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I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP

#41

Post by _yyku »

ta1243 wrote: post #34
_yyku wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author here. I did wrong. And I'm sorry I didn't stay on the right side of the law. I advise against doing the thing I did. I know it can be found on archive.org. I removed the post so people don't follow it for "guidance" on how to break the law. Sorry to everyone. I wish I could remove this post from hacker news. It is a dark page for me today.

You did fine in the action (breaking the law isn't the end of the world), just a little naive over the consequences. They're back online https://uniquemost.online/home.php I expect it will all blow over. Being a vigilante is great, but there's a reason Batman has a secret identity

I don't think I did fine in the action, tbh. It was not my job to do such thing.

Re: I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP

#42

Post by comprev »

ta1243 wrote: post #34
_yyku wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author here. I did wrong. And I'm sorry I didn't stay on the right side of the law. I advise against doing the thing I did. I know it can be found on archive.org. I removed the post so people don't follow it for "guidance" on how to break the law. Sorry to everyone. I wish I could remove this post from hacker news. It is a dark page for me today.

You did fine in the action (breaking the law isn't the end of the world), just a little naive over the consequences. They're back online https://uniquemost.online/home.php I expect it will all blow over. Being a vigilante is great, but there's a reason Batman has a secret identity

Probably he doesn't have planning permission for the Bat Cave and wants to keep it hush-hush

Re: I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP

#43

Post by gnfargbl »

_yyku wrote: post #37
some_furry wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've flagged the story to help it vanish faster. I encourage others do the same. Do you have anyone that can mentor you on such matters? This whole thing has a vibe of self-taught about it. I recommend finding someone older and more experienced to talk to... if for no other reason, than to avoid making mistakes that can put you in legal jeopardy. That being said, I don't think anyone here thinks you're a bad person f…

I don't have any mentor at the moment. I'll avoid doing such things and exercise more caution while handling this kind of matter. Thank you for flagging

I'm not advocating for you to use it or not use it, but I wanted to make you aware that archive.org do have a mechanism for accepting requests for removal: https://help.archive.org/help/how-do-i-request-to-remove-som...

Re: I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP

#44

Post by comprev »

_yyku wrote: post #37
some_furry wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've flagged the story to help it vanish faster. I encourage others do the same. Do you have anyone that can mentor you on such matters? This whole thing has a vibe of self-taught about it. I recommend finding someone older and more experienced to talk to... if for no other reason, than to avoid making mistakes that can put you in legal jeopardy. That being said, I don't think anyone here thinks you're a bad person f…

I don't have any mentor at the moment. I'll avoid doing such things and exercise more caution while handling this kind of matter. Thank you for flagging

You can learn these skills in "safe space" environments like TryHackMe.

Learning both offensive and defensive skills is useful for general security awareness when building software.

Re: I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP

#46

Post by vorticalbox »

ta1243 wrote: post #34
_yyku wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author here. I did wrong. And I'm sorry I didn't stay on the right side of the law. I advise against doing the thing I did. I know it can be found on archive.org. I removed the post so people don't follow it for "guidance" on how to break the law. Sorry to everyone. I wish I could remove this post from hacker news. It is a dark page for me today.

You did fine in the action (breaking the law isn't the end of the world), just a little naive over the consequences. They're back online https://uniquemost.online/home.php I expect it will all blow over. Being a vigilante is great, but there's a reason Batman has a secret identity

have been poking about some of the form inputs have names like `_mc4wp_honeypot`

Re: I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP

#47

Post by ta1243 »

_yyku wrote: post #41
ta1243 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You did fine in the action (breaking the law isn't the end of the world), just a little naive over the consequences. They're back online https://uniquemost.online/home.php I expect it will all blow over. Being a vigilante is great, but there's a reason Batman has a secret identity

I don't think I did fine in the action, tbh. It was not my job to do such thing.

Many people do good things that are not their job, the worst thing that could come out of this is that you lose your drive and curiosity and start playing things safe.

Re: I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP

#48

Post by ta1243 »

jraph wrote: post #36
ta1243 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently such an odd "crime" (banning people from walking in a public place) exists in some countries, where is seems you will have half a dozen armed police officers wrestle you to the ground for such an action. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6251431.stm

> half a dozen armed police officers wrestle you to the ground or being kept in a cell for 8 hours for jaywalking is crazy. Now I jaywalk all the time, but let's not call it simply "walking in a public place". It has safety implication. It's dangerous for you, and it can also endanger / have severe implications on other people who haven't asked anything. Road safety is no joke and should not be taken lightly.

The burden is on the person operating 2 tons of machinery in a way that can kill someone

If your assertion that walking along/across the road is dangerous, how come pedestrian deaths in the US where such things are illegal are 22 per million population per year, and in the UK where such things are perfectly legal outside of a small number of dedicated roads is just 5 per million population.

Perhaps the problem is the culture which puts cars above people.

Re: I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP

#49

Post by gumballindie »

_yyku wrote: post #31
gumballindie wrote: post #16

Ah yes, a classic remote file inclusion exploit. Nothing new, but fun to see in the wild as of 2023.

Author here. I did wrong. And I'm sorry I didn't stay on the right side of the law. I advise against doing the thing I did. I know it can be found on archive.org. I removed the post so people don't follow it for "guidance" on how to break the law. Sorry to everyone. I wish I could remove this post from hacker news. It is a dark page for me today.

> Author here. I did wrong. And I'm sorry I didn't stay on the right side of the law.

Oh I don't care frankly. I know it's not the right thing to do, but I am refering strictly to the technical content of the blog. I am not a judge nor do I plan becoming one. I would notify the domain owners about issues in their websites, but I am not a lawyer and I don't know the implications of it.

Re: I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP

#50

Post by vorejdajo »

_yyku wrote: post #22
gnfargbl wrote: post #7

This is well-meant, but the author seems to be based in Italy, and this is illegal in Italy [1]. I know how tempting it is to retaliate against these people, but you have to stay on the right side of the law. If you choose not to stay on the right side of the law, then at a minimum you really should avoid blogging about your crimes. [1] https://iclg.com/practice-areas/cybersecurity-laws-and-regul...

Author here. I did wrong. And I'm sorry I didn't stay on the right side of the law. I advise against doing the thing I did. I know it can be found on archive.org. I removed the post so people don't follow it for "guidance" on how to break the law. Sorry to everyone. I wish I could remove this post from hacker news. It is a dark page for me today.

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