Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack • Hacker News Board

Re: Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack

#561

Post by manjalyc » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 3:50 AM UTC

lomoeffect wrote: post #347

pier25 wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Originally, “Kirk” claimed to be a Twitter employee, according to a Discord chat log So these guys were able to get into Twitter but they chatted freely on Discord without considering everything would be recorded? And then they make one of the most public hacks in recent history without considering someone would go through all the logs with all the noise they made?

> Sheppard had used a personal driver’s license to verify himself with the Binance and Coinbase cryptocurrency exchanges, and his accounts were found to have sent and received some of the scammed bitcoin. Didn't even layer the Bitcoin through an anonymiser like Monero and extra Bitcoin wallets. Just sent and received BTC directly to an account linked with photo ID on multiple exchanges. Incredible really!

If anything I'm amazed at this level of technical incompetence (or is ignorance a better word) from a group of people that hacked twitter...

Re: Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack

#562

Post by remarkEon » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 3:52 AM UTC

bobbylarrybobby wrote: post #548

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Setting five police cars on fire is an act of domestic terrorism. That's not in any way a normal protest action.. That's what the prosecutor will argue.

The Boston Tea Party was an act of domestic terrorism. It's hard to determine whether an act is right or wrong without a good duration of hindsight.

The only reason that we look at the Boston Tea Party as a "good" thing that happened is because that side ended up winning a war. If the British had won that conflict it would be a footnote in history, noting that some hooligans destroyed some property.

Re: Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack

#563

Post by nicoburns » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 3:55 AM UTC

TallGuyShort wrote: post #188

threatofrain wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also should any repercussions be considered against Twitter that a 17yo was able to gain access to the private messages of potentially some of the most important individuals in the world? Is the suggestion that if your security is weak, at least some of the blame goes to the hacked? If your home security is weak, should we grant more leniency to a burglar? The insurance company should be the one to punish the riski…

Not home security, but I'm of the opinion this should apply for businesses and public places in some case. For instance, I usually carry a gun on me. If I go into the court house or a concert venue I'm prohibited from doing that. IMO they have now assumed a level of liability to provide a reasonable level of effective security and they're negligent if they don't and I'm injured or kill because of a mass shooting anyw…

I find it odd that you think a gun protects you in public. Its always seemed to me like you are more likely to be shot if you're carrying a gun, because an armed criminal now has to shoot you first if they want to ensure that they are not shot themselves. If you are unarmed they can simply threaten to shoot you and need not actually shoot.

I guess in the US thee are so many guns that perhaps criminals will just assume that you're armed anyway. But IMO that only makes the case for gun control stronger. Because the most effective way to change that attitude would be to dramtically decrease the number of guns in circulation.

Re: Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack

#564

Post by helsinkiandrew » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 3:56 AM UTC

saghm wrote: post #508

rschneid wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter is a platform used widely by some of the most powerful people in the world and in the US government. As a result, there is plenty of justification and precedent for said gov't to regulate their security practices and procedures. To illustrate this point, I doubt you'd have any sympathy for Twitter if they had been sending their passwords over http. Now, I don't think the government is prepared to do this proa…

> To illustrate this point, I doubt you'd have any sympathy for Twitter if they had been sending their passwords over http This is probably off-topic, but companies shouldn't even be sending the passwords over HTTPS; passwords should be hashed client-side and then the hash should be sent to the server (preferably over HTTPS).

Can you elaborate on how this makes things more secure (assuming HTTPS)

Surely if the server accepts a client side hash of a password, then the hash has become the password

Re: Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack

#565

Post by dragonwriter » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 3:57 AM UTC

remarkEon wrote: post #562

bobbylarrybobby wrote: post #548

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Boston Tea Party was an act of domestic terrorism. It's hard to determine whether an act is right or wrong without a good duration of hindsight.

