5 ms·

Proof? This is just some random person claiming it's not true but they link to an article which explicitly states that it is in fact true. Am I missing somethin

Proof? This is just some random person claiming it's not true but they link to an article which explicitly states that it is in fact true. Am I missing something?

n2d4 3y ago
I believe the Mastodon OP mistranslated the German article, which states: > Das Beispiel, das wie ein Hollywood-Szenario daherkommt, hat sich wirklich so zugetragen. Correct translation: > This example, which seems like a Hollywood scenario, actually happened. But as you can see, if you miss the last part, it's easy to get the translation wrong. (Interestingly, the Swiss article doesn't directly quote Fortinet as a source, but as an expert opinion. Maybe something was lost in translation there when the story went viral?)
- croes 3y ago
  I think OP wants to say that the only source for such a massive bot net is a tiny newspaper article. Million dollar damage because a Swiss site wasn't reachable for 4 hours? I doubt that.
  - sschueller 3y ago
    It's Switzerland. Maybe it was a watch website that could sell a few 100k watches...
parl_match 3y ago
The claim being made is ludicrous, doesn't hold up to scrutiny or common sense, and the amount of details given is sparse enough to cause disbelief. If this is real, the article is beyond useless in informing people of what has happened and how it's happened.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- qwertox 3y ago
  I use a couple of TP-Link smart power plugs and one of them occasionally wants to access the internet to get the time from an NTP server. Since I block all their internet access this one goes crazy and brings my DNS server (custom written in Python) down to a halt. Just blocking him in the firewall of the AP would probably also not make him behave and he'd still pollute the RF spectrum. Happens rarely, though. Kicking him off of the WiFi and letting him reconnect makes him behave again.
  - ethbr1 3y ago
    This is the most anthropomorphically abusive and hilariously accurate comment I've read in awhile.
    - sltkr 3y ago
      Funnily enough that happens also when you run the original article through Google translate: > She's in the bathroom at home, but she's part of a large-scale cyber attack. The electric toothbrush is programmed with Java, and criminals have unnoticed installed malware on it - like on 3 million other toothbrushes. (In German, toothbrushes are female, like all brushes.)
      - readthenotes1 3y ago
        So the claim is the women started talking and wouldn't be quiet? "Nevertheless, she persisted"
    - geraldwhen 3y ago
      German, like many other European languages, uses gendered nouns and refers to nouns with gendered pronouns. It means nothing other than that you need to remember the correct pronoun for every noun, which is absurd.
      - ethbr1 3y ago
        I didn't even consider that parent might come from a gendered language background! Lack of insight on my part. I just assumed they were gendering inanimate objects, which even non-gendered English speakers will do, but conveys more anthropomorphic intent.
snowwrestler 3y ago
Kevin Beaumont is not exactly a random person in this instance, he's a pretty experienced writer on cybersecurity. He elaborates farther down the thread: > A botnet of 3 million toothbrushes would be twice the size on Mirai's various botnets put together, and a MAJOR infosec event. The person they were interviewing has only worked there about a year, and Fortigate staff don't appear to know about this botnet. Edit to add: Imagine you read on TechMeme that room-temperature superconductors are now confirmed to exist. But when you trace the story back, the original citation is an article in the Tucson Regional Business Journal about how scientific research benefits innovation. Would you think "wow, big scoop for the TRBJ!" Or something more like, "I bet that business reporter misunderstood something they heard."
- ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
  Reminds me of the "Jick Study" that Dopesick talks about[0]. This was a simple letter to the editor, written by a doctor, that became the driving force behind Oxycontin marketing. [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/06/nejm-letter-opioids/528840/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/06/nejm-lett...
  - duskwuff 3y ago
    Or, similarly, the letter to the editor in NEJM which caused decades of mistrust of MSG -- and which, depending on who you listen to, might or might not have been a deliberate hoax. https://news.colgate.edu/magazine/2019/02/06/the-strange-case-of-dr-ho-man-kwok/ https://news.colgate.edu/magazine/2019/02/06/the-strange-cas...
croes 3y ago
The article claims a million dollar damage because the site of Swiss company wasn't reachable for 4 hours. Highly unlikely.
croes 3y ago
Your are missing the part that Fortinet didn't publish the attack themselves but choose a non technical news paper. Highly suspicious and now confirmed it didn't happen. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39300373 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39300373

