Comment on Authy got hacked, and 33 million user phone numbers were stolen
NateNate60@lemmy.world 5 months agoThey did not do it by manipulating code. This wasn’t the result of a code vulnerability. If you leave the door wide open with all your stuff out for the entire neighbourhood to see, you can’t claim you were “broken into”. Similarly, if you don’t secure your endpoints, you can’t claim you were “hacked”.
just_another_person@lemmy.world 5 months ago
NateNate60@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Please provide a link to whatever source claims this.
I hold a computer science degree and this contradicts the definition of “hack” versus “exploit” used in academic settings.
irreticent@lemmy.world 5 months ago
They probably typed it out themself then screenshotted it.
sudneo@lemm.ee 5 months ago
Lack of rate limiting is a code vulnerability if we are talking about an API endpoint.
Not that discussion makes any sense at all…
Also, “not securing” doesn’t mean much. Security is not a boolean. They probably have some controls, but they still have a gap in the lack of rate limiting.
NateNate60@lemmy.world 5 months ago
It is a vulnerability, but exploiting that vulnerability is not generally considered by security experts to be “hacking” in the usual meaning of that term in academic settings. Using an open or exposed API, even one with a sign that says “don’t abuse me”, is generally not considered hacking.
sudneo@lemm.ee 5 months ago
I am a security professional. I would personally not care less to make the distinction, as both are very generic terms that are used very liberally in the industry.
So I don’t see any reason not to call this hacking. This was not an intended feature. It was a gap, which has been used to perform things that the application writer did not intended (not in this form). If fits with the definition of hacking as far as I can tell. In any case, this is not an academic discussion, it is a security advisory or an article that talks about it.
NateNate60@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I’m not someone who works on the practical side of security, but as a computer scientist, I do not agree that it is “hacking”. That contradicts my understanding of “hack” versus other types of exploits, but you are correct that the distinction is generally not that important. A security problem is a security problem regardless what it’s called
Freefall@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I was gonna say, we use hacking as a term for a lot of things, even is something like cracking is more accurate. It is like Clip vs Mag in firearms…when you say clip EVERYONE knows what you are talking about.
0xD@infosec.pub 5 months ago
Well from a professional here: It is.
NateNate60@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I’m not talking out of my arse here either. I don’t work in security specifically but I’ve got a CS degree as well and it contradicts my understanding of how those terms are generally used. This is an open API endpoint, equivalent to leaving the garage door open.
But the distinction is usually unimportant. A security hole is a security hole regardless of what you call it.