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Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

missouriindependent.com

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Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#111

Post by adrr »

mdek wrote: post #3

From the article, it sounds like nothing even remotely questionable was done by the reporter who found the flaw: > "According to the Post-Dispatch, one of its reporters discovered the flaw in a web application allowing the public to search teacher certifications and credentials. No private information was publicly visible, but teacher Social Security numbers were contained in HTML source code of the pages."

Like redacting a public document by making the redacted parts have a black background with black text. If people can't see it, it is secure.

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#112

Post by logicalmonster »

josefresco wrote: post #27

FYI the "Governor" is Mike Parson "As governor, Parson signed a bill criminalizing abortion after eight weeks of pregnancy and opposed Medicaid expansion. He oversaw the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, where he issued a temporary stay-at-home order in April 2020, allowed schools districts to decide whether or not to close, and limited postal voting during the 2020 U.S. elections. Parson also oversaw Missou…

What is the source of the pasted quote? I have no idea what kind of person the Governor is (outside of being technically illiterate) and am not interested in a partisan bickering match, but despite disagreeing with some points there, some of the actions listed there are arguably great moves (with the devil being in a lot of nuanced details that your list didn't go into)

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#113

Post by theandrewbailey »

tombert wrote: post #75
jakelazaroff wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's "view source", some kind of hacking instructions? Sounds like you're abetting.

I think "view source" is a hacking tool invented by the notorious hacker group "4chan". I say we start a change.org petition to get Google to remove it from Chrome.

In all seriousness, considering Google's track record of discontinuing useful services and features, I expect Chrome to drop View Source any release now. It will be a sad day.

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#114

Post by mminer237 »

DeWilde wrote: post #60

Tweet from the governor: "Through a multi-step process, an individual took the records of at least three educators, decoded the HTML source code, and viewed the SSN of those specific educators." >Through a multi-step process >decoded the HTML source code Somebody has been watching B-list hacker movies.

Step one: Press Ctrl

Step two: Press U

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#116

Post by navbaker »

willcipriano wrote: post #88
badRNG wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should consider responsibly disclosing this vulnerability rather than posting it here.

It's ok, the disclosure is also encrypted.

No it's not, you forgot to wrap it in an "" tag.

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#118

Post by mullingitover »

It's only a matter of time before the inevitable class action lawsuit settles the question of culpability for this breach and assigns it 100% to the state. The teachers are going to get at minimum state-sponsored credit protection services for a few years, and the governor is going to get some egg on his face since it was his employees who created this breach.

I honestly pity him a bit, because he has no clue about any of the technical details, but on the bright side he's about to get a crash course.

I have to wonder what he's thinking, though, with the brazen slander. He must have some very deep pockets.

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#119

Post by dragonwriter »

Isthatablackgsd wrote: post #22
jpmattia wrote: post #5

> No private information was publicly visible, but teacher Social Security numbers were contained in HTML source code of the pages. If it was in the HTML source code, then it was publicly visible, so it is unclear what the article is trying to say.

Every browser have access to the HTML source, even it is merely right click here and there. If the SSN is in the HTML source, then the blame should be on the webmaster who designed that code. Of course, accountability is not part of their tenet, it is too foreign for them. And look at the age of the governor, clearly shows that he is inept with the fundamental of the internet. I forgot to add one more thing. Did they…

> the blame should be on the webmaster who designed that code.

“Webmasters”, where they exist at all anymore, tend not to “design code”.

> Did they not realize that there are scrappers who will scrap every bit of information of everything including the HTML code. I

“...scrapers who scrape...” should be the concern here, not “...scrappers who scrap...”

> And look at the age of the governor, clearly shows that he is inept with the fundamental of the internet.

Gov. Parsons is 12 years younger than Vint Cerf and the same age as Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

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