21 ms·

Dan Kaminsky has died

1414 points by rincebrain 6y ago

kchoudhu 6y ago
Oh no.
cyberlab 6y ago
You can watch one of his talks here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAGwol-keXM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAGwol-keXM and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xneBjc8z0DE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xneBjc8z0DE He always had a certain eccentricity to him. I never met him in person. He always was the prototypical nerd judging from his talks and mannerisms.
- rincebrain 6y ago
  For the interested, someone [1] is putting together a collection of videos of him, so you can probably find a whole lot more in the replies to that thread even if you don't wait for the playlist to be made. [1] - https://twitter.com/thedarktangent/status/1385959097783128067 https://twitter.com/thedarktangent/status/138595909778312806...
  - toomuchtodo 6y ago
    That’s the founder of DEFCON and Black Hat.
    - X-Istence 6y ago
      "someone".
      - chrononaut 6y ago
        https://xkcd.com/1053/ https://xkcd.com/1053/
    - rincebrain 6y ago
      I'm aware, the specific identity of the person doing the collecting just didn't seem relevant.
- acdha 6y ago
  I briefly met him at Toorcon in the early 2000s and was impressed with how he combined that eccentricity with high-energy: if the internet didn't get more secure, it wasn't for lack of trying on his part.
andrewnicolalde 6y ago
Wow... I remember recreating his DNS cache poisoning attack in one of the courseworks I did in my second year of university. I always thought it was incredibly clever...
- quakeguy 6y ago
  I did too, and it makes me so sad to read the news just now.
sakebomb 6y ago
You will deeply be missed @dakami
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
rishabhd 6y ago
RIP Dan, he was a legend.
haik90 6y ago
you'll be missed Dan Kaminsky
awkwardquestion 6y ago
Anyone here can reveal how he died? Just curious on what exactly happened.
- ivanmontillam 6y ago
  I'm curious too. So sad he died and I'm totally in shock.
- allturtles 6y ago
  The tweet says "Please keep speculation to yourself and be respectful of his family and friends." To me that reads as suicide.
  - luxuryballs 6y ago
    or drug overdose or vaccine side effect or private health condition... so many things could be speculated, I think they probably just mean that friends and family won’t want to see/read the speculation comments, regardless of what it is (but especially if it’s controversial)
    - daveguy 6y ago
      Vaccine side effect? Seriously? About 1000x more likely to be covid itself.
      - luxuryballs 6y ago
        yea it was an example supporting the reason why I think they suggested not to speculate, sounds like it must have been a good example :)
      - SamReidHughes 6y ago
        A Facebook post linked in another comment says it’s complications with diabetes. That is usually blood clot-related. He took the vaccine 6 days prior.
    - 6y ago
rurban 6y ago
His last twitter activity was April 18
saul_goodman 6y ago
Damn. Fuck.
atdrummond 6y ago
Could we respect the wish of those close to the deceased to keep speculation as to the cause of death private?
- FDSGSG 6y ago
  A reasonable wish, but it's hardly surprising that such a request is only going to invite more speculation.
- awkwardquestion 6y ago
  No. It is not their place to try to restrain the curiosity of others.
- idlewords 6y ago
  It's human nature and not reprehensible to wonder what happened when someone you care about dies.
  - atdrummond 6y ago
    I don’t think anyone questioning is reprehensible. I simply don’t think it’s too much to ask to keep that discussion to less public channels in the aftermath of his death, as it’s a fairly reasonable and low burden request.
- fidesomnes 6y ago
  no. right to know.
- jtbayly 6y ago
  If they don't want speculation, they need to give facts. Otherwise all we have is wondering, which naturally leads to speculation. I don't mind them not giving facts. I just think it's silly to not give facts and then tell people not to speculate.
  - alisonkisk 6y ago
    There's nothing silly about requesting decent behavior, even if not everyone will agree to the request.
Lethabow 6y ago
Died yesterday. RIP https://www.latestnewssouthafrica.com/2021/04/24/security-researcher-dan-kaminsky-has-passed-away/ https://www.latestnewssouthafrica.com/2021/04/24/security-re...
mmaunder 6y ago
RIP Dan. https://youtu.be/RAGwol-keXM https://youtu.be/RAGwol-keXM
blondie9x 6y ago
Does anyone know what happened?
- wsostt 6y ago
  Read the tweet
  - leethacker3 6y ago
    I read it. So what happened? Drugs? COVID?
  - jamesrcole 6y ago
    The tweet says “Please keep speculation to yourself”. Whether you think it’s appropriate or not, asking if anyone knows what happened is not the same as asking for speculation.
    - Ar-Curunir 6y ago
      The former inevitably asks for speculation, especially given the short timeframe and lack of information involved.
      - VectorLock 6y ago
        I think it also unfortunately fuels the darker speculations rather than quells them.
- dijit 6y ago
  The tweet specifically asks us not to speculate and the parent article makes mention that the conditions of his death have not been made public. I’m not sure how others feel, personally I am conflicted: respect the death of an icon and not pry (even if others are speaking on his behalf) or satisfy my curiosity. I’m going to go with the former, for now.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
nly 6y ago
A shock for sure. I'm sure he will be sorely missed to all of us who attend CCC. You can see many of his CCC talks here: https://media.ccc.de/search/?q=Dan+Kaminsky https://media.ccc.de/search/?q=Dan+Kaminsky
omnibrain 6y ago
;( @dang can we get a black bar please?
- samgranieri 6y ago
  I agree with @omnibrain here and second his request. @dang, can we get a black bar?
  - gauravphoenix 6y ago
    Third
    - aestetix 6y ago
      agreed as well
      - Tomte 6y ago
        And if any of you had simply e-mailed dang, it might have already happened.
- matznerd 6y ago
  +1
- QUFB 6y ago
  Peak HN 2021: No black bar, and downvotes for the suggestion.
- jonbaer 6y ago
  +1
randomhodler84 6y ago
Dan is a legend and great defender of the internet. His research made us safer, and his guidance made us more secure. We will miss you Dan, and may your memory and spirit resolve and soar through the clouds.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
davidu 6y ago
I will miss him terribly. He was the guy who let me crash in his room at Defcon when I was a minor and was too young to book my own room. This kicked off 20 years of friendship. He was brilliant, zany, ADD x 1000, and always endearing and loving. In 2008 I was lucky to collaborate on DNS issues with Dan when he discovered a new form of DNS cache poisoning and spent years helping the Internet upgrade and defend against a serious and significant vulnerability. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for this and so much of his other work. He was a hacker's hacker, and the guy you want in your corner. Very sad to hear this news.
- eplanit 6y ago
  I saw him speak at BlackHat in 2008 when he presented that work -- _everyone_ was there. It was an amazing presentation, and I was properly filled with respect for Dan. So very sad that he's gone so young.
  - xbar 6y ago
    I was there that year, too. And the year before and after. And at ToorCon that year, which was tiny and it was great to talk to him there. Many of my journeys to conferences were because he was on the docket. A true inspiration in infosec.
  - jxf 6y ago
    Was this talk recorded?
    - xbar 6y ago
      It was. Well, his Defcon version is an identical talk given the same week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pp72gUYx00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pp72gUYx00
