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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

#91

Post by LoganDark »

davorak wrote: post #76
LoganDark wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't care for the current status quo at all. The current administration has wrecked this country and completely compromised its position in the global economy potentially forever. But there is a time and a place for those arguments and activism, as well as the same for other parts of the world suffering from similar or worse issues. Like, I wouldn't be receptive to hearing about Ukraine every time I go to the groc…

> Otherwise it is just noise. This is absolutely no statement about the status quo, but just how my brain works. It's also not a statement against activism in general, just about my personal opinion of it in certain places. I considered the majority of the population to be affected by repeated messaging, messages in the background, or in other words availability bias. So the messaging be having the desired effect on…

It has an effect on me too: it makes me begin to extra-quickly ignore any messaging of that sort. I become so tired of it that it starts actively frustrating me to see. And I bother people to take it elsewhere. This is a behavioral issue on my part, but I'm still struggling to justify to myself that they couldn't be getting more out of it by putting it somewhere more appropriate.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#92

Post by idiotsecant »

LoganDark wrote: post #33
icelancer wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, Notepad++ is known for political messaging in their updates. Taiwan, Ukraine, etc.

I can't help but feel there must some better venue for such messaging. When I see politics in software updates or documentation, nothing happens because I'm not looking to use the software for political activism. Maybe I tell my adblocker to remove the messaging, and carry on with my task. I can engage with politics in a social context, when political messaging isn't interrupting something else I'm doing; that's a be…

I am just fine with people tagging their art and their craft with causes they believe in. The person behind the work is part of the work. If you didn't pay for it or contribute sweat equity you don't get to decide otherwise. Your only recourse is to not use it.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#94

Post by suprstarrd »

Jordan-117 wrote: post #79
cookiengineer wrote: post #73

[flagged]

Have you written about this experience elsewhere? That sounds absolutely nuts.

I vaguely remember this happening with somebody on an Audacity project, so jumping in! I believe this was on a GitHub issue for that project, but the project has since disabled issues for the repository since they moved source locations. It also definitely hit some press.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#95

Post by hug »

avereveard wrote: post #93
daemonhunter wrote: post #62

So what mitigations should the end user be doing? How do we know if anything compromised?

Right the writeup doesn't mention when it started and what versions are affected

> Based on both assessment, I estimate the overall compromise period spanned from June through December 2, 2025, when all attacker access was definitively terminated.

FTA.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#96

Post by eloisius »

LoganDark wrote: post #52
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 don't care for the current status quo at all. The current administration has wrecked this country and completely compromised its position in the global economy potentially forever. But there is a time and a place for those arguments and activism, as well as the same for other parts of the world suffering from similar or worse issues. Like, I wouldn't be receptive to hearing about Ukraine every time I go to the groc…

It’s all well and good for you if you want to be a consumer of political content when it suits you, but for a creator, the creation’s whole purpose may be a delivery mechanism for their message which may otherwise go unheard. Not saying this is necessarily what Don Ho (Notepad++) is doing, but it’s possible. Create something so good that people can’t help but use it (preferably the demographic you most want to reach, for example a country with a huge base of Windows users) and then use it as your message delivery mechanism.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#97

Post by cookiengineer »

suprstarrd wrote: post #94
Jordan-117 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you written about this experience elsewhere? That sounds absolutely nuts.

I vaguely remember this happening with somebody on an Audacity project, so jumping in! I believe this was on a GitHub issue for that project, but the project has since disabled issues for the repository since they moved source locations. It also definitely hit some press.

If you are curious, some /pol/ and 4chan archives still have some stuff about the sneedacity incident available. There's still someone (a bot?) trying to recruit them to post shit about me from time to time.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#98

Post by idiotsecant »

mapontosevenths wrote: post #54
thisislife2 wrote: post #2

Wow. I'd love to know more how the targeted systems were actually compromised.

There is more detail linked below: https://www.heise.de/en/news/Notepad-updater-installed-malwa... https://doublepulsar.com/small-numbers-of-notepad-users-repo... The TLDR is that until version 8.8.7 of Notepad++, the developer used a self-signed certificate, which was available in the Github source code. The author enabled this by not following best practices. The "good news" is that the attacks were very targeted a…

If the attackers did limit themselves to a small number of Asian machines they gave up an absolute goldmine. I would venture to say a lot of technical people use notepad++ at work in jobs that would be very lucrative for an attacker to exploit. I know I definitely had an 'oh shit' moment when I read this and thought about where I have notepad++ installed.

Re: Notepad++ hijacked by state-sponsored actors

#100

Post by Barrin92 »

prodigycorp wrote: post #43
Barrin92 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you're going to give in and avoid applications because, like in this case they take a strong stance on Ukraine or Taiwan the hack has literally achieved its purpose. Either silence the author directly or destroy its userbase. Fuck'em and just donate ten bucks to notepad++ , I'd rather my pc breaks then reward this crap

I think I made it clear that I use (and pay for) their applications. I also think I made a sufficiently nuanced comment that doesn't suggest that I've "given in" to anything.

what I took a bit of offense with is the term "software maccarythism". That's a movement now remembered for an over-reaction to often imaginary enemies. Ukraine is right now fighting for its life in a hot war on our continent here in Europe. Taiwan is at the very real risk of being invaded.

American and European infrastructure is subject to cyber attacks that that are effectively hostile military acts already. I don't think a vocal stance on Ukraine and an exclusion of Russian developers deserves the rhetoric of McCarthyism or being 'too political' as is these days a fashionable accusation. This is no red scare, this is speaking up for people bombed on a daily basis.

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