UK cyber security agency backs Apple, Amazon China hack denials • Hacker News Board

Re: UK cyber security agency backs Apple, Amazon China hack denials

#91

Post by shawn » Sat, Oct 06, 2018, 4:14 AM UTC

pvg wrote: post #81

tptacek wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a rare instance where I agree that 'dang has jumped the gun. I don't see how your comment is insubstantial either, and I think HN's weird relationship with the news media is worthy of comment. No reasonable person reads the comment above to mean "literally everyone on HN has inconsistent beliefs about the press".

Thanks, now I'm regretting not going with the pithier 'ur mom has 5M monthly users' a little less.

I may as well chime in. If anyone is curious what got me banned, it was for saying "I don't see much hatred on /r/braincels, just a lot of depressed men." Specifically, I was rate limited; I emailed three times asking why, and then promised not to write about such topics in the future in exchange for being un-rate limited. These were all ignored. When I tried to ask why in public, I was banned for 3 months. Presumably this sentence was pulled out of a hat.

Judge for yourself, as Dan likes to say: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18054259 (You'll need showdead enabled, of course, which most people don't use.)

When all attempts fail to ask reasonably and to act reasonably, what do you do? I don't know. But there is a reason the mods insist you email all questions to hn@ycombinator.com – if people were free to post about HN, much of the bad behavior would come to light.

FWIW, I was shocked that this seems to be the situation. But times have clearly changed.

If anyone wants to discuss what an alternative site might look like, you can reach me at shawnpresser@gmail.com. A few people have, but many of them are people who deserve to be banned.

I had to use a combination of Tor and multiple accounts to post this many times in quick succession. This loophole will probably be shut off. It's already difficult to create new accounts via Tor, since their recaptcha implementation doesn't work via Tor. (Or at least it didn't; I haven't checked in a few weeks.)

Let this be a warning: Your dictator had better stay benevolent. In modern times, it's easy to get the impression that the only places worth speaking on are HN and Reddit. Surprise: YC controls both. That gives certain people tremendous power; till now, they have acted reasonably with it, but that appears to no longer be the case.

Re: UK cyber security agency backs Apple, Amazon China hack denials

#92

Post by sinuhe69 » Sat, Oct 06, 2018, 4:29 AM UTC

wyldfire wrote: post #67

I heard this on NPR [1] and thought it was interesting and hadn't seen it in these articles on HN: > When [Bloomberg] asked China's foreign ministry for a response, a lot of times they'll say things like, you're crazy; we know nothing about this. Their response was a little more nuanced and contextual in the environment we're in now. Basically they said, we are a victim of these kinds of attacks, too. And, you know,…

The fact that NSA could do it supports at least a strong possibility that the Chinese could do the same on their soil. It’s crazy to waste such excellent attack vectors, especially when Supermicro is a American and not a Chinese company.

Re: UK cyber security agency backs Apple, Amazon China hack denials

#93

Post by brorfred » Sat, Oct 06, 2018, 7:22 AM UTC

Alex3917 wrote: post #43

tptacek wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not "maintaining ignorance"; they're categorically denying it, and in significant detail. Both Apple and Amazon produced essentially bulleted refutations of the story. That's not what you do when you're trying to brush something off.

> They're not "maintaining ignorance"; they're categorically denying it What makes you think the people denying it know about it though? E.g. if the head of Apple security got served an NSL, wouldn't that potentially prevent them from telling the company lawyers or the executive team?

But the Bloomberg story says that they replaced thousands of servers. How would you get permission and funding to do that without saying anything?

Re: UK cyber security agency backs Apple, Amazon China hack denials

#94

Post by richsherwood » Sat, Oct 06, 2018, 8:37 AM UTC

zeist wrote: post #79

I am pretty sure some security issues did happened else supermicro would have definitely sued the reporters by now. But then the mild response by US government and the FBI in general means that the so called attack wasn't as sophisticated as claimed by Bloomberg.