      - jka 6y ago
        Thanks for the link; would you like to submit that as a separate HN submission as well, including [video] in the title? (I think that'd be within the site guidelines[1]) Might post it myself if you'd prefer not to; I figured it might make sense for you to claim the credit/karma. [1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
quelsolaar 6y ago
I had dinner with Dan once, he ”social engineered” me and claimed he forgot to bring money. I knew what he was doing, but also knew that if picking up the tab was the price i had to pay for getting to hang out with him, I got the better end of the Deal. Rest In Peace
- fefe23 6y ago
  You may have misread the situation. I have known him for decades, and I have never seen him take advantage of another person. Not ever. Not even once. If he said he forgot to bring money, then he probably did. Let us raise a cup to his name. A kind soul and an inspiration to us all.
  - atdrummond 6y ago
    For what it’s worth, he had left his wallet elsewhere at a large dinner where a friend ended up paying for the group anyway. They didn’t expect him to pay and yet he paid them back fairly promptly and actually gave a few cents more than he technically owed - which he claimed was interest at the prevailing rate. I certainly don’t see him “hacking” his way to a free dinner on a(n) (un)suspecting victim.
    - igetspam 6y ago
      Agreed. I've eaten and had many drinks with Dan. He was generous. Never cared about throwing a few bucks down to help someone else eat or drink. We often had very large group dinners at conferences and Dan typically threw in a few extra to cover those who weren't as well off. (Standard practice for these things.) Definitely feels like a misread.
  - quelsolaar 6y ago
    > You may have misread the situation. Very true. Either way, I didn't feel taken advantage of. He truly was special, and I'm incredibly happy I got to spend some time with him.
- samatman 6y ago
ttul 6y ago
Dan was at Santa Clara in the spring of 1998 when I was there on an exchange. Unbeknownst to me, I was watching South Park in the dorm’s TV lounge next to a future internet legend. We later made the connection through mutual friends and he became a technical advisor to my startup. Dan was always generous with his time and expertise. He was the kind of person whom you could expect could easily become very rich, but was entirely unmotivated by money. Dan was fascinated to learn the inner workings of things we all take for granted - such as the DNS. A true hacker.
- WesleyHale 6y ago
  He sounds like a real role model. Thank you for sharing.
HugoDaniel 6y ago
:( RIP
thathndude 6y ago
I’m not in the industry. But I instantly recognize the name from the occasional touches I have with info sec. that tells me all I need to know About how big of a loss this is. Condolences to those who knew him.
borski 6y ago
‘dang, can we get a black bar for Dan? I can’t think of many people who deserve it more.
leethacker3 6y ago
Suicide or drugs? I’m betting drugs
qyi 6y ago
Heard of him since his DNS vulns. Never read or watched his presentations until recently. It was a breath of fresh air seeing him talk. I thought "this is a true hacker. no corporate BS". Damn.
sneak 6y ago
Dan always went out of his way to do nice things based on his resources and connections to benefit me, when he totally didn't need to. A lot of the great things and people in my life came from him. The world is worse off without him.
jpgvm 6y ago
Loss of a legend, CCC and Blackhat will never be the same.
automathematics 6y ago
RIP to a legend
rediguanayum 6y ago
RIP thank you Dan for making the internet a safer place.
Dieselroar88 6y ago
Dan was a wonderful human. I truly cannot believe that he took the time to help create something with me. Absolutely god damn heart breaking. A wonderful reminder that true brilliance and humanity can coexist. Thank you for everything
ryan-c 6y ago
I remember attending Dan Kaminsky’s talk at DEFCON 12 and being blown away by it. Three years later, I went on the original “Hackers on a Plane” trip and ended up seated next to Dan on one of the flights. We quickly became friends. His mentorship over the years had an enormous impact on me. We both went back to CCCamp in 2011. I excitedly told him about a reverse DNS scanning project (0.0.0.0/0 in 12 hours on AWS for like $50), and then we ended up talking about the Debian RNG bug and password security, walking around camp watching the lightning in the distance. When I was doing my original brainwallet research back in 2013 and cracked the woodchuck wallet the first thing I did after showing my ex (then girlfriend) was call him. I told him I’d found something but didn’t feel comfortable discussing over the phone. He invited me over. My ex and I hopped on BART headed into SF and met him at the loft he was living at above a motorcycle shop. We talked and carefully planned and then I accidentally made 250 BTC vanish. Dan looked at me and said “[my ex] and I are going to go for a walk and return with burritos. You’re going to calm down and have this fixed by the time we get back. It’ll be okay.” It was, and I did. I’d simply forgotten about change addresses for a brief moment of terror. I think the first time he mentioned wanting to hire me was a few months later at a Bitcoin conference in San Jose. He believed in me. I went on to work alongside him at White Ops (now known as Human Security) in 2014. He brought me on stage with him at DEFCON that year. He spent a lot of time helping me put together a CFP submission about my brainwallet research for DEFCON the following year and then helped me put together slides, rehearse, and had a professional help me refine everything. I couldn’t have done it without him. My wedding was about six weeks before DEFCON - Dan showed up in an Uber, about an hour late. He explained that he’d confused Menlo Park for Morgan Hill when planning to leave. I was just thrilled to have him there. Dan was a supportive friend, a great mentor, and a delightful colleague. I really can’t overstate what a positive impact he had on my life. It’s hard to believe he’s really gone. That I’ll never get to swap stories about our respective side projects with him again. I miss him. https://rya.nc/threads/dakami-eulogy.html https://rya.nc/threads/dakami-eulogy.html https://twitter.com/ryancdotorg/status/1385989257638993922 https://twitter.com/ryancdotorg/status/1385989257638993922
- specialist 6y ago
  > It’ll be okay. That's just terrific. Thank you for sharing. I'm sorry for your loss.
sneak 6y ago
Does anyone have a copy of the sources for Paketto Keiretsu? It seems to have disappeared from his website(s) some years ago and I kept meaning to ask him for a copy. It was an early inspiration for a lot of my L3-in-userspace work.
- ryan-c 6y ago
  Yeah, I have a copy.
- achillean 6y ago
  It's where I learned about stateless scanning. Without scanrand and its stateless scanning technique Shodan wouldn't have been possible.
- synack 6y ago
  There's an old version here https://packetstormsecurity.com/files/30489/paketto-1.10.tar.gz.html https://packetstormsecurity.com/files/30489/paketto-1.10.tar...
- ryan-c 6y ago
  https://rya.nc/files/paketto-2.00pre5.tar.gz https://rya.nc/files/paketto-2.00pre5.tar.gz I'm not sure whether I got it directly from him or if I had a saved copy, but that's the most recent version.
  - throwaway039093 6y ago
    This version is also available from archive.org: https://web.archive.org/web/20070702232113/https://www.doxpara.com/paketto-2.00pre5.tar.gz https://web.archive.org/web/20070702232113/https://www.doxpa...
jka 6y ago
