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USPS text scammers duped his wife, so he hacked their operation

(blog.smithsecurity.biz)
460 points wglb | 21 comments | 08 Aug 24 23:00 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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0xEF ◴[09 Aug 24 08:27 UTC] No.41199904[source]▶
I hate that it kicks off with "DISCLAIMER: This is not my work. I would never and don't condone illegal hacking of scammers"

You know what? I do. We all should. These scammers are awful people and deserve to be attacked. I am tired of toothless authorities like CISA and the alphabet agencies in the US doing next to nothing about it unless some YouTube scam baiter does the work for them. Scammers destroy people, not just financially, but emotionally as well, even driving some victims to suicide. As far as I am concerned, any wannabe hacker out there should be using these scammers for target practice.

replies(16): >>41200015 #>>41200161 #>>41200218 #>>41200779 #>>41201185 #>>41201202 #>>41201398 #>>41201432 #>>41201617 #>>41201878 #>>41202474 #>>41202492 #>>41202844 #>>41204073 #>>41204174 #>>41204583 #
gadders ◴[09 Aug 24 11:26 UTC] No.41200779[source]▶
For people that ransomware hospitals, I want Navy Seals (or equivalent) falling out of the sky and renditioning back to the appropriate country to stand trial.
replies(2): >>41201029 #>>41202849 #
1. Waterluvian ◴[09 Aug 24 12:08 UTC] No.41201029[source]▶
There’s a demonstrated inhumanity in attacking hospitals and children that really should earn special attention.
replies(3): >>41201477 #>>41201607 #>>41205586 #
2. rezaprima ◴[09 Aug 24 13:08 UTC] No.41201477[source]▶
regardless who, whom, and how, right ?
replies(1): >>41201577 #
3. Waterluvian ◴[09 Aug 24 13:22 UTC] No.41201577[source]▶
Yeah. I’m not picking sides nor am I advocating for an inhuman response. Just that it deserves the full attention of the media and state departments every time.
4. theGnuMe ◴[09 Aug 24 13:26 UTC] No.41201607[source]▶
So what about crowdstrike?
replies(4): >>41201741 #>>41202364 #>>41202625 #>>41202805 #
5. gadders ◴[09 Aug 24 13:41 UTC] No.41201741[source]▶
Grey area. I reckon Navy Seals fall out of the sky and give the CEO an atomic wedgie.
replies(1): >>41202102 #
6. noworriesnate ◴[09 Aug 24 14:20 UTC] No.41202102{3}[source]▶
This violates the constitution because it is unusual (the constitution bans cruel and unusual punishments). So, we'll have to normalize this punishment.
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7. gadders ◴[09 Aug 24 14:28 UTC] No.41202176{4}[source]▶
Maybe do the board of directors as well?
8. jimbokun ◴[09 Aug 24 14:45 UTC] No.41202364[source]▶
As consequential as the crowd strike outage was, there is still a moral difference between an epic fuck up and deliberately hijacking people's data for money. Especially when it affects people's health.

Crowd strike immediately pushed a fix for the problem once they realized what happened. No, that didn't prevent the global economic costs and general chaos that was caused. But they clearly weren't deliberately trying to cause all that damage.

replies(2): >>41202502 #>>41203250 #
9. x3n0ph3n3 ◴[09 Aug 24 14:48 UTC] No.41202398{4}[source]▶
It can be unusual as long as it is not cruel. It bans "cruel and unusual" not "cruel or unusual." That's why a judge can order, as punishment for shoplifting, that the perpetrator stands in front of the store with a sign saying "I shoplifted here."
replies(1): >>41202550 #
10. 999900000999 ◴[09 Aug 24 14:59 UTC] No.41202502{3}[source]▶
They accidentally outsourced QA to save a buck.

If you cut corners while still being wildly profitable it's negligent at best.

11. foobarian ◴[09 Aug 24 15:04 UTC] No.41202550{5}[source]▶
By that token, it could be a cruel punishment as long as it's not unusual. Hmm...
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12. gosub100 ◴[09 Aug 24 15:10 UTC] No.41202625[source]▶
corporate death penalty
13. hunter2_ ◴[09 Aug 24 15:16 UTC] No.41202685{6}[source]▶
Some may see usual punishment such as customary fines and jail time as cruel, but the usual-ness making the arguable cruelness moot is convenient as it eliminates the need to argue it.
14. cyanydeez ◴[09 Aug 24 15:28 UTC] No.41202805[source]▶
Or russia
15. digging ◴[09 Aug 24 15:47 UTC] No.41202958{6}[source]▶
Have you heard of American prisons?
16. drpep69 ◴[09 Aug 24 16:22 UTC] No.41203250{3}[source]▶
It doesn't matter, the effect was still the same. Intent is important, but it's not everything. And at this point, I'm really tired of professionals with responsibility playing dumb. "Oops, sowwy!" doesn't work for engineers when a bridge collapses. Why do programmers and executives alike get away with it?
replies(2): >>41203303 #>>41203663 #
17. jimbokun ◴[09 Aug 24 16:28 UTC] No.41203303{4}[source]▶
Sure.

They're still not as bad as ransomware hackers.

18. gs17 ◴[09 Aug 24 16:34 UTC] No.41203351{6}[source]▶
Here's the test the Supreme Court established in 1972:

> The "essential predicate" is "that a punishment must not by its severity be degrading to human dignity", especially torture.

> "A severe punishment that is obviously inflicted in wholly arbitrary fashion." (Furman v. Georgia temporarily suspended capital punishment for this reason.)

> "A severe punishment that is clearly and totally rejected throughout society."

> "A severe punishment that is patently unnecessary."

19. PawgerZ ◴[09 Aug 24 17:12 UTC] No.41203663{4}[source]▶
Crowdstrikes actions are akin to manslaughter while ransomwaring hospitals is more akin to murder.
20. the__alchemist ◴[09 Aug 24 21:39 UTC] No.41205586[source]▶
In the US, hospitals are highly profitable businesses driven by enriching their owners. Until that changes, they don't deserve special status.
replies(1): >>41205868 #
21. Waterluvian ◴[09 Aug 24 22:26 UTC] No.41205868[source]▶
In the other 96% of the world then.