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Hacker wipes Romania's land registry database

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Re: Hacker wipes Romania's land registry database

#141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has not digital data always been a secondary source of information, instead of a primary source of information? Paper records cannot be thrown away. And new records are probably recorded digital only but a copy is sent to the parties in the transaction

Paper records burn great and are harder to store in multiple locations

They're also often stored in basements, which is the first to flood.

Re: Hacker wipes Romania's land registry database

#142
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has not digital data always been a secondary source of information, instead of a primary source of information? Paper records cannot be thrown away. And new records are probably recorded digital only but a copy is sent to the parties in the transaction

At least in my EU country, no the digital record is the primary. When you buy property you get a deed for the land, but the details of a property can change after that. The deed also doesn't contain ownership, it just says what is on the land. It's common for land to have multiple owners (1/32 is not unheard of) due to inheritance. I'm building a house, the land deed just has the land plot as we bought it, until the…

[deleted]

Re: Hacker wipes Romania's land registry database

#143
post #38

An update from the land registry (the truthfulness of this remains to be seen depending on how fast this comes back online): ANCPI announced that it had begun migrating its applications to Romania’s Government Cloud. The operation is being coordinated by the Special Telecommunications Service (STS) and is expected to be completed on Wednesday, July 22. After the migration, authorized institutions will inspect the app…

>it had begun migrating its applications to Romania’s Government Cloud

This proclamation, coming from a governmental organization, makes me afraid they are doomed. Effectively they are saying they are fixing the mistake by repeating it.

What they should do is admit fault. Freeze the system. Get independent expert help.

Best wishes, recent Romanian land buyers and sellers

Edit: thank you @cbg0 for giving us this update

Re: Hacker wipes Romania's land registry database

#144
post #5

> Since the hack, officials restored their website and posted a message announcing they are rebuilding the agency's entire network from scratch. Even if the hacker claims they deleted backups, the agency appears to have had an offline copy, otherwise things would have gotten really messy over the coming months in Romania. So it seems not all has been lost. I was worried about the societal implications of being unable…

Has not digital data always been a secondary source of information, instead of a primary source of information? Paper records cannot be thrown away. And new records are probably recorded digital only but a copy is sent to the parties in the transaction

Any country big enough was moving digital first/digital only for years. And with a paper records there is always a question if this one is the last one and contains a valid data or it's from years ago and since then everything was changed multiple times.

Just recently I've seen a 30 y.o. deed on some commercial property. Despite it was valid and predated the digital era, it had almost nothing common with the things on the ground.

Re: Hacker wipes Romania's land registry database

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shooting people in the head because they're not wearing a helmet is still a crime.

You can downvote all you want, but there were actual admin accounts with the password P@ssw0rd. So in your view incompetence should just be ignored because blaming people for lack of common sense will hurt their feelings?

In this specific case? Documented?

If so, point to references. Otherwise your original comment reads as unsubstantive. Tropes and cliches may have value because they're often true, but if true, in this case, then share that fact and not the trope alone.

Re: Hacker wipes Romania's land registry database

#146
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know that this system was making fundamental security faux pas or are you assuming the reductive argument where determined enough hackers couldn’t break any system with built and maintained by diligent engineers?

> Do you know that this system was making fundamental security faux pas or are you assuming the reductive argument where determined enough hackers couldn’t break any system with built and maintained by diligent engineers? You should take a closer look at the screenshots posted by the hacker: entire systems and network devices with the password P@ssw0rd for the admin user. Now you tell me.

Your comment could have been shortened to:

Take a closer look at the screenshots posted by the hacker: entire systems and network devices with the password P@ssw0rd for the admin user.

Linking those would be bonus.

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...>

Re: Hacker wipes Romania's land registry database

#147
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same thing is rampant in other Eastern European countries as well. Tips on how to address this for those of us that are publicly minded?

It's no different anywhere. Security isn't valued since it's just an email and a .01% or less income fine. The amount of times my SSN and correlated info has been leaked and I've been offered a free year or credit monitoring is depressing.

Problem really is that things like SSN or ID numbers should have never been treated as more as just one possible semi-public unique identifier. Never anything to be used in identifying a person for a contract.

Re: Hacker wipes Romania's land registry database

#149
post #7
post #5

> Since the hack, officials restored their website and posted a message announcing they are rebuilding the agency's entire network from scratch. Even if the hacker claims they deleted backups, the agency appears to have had an offline copy, otherwise things would have gotten really messy over the coming months in Romania. So it seems not all has been lost. I was worried about the societal implications of being unable…

now they get to do a greenfield implementation too! /joking, i'm sure this is not a happy time for whoever is trying to rebuild everything

[deleted]

Re: Hacker wipes Romania's land registry database

#150
post #5

> Since the hack, officials restored their website and posted a message announcing they are rebuilding the agency's entire network from scratch. Even if the hacker claims they deleted backups, the agency appears to have had an offline copy, otherwise things would have gotten really messy over the coming months in Romania. So it seems not all has been lost. I was worried about the societal implications of being unable…

> I was worried about the societal implications of being unable to prove land ownership but it seems that may be avoided.

You know, it's not like people would come and steal your land overnight because you can't provide proof of ownership.

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