My memory of Dan is seeing him speak on-stage at SF security b-sides, some time in the mid 2010s. He'd enjoyed a few drinks by the point he spoke to everyone, and the resulting honesty (accompanied by what I sensed as trepidation from the audience, about seeing a respected speaker in a vulnerable state) left a mark on me. He was right: software security nowadays is a swiss-cheese mess, and the industry isn't addressing it. His speech instructed me and perhaps others in the audience to deal with that new reality and adjust to it. It's tough for the original hacker / cypherpunk / purist mentality to adjust to. But it's where we are now, and it's a mindset that'll never die even if all of us that subscribe to it do. RIP Dan.
- jka 6y ago
  The parent comment was written early into my reaction to the news and I think I was a bit histrionic in my commentary about the security industry. People are helping, and that's commendable. It can be difficult when it appears that we are building and deploying so much more software than we are maintaining and securing. I don't know exactly what mindset will win out - either an assumption that information always leaks and that that's helpful to catch people when they might fall, and/or a mindset that believes it's necessary to be able to create private channels -- if perhaps not private spaces, for safety reasons (is there a digital distinction there? could there be?). Fragmentation and/or consensus are two possible paths forwards (that different communities are already exploring).
  - UweSchmidt 6y ago
    Maybe you weren't histrionic enough? I couldn't name one class of software or hardware, nor one layer in the 'stack' that hasn't been compromised. The only conclusion is to admit failure (as an industry) and rebuild everything from the ground up.
    - ta988 6y ago
      We always have to do compromises designing these things. Either we don't have the talents, we disagree on the methods, we ignored a chunk of the problem, we don't have the ressources, we deliberately degrade to please the senders of a letter-we-cant-talk-about... I prefer the approach where we solve problems incrementaly as we discover them because in the long term it addresses all of those shortcomings eventually.
edgan 6y ago
He will be dearly missed. :( He gave the best Defcon talks.
DeleGiwa 6y ago
Rest in Peace Dan Kaminsky https://www.theartsofentertainment.com/dan-kaminsky-death-dan-kaminsky-obituary-cause-of-death/ https://www.theartsofentertainment.com/dan-kaminsky-death-da...
0xbadcafebee 6y ago
Aw poop. Nicest guy I ever met in the hacker scene. Sending best wishes and love to his friends and family.
laurex 6y ago
Dan sublet my apartment a number of years ago, and it was a thrill to see the impact of his work over time. I'm very sad to hear this news.
Communitivity 6y ago
A sad day. A legend has passed - legendary for his skills, for his generosity, and for his personality. He was a true renaissance man - hacker, writer, presenter, philantropist, piano-player, composer, and good guy.
1cvmask 6y ago
RIP Dan. Dan was one of the great reasons to attend in person the Vegas security circus (B Sides, Black Hat and Defcon). My other favorite presenters ranged from Barnaby Jack (also deceased) to Moxie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnaby_Jack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnaby_Jack
filmgirlcw 6y ago
H was a wonderful person who was always generous with his time. I’m so sad that he is gone. It isn’t hyperbolic to say that we as a tech community are better because of him.
samatman 6y ago
December 2019. I flew out to SF, and we hacked for ten days. He saved our company from extinction. I won't discuss the sequel to that, because it doesn't reflect well on some people who don't deserve that in this eulogy. But I will say that we retained our friendship through it all. I'm absolutely gutted at this news. What a shining human being. A terrible loss.
- cookguyruffles 6y ago
  First rule of eulogies: don't abuse the privilege to shit on people
dominicjj 6y ago
Apart from the DNS cache poisoning attack, Dan did some vital followup work on the Sony CD rootkit discovered by Mark Russinovich. Sony's early defence was that it wouldn't affect the Internet. Dan showed using DNS caches that it had already affected over half a million networks on the Internet: https://web.archive.org/web/20080423212131/http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2005/11/69573 https://web.archive.org/web/20080423212131/http://www.wired.... A smart man and a nice man. RIP.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
yownie 6y ago
Him along with Aaron Schwartz, two great hackers cut down too early.
- ModernMech 6y ago
  It's Aaron Swartz fyi.
j3th9n 6y ago
"Of the seven Recovery Key Shareholders who possess the ability to restore the DNS root keys, Dan is the American representative." -https://dankaminsky.com/bio/ https://dankaminsky.com/bio/
- sebmellen 6y ago
  I wonder what the procedures are to change the Recovery Key Shareholders in the event of a death like this. Interesting article here https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/the-problem-with-the-seven-keys-13-2-2017-en https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/the-problem-with-the-....
  - invasi0n 6y ago
    Currently being assessed, given current global issues it poses come additional challenges but the community will find a way.
    - sebmellen 6y ago
      Wow, your first comment since 2014! Are you deeply involved with ICANN? It seems you know are well-informed about the internals.
      - invasi0n 6y ago
        I lurk a lot =) Yes have been involved in various capacities for many years now (not staff for the record)
rdl 6y ago
Dan was basically the best example of "infectious enthusiasm" combined with being really smart and interested in a lot of stuff. He was one of the first "security people" who got interested in bitcoin as a network, plus all his DNS stuff, and a lot of other things. He's going to be missed by a lot of people around the world for a long time.
Rafuino 6y ago
I met him at Defcon 21 and ran across him again when I was running a developer hardware access project in my last job just a couple years back. He struck me as incredibly curious (as a hacker must be!) and was a pleasure to work with. The friends who introduced me to him at Defcon are devastated for a reason... rest in peace.
rmac 6y ago
Seeing him present his work on stage at DC was one of those things I'll never forget: the technical excellence, the dazzling visualizations, his comfortable and confident style, and whether you agreed with it or not -- his own point of view, not a thinly veiled corporate / gov / academic shill. Dan: streams a tv show over DNS Crowd: goes wild He was one of the ones who I aspire to be: to show others they can do .*
bitexploder 6y ago
I first met Dan on Slashdot over 20 years ago. Over a decade after I first met him on Slashdot I got into information security and had the opportunity to share a few meals and hangout with Dan now and again. His natural curiosity about all technology is what I always will remember about Dan. He was such a good technologist. RIP. Edit: plus watching him and tqbf argue on Twitter about stuff was always fun.
billyhoffman 6y ago
I met Dan at FooCamp in 2004. I was a college kid at the time and a weekend event of people like Larry Wall or Ester Dyson was super intimidating. I was feeling a little isolated and lonely when I saw this guy in a black 2600 tshirt over by the “FooBar” bar and thought “finally someone I can talk to!” He was so welcoming and engaging it broke the ice and made the whole weekend worth it. We started talking about tunneling various protocols over DNS and ended up doing a midnight stroll with Fyodor all around Sevastopol looking for “interesting” things. That’s the kind of guy Dan was. Everyone felt his warmth. Dan was a rare mix of genius with an over the top personality. Seeing what crazy RFC-bending project Dan was doing was one of the best things about going out to Blackhat, DEFCON, or RSA. He is easily one of the best presenters I’ve ever seen: a perfect blend of compelling story, esoteric tech details, and those classic Dan mischievous grins. I will miss you dearly Dan
