She Tweeted Against the Mexican Cartels. They Tweeted Her Murder • Hacker News Board

Re: She Tweeted Against the Mexican Cartels. They Tweeted Her Murder

#31

Post by coldtea » Mon, Oct 27, 2014, 3:51 AM UTC

monochr wrote: post #24

coldtea wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is why we need not only password locks and full encryption but panic passwords and hidden logins on every piece of electronics we own. Yeah, that would have saved her against Mexican drug cartels and a $50.000 dollars reward.

Yes, it literally would have since they found out who she was by looking through her phone after kidnapping her for an unrelated death of a cartel member. Try and read the article before you comment.

Yeah, I read TFA. And since I follow those stories for years, what I wanted to say was that the fact that this particular instance happened in this way doesn't mean it's the only way this thing can happen. It's naive to think so.

The reward and their "research facilities" would have gotten to her sooner or later. You do know that they also employ very talented hackers (of the Kevin Mittnick sense)? And that of course anybody who knew her identity could have snitched sooner or later?

It was just a matter of how badly they wanted to get to her...

Re: She Tweeted Against the Mexican Cartels. They Tweeted Her Murder

#32

Post by girvo » Mon, Oct 27, 2014, 3:51 AM UTC

monochr wrote: post #24

coldtea wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is why we need not only password locks and full encryption but panic passwords and hidden logins on every piece of electronics we own. Yeah, that would have saved her against Mexican drug cartels and a $50.000 dollars reward.

Yes, it literally would have since they found out who she was by looking through her phone after kidnapping her for an unrelated death of a cartel member. Try and read the article before you comment.

Read the article yourself, that is quite possibly disinformation. The situation over there is very complex, and nothing is pure truth. Unless she practiced OPSEC above and beyond what most untrained people are capable of, it was always a high risk that it'd end this way.

I've got nothing but respect for her. Her execution and the violence and organised crime is abhorrent. I wish there was something I could do.

Re: She Tweeted Against the Mexican Cartels. They Tweeted Her Murder

#33

Post by socceroos » Mon, Oct 27, 2014, 3:52 AM UTC

theobon wrote: post #25

Why are the majority of the comments here blaming the victim? This is the death if a person who tried to stand against an overwhelming force. To try and stand against the cartels where the police didn't dare and instead of honouring her work or get death you mock her for not using tor. If you seriously think that lack of cybersecurity is the problem then at least use this to highlight the lack of good easy to use sec…

I feel so sorry for this woman!

I'm quite unfamiliar with the specifics of the whole Mexican cartel situation, but has there been any international aid or effort to help eradicate this?

Re: She Tweeted Against the Mexican Cartels. They Tweeted Her Murder

#34

Post by VexXtreme » Mon, Oct 27, 2014, 3:52 AM UTC

monochr wrote: post #22

VexXtreme wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very good point. Perhaps being overseas is not an option. In that case, I guess the best she could do is use a disposable OS (Tails) and VPN at the time of posting sensitive information online, and never use her whistleblower identity/handle outside that very narrow context. Some newspapers (correct me if I'm wrong, I think it was NY Times) have even started running an .onion website where people can leave s…

>VPN Are a terrible idea. You need to trust the operator that they won't screw you by keeping logs. Since these are centralized they are always at the whims of cartels and the like. Just stop and think for a second if you won't give everything you have to them if they took your children hostage as an extreme example. The only way to deal with a situation like the one in Mexico is to get the whole community to use som…

Yes, I agree with everything you said. When I said VPN, I actually meant Tor (and even mentioned it in my original post), because the concept seems to go over some people's heads.

Re: She Tweeted Against the Mexican Cartels. They Tweeted Her Murder

#35

Post by rhizome » Mon, Oct 27, 2014, 3:52 AM UTC

melling wrote: post #19

chimeracoder wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the more reason to encourage domestic production of drugs in regulated (ie, legal and not cartel-run) markets. Blaming the customers is ineffective, because there's no way to end the demand for drugs entirely - we have decades of prohibitions that prove that[0]. Whether or not you or I would like them to boycott these products on principle en masse is a moot point, because it's just not feasible. [0] If we can't…

We probably aren't going to legalize cocaine or meth any time soon.

