$200,000 to the first person to break Telegram • Hacker News Board

Re: $200,000 to the first person to break Telegram

#31

Post by jacquesc » Wed, Dec 18, 2013, 11:39 PM UTC

nwh wrote: post #15

Most of the concerns people had were Telegram's servers acting maliciously or being coerced into acting maliciously, which is obviously not covered by this contest or the protocol they have designed. It's a bit disingenuous that Telegram is broken but not in a way that this bounty could pay for.

Yeah, it's probably against the rules of the competition and will get you arrested if you try. But I think if someone does break into their central server and wins the competition that way, they should still be paid out.

Re: $200,000 to the first person to break Telegram

#32

Post by MichaelGG » Wed, Dec 18, 2013, 11:40 PM UTC

This is such a sham. Here, I'll offer $2000 to break my plaintext crypto. Every morning, in the shower, I'll say a secret word. Email me the secret word and I'll send you $2000 in BTC.

Re: $200,000 to the first person to break Telegram

#33

Post by paveldurov » Wed, Dec 18, 2013, 11:41 PM UTC

poolpool wrote: post #18

logicallee wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what do you think the definition of "$200,000 in bitcoins" is?

I think it means its 200k in "bitcoin" thats near impossible to cash out at such volumes. So I think this is a PR stunt and nothing more. Rolling your own encryption has always been proven to be the worst idea.

If you don't like BTC and other cryptocurrencies, we will be happy to transfer regular 200,000 USD to you after you win. It's up to you.

Re: $200,000 to the first person to break Telegram

#34

Post by sbisker » Wed, Dec 18, 2013, 11:41 PM UTC

mds wrote: post #29

Cryptography Snake Oil Warning Sign #9: Cracking contests. https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-9902.html (1999)

A better discussion from him on the topic is linked to from this page: https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-9812.html#1

Re: $200,000 to the first person to break Telegram

#35

Post by suyash » Wed, Dec 18, 2013, 11:41 PM UTC

PLEASE edit the title saying $200K in Bitcoins and not real $.Otherwise it seems link-bait (misleading).

Re: $200,000 to the first person to break Telegram

#36

Post by cocoflunchy » Wed, Dec 18, 2013, 11:41 PM UTC

mds wrote: post #29

Cryptography Snake Oil Warning Sign #9: Cracking contests. https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-9902.html (1999)

Expanded here: https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-9812.html#contests

Re: $200,000 to the first person to break Telegram

#37

Post by negamax » Wed, Dec 18, 2013, 11:42 PM UTC

This is their protocol header

. IN/OUT

Re: $200,000 to the first person to break Telegram

#38

Post by uonyx » Wed, Dec 18, 2013, 11:42 PM UTC

Shots fired.

Re: $200,000 to the first person to break Telegram

#39

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 18, 2013, 11:42 PM UTC

flurpitude wrote: post #25

nwh wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It actually makes things worse really "no hackers can break this!" sounds good on paper, but it could just mean your adversary has more to gain by the system not being publicly broken.

I don't see how it makes things worse. Surely it shows more if you gave hackers a big incentive to crack your encryption and they still didn't, compared to them not cracking it when there was no incentive. It is evidence that the reason they did not crack it was the difficulty of the problem, not just indifference.

[deleted]

Re: $200,000 to the first person to break Telegram

#40

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 18, 2013, 11:43 PM UTC

poolpool wrote: post #18

logicallee wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what do you think the definition of "$200,000 in bitcoins" is?

I think it means its 200k in "bitcoin" thats near impossible to cash out at such volumes. So I think this is a PR stunt and nothing more. Rolling your own encryption has always been proven to be the worst idea.

[deleted]