vabmit 6y ago
RIP, Dan. I work with a lot of very smart people. So, I've gotten a bit used to it and don't normally find myself in awe of many people's intelligence. Dan was a person that I was absolutely in awe of. The fist time I met him very long ago (almost 20 years), he showed me code he wrote to share movies through abused DNS slaves... building a p2p network like Napser/Gnutella from the technology. No one had ever thought of such a thing. I don't think anyone else in the world knew DNS well enough to be inspired to think of it. He was so kind and friendly to everyone. It was fun to talk with him about tech/security because he had such enthusiasm and excitement... like a little kid on Christmas or a puppy. :) I learned a lot from him. I have nothing but great memories of him. I remember once when someone hacked him. He even took that in good humor and didn't let it bother him.
tlb 6y ago
What a shame. I had many enjoyable conversations with him over the years at various events. He was a hacker's hacker and a gentleman.
sillysaurusx 6y ago
I’m shocked. I didn’t know Dan except via Twitter. What happened? He was so curious about everything that it caught my attention, and I’m not just saying that. He pointed out how good the GPT-Neo samples were, which I hadn’t seen before. I didn’t know he was anything except an enthusiastic person interested in AI. He even tried to help me with my M1 build of tensorflow. https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Adakami%20to%3Atheshawwn&src=typed_query https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Adakami%20to%3Atheshawwn&... I’ll miss him.
- floatingatoll 6y ago
  Regarding your question, the link above answers it: “Please keep speculation to yourself and be respectful of his family and friends.”
  - sillysaurusx 6y ago
    I was just in mild shock. I clicked through his Twitter profile and saw his icon, and my heart dropped. Perhaps appreciate the people around you, I suppose. Never know when they’ll be the last words you exchange with them.
ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
I did not know him (but I have heard his name for years), but, from the comments here, I feel that the industry has lost a great humanitarian, as well as a skilled and talented person. So sorry for the loss.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
burtonator 6y ago
This really hits me hard. Dan was the kind of guy you read about and were almost intimidated by his work. Then you met the guy and realized he's just an awesome guy. This just insanely sad. I'm really sick of hearing about my friends passing - especially when they're brilliant.
psaux 6y ago
Dan was a great soul and genius, this is very sad to hear. Dan made life fun, my stomach would hurt from laughing so hard with him. I am looking over our chats, and found a video he sent me that I can’t stop watching. He was working on streaming VM state to the cloud and decided a mouse wasn’t fun, so busted out a turntable to control it in realtime. It totally worked and was way better! He even starts making record scratching sounds. I love how someone posted the DEFCON shot of his nap, that made me smile! Remember those moments of joy. Much love to his family and friends.
adfm 6y ago
I first met Dan in Santa Clara at some event when he came over to our table and showed off some ssh fu. We’d reconnect at events every so often and he’d always share his latest interest. I recall once Dan turning me on to the unique world of software produced and shared primarily by doctors who code by opening a video of a jet engine crash landing in an MRI viewer app. The time after that, he was telling me about going to see the new Star Trek movie that had just come out and how his friend couldn’t see the green alien lady, which led him to build one of the first truly useful applications of augmented reality with his colorblindness app. When people say Dan Kaminski was a hacker’s hacker, it’s with good cause. Not only did he defend the Internet from itself, but he changed the way people see the world. He put a noticeable dent in the universe.
madrox 6y ago
I met Dan at BarcampLA, and his talks stuck with me. I’ve relived moments from those talks throughout my career, and I’m a more security conscious person because of it. He was one of those rare security folks that still retained his fundamentally optimistic view of humanity, though I think that may be rare of any human now that I think about it. If Tomorrowland were an actual thing, Dan definitely would’ve been invited. I hope he knew how much he inspired.
melb-un-er 6y ago
Oh no! I met Dan during my time first working on DNS in 2008. He came to many of us with the cache poisoning bug he discovered and pulled us together to address the vulnerabilities before it became public. I remember thinking thank god this guy is using his powers for good, because the damage he could easily do would be significant. After that I ran into him numerous times over the years, at conferences and airports (we seemed to always be leaving or arriving from different places at the same time), and he was always so kind, interesting and interested. I feel lucky to have known him. The works is a sadder, emptier place today.
lawrenceyan 6y ago
Through it all, there were those who fought valiantly against the tsunami of fakery and fabrication, generating new methods and protocols to hold back the tide undermining consensus reality. Rest in peace Dan.
alisonkisk 6y ago
The tweet is a strange announcement. Usually an announcement like this is by or refers to next of kin sharing the news. Is Marc Rogers Dan's family, or close friend?
- hedgehog 6y ago
  Marc is among other things longtime DEFCON staff.
- rincebrain 6y ago
  It was the most authoritative report I could find at the time, albeit a reaction to other people having shared the news on Twitter first (I found a number of people complaining at the one or two people who first tweeted about it, saying it shouldn't have been shared so soon.) In the interim, obviously a great many additional people and sources have reported it that could be chosen instead.
- igetspam 6y ago
  Marc knew Dan very well. He's as close as almost anyone that isn't Dan's family and his family would like some privacy.
wheresmycraisin 6y ago
Dan was exceptionally good at explaining his complex work, and he always did so with 100% passion. He will be missed.
fortran77 6y ago
His final tweet: https://twitter.com/dakami/status/1383978072655818753 https://twitter.com/dakami/status/1383978072655818753
- CryptoPunk 6y ago
  Technically this was his final tweet: https://twitter.com/dakami/status/1384011738807341065?s=19 https://twitter.com/dakami/status/1384011738807341065?s=19
  - xallarap 6y ago
    Just wanted to apologize for my below post, it should have read Coca Cola, not Diet Coke.
brownglock 6y ago
I was fortunate enough to meet Dan in the flesh at RSAC and engage in Twitter conversations after that. He didn’t suffer fools gladly, or at all. No higher praise than that.
josh2600 6y ago
Dan was like family to me. I remember so many evenings talking to him with all the stops out for countless hours about a universe of topics. Interacting with his brain was like what I imagine it would feel like to be caught between a supernova and a black hole. He was such a generous soul. There are so many things that existed because Dan sprinkled some magic here and there. He was incredibly charming, making electrons dance in ways I never thought possible. The man was a technomage, a grey-hatted magician. Dan was far from perfect but I am thankful for every moment I spent with him. He was the first person to tell me that he believed in me when I was starting a hard technology company (I had never really managed any software project before). I will miss Dan’s kind and generous soul until my dying breath. A true titan in all senses of the word.