That kind of cynicism is based upon an irrational distinction.

Re: She Tweeted Against the Mexican Cartels. They Tweeted Her Murder

#36

Post by cynicalkane » Mon, Oct 27, 2014, 3:53 AM UTC

monochr wrote: post #24

coldtea wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is why we need not only password locks and full encryption but panic passwords and hidden logins on every piece of electronics we own. Yeah, that would have saved her against Mexican drug cartels and a $50.000 dollars reward.

Yes, it literally would have since they found out who she was by looking through her phone after kidnapping her for an unrelated death of a cartel member. Try and read the article before you comment.

So in your theory, bloodthirsty murdering cartels are going to kidnap people, but let them go if they hit the panic encryption button on their phones or happen to be using a secret password.

This is an interesting view of how drug cartels work. Personally, I don't know what the penalty for "contempt of drug cartel that just kidnapped you" is, but it seems unlikely to lead to a positive outcome.

Re: She Tweeted Against the Mexican Cartels. They Tweeted Her Murder

#37

Post by monochr » Mon, Oct 27, 2014, 3:53 AM UTC

wfunction wrote: post #30

monochr wrote: post #14

This is why we need not only password locks and full encryption but panic passwords and hidden logins on every piece of electronics we own. That no mobile OS offers these yet is pathetic. When twitter and facebook don't let you connect anonymously from tor, this is what the result is. If you have a major website that is used by dissidents and journalists in countries such as Mexico or Iran and you don't have a plain…

> This is why we need not only password locks and full encryption but panic passwords and hidden logins on every piece of electronics we own. http://xkcd.com/538/

Thank you for not reading my post: https://www.usenix.org/legacy/event/hotsec08/tech/full_paper...

Re: She Tweeted Against the Mexican Cartels. They Tweeted Her Murder

#38

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Oct 27, 2014, 3:53 AM UTC

blorgle wrote: post #28

VexXtreme wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very good point. Perhaps being overseas is not an option. In that case, I guess the best she could do is use a disposable OS (Tails) and VPN at the time of posting sensitive information online, and never use her whistleblower identity/handle outside that very narrow context. Some newspapers (correct me if I'm wrong, I think it was NY Times) have even started running an .onion website where people can leave s…

If the ISP is compromised by the cartels as you say, then this would just leave her open to correlation attacks (e.g. "who was using Tor at time X in city Y?"). Opsec is not a simple matter, as the death of this woman shows and people like the grugq try to explain. You need serious technical nous to get it right.

[deleted]

Re: She Tweeted Against the Mexican Cartels. They Tweeted Her Murder

#39

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Oct 27, 2014, 3:56 AM UTC

wfunction wrote: post #30

monochr wrote: post #14

This is why we need not only password locks and full encryption but panic passwords and hidden logins on every piece of electronics we own. That no mobile OS offers these yet is pathetic. When twitter and facebook don't let you connect anonymously from tor, this is what the result is. If you have a major website that is used by dissidents and journalists in countries such as Mexico or Iran and you don't have a plain…

> This is why we need not only password locks and full encryption but panic passwords and hidden logins on every piece of electronics we own. http://xkcd.com/538/

[deleted]

Re: She Tweeted Against the Mexican Cartels. They Tweeted Her Murder

#40

Post by JumpCrisscross » Mon, Oct 27, 2014, 3:56 AM UTC

Crito wrote: post #17

ripb wrote: post #11

It's somewhat amazing that it was a seemingly unrelated kidnapping that lead to her discovery given that she seemed to be tweeting from her own phone, probably publishing from her own (unsecured?) computer etc. and the reach that the cartel are purported to have in law enforcement / military in those areas. I sincerely hope for America's sake that there's no substance to the claims that the CIA are working with these…

The CIA working with cartels abroad is not mere rumor. There is substantial evidence that this takes place. Unfortunately, nobody in this world has the combination of power, opportunity, and desire to take the CIA down for its crimes. They are the closest thing to a god that has ever existed; and organization that is profoundly beyond the grasp of society at large. They smite as they see fit, and there is nothing tha…

> There is substantial evidence that [the CIA works with cartels abroad].

Would you be able to point out some references?