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Poly Network hacker returns $258M after stealing $600M

forbes.com

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Re: Poly Network hacker returns $258M after stealing $600M

#171

Post by Retric »

kmmlng wrote: post #147
RVuRnvbM2e wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s important to remember that when you start from scratch there is absolutely no reason to believe that you are going to do a better job than you did the first time. First of all, you probably don’t even have the same programming team that worked on version one, so you don’t actually have “more experience”. You’re just going to make most of the old mistakes again, and introduce some new problems that weren’t in t…

Counterexample: SpaceX. Sometimes, starting from scratch can be very helpful.

SpaceX didn’t start from scratch. The goal for Falcon 1 was to be as conventional a design as possible and save money via vertical integration. By comparison many other companies tried to reinvent things by launching from aircraft etc.

Re: Poly Network hacker returns $258M after stealing $600M

#172

Post by spywaregorilla »

127 wrote: post #168
mlazos wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s so funny to me when everyone touts crypto + smart contracts as revolutionary™ then when you follow a system implemented with them to its logical conclusions you have analogs to everything that already exists. Lawyers to audit the contracts for bugs (and yes there can be bugs in a formally verified spec as well), courts to arbitrate disagreements, and an authority to enforce rules when someone finds a security ho…

My bank API sucks. It basically doesn't exist.

It does exist. It's just in meatspace.

Re: Poly Network hacker returns $258M after stealing $600M

#173

Post by spywaregorilla »

ceilingcorner wrote: post #81
mlazos wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s so funny to me when everyone touts crypto + smart contracts as revolutionary™ then when you follow a system implemented with them to its logical conclusions you have analogs to everything that already exists. Lawyers to audit the contracts for bugs (and yes there can be bugs in a formally verified spec as well), courts to arbitrate disagreements, and an authority to enforce rules when someone finds a security ho…

“Would would anyone need elevator buttons? There are already trained elevator operators everywhere that do the same thing.” “Why would anyone need light bulbs? There are gas lamps and oil everywhere that do the same thing.” “Why would anyone need email? There are post offices that do the same thing.”

Why would anyone need seatbelts? This self driving car will never crash.

Re: Poly Network hacker returns $258M after stealing $600M

#174

Post by spywaregorilla »

baobabKoodaa wrote: post #159
hamburgerwah wrote: post #16

I haven't seen any evidence there was in fact a hack at all. A digital contract was used in a way that complied with the contract that the bonehead writers of that contract did not intend. That's it. If bad contract writers get to cry "hack" and beg for their money back there is no point to digital contracts at all. If someone had physically or electronically broken into systems and illicitly copied private keys that…

This is a disingenuous argument not written in good faith. You know very well that the contract writers did not intend for this to happen, and yet you are pretending otherwise just to make a provocative argument.

If you go bowling, and remove the gutter rails, you have to accept that you can now throw a gutter ball.

Re: Poly Network hacker returns $258M after stealing $600M

#175

Post by spywaregorilla »

bouncycastle wrote: post #91
hamburgerwah wrote: post #16

I haven't seen any evidence there was in fact a hack at all. A digital contract was used in a way that complied with the contract that the bonehead writers of that contract did not intend. That's it. If bad contract writers get to cry "hack" and beg for their money back there is no point to digital contracts at all. If someone had physically or electronically broken into systems and illicitly copied private keys that…

It looks like you are debating whenever the hack was moral or not. From a moral standpoint, it's like, if you accidentally leave behind your wallet with cash on a park bench with a lot of passer-by, then it's your fault for leaving it there and whoever finds it deserves to keep it. I'm sure you're familiar with the "finders keepers, losers weepers" saying... After all, it's in public, similar to how public blockchain…

More like a big sign says "A man named Jack may take this wallet", and you're named Jack, so you take the wallet, even though it wasn't meant for you. The smart contract is explicitly defined and on a public ledger.

