Hacker News Reader

sprkycoon I taught myself Python on the Internet and so can you

@aoruz: My story matches up with your's quite closely. One suggestion I would have for a future book to read is either Black Hat Python, Grey Hat Python, or Violent Python all "hacker" related books that are great for anyone interested in security at any level. BlackHat Python is number one pic.

sprkycoon I taught myself Python on the Internet and so can you

Not sure how this is confusing. Studying Computer Science at college != programming proficiency. I'm finishing up my last college class (online University) will graduate with B.S. in CS Major S.E. got good grades in both C++, Java, and CS related classes and I have been attempting to get better at Python for the better part of a year now and still don't know shit and would hardly qualify my self as a web developer let alone a software engineer.

sprkycoon The Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Human and Animal Health

4.6 years was the average tenure of an employee in 2014. 2+ years straight is within the parameters of common.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.nr0.htm

sprkycoon The Next Mark Zuckerberg Is Not Who You Might Think

-“Show me another industry where the way you find your customers is to wait for your friends to introduce them to you,” Mr. Bahat said.

Illicit drug industry sounds like one. Am I taking this quote out of context, are startup founders customers of VC's? Did not realize that was the hierarchy if that is the case.

sprkycoon Ask HN: Are there forgotten servers out there?

Prior to opening the comments I thought no way somebody recently found OS/2. Not to one up you or anything, but we just found over a dozen (~15 I think) OS/2 machines in our environment two weeks ago..

sprkycoon Why firewalls won’t matter in a few years

Stamos seemed to be making a point about the progression and resources being spent on security solutions. Firewalls are deterrents, but there seems to be a general consensus that they are not feasible for the future and the closest approximation that can be achieved to a "fully secure" system is by focusing on Applicaiton Security. During the video Stamos admits and an audience member loudly agrees that "we suck at appsec". Firewalls are stupid crap because we suck at appsec. If we didn't suck at appsec firewalls would and should not matter.

sprkycoon Lily – Drone camera

It would seem we are missing each other's. "Club's impose structure, safety rules etc" given this and other automated drones the imposition of structure and safety rules is/can be written into the software. There has been mention of providing no-fly zones that people could register and given a companies interest in brand preservation the drones would respect the no-fly zones as long as untampered with. However, I do understand the risk to life issues that need to be confronted. I just wouldn't leap to the conclusion that there is a mass of people buying drones, acting irresponsibly, and inciting a heavy regulation of all hobby level flying.

sprkycoon Lily – Drone camera

While acknowledging the fact that drones being operated by "morons" do not amount to safe. Could you fill me in on what safety features a 3k copter offers over one of these smaller and arguably less threatening drones. Googled a couple "high dollar" copters most seemed to be in range of ~4kg range with large fixed carbon fiber blades as opposed to (in this particular case) a 3 pound object with collapsible polycarbonate blades. Honestly seeing this trend of "automated" drones the only human controlled factor of idiocy would be removed in part due to the automated nature of this drone, this would seem to favor a trend towards safer operations.

sprkycoon LastPass installs malware?

sprkycoon Grooveshark.io

Never used original, but this does not bode well for security: grooveshark.io/search/xss"<script>confirm()<script>

sprkycoon Tesla Plans to Open Car Doors to All Hackers This Summer

Wouldn't say they are in denial about the issue. Wish I had some better sources, but if I recall the automotive industry has always had issues with security regarding keys and ignitions. My 99 Prizm key would work for most all other Chevy Prizm cars. I know that this "cross keying" would work on quite a few different brands and models as well. Some ignitions can be "popped" and screwdrivers used to start the ignition. My point being that security of starting an automobile or accessing one has been plagues with problems. Break the window etc. Some manufacturers do require the key fob to be present while the motor is running in some cases the feul pump will shut off if the key is not present. It is highly likely that the Tesla demo is for opening the CAN exploitability issue to the convention. Attacks on the CAN remotely are much more serious.

sprkycoon CapitalOne has the most secure password system

It also appends some garbage to the username, validates it and then proceeds with the random char grab....weird

  var results = document.cookie.match ( '(^|;) ?' +    "Username" + '=([^;]*)(;|$)' );

sprkycoon Keeping Your Car Safe from Electronic Thieves

09 Avalon uses same principle as in the article and is most likely vulnerable. Functionality that I have encountered:

Battery charged in fob:

Walk up to car push any button located on handle of doors to lock vehicle or push button on trunk to open trunk.

Within proximity to any door lights under side view mirror light up, interior lights also turn on. After touching driver handle driver door opens, any other door handle touched (within proximity to fob) will cause all doors to open.

Battery dead: Trunk will open if fob is held directly near button. Similar behavior on doors fob must almost be in hand pushing button. Valet key can open the driver door. Buttons to unlock etc dont work. Have to hold fob near push to start to start vehicle. Depending on proximity during drive the alert on dash may light up.

