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I hacked a dating app (and how not to treat a security researcher)

(alexschapiro.com)
560 points bearsyankees | 2 comments | 12 May 25 16:39 UTC | HN request time: 0.418s | source
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michaelteter ◴[12 May 25 17:34 UTC] No.43965514[source]▶
Not excusing this is any way, but this app is apparently a fairly junior effort by university students. While it should make every effort to follow good security (and communication) practices, I'd not be too hard on them considering how some big VC funded "adult" companies behave when presented with similar challenges.

https://georgetownvoice.com/2025/04/06/georgetown-students-c...

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tmtvl ◴[12 May 25 19:18 UTC] No.43966578[source]▶
I vehemently disagree. 'Well, they didn't know what they were doing, so we shouldn't judge them too harshly' is a silly thing to say. They didn't know what they were doing _and still went through with it_. That's an aggravating, not extenuating, factor in my book. Kind of like if a driver kills someone in an accident and then turns out not to have a license.
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LadyCailin ◴[12 May 25 20:30 UTC] No.43967142[source]▶
This is exactly why I think software engineering should require a licensing requirement, much like civil engineering. I get that people will complain about that destroying all sorts of things, and it might, yes, but fight me. Crap like this is exactly why it should be a requirement, and why you won’t convince me that the idea is not in general a good one.
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1. Anon1096 ◴[12 May 25 22:08 UTC] No.43967914[source]▶
I'm curious how you think this would be implemented. Do you think you should need a license to publish on GitHub? Write code on your own computer and run it? Because this was just a startup that some kids founded so saying that a license would have to be a prerequisite to hiring somebody would not cut it. You'd have to cut off their ability to write/run code entirely.
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2. GuinansEyebrows ◴[12 May 25 22:26 UTC] No.43968026[source]▶
I mean, kind of? You can't really start any kind of trade business without credentials (other than low-paying under the table work for people who don't care).

You can't stop someone from doing electrical repairs on their own home but if the house burns down as a result, the homeowners' insurance will probably just deny the claim, and then they risk losing their mortgage. Basically, if you make it bureaucratically difficult to do the wrong thing, you'll encourage more of the right thing.