brownglock 6y ago
I was fortunate to be introduced to Dan at RSAC and then engage via Twitter. He didn’t suffer fools gladly, or at all. No higher praise...
sillyquiet 6y ago
So many different stories in this thread from people about how much of a mentor, friend, and inspiration he was. There's a simple Yiddish word for this kind of person: mensh. That's a great tribute.
beprogrammed 6y ago
Damn, we are all worse off for it.
moepstein 6y ago
I loved the complexity of his thoughts, and the nonlinearity of our conversations. The way I could plop down next to him, ask him what he was doing, working on, or thinking, and he always had the time and inclination to talk without a hint of condescension. I'll miss his infectious excitement, the way he could weave narratives from lines of code, and his goofy sense of humor.
nomy99 6y ago
I’m one of those people who never knew you. Ironically, Your death brought forth your achievements for me. I’m impressed and I wish I had interacted with you. RIP
alexnewman 6y ago
I hope when I die people care
- MrLeap 6y ago
  Isn't affecting that outcome, for good or ill - the primary work product of our lives? What else can we do?
  - CyberRabbi 6y ago
    Reproduce
    - sitkack 6y ago
      Kindness, generosity and wonder transcend biology.
      - CyberRabbi 6y ago
        Not if you don’t exist
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
- yoloyoloyoloa 6y ago
  He took the vaccine two weeks ago. Check on his twitter. I suspect blood clots
walterbell 6y ago
Short tribute from Elonka Dunin earlier today, https://www.facebook.com/elonka/posts/10164920101840459 https://www.facebook.com/elonka/posts/10164920101840459
candeira 6y ago
Dan answered earnestly and generously to some uninformed questions I emailed him at random one day. He was a good man. My condolences to his friends and family.
antonzabirko 6y ago
How old was he? Any cause out yet?
davrosthedalek 6y ago
It feels wrong to upvote a story of somebody dying. How about such stories are pinned and don't have to be voted on to stay on the front page, at least for a couple of days?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- samhwr 6y ago
  I just wanted to say I agree with you and I don’t know why you were downvoted. This seems to me a well-intentioned and quite reasonable request.
  - quickthrower2 6y ago
    You are simply upvoting to say “this submission is important”.
    - samhwr 6y ago
      Are you telling me why I upvoted, or (by implication) why his original post was downvoted by others? Because yes, I’d argue it was important. (I’m sorry if I’m not familiar with the rules here quite yet.)
      - quickthrower2 6y ago
        Sorry my bad grammar there. By you I meant the collective “you” of HN not you specifically. While any person can individually upvote for any reason they like. I suspect most upvote a death announcement as a sign of respect for the person - a kind of anonymous electronic “hear hear” I had never heard of Dan Kaminsky because I’m a typical 9-5 app dev who knows as much about security as I need to but never watch black hat or defcon presentations. It’s really interesting to peak into this world and discover someone who seemed to be a hero to many and unwittingly to me as it sounds like he has helped make the internet more secure. I appreciate the work of people who bring the issues to our attention. I’m beginning to go down the privacy rabbit hole (Pi holes etc.) as a result.
architect 6y ago
The fact that we aren't told what he died of is beyond suspicious! If he died of cancer why not tell so? If he had a heart attack why keep it secret?? An accident? Sad yes, but no reason for "please don't speculate" Without jumping to conclusions - how much would it cost to hire a private investigator?
swat535 6y ago
Let us take a moment to slow down and think about how fragile life really is. Dan was a bright person and loved by many. The value he added to this world will not be forgotten and let us take comfort in the fact that some of us had the great fortune of meeting him. Rest in peace Dan.
notklaatu 6y ago
It's so sad to lose Dan. I met him back in 2008, I think it was, at a Barcamp in L.A. I was lucky enough to precede his talk, and he was gracious enough to sit through mine. He was a blast to talk to and to learn from. Even his questions were educational. For me, he was one of my earliest examples of what a hacker was and should be. I aspire to his level of curiosity, openness, and kindness, and he'll be missed.
zestyping 6y ago
Kind, generous, warm, infectiously enthusiastic, and always curious. I have long held kindness and curiosity as the highest of virtues and that's what comes to mind when I think of Dan, together with a crushing sadness at what we have lost. This is a lovely moment I captured of Dan having a good time. I like 0:29 in particular, and wanted to share it with you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4jRaetW7k0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4jRaetW7k0
jbirer 6y ago
As sorry as I am that he died, he was no celebrity or anybody of special status, just another statistic. My condolences but I wish I did not see the ugly black border on top.
vages 6y ago
Has anyone else noticed the thin black bar across the top of the HN pages today? I think it may be because of this.
jdougan 6y ago
I had a few hours with Dan at a Think Conference, back in 2008. I was working on a Smalltalk implementation of SSL, and it was having connection issues to different servers. So someone pointed me at him, and he walked me through how to troubleshoot it. Didn't find the problem then, but it made it a lot easier later. He was one of the good guys. I'll miss him.
bunnie 6y ago
Dan will be missed. I am saddened by his passing and my heart goes out to his family.
strenholme 6y ago
Rest in peace Dan Kaminsky and prayers for his family and friends. He was a very good colleague and someone who I am honored to have interacted with. (Context here: He publicized a big DNS security hole which my MaraDNS never had, because I read Daniel Bernstein’s writings)
samhwr 6y ago
NXDOMAIN :(
throwaway039093 6y ago
My very first memory of the in-person security world is from watching Dan talk outside of the Alexis Park back in 2004. I was drinking bourbon from a plastic water cup. He was doing a live demo showing streaming audio proxied by DNS servers. I will never forget the sense of wonder I felt listening to that talk.
leet_hakkerz 6y ago
Drugs or COVID? Wah wah.
- xallarap 6y ago
  Saudists or Diet coke?
relyks 6y ago
I really wish HN had the black bar linked to an obituary or an article about the person (or some other method of distinguishing who it is for). It isn't always obvious who is being recognized or memorialized. Getting the black bar isn't that common
ponytech 6y ago
I am among the people who met him at a conference (CCC 2006 for me) and at the after party. I remember he was super friendly. I'm very sad to hear that news. RIP
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
logicalmonster 6y ago
I'm genuinely sad that anybody died. Everlasting peace to him. Just want to post the objectively true and unquestionably verifiable facts for the record. https://twitter.com/dakami/status/1381716799905886210 https://twitter.com/dakami/status/1381716799905886210 https://archive.is/1zYlW https://archive.is/1zYlW Dan Kaminsky @dakami Back to Vaxcon, at Moscone South. I think I’ve literally worked a booth 20 feet from here; injections are now on the show floor. Again, a smooth, efficient, well oiled operation. So proud of San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente for executing like total bosses. Vaxxed! 5:12 PM · Apr 12, 2021
sunkenvicar 6y ago
I understand keeping the details of his death private. But at this time anti-vaxxers are running rampant.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

