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Project Euler Returns

projecteuler.net

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Re: Project Euler Returns

#21

Post by tormeh »

pgeorgi wrote: post #17
hyperpape wrote: post #13

I should preface this by saying that I love Project Euler--I spent a ton of time there while learning to program. I also am impressed by anyone who volunteers to create something for the community, and invests effort in maintaining it. However, not storing emails, and thereby giving up account recovery with the explanation that it's about security is a shit sandwich. My email is . @gmail.com, a pattern I share with m…

The combination of email address + password (even hashed in some way) isn't quite as public anymore. Not having any personally identifying information doesn't protect your Project Euler account, it protects your other assets.

Hm... Couldn't you just sign in by using only your email without any password or any other extra stuff? I mean, it's not like there's any sensitive information there. Could lead to some trolling, but I think trolls and Project Euler don't have much overlap. In some cases I think it's valid to ask "why security?".

Re: Project Euler Returns

#22

Post by bellerocky »

hyperpape wrote: post #13

I should preface this by saying that I love Project Euler--I spent a ton of time there while learning to program. I also am impressed by anyone who volunteers to create something for the community, and invests effort in maintaining it. However, not storing emails, and thereby giving up account recovery with the explanation that it's about security is a shit sandwich. My email is . @gmail.com, a pattern I share with m…

> "Account recovery will no longer be possible."

A site that purports to teach is incapable of learning of how to strike a balance between securing confidential information and making it possible to recover an account. This is a solved problem. If my bank can have a password recovery system, a site about numbers can have one too.

> " With respect to this issue it is quite possible that some members will have genuinely forgotten passwords."

Who hasn't "genuinely" lost a password?

Re: Project Euler Returns

#23

Post by taeric »

bellerocky wrote: post #22
hyperpape wrote: post #13

I should preface this by saying that I love Project Euler--I spent a ton of time there while learning to program. I also am impressed by anyone who volunteers to create something for the community, and invests effort in maintaining it. However, not storing emails, and thereby giving up account recovery with the explanation that it's about security is a shit sandwich. My email is . @gmail.com, a pattern I share with m…

> "Account recovery will no longer be possible." A site that purports to teach is incapable of learning of how to strike a balance between securing confidential information and making it possible to recover an account. This is a solved problem. If my bank can have a password recovery system, a site about numbers can have one too. > " With respect to this issue it is quite possible that some members will have genuinel…

To be fair, your bank likely has a bit more money to throw at this problem.

I would think in this case the entire point is not so much to help them secure stuff, but an attempt to remove them as a target for hacking in the first place.

Re: Project Euler Returns

#25

Post by ionforce »

Igglyboo wrote: post #7
Bootvis wrote: 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.

For which people?

There are certain "developers" who can't even fizz buzz their way out of a paper bag.

Re: Project Euler Returns

#26

Post by doodpants »

curiousfab wrote: post #20

Who returns, Project Euler? Neither the news page, nor the "about" page, nor the front page of "Project Euler" care to explain what this website is all about. Of course, I can guess that it has to do with mathematical problems of some sort. It is sad if you have to turn to Wikipedia to find out the basic details about a website. A sentence or two of introduction would have made everything better :-)

The site used to have a front page that clearly explained what it was all about. I assume that it will be restored along with the rest of the functionality on Saturday.

Re: Project Euler Returns

#27

Post by bellerocky »

taeric wrote: post #23
bellerocky wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Account recovery will no longer be possible." A site that purports to teach is incapable of learning of how to strike a balance between securing confidential information and making it possible to recover an account. This is a solved problem. If my bank can have a password recovery system, a site about numbers can have one too. > " With respect to this issue it is quite possible that some members will have genuinel…

To be fair, your bank likely has a bit more money to throw at this problem. I would think in this case the entire point is not so much to help them secure stuff, but an attempt to remove them as a target for hacking in the first place.

> but an attempt to remove them as a target for hacking in the first place.

This is very short sighted. As long as you have a popular site you're a target for defacement. And the convenience expense is enormous. As others have mentioned oauth or a twitter or facebook login alternative would have been a sane choice, what they've decided wasn't sane, it's embarrassing for them and frustrating for users who trusted the site.

Inconveniencing users to this degree is probably causing the hackers to laugh, this is in effect a huge win for them they can go brag about now in addition to accessing sensitive information.

Re: Project Euler Returns

#28

Post by mikeash »

pgeorgi wrote: post #17
hyperpape wrote: post #13

I should preface this by saying that I love Project Euler--I spent a ton of time there while learning to program. I also am impressed by anyone who volunteers to create something for the community, and invests effort in maintaining it. However, not storing emails, and thereby giving up account recovery with the explanation that it's about security is a shit sandwich. My email is . @gmail.com, a pattern I share with m…

The combination of email address + password (even hashed in some way) isn't quite as public anymore. Not having any personally identifying information doesn't protect your Project Euler account, it protects your other assets.

I think this is the key point. Security for relatively obscure and unimportant sites isn't really about those sites, it's about other sites. People reuse passwords a lot. They shouldn't, of course, but you can shout that from the rooftops all week and it won't change the fact that a lot of people do. If you suffer a significant breach, then a decent percentage of users will have their bank accounts put at risk from it. You can simply put the blame on the dumb users who reused passwords, but it's reasonable to want to do more.

Re: Project Euler Returns

#29

Post by [deleted] »

curiousfab wrote: post #20

Who returns, Project Euler? Neither the news page, nor the "about" page, nor the front page of "Project Euler" care to explain what this website is all about. Of course, I can guess that it has to do with mathematical problems of some sort. It is sad if you have to turn to Wikipedia to find out the basic details about a website. A sentence or two of introduction would have made everything better :-)

[deleted]

Re: Project Euler Returns

#30

Post by Xophmeister »

asgard1024 wrote: post #24

I wonder if the people behind Project Euler have names or it has all been done by this prolific guy Bourbaki?

Bourbaki was a French collective of mathematicians, working/publishing together pseudonymously. I would therefore guess that the same kind of structure is in place at Project Euler: It's not one guy, but a joint effort operating under one name.

EDIT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Bourbaki

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