On the other side of the coin, it’s possible that they have a vested interest in keep in this quiet as it would bring attention to their own practices.

Re: UK cyber security agency backs Apple, Amazon China hack denials

#95

Post by paulcarroty » Sat, Oct 06, 2018, 9:22 AM UTC

wyldfire wrote: post #67

I heard this on NPR [1] and thought it was interesting and hadn't seen it in these articles on HN: > When [Bloomberg] asked China's foreign ministry for a response, a lot of times they'll say things like, you're crazy; we know nothing about this. Their response was a little more nuanced and contextual in the environment we're in now. Basically they said, we are a victim of these kinds of attacks, too. And, you know,…

> Basically they said, we are a victim of these kinds of attacks, too.

Good shit. Chinese government probably love Alex Jones a lot.

Re: UK cyber security agency backs Apple, Amazon China hack denials

#96

Post by rasz » Sat, Oct 06, 2018, 9:55 AM UTC

torgian wrote: post #89

Funny how this story comes out shortly after Apple announced you can’t fully repair the newest MacBook pros and iMac pros without their software for “security sake”. Coincidence? Yeah probably, and very tin-foil hat, but who knows?

There is a TON of counterfeit Apple service parts on the market. This is the result of the only real source of parts being pulls from recycled units, and Apple has this neat "recycle initiative" requiring subcontractors SHRED everything and provide detailed protocols of destruction.

Most counterfeits differ in lower quality, not gorilla gorilla glass, lower brightness not quite actual white backlight, non IPS IPS LCDs, 7 year old 4 times repackaged "brand new" batteries etc. There are also replacements with straight up fake, dummy plastic parts thrown in, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TalLpLWaOV4. It becomes real brand problem when Staples "fixes" your product using scam parts.

Re: UK cyber security agency backs Apple, Amazon China hack denials

#97

Post by torgian » Sun, Oct 07, 2018, 1:12 AM UTC

rasz wrote: post #96

torgian wrote: post #89

Funny how this story comes out shortly after Apple announced you can’t fully repair the newest MacBook pros and iMac pros without their software for “security sake”. Coincidence? Yeah probably, and very tin-foil hat, but who knows?

There is a TON of counterfeit Apple service parts on the market. This is the result of the only real source of parts being pulls from recycled units, and Apple has this neat "recycle initiative" requiring subcontractors SHRED everything and provide detailed protocols of destruction. Most counterfeits differ in lower quality, not gorilla gorilla glass, lower brightness not quite actual white backlight, non IPS IPS LCD…

But there are also a ton of people using real or just as good parts to repair their macs. Those people, who can’t afford a non-warranty repair at Apple, will be hurt the most.

It’s especially true in east Asia. Yes, there are plenty of counterfeits, but there are also plenty of legitimate ones too.

Re: UK cyber security agency backs Apple, Amazon China hack denials

#98

Post by dang » Sun, Oct 07, 2018, 8:48 AM UTC

paulcarroty wrote: post #95

wyldfire wrote: post #67

I heard this on NPR [1] and thought it was interesting and hadn't seen it in these articles on HN: > When [Bloomberg] asked China's foreign ministry for a response, a lot of times they'll say things like, you're crazy; we know nothing about this. Their response was a little more nuanced and contextual in the environment we're in now. Basically they said, we are a victim of these kinds of attacks, too. And, you know,…

> Basically they said, we are a victim of these kinds of attacks, too. Good shit. Chinese government probably love Alex Jones a lot.

Please don't post unsubstantive comments here. Especially not partisan or nationalistic ones. We're trying for a bit better than internet median here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: UK cyber security agency backs Apple, Amazon China hack denials

#99

Post by supergirl » Sun, Oct 07, 2018, 9:07 AM UTC

andy_ppp wrote: post #77

I think there is another plausible reason for denials of course. The chip might not be Chinese .

that would actually explain the strong denials and involvement of UK spy agency. being caught with NSA chips in servers would be far worse for Apple than with chinese chips.