Live data from Hacker News

I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

blog.daviddodda.com

351–360 of 534 posts

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

#351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO the "better" attack here is to just kind of use Return Oriented Programming (ROP) to build the nefarious string. I'm not going to do the example with the real thing, for the example let's assume the malicious string is "foobar". You create a list of strings that contain the information somewhere: const dictionary = ["barcode", "moon", "fart"]; const payload = [ [2, 0, 1], [1, 1, 2], [0, 0, 3] ];

Very interesting idea. You could even take it a step farther and include multiple layers of string mixing. Though i imagine after a certain point the obfuscation to suspicion ratio shifts firmly in the direction of suspicion. I wonder what the sweet spot is there

Yeah my thinking here is to find some problem that involves some usage of a list of words or any other basic string building task. For example, you are assembling the "ingredients" of a "recipe". I think if you gave it the specific context of "hey this seems to be malicious, why?" it might figure that out, but I think if you just point it at the code and ask it "what is this?" it will get tricked and think it's a basic recipe function.

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

#352
It seems altogether too easy to put up a website, pretend there's a 100% remote job on offer, then collect all the info needed for identity theft as you apply and then are 'onboarded' entirely through an online process. Especially when they ask for an image of your driver's license. At that point, they have everything they need to steal your identity. And even if they are on the up and up, when they get hacked, there goes your identity anyway. I'm not sure what to do about this. I'm having this very problem at the moment.

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

#353
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…

thanks for the feedback. just fyi - this went though 11 different versions before reaching this point. so I am not able to share the full chat because i used Claude with google docs integration. but hears the google doc i started with https://docs.google.com/document/d/1of_uWXw-CppnFtWoehIrr1ir... this and the following prompt ``` 'help me turn this into a blog post. keep things interesting, also make sure you take a…

> You are an AI Bot that is very good at mimicking an author writing style. - Your goal is to write content with the tone that is described below

Genuine question: does this formulation style work better than a plain, direct "Mimick my writing style. Use the tone that is described below"?

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

#354
post #349
post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they may be self aware but if they're into blockchain they're unlikely to be scam aware!

Or they think that they are smarter than others, and could make a profit with the scammy market…

which has historically been a very rich vein of marks for scammers to exploit

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

#355
post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A docker container isn’t as bulletproof as a VM but it would certainly block this kind of attack. They’re super fast and easy to spin up.

It would not block many other attacks.

Can you give some examples? I think of my containers as decently good security boundaries, so I'd like to know what I'm missing.

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

#356

Who is sitting down to prepare for an interview exactly 30 minutes before it begins? This is the most shocking part of the entire post.

I think the scammers created this time pressure by messaging and then suggesting they interview in 30 minutes from now (in real time)

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

#358
post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I were asked a direct question, especially in a job interview, I would be truthful. That answer stops any sniping about using AI and lets me focus on my skills.

Asking about AI usage in CV is pointless in my opinion. You are always responsible what reads in there. If they don’t like the writing style, then they don’t.

Interviewers directly asking whatever bothers them is fine IMHO. The alternative is keeping a negative impression when there could have been an insightful exchange, and the candidate also gets to know what to expect from the company.

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

#359

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…

Does anyone know if this David Dodda is even real?

He is a freelance full stack dev that “dabbles”, but his own profile on his blog leaves the tech stack entry empty?

Another blog post is about how he accidentally rewired his mind with movies?

Also, I get that I’m now primed because of the context, but nothing about that linkedin profile of that AI image of the woman would have made me apply for that position.

Lately, has everyone actually seen that image of the woman standing in front of the house??? I sure have not and it’s unlikely anyone has in post-AI world. Sounds more like AI appeal to inside knowledge go build report.

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

#360

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…

I honestly think AI can write much better. Sure, it needs a lot of input, but experienced AI users will get there.
Post reply on HN