Proof? This is just some random person claiming it's not true but they link to an article which explicitly states that it is in fact true. Am I missing something?

n2d4 3y ago

I believe the Mastodon OP mistranslated the German article, which states: > Das Beispiel, das wie ein Hollywood-Szenario daherkommt, hat sich wirklich so zugetragen. Correct translation: > This example, which seems like a Hollywood scenario, actually happened. But as you can see, if you miss the last part, it's easy to get the translation wrong. (Interestingly, the Swiss article doesn't directly quote Fortinet as a source, but as an expert opinion. Maybe something was lost in translation there when the story went viral?)

croes 3y ago
I think OP wants to say that the only source for such a massive bot net is a tiny newspaper article. Million dollar damage because a Swiss site wasn't reachable for 4 hours? I doubt that.
- sschueller 3y ago
  It's Switzerland. Maybe it was a watch website that could sell a few 100k watches...

parl_match 3y ago

The claim being made is ludicrous, doesn't hold up to scrutiny or common sense, and the amount of details given is sparse enough to cause disbelief. If this is real, the article is beyond useless in informing people of what has happened and how it's happened.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
qwertox 3y ago
I use a couple of TP-Link smart power plugs and one of them occasionally wants to access the internet to get the time from an NTP server. Since I block all their internet access this one goes crazy and brings my DNS server (custom written in Python) down to a halt. Just blocking him in the firewall of the AP would probably also not make him behave and he'd still pollute the RF spectrum. Happens rarely, though. Kicking him off of the WiFi and letting him reconnect makes him behave again.
- ethbr1 3y ago
  This is the most anthropomorphically abusive and hilariously accurate comment I've read in awhile.
  - sltkr 3y ago
    Funnily enough that happens also when you run the original article through Google translate: > She's in the bathroom at home, but she's part of a large-scale cyber attack. The electric toothbrush is programmed with Java, and criminals have unnoticed installed malware on it - like on 3 million other toothbrushes. (In German, toothbrushes are female, like all brushes.)
    - readthenotes1 3y ago
      So the claim is the women started talking and wouldn't be quiet? "Nevertheless, she persisted"
  - geraldwhen 3y ago
    German, like many other European languages, uses gendered nouns and refers to nouns with gendered pronouns. It means nothing other than that you need to remember the correct pronoun for every noun, which is absurd.
    - ethbr1 3y ago
      I didn't even consider that parent might come from a gendered language background! Lack of insight on my part. I just assumed they were gendering inanimate objects, which even non-gendered English speakers will do, but conveys more anthropomorphic intent.

snowwrestler 3y ago

Kevin Beaumont is not exactly a random person in this instance, he's a pretty experienced writer on cybersecurity. He elaborates farther down the thread: > A botnet of 3 million toothbrushes would be twice the size on Mirai's various botnets put together, and a MAJOR infosec event. The person they were interviewing has only worked there about a year, and Fortigate staff don't appear to know about this botnet. Edit to add: Imagine you read on TechMeme that room-temperature superconductors are now confirmed to exist. But when you trace the story back, the original citation is an article in the Tucson Regional Business Journal about how scientific research benefits innovation. Would you think "wow, big scoop for the TRBJ!" Or something more like, "I bet that business reporter misunderstood something they heard."

ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
Reminds me of the "Jick Study" that Dopesick talks about[0]. This was a simple letter to the editor, written by a doctor, that became the driving force behind Oxycontin marketing. [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/06/nejm-letter-opioids/528840/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/06/nejm-lett...
- duskwuff 3y ago
  Or, similarly, the letter to the editor in NEJM which caused decades of mistrust of MSG -- and which, depending on who you listen to, might or might not have been a deliberate hoax. https://news.colgate.edu/magazine/2019/02/06/the-strange-case-of-dr-ho-man-kwok/ https://news.colgate.edu/magazine/2019/02/06/the-strange-cas...

croes 3y ago

The article claims a million dollar damage because the site of Swiss company wasn't reachable for 4 hours. Highly unlikely.

croes 3y ago

Your are missing the part that Fortinet didn't publish the attack themselves but choose a non technical news paper. Highly suspicious and now confirmed it didn't happen. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39300373 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39300373