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Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

notepad-plus-plus.org

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Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#431

Post by kvemkon »

nophunphil wrote: post #145
kvemkon wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> would such free protest be allowed if the developers of Notepad++ were based in - US arguing for independence of any of the States for whatever reasons? - Spain for Catalonia? - France for Basque? and many more just in Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_separatist_move...

Not pertinent. My point is more in reference to the ancestor comment with respect to Ukraine and Taiwan: > Yeah, Notepad++ is known for political messaging in their updates. Taiwan, Ukraine, etc. If you’re calling Ukraine in particular a “separatist movement”, I don’t think we can have a productive conversation.

I'm referring to (if we would continue with the list):

- Ukraine for Donbas

Which is so much weaker than all others. There are Ukrainians, Russians, Chinese, Tibetans. But there is no such ethnicity as People of Donbas.

OTOH in a democratic state you're still have the right to demonstrate peacefully for whatever you want, even if it doesn't make much sense. But would you allowed to demonstrate in Ukraine for Donbas independence if they are considered separatists according to the law?

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#432

Post by tasuki »

illiac786 wrote: post #336
tasuki wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So, let me get this straight. If I've been lazy, postponed updates and I'm still on 8.5.8 (Oct 2023) - it turns out I'm actually...safer? Is this surprising? My model is that keeping with the new versions is generally more dangerous than sticking with an old version, unless that old version has specific known and exploitable vulnerabilities.

Yes, it is very much atypical. Most hacks happen because admins still haven’t applied a 2 years old patch. I hate updates, but it‘s statistically safer that running an old software version. Try exposing a windows XP to the internet and watch how long it takes before it‘s hacked.

I don't know about Windows, but I've been running all kinds of outdated Linux (Debian mostly) and it never once caused a security problem.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#433

Post by skeledrew »

cwnyth wrote: post #213
chvid wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“ The incident began from June 2025. Multiple independaent security researchers have assessed that the threat acotor is likely a Chinese state-sponsored group, which would explain the highly selective targeting obseved during the campaign.” How do they know it was a Chinese group or even a state sponsored one?

They said "likely", so they don't "know." Yours is the wrong question.

The "likely" does give the impression that they have a pretty good idea.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#434

Post by iamnothere »

Orygin wrote: post #415
iamnothere wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typically when I see such messaging in an out of place venue it nudges me slightly against both the message and the venue pushing the message. This occurs regardless of whether I agree with the message. I feel the same way as when I see an ad: this does not belong here. I don’t think I am the only one who has this reaction. People who do this should consider if it’s actually helping their cause. If not it’s just feel…

[flagged]

Hysterics aside, this is a real effect and you’re a fool for ignoring it.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#435

Post by kvemkon »

FormerBandmate wrote: post #237
kvemkon wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> would such free protest be allowed if the developers of Notepad++ were based in - US arguing for independence of any of the States for whatever reasons? - Spain for Catalonia? - France for Basque? and many more just in Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_separatist_move...

You can totally say Texas should be independent. A lot of Texans have. You can’t be against the Ukraine war in Russia because Putin is an evil dictator

> You can totally say ...

"Say" in the sense of demonstrate peacefully for this? Then I'm impressed. If someone else can confirm this? Is this because of USA being a federal union? Before Ukraine declared independence, there were voices to make Ukraine a federal state, so that people in the West part of Ukraine can live their way of life and people living 1600 km (!) away in the East and Southern parts would be not much affected from that and vice versa. Voices for the unitary state were stronger because of stability of the state. Would be interesting to see some documentary "what if", whether a federal state would be more stable against pulling from the west (Europe, US) and the east (Russia).

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#436

Post by kvemkon »

FormerBandmate wrote: post #237
kvemkon wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> would such free protest be allowed if the developers of Notepad++ were based in - US arguing for independence of any of the States for whatever reasons? - Spain for Catalonia? - France for Basque? and many more just in Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_separatist_move...

You can totally say Texas should be independent. A lot of Texans have. You can’t be against the Ukraine war in Russia because Putin is an evil dictator

> You can’t be against the Ukraine war in Russia

I was glad after discovering [1]. In one of the videos the interviewer explains, why he was not arrested. The channel is for English-speaking auditory outside of Russia. It was enough to "close eyes" for some openly expressed critiques. Though it was painfully to listen to some people who were not against the war.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/@1420channel/videos

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#437

Post by appreciatorBus »

stackbutterflow wrote: post #392
appreciatorBus wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not wanting politics on HN, need not imply support of the status quo, or even a lack of interest in politics. It can simply be a different belief about the purpose of online forums. I read about politics all day long in many different places. My belief that HN should be relatively free of such stories is not because I believe I can detach myself from politics, but because I believe topic based forums are more valuabl…

Allowing politics on HN doesn't mean discussing politics in every thread. If it's a story about someone who improved performance of their system by using Rust then sure there's no need to bring anything political. But threads about Nvidia, Tesla, encryption, internet blackouts, social media, startups investments, etc, all warrants political discourse.

I wish that were true, but in my experience so far, it isn’t.

Not only does politics and general stories crowd out everything else over time on other sites, there are HN submitters who seem to be trying to accelerate this.

During the war, when HN was getting Israel-Palestine stories constantly, I started looking at the submission history of some of the submitters, and some of them were just pushing these types of stories every day for months and months.

So yes, I think allowing politics will eventually mean being dominated by politics and general interest.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#438

Post by Orygin »

iamnothere wrote: post #434
Orygin wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Hysterics aside, this is a real effect and you’re a fool for ignoring it.

I know it's real. But it doesn't excuse giving away one's values just because something inconvenienced them.

As an example, do I find some vegans annoying on the internet? Yes. Does it mean I will instead start supporting carnism, or push back on veganism? No, absolutely not. Because these are values I have, and no actions of others can change what I value.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#439

Post by lenerdenator »

esperent wrote: post #88
ryandrake wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar comments also come up in the [now regular] "I don't want to see political articles on HN" threads, and I think the response is similar: Asking for "no politics" is itself a strong political view: One in support/service of whatever the current status quo is. Trying to set oneself apart from (or above) politics is itself political. If you're lucky enough to be one of the fortunate people on earth who are not un…

I partially agree, but as a non-US user of the English speaking internet, the issue is with specifically US politics and social issues being everywhere . It drowns out all attempts at discourse for anything else, and Americans, including people here, seem uniquely incapable of nuance in their thinking when it comes to politics. So, while I fully agree with your stance that banning political discourse is support for t…

> I partially agree, but as a non-US user of the English speaking internet, the issue is with specifically US politics and social issues being everywhere.

I mean, yeah. Most major social media services used in the West are based in the US. The single largest English as a first language population is in the United States.

Given how many users from outside the US are oft wont to opine on our state of affairs even during the good times - often without even being asked - I like to think they'll endure our discourse.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#440

Post by myth_drannon »

appreciatorBus wrote: post #272
shiroiuma wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a good point. What would people think if there was constant political discussion here about, for instance, South Sudan and things happening there now? I'm sure there's bad stuff going on there and it's unfortunately, but if we had constant references to and discussions about the internal politics of South Sudan, I think a lot of people would get annoyed about issues that don't affect them at all in their day-…

People on HN are happy to talk about the internal politics of distant nations, so long as the name of the distant nation is Israel or Palestine.

[flagged]
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