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Former Ubiquiti employee charged with stealing data and extorting company

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Re: Former Ubiquiti employee charged with stealing data and extorting company

#61

Post by sneak »

InTheArena wrote: post #46

I do that that the media that breathlessly amplified this persons attack should learn from it. In particular, As much as I like and appreciate his reporting, Brian Krebs was the key person amplifying this message - which makes him a unwitting accomplice to many billions of dollars of damage to ubiquiti shareholders. Responsible disclosure exists for a reason.

Brian Krebs isn't a good reporter or a good person. He has a history of doxxing people without basis (or for the basis of leaving bad reviews on his books).

It disappoints me that he has the audience he does.

Re: Former Ubiquiti employee charged with stealing data and extorting company

#62

Post by colechristensen »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #50
colechristensen wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not really about intelligence. When faced correcting a false reality you have created, it can be quite hard to decide to phase change into telling the truth. The lies that come out come from not being prepared and not being a very good liar. For people who lie like this, a good way to think about it is as though it were a disease. Actually intelligent people just don't do things like this, even if they have nefa…

> Actually intelligent people just don't do things like this Are you really claiming that intelligent people don’t commit crime or don’t lie? That seems incredibly naive.

No, just things like that. The whole situation screams “stupid criminal” or more like “compulsive liar/manipulator without a plan”.

Intelligent criminals and liars are better at it, better at obfuscating, better at making it unclear whether or not a crime was actually committed, better at never having their crime discovered and not getting caught if it is.

Re: Former Ubiquiti employee charged with stealing data and extorting company

#63

Post by chriscjcj »

dotBen wrote: post #31
mjamil wrote: post #13

Mr. Sharp is apparently not so sharp. He carried out the attack from his home network. He connected directly for enough time that his bare IP was logged. The rest of the time, he carried out the attack using a commercially purchased VPN solution that was trivial to trace back to him via the purchase record. He lied to the FBI. (I have yet to understand why people talk to law enforcement instead of staying silent so a…

(I have yet to understand why people talk to law enforcement instead of staying silent so as to not implicate themselves.) When the FBI knock at the door you totally do the whole "no comment/talk to my lawyer" thing. But what happens next if you're actually part of an investigation is they hand you a grand jury subpoena (which they were going to do anyway, even if you just talked willingly, because they have already…

I think many folks have watched this may be coming from this perspective...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE

Re: Former Ubiquiti employee charged with stealing data and extorting company

#64

Post by CurrentB »

sneak wrote: post #54
LiquidPolymer wrote: post #19

I've always been fascinated by the idea that intelligence lies within a spectrum. Someone might be incredibly smart about a narrow topic or field, yet be blind to their own stupidity within another realm. To me, this seems like a classic example. To quote the press release: "During the execution of that search, SHARP made numerous false statements to FBI agents, including, among other things, in substance, that he wa…

It is very, VERY difficult to not answer questions from a trained law enforcement interrogator even if you a) are smart and b) know not to answer questions. I can't stress this enough. It actually takes explicit training and practice, as it goes against every social habit and "instinct" we have developed throughout our entire adult lives.

Any tips for how one might maintain composure enough to handle these situations if they ever find themselves in them? I imagine the obvious answer is just practice saying "no comment, I need my lawyer present" but I'm not convinced this would make one immune to their Jedi mind tricks when the day comes to exercise it

Re: Former Ubiquiti employee charged with stealing data and extorting company

#65

Post by SilasX »

rodgerd wrote: post #30
LiquidPolymer wrote: post #19

I've always been fascinated by the idea that intelligence lies within a spectrum. Someone might be incredibly smart about a narrow topic or field, yet be blind to their own stupidity within another realm. To me, this seems like a classic example. To quote the press release: "During the execution of that search, SHARP made numerous false statements to FBI agents, including, among other things, in substance, that he wa…

> This man was a senior developer yet this quote sounds like it comes from a nine year-old. Tech has a contempt culture problem, and this can be one manifestation of it: feeling that being moderately bright about getting computers to do things makes you a tremendous intellect, and everyone else around you an easily hoodwinked moron. Perhaps the most extreme example was Hans Reiser. Anyone who followed the twists and…

Yes, and I remember Reiser having rejected a plea deal whereby he'd only serve 3 years, which is just about winning the lottery when it comes to being prosecuted for murder:

https://www.theregister.com/2008/07/10/reiser_rejected_volun...

Re: Former Ubiquiti employee charged with stealing data and extorting company

#66

Post by ivalm »

colechristensen wrote: post #29
LiquidPolymer wrote: post #19

I've always been fascinated by the idea that intelligence lies within a spectrum. Someone might be incredibly smart about a narrow topic or field, yet be blind to their own stupidity within another realm. To me, this seems like a classic example. To quote the press release: "During the execution of that search, SHARP made numerous false statements to FBI agents, including, among other things, in substance, that he wa…

It's not really about intelligence. When faced correcting a false reality you have created, it can be quite hard to decide to phase change into telling the truth. The lies that come out come from not being prepared and not being a very good liar. For people who lie like this, a good way to think about it is as though it were a disease. Actually intelligent people just don't do things like this, even if they have nefa…

> When faced correcting a false reality you have created, it can be quite hard to decide to phase change into telling the truth. The lies that come out come from not being prepared and not being a very good liar. For people who lie like this, a good way to think about it is as though it were a disease.

Or just don’t talk to the police and lawyer up. I agree the best thing is to not do the crime, but if you are a criminal then the intelligent and simple thing is to use a lawyer.

Re: Former Ubiquiti employee charged with stealing data and extorting company

#68

Post by dotBen »

chriscjcj wrote: post #63
dotBen wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(I have yet to understand why people talk to law enforcement instead of staying silent so as to not implicate themselves.) When the FBI knock at the door you totally do the whole "no comment/talk to my lawyer" thing. But what happens next if you're actually part of an investigation is they hand you a grand jury subpoena (which they were going to do anyway, even if you just talked willingly, because they have already…

I think many folks have watched this may be coming from this perspective... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE

Yup, this is a very important video for everyone to watch, but especially anyone moving to America who doesn't understand the differences to policing in this country vs others.

If you have watched this video, you might want to review this highly anticipated follow up several years later: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FENubmZGj8

Re: Former Ubiquiti employee charged with stealing data and extorting company

#69

Post by fastball »

maccolgan wrote: post #67
fastball wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which savings? They lost $4B in market cap.

Market cap is monopoly money, it doesn't mean anything.

Alas not true. The higher your market cap, the more money you can raise by printing more stocks.

Re: Former Ubiquiti employee charged with stealing data and extorting company

#70

Post by bitexploder »

hedora wrote: post #25
oars wrote: post #16

Ubiquiti's stock price (NYSE: UI) dropped by over 25% from $380 to $290 during the week following news of its breach. That's almost $5 billion wiped off the company's market capitalisation because of this employee.

I’m shocked it hasn’t bounced back yet!

Some times these events (not security specifically) simply mask a market correction or trigger it. I have been in infosec a long time now and historically security incidents have rarely moved a stock price. Maybe temporarily, but it tends to bounce back after a year. Look at the massive Home Depot breaches from a while back for example. Perhaps consumers are less forgiving if it happens to a tech company.
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