The only reason that we look at the Boston Tea Party as a "good" thing that happened is because that side ended up winning a war. If the British had won that conflict it would be a footnote in history, noting that some hooligans destroyed some property.

> The only reason that we look at the Boston Tea Party as a "good" thing that happened is because that side ended up winning a war.

No, it's because they ended up winning a war and became us. If it has been a group that went on to win war of national liberation against us, we probably wouldn't too kindly on it.

Re: Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack

#566

Post by _8j50 » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 3:58 AM UTC

Taek wrote: post #131

Hitting a 17yo with 30 felony charges feels a bit steep to me. Also should any repercussions be considered against Twitter that a 17yo was able to gain access to the private messages of potentially some of the most important individuals in the world? If a 17yo could do it, I'm sure a nation state could do it.

It's not steep, this is one of the many cruelties and abhorrent failures of the US justice system. They do this to force you to enter a plea bargain deal even if you are innocent.

Re: Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack

#567

Post by dragonwriter » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 3:59 AM UTC

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #542

reitzensteinm wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sentences should run concurrently. 4 years for setting a car on fire is not unreasonable, although maybe a little harsh depending on priors. It's a dangerous thing to do. But setting five cars on fire is not particularly worse than setting one car on fire.

Setting five police cars on fire is an act of domestic terrorism. That's not in any way a normal protest action.. That's what the prosecutor will argue.

> Setting five police cars on fire is an act of domestic terrorism

No, it's not.

> That's not in any way a normal protest action.

Well, yeah, that’s why it's prosecutable as a crime at all rather than protected first amendment speech.

Re: Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack

#568

Post by nicoburns » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 3:59 AM UTC

robomartin wrote: post #478

Taek wrote: post #131

Hitting a 17yo with 30 felony charges feels a bit steep to me. Also should any repercussions be considered against Twitter that a 17yo was able to gain access to the private messages of potentially some of the most important individuals in the world? If a 17yo could do it, I'm sure a nation state could do it.

This is a tough topic. If we take the approach of effectively turning this kind of crime into job interviews and a way to enter life-long careers we would create a positive feedback loop. Punishment, on the other hand, creates a negative feedback loop. We can discuss the degree of punishment, but it is clear that humans, for the most part, only tend to self regulate if they understand that the consequences of their a…

> humans, for the most part, only tend to self regulate if they understand that the consequences of their actions are negative enough.

I agree with this. But I don't think it necessarily needs to be consequences to themselves that they understand. Coming to understand the consequences their actions have had on others can also effectively chnage behaviour, and can often turn past offenders into very effective advocates against the crime they committed.

That isn't necessarily to say that I don't think there should be consequences for the perpetrator. Just that I don't think it's the only way to prevent crime.

Re: Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack

#569

Post by mychael » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 4:02 AM UTC

bilbopotter wrote: post #438

Obviously what they did is wrong but the kid is 17. To me this is a prime example of where a short sentence or community service should be used. Don't ruin his life - he could be a useful employee for a tech company.

It doesn't matter what skills he has if he is morally bankrupt.

Re: Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack

#570

Post by 29083011397778 » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 4:03 AM UTC

DubiousPusher wrote: post #426

Taek wrote: post #131

Hitting a 17yo with 30 felony charges feels a bit steep to me. Also should any repercussions be considered against Twitter that a 17yo was able to gain access to the private messages of potentially some of the most important individuals in the world? If a 17yo could do it, I'm sure a nation state could do it.

Overcharging has become the norm. Not just in high profile cases but in everyday ones as well. It's an effective leveraging tool used to get the accused to accept the actual charge in a plea bargain. Generally the American criminal justice system has bent all of its pressure upon convictions without trial. The system is designed to make your life a nightmare upon accusation in the hopes you cannot afford or dare to r…

> Overcharging has become the norm

With regard to "has become", this is completely false. Overcharging is not "new" in any way, shape, or form, as I hope the recent post commemorating Aaron Swartz's death would have reminded all of us.