We Spoke to a Guy Who Got His Dick Locked in a Cage by a Hacker | Hacker News Reader

We Spoke to a Guy Who Got His Dick Locked in a Cage by a Hacker

vice.com

35 pointszekrioca19 comments

Wow, Vice is really gonna ride this story for all its worth.

If you're curious, I've been following this hardware for a couple of years (my startup, https://nonpolynomial.com, works with intimate interfaces, which people here may know as https://buttplug.io), and ended up writing a couple of twitter threads on this during the first exploits that explain QIUI's reply to the situation (which was horrible, and also heads up both threads involve NSFW content):

https://twitter.com/buttplugio/status/1314251571140587522

And how difficult it is to produce products like this at all:

https://twitter.com/buttplugio/status/1314622550194839552

A few weeks ago, I recall seeing a Twitter link to a malware collection repo that had the malware targeting a chastity device. Unfortunately I meant to save it at the time to go back and look but I didn’t.

> Unfortunately

I guess it depends to whom.

A good example on why you never negotiate with terrorists:

> Scared and a bit desperate, Summers realized he had some Bitcoin stashed in an old account. So he sent the hacker what they wanted, hoping that would be it. But when the hacker got the money, they asked for more, according to Summers.

(Why is the submission title modified from the article title?)

Thought it was too pejorative/vulgar at the time of post: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_(slang)

Asking for more was not a wise move by the attackers. By failing to uphold their end of the ransom, and that story getting out, future victims are now much less likely to pay them.

That is some headline... wow.

What is the appeal to people who use penis cages?

Giving away control to a sexual partner. And on this person's case, to a bunch of internet hackers as well.

Wow, this is the most Cyberpunk thing that's happened so far.

Sexual fantasies revolving around power dynamics are incredibly common. Enforced chastity is one expression of that where the controlee gives up power over their sexual gratification to the controller.

As they say, the largest sexual organ in the human body is the brain. For people who are into this sort of thing, knowing someone else has control over them in this way can be incredibly exciting.

This is beautiful stupidity. Can't wait for the Black Mirror episode. The twist ending could be that he falls in love with his hacker and leaves his wife.

So a weird modern take on Stockholm syndrome where you sympathize with those doing you harm?

I am reminded of the entertaining DEF CON talk I watched a while back with the awesome title, "Adventures In Smart Buttplug Penetration Testing."

Available on youtube and definitely worth watching, it's a fantastic tour of a multi-exploit stack, from electrons to electron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnxcPeemHSc

I reads words in combinations I never expected to read in my life. Amazing! Super Cyberpunk!

https://www.reddit.com/r/dontputyourdickinthat/

It's incredible that anyone would think such a devices was a good idea :D

Honestly, I feel like that about IoT in general. Cheaply made, internet-connected consumer products that will likely not get patched for security issues? Sounds like a nightmare.

Makes me wonder, are there any efforts to standardize IoT protocols and security best practices?

"IoT Protocols" is a really wide area to try and cover, because the devices do so much. There's CoAP and what not, but even that's really not going to cover everything. Then applying "Security best practices" to that just makes it an even larger multiplier.

So yes, it's happening, but it's many many many different wars on many many many different fronts.

Things can get nasty even before you add any electronics. The vast majority of sex toys is produced in China with little incentives for good quality control. Before you put sensitive areas of your skin with dyed material, it would be good to be sure of its composition - but you can only trust what the manufacturer says is true. Then comes the issue of combining the right type of material with the right type of lubricant. And, last but not least, many lubricants contain substances that are not completely health-neutral. Many even don't have the list of components listed on the label. You can just hope for the best.

Not sure why my original response was flagged:

Bay Area cucks. It's a niche market, but those are the ones who would think such a device was a good idea.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com