1414 points by rincebrain 6y ago

Oh no.

You can watch one of his talks here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAGwol-keXM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAGwol-keXM and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xneBjc8z0DE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xneBjc8z0DE He always had a certain eccentricity to him. I never met him in person. He always was the prototypical nerd judging from his talks and mannerisms.

rincebrain 6y ago
For the interested, someone [1] is putting together a collection of videos of him, so you can probably find a whole lot more in the replies to that thread even if you don't wait for the playlist to be made. [1] - https://twitter.com/thedarktangent/status/1385959097783128067 https://twitter.com/thedarktangent/status/138595909778312806...
- toomuchtodo 6y ago
  That’s the founder of DEFCON and Black Hat.
  - X-Istence 6y ago
    "someone".
    - chrononaut 6y ago
      https://xkcd.com/1053/ https://xkcd.com/1053/
  - rincebrain 6y ago
    I'm aware, the specific identity of the person doing the collecting just didn't seem relevant.
acdha 6y ago
I briefly met him at Toorcon in the early 2000s and was impressed with how he combined that eccentricity with high-energy: if the internet didn't get more secure, it wasn't for lack of trying on his part.

andrewnicolalde 6y ago

Wow... I remember recreating his DNS cache poisoning attack in one of the courseworks I did in my second year of university. I always thought it was incredibly clever...

quakeguy 6y ago
I did too, and it makes me so sad to read the news just now.

sakebomb 6y ago

You will deeply be missed @dakami

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

rishabhd 6y ago

RIP Dan, he was a legend.

haik90 6y ago

you'll be missed Dan Kaminsky

awkwardquestion 6y ago

Anyone here can reveal how he died? Just curious on what exactly happened.

ivanmontillam 6y ago
I'm curious too. So sad he died and I'm totally in shock.
allturtles 6y ago
The tweet says "Please keep speculation to yourself and be respectful of his family and friends." To me that reads as suicide.
- luxuryballs 6y ago
  or drug overdose or vaccine side effect or private health condition... so many things could be speculated, I think they probably just mean that friends and family won’t want to see/read the speculation comments, regardless of what it is (but especially if it’s controversial)
  - daveguy 6y ago
    Vaccine side effect? Seriously? About 1000x more likely to be covid itself.
    - luxuryballs 6y ago
      yea it was an example supporting the reason why I think they suggested not to speculate, sounds like it must have been a good example :)
    - SamReidHughes 6y ago
      A Facebook post linked in another comment says it’s complications with diabetes. That is usually blood clot-related. He took the vaccine 6 days prior.
  - 6y ago

rurban 6y ago

His last twitter activity was April 18

saul_goodman 6y ago

Damn. Fuck.

atdrummond 6y ago

Could we respect the wish of those close to the deceased to keep speculation as to the cause of death private?

FDSGSG 6y ago
A reasonable wish, but it's hardly surprising that such a request is only going to invite more speculation.
awkwardquestion 6y ago
No. It is not their place to try to restrain the curiosity of others.
idlewords 6y ago
It's human nature and not reprehensible to wonder what happened when someone you care about dies.
- atdrummond 6y ago
  I don’t think anyone questioning is reprehensible. I simply don’t think it’s too much to ask to keep that discussion to less public channels in the aftermath of his death, as it’s a fairly reasonable and low burden request.
fidesomnes 6y ago
no. right to know.
jtbayly 6y ago
If they don't want speculation, they need to give facts. Otherwise all we have is wondering, which naturally leads to speculation. I don't mind them not giving facts. I just think it's silly to not give facts and then tell people not to speculate.
- alisonkisk 6y ago
  There's nothing silly about requesting decent behavior, even if not everyone will agree to the request.

Lethabow 6y ago

Died yesterday. RIP https://www.latestnewssouthafrica.com/2021/04/24/security-researcher-dan-kaminsky-has-passed-away/ https://www.latestnewssouthafrica.com/2021/04/24/security-re...

mmaunder 6y ago

RIP Dan. https://youtu.be/RAGwol-keXM https://youtu.be/RAGwol-keXM

blondie9x 6y ago

Does anyone know what happened?

wsostt 6y ago
Read the tweet
- leethacker3 6y ago
  I read it. So what happened? Drugs? COVID?
- jamesrcole 6y ago
  The tweet says “Please keep speculation to yourself”. Whether you think it’s appropriate or not, asking if anyone knows what happened is not the same as asking for speculation.
  - Ar-Curunir 6y ago
    The former inevitably asks for speculation, especially given the short timeframe and lack of information involved.
    - VectorLock 6y ago
      I think it also unfortunately fuels the darker speculations rather than quells them.
dijit 6y ago
The tweet specifically asks us not to speculate and the parent article makes mention that the conditions of his death have not been made public. I’m not sure how others feel, personally I am conflicted: respect the death of an icon and not pry (even if others are speaking on his behalf) or satisfy my curiosity. I’m going to go with the former, for now.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

nly 6y ago

A shock for sure. I'm sure he will be sorely missed to all of us who attend CCC. You can see many of his CCC talks here: https://media.ccc.de/search/?q=Dan+Kaminsky https://media.ccc.de/search/?q=Dan+Kaminsky

omnibrain 6y ago

;( @dang can we get a black bar please?