A lost wallet is accidentally left there. The context of it being available to be taken by anyone is not intended. There is no declaration of rules by which you may take it by the owner.

Re: Poly Network hacker returns $258M after stealing $600M

#176

Post by spywaregorilla »

wesleywt wrote: post #96
jshen wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love how the crypto community encourages circumventing laws, UNTIL someone steals from them using their own “smart” contract then calls on authorities for help.

Can someone explain to me why HN is so anti-crypto?

It is wasteful, it is often pitched as solutions to problems that it is poorly suited to solve, it is often defended by people with a vested financial interest in seeing it go up, it is often defended by people who seem pretty darn paranoid and insane by common standards in regards to anarchist beliefs or some variant, it's often poorly defined or vaporware on top of a non crypto solution, it's increasingly reinventing existing systems but worse, it's often debated by people who don't understand it, and in general its constantly showing weaknesses like this article where you get splits of "Working as intended as that's bad", "Working as intended and that's good", "Not working as intended and unsolveable", and "Not working as intended but solveable with x framework."

Re: Poly Network hacker returns $258M after stealing $600M

#177

Post by melenaboija »

"...demonstrates that even if you can steal cryptoassets, laundering them and cashing out is extremely difficult due to the transparency of the blockchain."

These are the type of arguments that reinforce my belief that crypto assets do not make any sense. Yet.

Re: Poly Network hacker returns $258M after stealing $600M

#178

Post by djrogers »

birdyrooster wrote: post #85
hnick wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In games we usually separate between exploits and hacks. Exploits are vague but typically things allowed by the game, but not intended (or have for more impact than expected). I believe if you lied in the game that would constitute a written/verbal contract and what you did is fraud. Some games enforce written agreements, others say it's the wild west so too bad, this is role playing by a character, not the person. I…

https://www.pcworld.com/article/152673/virtual_theft.html

That involved a physical beating in the real world, which is clearly a different thing.

Re: Poly Network hacker returns $258M after stealing $600M

#179

Post by capableweb »

enkid wrote: post #144
capableweb wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In fact, the writing style of his messages provide a pretty big clue where he is - Ukraine or Russia. I think we're past trying to assume peoples identities based on writing styles, it's too easy to fake for the hackers, simply drop 1% of the words you're using and now suddenly people think you're no longer a native English speaker. And not only is it easy to guess wrong or easy for the hacker to fake, it also adds…

There are consistent words that get dropped for different languages. For a very simple example, iirc, most Slavic language don't have a word for "is," or articles, so if the author says "dog brown" instead of "the dog is brown," they probably originally speak some Slavic language (or something with similar features). You're correct it's not conclusive, but it's also not about dropping random words.

> There are consistent words that get dropped for different languages

This is a bit of my point. If I'm from Uruguay (and not native English speaker) and I want to to be a anonymous user that wants to pretend to actually be Slavic, I can easily look up common mistakes (like missing `is`) in order to foster the image of me being from somewhere I'm not.

Typing in a way you don't usually type is a common way to mask more of your identity.

Re: Poly Network hacker returns $258M after stealing $600M

#180

Post by jessaustin »

brigandish wrote: post #130
user-the-name wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The purpose of a system is what it does". Maybe you didn't mean for your position to lead to private prisons. But it does, anyway, and that is all that matters.

Contracting out the running of prisons by the government is a recent innovation[1]. Are we to say that government was historically small in 1983 and has remained small and then notice that somehow there are more private prisons in the US now ? That's not a description I'd want to defend. The US is also not the only place where prisons are private[2], there's the southern hemisphere's Sweden a.k.a. big government para…

You claim to know what you meant, but that isn't clearly the case. GP's post was short and to the point. Your posts are long and confusing.

We do have private prisons. As you note, they started under Reagan, in response to Reagan's "anti-crime" policies. Reagan is notorious for claiming to support small government and balanced budgets while actually spending us deep into deficit in order to purchase boondoggles. How are your preferences different than Reagan's?

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