Few times I or S.O. has driven off without key (luckily realizing within a few miles of house or location of key). The Avalon will continue to run only having the alert on the dash. I'm guessing my defense here would be to let the batteries die in the fob. Ill still get most of the functionality without the risk. Keeping the battery one (when I want to sacrifice security for convenience) stored in a cage. Really like the attack though.

sprkycoon Interview with the winner of Go Challenge #1

Of course it was number six in my google search...I scanned top five and then figured it was called something else. Figured something as specific as "sourcebox" would have had top result be correct. Either way thanks.

sprkycoon Interview with the winner of Go Challenge #1

Anyone know what is being used to display the code. First time I have seen highlight annotated code like that.

sprkycoon How to Read Source Code

Great pointers and this helps to solidify many of the inutitive things I have been developing for a while. I work primarily with static code analysis so reading source code is really the primary task in my skill set. I was astonished to realize that there are developers who do not read source code. Spending the vast majority of my time reading code and only a small fraction ever coding (non-dev stuff some scripts and tutorials) has given me this intuitive idea of how programs work. While not coining any of these things and organizing them like you have it is great to use this to further develop what I have been relying on experience to explain. Thanks.

sprkycoon $9000 bounty paid for Python bugs

Python flavored afl-fuzz for reference: https://bitbucket.org/jwilk/python-afl

sprkycoon Attack of the week: FREAK (or 'factoring the NSA for fun and profit')

A bit off topic, but you mention this: " but they also lack poetry in their souls." I could not have thought of a more fitting statement for the condition you were talking about. Is this original? Quoted or colloquial saying?

sprkycoon A game running in your browser's address bar

The simplicity of this is amazing. On top of that even if somebody figured this out I didn't expect the assortment of animations offered up in the first show off. Would have been impressed with just the shark, but the table flip made it really cool.

sprkycoon Uber data breach could have affected thousands of drivers

This makes me so mad I was a driver for a while had had some major issues with the company eventually souring any interest in any of the similar services (car related or otherwise) this really get's me going as the reported time frames put me in the "crosshairs" now.

sprkycoon The Corporate Bullshit Generator

Run this through https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9111447 (www.sansbullshitsans.com) and you end up with something like: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150225/13365130142/heres...

sprkycoon A girl who gets gifts from birds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5_DuZ8WuMM Saw this video a while back and was really quite amazed the process adopted to crack walnuts. After watching that video I definitely had a higher level of "respect" for animals and their intellect.

sprkycoon Ask HN: How to learn social skills; is this the curse of being a hacker?

Growing up I was fat, nerdy and loved video games. However, I was animated enough to have a decent social life. I still cannot converse about normal things as the majority of topics that the general public discusses are, in my opinion, boring. Social interaction is important for any persons mental health and sometimes physical health. It does seem that your post has an underlying tone of not feeling normal in the sense of your current social interactions. Many of the posters here recommend just going out etc. I would recommend starting with going to places that one could reasonably assume like minded individuals exist. Thus leading to my recommendations. meetup.com tons of meetups for people interested in development, software etc. Hackerspaces are great for talking about nerdy stuff as well. While your scope of interaction will be limited in these contexts you will find that interacting with people you have similarities with will often diverge into more normal topics like movies, weather, and politics. Going to an environment where you can reasonably assume there is others like you is a great "first step" out of social awkwardness. My number one rule listen an order of magnitude more than you talk.

sprkycoon When Grandmasters Blunder: Even the best make mistakes

Not relevant to chess, but in Japanese there is a saying: saru mo kikara ochiru. Not sure if I spaced that correctly but it amounts to "Even monkeys fall from trees"

sprkycoon My voice is my passport

This could also be said about passwords: I have bad memory I can't remember a long complex password.. Point being that there are issues with all forms of security. Bullet proof glass for example can be taken out by an RPG this reasoning is only detrimental to the advancement, innovation, and implementation of layers of security to protect consumers. I think it's neat and my take a way from the article is that the author felt comforted by the fact that at least someone at the bank appreciated the movie sneakers and was attempting to increase security measures through innovation.

sprkycoon BART Riders Exposed to Measles from Infected LinkedIn Employee

Contrasting the vaccination issues in California against the reactions to Ebola outbreaks serves as a stark reminder of how ignorant people can be. I'm all for freedom to choose but this is really getting to the point of ludicrous.

sprkycoon The Need for Open Research in Software Security

+1 for anything from OffSec I failed their OSCP once and after some reassessing I will not be taking for another year or so. However, there are many companies that list if not require a CISSP and other CISSP holding individuals are hesitant to degrade the efficacy of the cert.

sprkycoon University of Illinois issues DMCA takedown for previous years' homework

At my university we reviewed and assessed each others code to identify issues and help each other out. It is possible that I am misunderstanding if this applicable for this specific course. My presumption is that a vast majority of students are going to school to acquire gainful employment and jobs often require some level of code reviewing. While I do not support direct copying of someone else's homework or the distribution of a github link containing the answers to homework to students (this did not happen here but would be evidence of assisting cheating). It seems that the benefits of teaching students about version control and in depth peer code review outweigh the negative consequences of this type of "cheating". ianamartin earlier in this thread provided this link: http://matt.might.net/teaching/compilers/spring-2015/ which is honestly the "best" solution to this particular issue.

sprkycoon LinkedIn Reveal: See LinkedIn the way it was meant to be seen

Fair enough, just a bit wary of "new apps" permissions, but often will add extensions without reading permissions if it is known app. Note to self reassess criteria for reading permissions.

sprkycoon LinkedIn Reveal: See LinkedIn the way it was meant to be seen

Permissions: Read and Change my data on LinkedIn and view browsing history seems a bit suspicious.