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Project Euler Returns

projecteuler.net

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Re: Project Euler Returns

#2
> The decision to no longer store any private/personal information in no way reflects a lack in confidence of the steps we have taken to make the new website secure, but if history teaches us one thing it is that for every "unsinkable" Titanic built there will always be icebergs.

I love PE and I don't intend this question snarkily at all, but am genuinely curious why securing a database of emails for a site as simple as PE would be such a perilous problem? I know security in general is always more difficult that it appears, but in this case I would have thought we were dealing with a solved problem. I'd love to hear about why my assumptions are wrong.

Re: Project Euler Returns

#4
post #2

> The decision to no longer store any private/personal information in no way reflects a lack in confidence of the steps we have taken to make the new website secure, but if history teaches us one thing it is that for every "unsinkable" Titanic built there will always be icebergs. I love PE and I don't intend this question snarkily at all, but am genuinely curious why securing a database of emails for a site as simple…

Unfortunately security is never a solved problem as there are always new attack vectors beings discovered. I think the statement just reflects their desire to take zero risk. The only way to do so is to avoid storing this information entirely.

Re: Project Euler Returns

#5
post #2

> The decision to no longer store any private/personal information in no way reflects a lack in confidence of the steps we have taken to make the new website secure, but if history teaches us one thing it is that for every "unsinkable" Titanic built there will always be icebergs. I love PE and I don't intend this question snarkily at all, but am genuinely curious why securing a database of emails for a site as simple…

Security is never a 'solved problem'. There is always a trade-off between usability, performance and security. Think of it this way: You run a server on hardware that no single human understands fully. On top of that, you have some devices for which pretty much the same applies. On top of that you have an operating system consisting of millions of lines of code, and again, nobody can fully grasp everything. On top of that, you have your webstack which adds even more complexity. You are hooked up 24/7 to a network filled with criminals.

Security is not just intrusion prevention, it's also detection and recovery. PE chose to reduce the negative effects of a successful intrusion.

Re: Project Euler Returns

#6
As far as I'm aware, Project Euler doesn't make any actual money, so you have to give the team behind it a lot of kudos for actually taking the time to get it back up and running.

Must have been really tempting to just sack it off as a bad job. Congrats to the team!

Re: Project Euler Returns

#7
post #3

I have been curious for a while: What is in the opinion of the HN community a good score on Project Euler? For which scores do you tip your figurative hat?

I'd say 100 solved problems is pretty impressive. I have about 75-ish done with no math background (other than a few classes for my CS degree).

The first 50 should be doable for most people in my opinion. After that you need to start being really clever or actually going and researching the problem at hand.

Re: Project Euler Returns

#8
post #2

> The decision to no longer store any private/personal information in no way reflects a lack in confidence of the steps we have taken to make the new website secure, but if history teaches us one thing it is that for every "unsinkable" Titanic built there will always be icebergs. I love PE and I don't intend this question snarkily at all, but am genuinely curious why securing a database of emails for a site as simple…

I'd have to agree, PE isn't a huge website and it isn't really storing sensitive data. I don't see why they're acting like it's impossible to secure their data.

Re: Project Euler Returns

#9
post #6

As far as I'm aware, Project Euler doesn't make any actual money, so you have to give the team behind it a lot of kudos for actually taking the time to get it back up and running. Must have been really tempting to just sack it off as a bad job. Congrats to the team!

Agreed! Well done guys!
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