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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'

#251

Post by zeven7 »

pllbnk wrote: post #216
devy wrote: post #16

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 migh…

Exactly. There are at least several different modes these scammers are operating in but eventually it all boils down to some "technical" part in the interviews where the developer is supposed to run some code from an unknown repository. Nowadays just to be sure, I verify nearly every person's LinkedIn profile's creation date. If the profile has been created less than a few years ago, then most likely our interaction…

I just spin up an EC2 instance for the interview

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

#252

Post by cddotdotslash »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #233

This article is so interesting, but I can’t shake the feeling it was written by AI. The writing style has that feel for me. Maybe that shouldn’t bother me? Like, maybe the author would never have had time to write this otherwise, and I would never have learned about his experience. But I can't help wishing he'd just written about it himself. Maybe that's unreasonable--I shouldn't expect people to do extra work for fr…

It’s incredibly annoying to read. So many super short sentences with the “not just X. Also Y” format. Little hooks like “The attack vector?”

“Not fancy security tools. Not expensive antivirus software. Just asking my coding assistant…”

I actually feel like AI articles are becoming easier to spot. Maybe we’re all just collectively noticing the patterns.

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

#253

Post by serial_dev »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #233

This article is so interesting, but I can’t shake the feeling it was written by AI. The writing style has that feel for me. Maybe that shouldn’t bother me? Like, maybe the author would never have had time to write this otherwise, and I would never have learned about his experience. But I can't help wishing he'd just written about it himself. Maybe that's unreasonable--I shouldn't expect people to do extra work for fr…

hey, I was almost hacked by someone pretending to be a legit person working for a legit looking company. They hid some stuff in the server side code.. could you turn this into a 10k words essay for my blog posts with hooks and building suspense and stuff? Thank you!

Probably how it went.

Edit: I see the author in the comments, it’s unfortunately pretty much how it went. The worst part is that the original document he linked would have been a better read than this AI slopified version.

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

#254

Post by strbean »

CjHuber wrote: post #188
blactuary wrote: post #96

"transforming real estate with blockchain" is the only red flag needed

It’s not like there aren‘t dozens of companies with real funding that try to „tokenize real estate“. I mean if that’s a good idea idk, but that means there IS real money to be made working at such companies.

Eh, it would be nice if there was a public title database in the US. Ideally government administered, but if we can't have that then maybe a distributed ledger would do the trick.

It's hilarious that title searches and title insurance exist. And even more ridiculous that there is just no way, period, to actually verify that a would-be landlord is actually authorized to lease you a place to live.

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

#255

Post by baobun »

dylan604 wrote: post #133
atropoles wrote: post #27

I had someone who was targeting junior developers posting on Who Wants to Be Hired threads here on Hacker news. They reached out saying they liked my projects and had something I might be interested in, then set up an interview where they tried to get me to install malware.

Maybe I should implement this as a weed out question during interviews. If the applicant is willing to download something without questioning it, then the interview can be ended there. Don't need someone working with me that will just blindly install anything just because.

Bad idea.

Competent candidates might also disqualify you as employer right there. Plus you'll be part of normalizing hazardous behavior.

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

#256

Post by DavidDoodoo »

DavidDodda wrote: post #249
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #233

This article is so interesting, but I can’t shake the feeling it was written by AI. The writing style has that feel for me. Maybe that shouldn’t bother me? Like, maybe the author would never have had time to write this otherwise, and I would never have learned about his experience. But I can't help wishing he'd just written about it himself. Maybe that's unreasonable--I shouldn't expect people to do extra work for fr…

that was the case. you can find the base write up and the prompt used in one of my comments on this post. i did not have much time to work on this at all, being in the middle of a product launch at my work, and a bunch of other 'life' stuff. thanks for understanding.

[flagged]

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

#257

Post by [deleted] »

serial_dev wrote: post #253
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #233

This article is so interesting, but I can’t shake the feeling it was written by AI. The writing style has that feel for me. Maybe that shouldn’t bother me? Like, maybe the author would never have had time to write this otherwise, and I would never have learned about his experience. But I can't help wishing he'd just written about it himself. Maybe that's unreasonable--I shouldn't expect people to do extra work for fr…

hey, I was almost hacked by someone pretending to be a legit person working for a legit looking company. They hid some stuff in the server side code.. could you turn this into a 10k words essay for my blog posts with hooks and building suspense and stuff? Thank you! Probably how it went. Edit: I see the author in the comments, it’s unfortunately pretty much how it went. The worst part is that the original document he…

[deleted]

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

#258

Post by pllbnk »

zeven7 wrote: post #251
pllbnk wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. There are at least several different modes these scammers are operating in but eventually it all boils down to some "technical" part in the interviews where the developer is supposed to run some code from an unknown repository. Nowadays just to be sure, I verify nearly every person's LinkedIn profile's creation date. If the profile has been created less than a few years ago, then most likely our interaction…

I just spin up an EC2 instance for the interview

That's the right approach. On the other hand, do you even want to participate in a scam interview?

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

#259

Post by exasperaited »

readams wrote: post #207
johnnyanmac wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A bit outdated. Now pitch "transforming real estate with AI" and you'd have $10m in startup money. No need to play penny slots.

That doesn't work as well since you want people with crypto wallets you can steal. People applying for a blockchain company are far more likely to have this.

It's likely to work. It's the same dudes.

Scroll back through any AI evangelist's twitter (if they are still on Twitter, and they are) and it is better odds than a coin toss that you find they were an evangelist for either NFTs or crypto.

I mean the CEO of OpenAI is also the CEO of a shitcoin-for-your-iris-scans company, for one.

(Prosaically: these things are usually spear-phishing of some kind anyway, are they not?)

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

#260

Post by samename »

DavidDodda wrote: post #249
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #233

This article is so interesting, but I can’t shake the feeling it was written by AI. The writing style has that feel for me. Maybe that shouldn’t bother me? Like, maybe the author would never have had time to write this otherwise, and I would never have learned about his experience. But I can't help wishing he'd just written about it himself. Maybe that's unreasonable--I shouldn't expect people to do extra work for fr…

that was the case. you can find the base write up and the prompt used in one of my comments on this post. i did not have much time to work on this at all, being in the middle of a product launch at my work, and a bunch of other 'life' stuff. thanks for understanding.

Thanks for letting us know, but it’s offensive to your readers. Please include a section at the beginning of the article to let us know. Otherwise you’re hurting your own reputation
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