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I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

blog.daviddodda.com

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Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#11

Post by annoying_write »

nubg wrote: post #9

This article was written by an LLM. I get that the author might be self-conscious about his English writing skills, but I would still much rather read the original prompt that the author put into ChatGPT, instead of the slop that came out. The story - if true - is very interesting of course. Big bummer therefore that the author decided to sloppify it. David, could you share as a response to this comment the original…

Seconding this, I hate the LLM style. It all reads the exact same. I can't relate at all to people who read the article and can't spot it immediately. It's intensely annoying for an otherwise interesting article.

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#13

Post by nubg »

annoying_write wrote: post #11
nubg wrote: post #9

This article was written by an LLM. I get that the author might be self-conscious about his English writing skills, but I would still much rather read the original prompt that the author put into ChatGPT, instead of the slop that came out. The story - if true - is very interesting of course. Big bummer therefore that the author decided to sloppify it. David, could you share as a response to this comment the original…

Seconding this, I hate the LLM style. It all reads the exact same. I can't relate at all to people who read the article and can't spot it immediately. It's intensely annoying for an otherwise interesting article.

Thanks for acknowledging the pain.

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#14

Post by whatamidoingyo »

nubg wrote: post #9

This article was written by an LLM. I get that the author might be self-conscious about his English writing skills, but I would still much rather read the original prompt that the author put into ChatGPT, instead of the slop that came out. The story - if true - is very interesting of course. Big bummer therefore that the author decided to sloppify it. David, could you share as a response to this comment the original…

It didn't seem LLM-written to me until "The Operation" section. After that... yeah, hi, ChatGPT. Still an interesting story, even if an LLM was used to finish it up, lol.

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#15

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

jzebedee wrote: post #7

The article never really addresses if it was a totally fake setup or a real crypto company scamming interviewees. Does "Symfa" exist? Does the "Chief Blockchain Officer"?

Or likely a real company exists, but the applicant was contacted by an impersonator, not them.

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#16

Post by devy »

The pseudonym "Mykola Yanchii" on LinkedIn [1] doesn't look real at all.

Click "More" button -> "About this profile", RED FLAGS ALL OVER.

-> Joined May 2025 -> Contact information Updated less than 6 months ago -> Profile photo Updated less than 6 months ago

Funny things, this profile has the LinkedIn Verified Checkmark and was verified by Persona ?!?! -> This might be a red flag for Persona service itself as it might contain serious flaws and security vulnerabilities that Cyber criminals are relying on that checkmark to scam more people.

Basically, don't trust any profile who's been less than 1yr history even though their work history dated way back, who has Personal checkmark, that should do it.

[1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/mykola-yanchii-430883368/overlay...

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#17

Post by zamadatix »

roflchoppa wrote: post #8

why is this website `daviddodda` while the linkedin message mentions `arun`. This might be the forth or fifth time I've seen this type of post this week, is this now a new form of engagement farming?

It looks like the LinkedIn account and site are really the same person to me, just keep in mind it's not uncommon for Indian IT workers to adopt an anglicized name in this kind of context.

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#18

Post by koakuma-chan »

jzebedee wrote: post #7

The article never really addresses if it was a totally fake setup or a real crypto company scamming interviewees. Does "Symfa" exist? Does the "Chief Blockchain Officer"?

I think it's a real company.

https://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/CorporationSearch/SearchRe...

~~Scammers probably got access to the guy's account.~~ (how to make strikethrough...)

He changed his LinkedIn to a different company. I guess check verifications when you get messages from "recruiters."

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#19

Post by zamadatix »

nubg wrote: post #9

This article was written by an LLM. I get that the author might be self-conscious about his English writing skills, but I would still much rather read the original prompt that the author put into ChatGPT, instead of the slop that came out. The story - if true - is very interesting of course. Big bummer therefore that the author decided to sloppify it. David, could you share as a response to this comment the original…

They spend a lot of time writing about AI, it's more likely we're just not of the same crowd as them and their target audience.

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#20

Post by philipwhiuk »

ryandrake wrote: post #6

> The scary part? This attack vector is perfect for developers. We download and run code all day long. GitHub repos, npm packages, coding challenges. Most of us don't sandbox every single thing. Embedded into this story about being attacked is (hopefully) a serious lesson for all programmers (not just OP) about pulling down random dependencies/code and just yolo'ing them into their own codebases. How do you know your…

> How long do we have until the first serious AI coding agent poisoning attack, where someone finds a way to trick coding assistants into inserting malware while a vibe-coder who doesn't review the code is oblivious?

I mean we had Shai-Hulud about a week ago - we don't need AI for this.

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