samgranieri 6y ago
I agree with @omnibrain here and second his request. @dang, can we get a black bar?
- gauravphoenix 6y ago
  Third
  - aestetix 6y ago
    agreed as well
    - Tomte 6y ago
      And if any of you had simply e-mailed dang, it might have already happened.
matznerd 6y ago
+1
QUFB 6y ago
Peak HN 2021: No black bar, and downvotes for the suggestion.
jonbaer 6y ago
+1

randomhodler84 6y ago

Dan is a legend and great defender of the internet. His research made us safer, and his guidance made us more secure. We will miss you Dan, and may your memory and spirit resolve and soar through the clouds.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

davidu 6y ago

I will miss him terribly. He was the guy who let me crash in his room at Defcon when I was a minor and was too young to book my own room. This kicked off 20 years of friendship. He was brilliant, zany, ADD x 1000, and always endearing and loving. In 2008 I was lucky to collaborate on DNS issues with Dan when he discovered a new form of DNS cache poisoning and spent years helping the Internet upgrade and defend against a serious and significant vulnerability. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for this and so much of his other work. He was a hacker's hacker, and the guy you want in your corner. Very sad to hear this news.

eplanit 6y ago
I saw him speak at BlackHat in 2008 when he presented that work -- _everyone_ was there. It was an amazing presentation, and I was properly filled with respect for Dan. So very sad that he's gone so young.
- xbar 6y ago
  I was there that year, too. And the year before and after. And at ToorCon that year, which was tiny and it was great to talk to him there. Many of my journeys to conferences were because he was on the docket. A true inspiration in infosec.
- jxf 6y ago
  Was this talk recorded?
  - xbar 6y ago
    It was. Well, his Defcon version is an identical talk given the same week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pp72gUYx00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pp72gUYx00
    - jka 6y ago
      Thanks for the link; would you like to submit that as a separate HN submission as well, including [video] in the title? (I think that'd be within the site guidelines[1]) Might post it myself if you'd prefer not to; I figured it might make sense for you to claim the credit/karma. [1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

quelsolaar 6y ago

I had dinner with Dan once, he ”social engineered” me and claimed he forgot to bring money. I knew what he was doing, but also knew that if picking up the tab was the price i had to pay for getting to hang out with him, I got the better end of the Deal. Rest In Peace

fefe23 6y ago
You may have misread the situation. I have known him for decades, and I have never seen him take advantage of another person. Not ever. Not even once. If he said he forgot to bring money, then he probably did. Let us raise a cup to his name. A kind soul and an inspiration to us all.
- atdrummond 6y ago
  For what it’s worth, he had left his wallet elsewhere at a large dinner where a friend ended up paying for the group anyway. They didn’t expect him to pay and yet he paid them back fairly promptly and actually gave a few cents more than he technically owed - which he claimed was interest at the prevailing rate. I certainly don’t see him “hacking” his way to a free dinner on a(n) (un)suspecting victim.
  - igetspam 6y ago
    Agreed. I've eaten and had many drinks with Dan. He was generous. Never cared about throwing a few bucks down to help someone else eat or drink. We often had very large group dinners at conferences and Dan typically threw in a few extra to cover those who weren't as well off. (Standard practice for these things.) Definitely feels like a misread.
- quelsolaar 6y ago
  > You may have misread the situation. Very true. Either way, I didn't feel taken advantage of. He truly was special, and I'm incredibly happy I got to spend some time with him.
samatman 6y ago

ttul 6y ago

Dan was at Santa Clara in the spring of 1998 when I was there on an exchange. Unbeknownst to me, I was watching South Park in the dorm’s TV lounge next to a future internet legend. We later made the connection through mutual friends and he became a technical advisor to my startup. Dan was always generous with his time and expertise. He was the kind of person whom you could expect could easily become very rich, but was entirely unmotivated by money. Dan was fascinated to learn the inner workings of things we all take for granted - such as the DNS. A true hacker.

WesleyHale 6y ago
He sounds like a real role model. Thank you for sharing.

HugoDaniel 6y ago

:( RIP

thathndude 6y ago

I’m not in the industry. But I instantly recognize the name from the occasional touches I have with info sec. that tells me all I need to know About how big of a loss this is. Condolences to those who knew him.

borski 6y ago

‘dang, can we get a black bar for Dan? I can’t think of many people who deserve it more.

leethacker3 6y ago

Suicide or drugs? I’m betting drugs

qyi 6y ago

Heard of him since his DNS vulns. Never read or watched his presentations until recently. It was a breath of fresh air seeing him talk. I thought "this is a true hacker. no corporate BS". Damn.

sneak 6y ago

Dan always went out of his way to do nice things based on his resources and connections to benefit me, when he totally didn't need to. A lot of the great things and people in my life came from him. The world is worse off without him.

jpgvm 6y ago

Loss of a legend, CCC and Blackhat will never be the same.

automathematics 6y ago

RIP to a legend

rediguanayum 6y ago

RIP thank you Dan for making the internet a safer place.

Dieselroar88 6y ago

Dan was a wonderful human. I truly cannot believe that he took the time to help create something with me. Absolutely god damn heart breaking. A wonderful reminder that true brilliance and humanity can coexist. Thank you for everything

