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Final thoughts on Ubiquiti

krebsonsecurity.com

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Re: Final thoughts on Ubiquiti

#151

Post by bragr »

mandevil wrote: post #105
robertlagrant wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not be a shock jock revealing things based on untrustworthy sources.

His entire beat is based on untrustworthy sources. What makes him special is that he is hanging out on Russian language carder forums and the like, monitoring the gossip and identifying new threats and patterns of behavior. That is the value that he adds, and it's a reasonably big value. In this case, he got played, but if he stops trying to work with untrustworthy sources he stops doing his job.

>What makes him special is that he is hanging out on Russian language carder forums and the like, monitoring the gossip and identifying new threats and patterns of behavior. That is the value that he adds, and it's a reasonably big value.

That's also not what he did in the case from my understanding . The person contacted him. He didn't verify it from secondary sources on the underground, or get access to proof the the hack. I think people trust him because he usually is able to provide some verification, but failed to do so in this case.

Re: Final thoughts on Ubiquiti

#152

Post by PuppyTailWags »

acoard wrote: post #61
PuppyTailWags wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's obvious he's going to do something to avoid this happening again but also I highly doubt anything would be disclosed publicly about this. This isn't exactly a guy with a track record of not learning.

> I think it's obvious he's going to do something to avoid this happening again but also I highly doubt anything would be disclosed publicly about this. This isn't exactly a guy with a track record of not learning. Sure, but part of a "mea culpa" is saying what's important to be said. Otherwise why say anything at all? Maybe he doesn't get it? Maybe he sees the facts differently? Generally I agree with you, and think…

Frankly, he is retracting something because is wrong and he is broadcasting that retraction on the largest platform he has access to: his platform. He has sincerely apologized to and made clear who he has harmed: Ubiquiti.

So like, what do you want? What more should he say? You say "maybe he sees the facts differently" as if we as anonymous internet crowds are entitled to a post-mortem on his psychological state. This strikes me as distinctly parasocial.

Re: Final thoughts on Ubiquiti

#153

Post by JumpCrisscross »

Werewolf255 wrote: post #87
nibbleshifter wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

many of Krebs's sources are criminals, often dropping their competitors info in Brian's lap as a way to get ahead. Brian's a willing and witting participant in this behaviour, even encourages it, because it gives him more stories.

Yeah, this reflects my views too. He's using the veneer or pretext of journalism and reporting the truth in order for him to cover sloppy sourcing.

> sing the veneer or pretext of journalism and reporting the truth in order for him to cover sloppy sourcing

Getting tips from criminals is not sloppy sourcing. There is verification that obviously failed here. We likely won't hear the full story until the prosecution and litigation cycles have turned.

Re: Final thoughts on Ubiquiti

#154

Post by tonyarkles »

Arainach wrote: post #50
msh wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mikrotik is in the same price range but not as polished.

"Not as polished" is an incredibly generous term. Unless something has radically changed, Mikrotik basically requires remoting in with a command line and understanding all the implementation details. It's like trying to run a FreeBSD box as a router. Ubiquiti's tooling for common workflows is generations ahead, not a coat of polish.

I felt the same way and still kind of do, but I was really impressed the other day. My rural neighbour and I decided to share an Internet connection and I set a Mikrotik WAP in "CPE" mode (basically what you'd use if you were connecting to a WISP) and it was incredibly smooth to get going. WiFi radio in the WAP connects to my network, Ethernet coming out of it goes to his home network.

They're incredibly powerful devices no doubt and I have ended up in configuration hell before, but they've definitely gotten better at some of the more common (and less common) workflows.

