from life unreal

 

[theconscience]

I cannot understand how he got millions of people?

Anyway does anyone know who his Payment processor was?

 

[Capo Dei Capi]

I cannot understand how he got millions of people?

Anyway does anyone know who his Payment processor was?

Good Brand name and marketing the product.

 

[tb303]

here's the site he set up as of 1st November 2005 as snapped by archive.org
http://web.archive.org/web/20051101014633/http://www.hidemyass.com/

pretty simple actually just a web proxy with no payment options. Not sure when the pro vpn package launched but you can probably find it on archive.org

edit (as i looked anyway)
Nov 2009 launched vpn pro
http://web.archive.org/web/20091111022626/http://www.hidemyass.com/vpn/

 

[Capo Dei Capi]

The HMA case is one of the best examples of why its better to just work on a brandable name rather than the spammy EMD method. His service would be worth a fraction of what it sold for had he choose something like webproxieslondon or londonwebproxies etc.

 

[fblke]

It's all about marketing and a very memorable address.

 

[theconscience]

Anyone happen to know what affiliate networks the kid was using and his payment processor?

 

[NicholasVegas]

EMD method

I never really liked exact match domains. To me it always seemed not worth it in the long run.