5 ms·
(IANAL) Seems to be that yeah, GitHub should have known. I'd recommend going to the complaint[1] and skipping the news article. So, the complaint states[1], >
by deathanatos 7y ago
(IANAL) Seems to be that yeah, GitHub should have known. I'd recommend going to the complaint[1] and skipping the news article. So, the complaint states[1],
> This outside individual (“the hacker”) posted this Personal Information on GitHub.com, GitHub’s website, which encourages (at least friendly) hacking and which is publicly available. As a result of GitHub’s failure to monitor, remove, or otherwise recognize and act upon obviously-hacked data that was displayed, disclosed, and used on and by GitHub and its website, the Personal Information sat on GitHub.com for nearly three months.
First, I do not like that the lawyers are punning between hacker "a person who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data" ("the hacker") and hacker "an enthusiastic and skillful computer programmer or user" ("GitHub's website, which encourages […] hacking").
They allege it was the actual data posted:
> Not surprisingly, therefore, the hacker, a software developer, posted the breached data on
GitHub.com
This part is interesting:
> According to the timestamp on the file containing certain Capital One customers’ breached data, the hacker posted the data on GitHub.com on or about April 21, 2019.
Because AFAIK, GitHub does not display upload times on its website, so I'm curious how the plaintiffs came to this conclusion. IIRC, the times that GitHub displays, e.g., in its listing of files are the times in the git data, which do not necessarily reflect the time the data was first uploaded to GitHub. (E.g., compare that a commit has a commit timestamp, but you can commit, wait 2 days, and then upload the commit to GitHub.)
> Nevertheless, Capital One did not even begin to investigate the data breach until or
around July 17, 2019, when it received an email apparently from a GitHub.com user alerting Capital
One that there “appear[ed] to be some leaked” customer data publicly available on GitHub.com.
> GitHub, meanwhile, never alerted any victims that their highly sensitive Personal Information—including Social Security numbers—was displayed on its site, GitHub.com. Nor did GitHub timely remove the obviously hacked data. Instead, the hacked data was available on GitHub.com for three months.
> 22. GitHub apparently did not even suspend the hacker’s GitHub account or access to the
site, even though it knew or should have known that the hacker had breached GitHub’s own Terms of
Service, which state that: “GitHub has the right to suspend or terminate [a user’s] access to all or any
part of the [GitHub.com] Website at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective
immediately.”
It seems likely that GitHub wasn't aware. Nowhere in the complaint do I see where GitHub is made aware of this issue prior to it being public.
This part is interesting:
> 28. GitHub had an obligation, under California law, to keep off (or to remove from) its site Social Security numbers and other Personal Information.
> 29. Further, pursuant to established industry standards, GitHub had an obligation to keep off (or to remove from) its site Social Security numbers and other Personal Information.
I don't know if "established industry standards" holds up in court, but the 28 there is interesting. Lawyers writing this complaint, y u no cite what part of CA law? CA's law is actually really easy to browse/lookup if you know what code and what section you're looking for.
[1]: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cjdflk7rh4z8ery/TZ_GitHub_CapitalOne_FINAL_Complaint_8_1_19.pdf?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/cjdflk7rh4z8ery/TZ_GitHub_CapitalO...
- kthejoker2 7y agoI assume 28 is a reference to CCPA, which doesn't take effect until Jan 1 2020 (and won't apply to safe harbor content I'm sure)
- daveFNbuck 7y ago> First, I do not like that the lawyers are punning between hacker The term here is equivocating, not punning. It's an informal logical fallacy [1]. People use it a lot when they don't have a good argument. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivocation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivocation
- otakucode 7y agoIf the 'established industry standards' were real, they would hold up in court. Software has no established industry standards. This has been an issue in many court cases. There are many "standards" but none of them are official which results in any claims of negligence when it comes to software, no matter how egregious the behavior was, failing. We saw this with the Toyota 'unintended acceleration' scandal. The court acknowledged that out of 90+ automotive industry 'recommended' and 'suggested' coding practices, Toyota's code only followed 4. They acknowledged that Toyota let software engineers play no role in deciding scheduling. They acknowledged that Toyota software engineers did not have static analysis and other tools, or even a bug tracker. But, the court had to find them not guilty of criminal negligence because there simply aren't any legal standards or regulations which they could be said to be negligent of. If you were building a bridge and you hired unqualified engineers, deprived them of tools they needed, ignored them when it came time to determine scheduling, didn't follow established regulations and standards, etc, the companies executives would be prosecuted for criminal negligence and be sent to prison. If software is involved, however, the situation couldn't be more different. It's an issue that has been debated for well over a decade in the ACM at least. Companies don't want to have to pay more for talent, and most software engineers don't want to raise the barrier to entry. The real danger is that if the software industry waits too long to establish some way of handling these issues, some public tragedy will inspire a kneejerk government response that results in a suffocating set of standards that makes everyone unhappy.
- 7y ago