Re: Final thoughts on Ubiquiti

#155

Post by filmgirlcw »

blitzar wrote: post #141
filmgirlcw wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I said in another comment, I feel certain (based on my own direct experience working for a publication that faced numerous lawsuits over what in those cases were factual articles) that this was a condition of a legal settlement. And the thing is, you settle in this case because even though the defamation bar is really high, if your sourcing was wrong (and you maybe didn't do the best job of vetting that sourcing)…

Date Filed: August 25th, 2022 "Defendants Brian Krebs and Krebs on Security, LLC respectfully request that the Court extend the deadline for Defendants to respond to the Complaint by an additional thirty days in light of extraordinary circumstances that have delayed the finalization of the parties’ settlement" https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/63197557/21/ubiquiti-in... They have been finalizing the settlement for…

Yup. Interesting filing. I assume, like you, that they’ve settled and it is likely that there will be another filing to dismiss today or tomorrow.

Re: Final thoughts on Ubiquiti

#156

Post by gonehome »

OJFord wrote: post #89
xxpor wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem from my end though is, who really competes with them? No one else offers the same level of control at the same (or even close) price point.

Nobody competes with them as 'Apple for networking', but MikroTik is if anything a bit cheaper and better on the actual specs etc. - just without the snazzy UI and easy GUI (highly-G) config. There's probably a lot of people who'd love Ubiquiti gear ('gadget nerds', Linus Tech Tips viewers, gamers, etc.) to whom I wouldn't recommend MikroTik, but to anyone who's.. idk, heard of iptables, I would. All the gamer-market…

> "just without the snazzy UI and easy GUI"

That UI is really fucking good imo, and good UX around this stuff is massively undervalued.

Apple took over the world for a reason. As far as I know nobody comes close to Ubiquiti in this space.

Re: Final thoughts on Ubiquiti

#157

Post by flutas »

atyppo wrote: post #53
InTheArena wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"This time, I missed the mark and, as a result, I would like to extend my sincerest apologies to Ubiquiti, and I have decided to remove those articles from my website." I think that's reasonable.

That seems like a statement not written by a lawyer. It’s possible he’s concerned about legal ramifications

He is being sued by them for $425,000 in damages. Last update on the court case was a request for an extension due to them trying to finalize a settlement, I suspect this was part of that settlement.

Re: Final thoughts on Ubiquiti

#158

Post by pdntspa »

acoard wrote: post #6

An accurate but pretty lacklustre "mea culpa" and retraction. I don't mind people making mistakes, everyone does, but seeing how Krebs has handled this whole episode has not inspired optimism in how he'll handle future mistakes. He was essentially used as an unwitting party in a cyber blackmail scheme, and he doesn't touch on that at all. There will continue to be nefarious parties trying to misuse his reputation, so…

Given that the target he "hurt" is a massive company that can absorb losses, I think this retraction is quite enough.

Re: Final thoughts on Ubiquiti

#159

Post by nibbleshifter »

LordDragonfang wrote: post #93
nibbleshifter wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

many of Krebs's sources are criminals, often dropping their competitors info in Brian's lap as a way to get ahead. Brian's a willing and witting participant in this behaviour, even encourages it, because it gives him more stories.

That might seem like an indictment of Brian's ethics, but I'd argue that having criminals as sources is an unfortunate inevitability if you're going to have up-to-date reporting on a topic that is so heavily entangled with cybercrime. Besides, it's not like non-criminal sources never lie.

There is nothing inherently wrong with using criminals (or other unreliable sources) as sources, most journalists in the space do so.

The issue arises when you report on it without clearly disclaiming/disclosing that its a single, unreliable source and that you have been unable to externally verify the facts.

Mistakes happen, and that's fine. But in recent years Brian has been getting a bit slipshod in his verification and disclosure practices, most likely due to competition in the space and the need to publish fast.

Re: Final thoughts on Ubiquiti

#160

Post by ikiris »

Arainach wrote: post #50
msh wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mikrotik is in the same price range but not as polished.

"Not as polished" is an incredibly generous term. Unless something has radically changed, Mikrotik basically requires remoting in with a command line and understanding all the implementation details. It's like trying to run a FreeBSD box as a router. Ubiquiti's tooling for common workflows is generations ahead, not a coat of polish.

Yeah mikrotik config is like trying to learn gregorian incantation spells and you have to be in the right 3rd harmonics.
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