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Show HN: Snapception – Intercept all snapchats received over the network

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Re: Show HN: Snapception – Intercept all snapchats received over the network

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Developer here — I think I recognized I had written some hastily written code in the bottom of my repo. Please, feel free to submit a pull request.

I think maybe I should've been more clear. I was referring to Snapchat's horrible security policies in that comment, it was not a criticism of your code.

Don't worry about it. I made a system call using process.call() and thought maybe that's what you were referring to.

Re: Show HN: Snapception – Intercept all snapchats received over the network

#24
post #3

Technically a misuse of the -ception meme.

It's funny that the word inception doesn't really mean what it does in the -ception meme. "The time at which something begins" is the dictionary definition. In the movie this refers to planting an idea in someone through dreams, NOT the idea of nesting things within other things.

At this point though I've heard it used in the other way that it may as well be an alternate definition.

Re: Show HN: Snapception – Intercept all snapchats received over the network

#26

Snapchat's supposed valuation at $10b while they appear to be completely inattentive to the security of their product is hard to reconcile.

It is? Startups are taught to move fast and break things. Security usually requires to be thoughtful and not intentionally ruin stuff. Runs counter to the whole new modern movement.

Re: Show HN: Snapception – Intercept all snapchats received over the network

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think maybe I should've been more clear. I was referring to Snapchat's horrible security policies in that comment, it was not a criticism of your code.

Don't worry about it. I made a system call using process.call() and thought maybe that's what you were referring to.

What other bad practices should we be looking for ;)

Re: Show HN: Snapception – Intercept all snapchats received over the network

#29
post #23

Man, I was hoping it was written in C, or at least C++, not Python.

Out of curiosity, how come? Python runs on pretty much any platform you'd want to use and is much easier to develop in than C/C++.

I was hoping to see low level socket programming, you know, connect, close, open, bind, accept, recvfrom

Re: Show HN: Snapception – Intercept all snapchats received over the network

#30

Connecting via a proxy and installing a CA means this is more of a tool for a snooping parent to intercept the snapchats of their kids while they are at home, rather than a scary-looking tool for intercepting the general stream of snaps (as it is made out to be).

Not necessarily. If you control the gateway, it's possible to transparently redirect outbound connections into your proxy. I used to do this back in the 90s to force our employees browsers through an ad-blocking proxy. Depending on your user base (kids?), it could be as simple as setting up an open wifi access point in a place where all other APs are password-locked.

Edit: I just realized that this proxy requires the device users to load a CA cert. That makes things a little more difficult but still not impossible. Through creative social/software engineering, you might be able to persuade the users of your rogue access point to load the CA cert "in order to use this free service".

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