ryan-c 6y ago

I remember attending Dan Kaminsky’s talk at DEFCON 12 and being blown away by it. Three years later, I went on the original “Hackers on a Plane” trip and ended up seated next to Dan on one of the flights. We quickly became friends. His mentorship over the years had an enormous impact on me. We both went back to CCCamp in 2011. I excitedly told him about a reverse DNS scanning project (0.0.0.0/0 in 12 hours on AWS for like $50), and then we ended up talking about the Debian RNG bug and password security, walking around camp watching the lightning in the distance. When I was doing my original brainwallet research back in 2013 and cracked the woodchuck wallet the first thing I did after showing my ex (then girlfriend) was call him. I told him I’d found something but didn’t feel comfortable discussing over the phone. He invited me over. My ex and I hopped on BART headed into SF and met him at the loft he was living at above a motorcycle shop. We talked and carefully planned and then I accidentally made 250 BTC vanish. Dan looked at me and said “[my ex] and I are going to go for a walk and return with burritos. You’re going to calm down and have this fixed by the time we get back. It’ll be okay.” It was, and I did. I’d simply forgotten about change addresses for a brief moment of terror. I think the first time he mentioned wanting to hire me was a few months later at a Bitcoin conference in San Jose. He believed in me. I went on to work alongside him at White Ops (now known as Human Security) in 2014. He brought me on stage with him at DEFCON that year. He spent a lot of time helping me put together a CFP submission about my brainwallet research for DEFCON the following year and then helped me put together slides, rehearse, and had a professional help me refine everything. I couldn’t have done it without him. My wedding was about six weeks before DEFCON - Dan showed up in an Uber, about an hour late. He explained that he’d confused Menlo Park for Morgan Hill when planning to leave. I was just thrilled to have him there. Dan was a supportive friend, a great mentor, and a delightful colleague. I really can’t overstate what a positive impact he had on my life. It’s hard to believe he’s really gone. That I’ll never get to swap stories about our respective side projects with him again. I miss him. https://rya.nc/threads/dakami-eulogy.html https://rya.nc/threads/dakami-eulogy.html https://twitter.com/ryancdotorg/status/1385989257638993922 https://twitter.com/ryancdotorg/status/1385989257638993922

specialist 6y ago
> It’ll be okay. That's just terrific. Thank you for sharing. I'm sorry for your loss.

sneak 6y ago

Does anyone have a copy of the sources for Paketto Keiretsu? It seems to have disappeared from his website(s) some years ago and I kept meaning to ask him for a copy. It was an early inspiration for a lot of my L3-in-userspace work.

ryan-c 6y ago
Yeah, I have a copy.
achillean 6y ago
It's where I learned about stateless scanning. Without scanrand and its stateless scanning technique Shodan wouldn't have been possible.
synack 6y ago
There's an old version here https://packetstormsecurity.com/files/30489/paketto-1.10.tar.gz.html https://packetstormsecurity.com/files/30489/paketto-1.10.tar...
ryan-c 6y ago
https://rya.nc/files/paketto-2.00pre5.tar.gz https://rya.nc/files/paketto-2.00pre5.tar.gz I'm not sure whether I got it directly from him or if I had a saved copy, but that's the most recent version.
- throwaway039093 6y ago
  This version is also available from archive.org: https://web.archive.org/web/20070702232113/https://www.doxpara.com/paketto-2.00pre5.tar.gz https://web.archive.org/web/20070702232113/https://www.doxpa...

jka 6y ago

My memory of Dan is seeing him speak on-stage at SF security b-sides, some time in the mid 2010s. He'd enjoyed a few drinks by the point he spoke to everyone, and the resulting honesty (accompanied by what I sensed as trepidation from the audience, about seeing a respected speaker in a vulnerable state) left a mark on me. He was right: software security nowadays is a swiss-cheese mess, and the industry isn't addressing it. His speech instructed me and perhaps others in the audience to deal with that new reality and adjust to it. It's tough for the original hacker / cypherpunk / purist mentality to adjust to. But it's where we are now, and it's a mindset that'll never die even if all of us that subscribe to it do. RIP Dan.

jka 6y ago
The parent comment was written early into my reaction to the news and I think I was a bit histrionic in my commentary about the security industry. People are helping, and that's commendable. It can be difficult when it appears that we are building and deploying so much more software than we are maintaining and securing. I don't know exactly what mindset will win out - either an assumption that information always leaks and that that's helpful to catch people when they might fall, and/or a mindset that believes it's necessary to be able to create private channels -- if perhaps not private spaces, for safety reasons (is there a digital distinction there? could there be?). Fragmentation and/or consensus are two possible paths forwards (that different communities are already exploring).
- UweSchmidt 6y ago
  Maybe you weren't histrionic enough? I couldn't name one class of software or hardware, nor one layer in the 'stack' that hasn't been compromised. The only conclusion is to admit failure (as an industry) and rebuild everything from the ground up.
  - ta988 6y ago
    We always have to do compromises designing these things. Either we don't have the talents, we disagree on the methods, we ignored a chunk of the problem, we don't have the ressources, we deliberately degrade to please the senders of a letter-we-cant-talk-about... I prefer the approach where we solve problems incrementaly as we discover them because in the long term it addresses all of those shortcomings eventually.

edgan 6y ago

He will be dearly missed. :( He gave the best Defcon talks.

DeleGiwa 6y ago

Rest in Peace Dan Kaminsky https://www.theartsofentertainment.com/dan-kaminsky-death-dan-kaminsky-obituary-cause-of-death/ https://www.theartsofentertainment.com/dan-kaminsky-death-da...

0xbadcafebee 6y ago

Aw poop. Nicest guy I ever met in the hacker scene. Sending best wishes and love to his friends and family.

laurex 6y ago

Dan sublet my apartment a number of years ago, and it was a thrill to see the impact of his work over time. I'm very sad to hear this news.

Communitivity 6y ago

A sad day. A legend has passed - legendary for his skills, for his generosity, and for his personality. He was a true renaissance man - hacker, writer, presenter, philantropist, piano-player, composer, and good guy.

1cvmask 6y ago

RIP Dan. Dan was one of the great reasons to attend in person the Vegas security circus (B Sides, Black Hat and Defcon). My other favorite presenters ranged from Barnaby Jack (also deceased) to Moxie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnaby_Jack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnaby_Jack

filmgirlcw 6y ago

H was a wonderful person who was always generous with his time. I’m so sad that he is gone. It isn’t hyperbolic to say that we as a tech community are better because of him.

samatman 6y ago

December 2019. I flew out to SF, and we hacked for ten days. He saved our company from extinction. I won't discuss the sequel to that, because it doesn't reflect well on some people who don't deserve that in this eulogy. But I will say that we retained our friendship through it all. I'm absolutely gutted at this news. What a shining human being. A terrible loss.

cookguyruffles 6y ago
First rule of eulogies: don't abuse the privilege to shit on people

dominicjj 6y ago

Apart from the DNS cache poisoning attack, Dan did some vital followup work on the Sony CD rootkit discovered by Mark Russinovich. Sony's early defence was that it wouldn't affect the Internet. Dan showed using DNS caches that it had already affected over half a million networks on the Internet: https://web.archive.org/web/20080423212131/http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2005/11/69573 https://web.archive.org/web/20080423212131/http://www.wired.... A smart man and a nice man. RIP.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

yownie 6y ago

Him along with Aaron Schwartz, two great hackers cut down too early.

ModernMech 6y ago
It's Aaron Swartz fyi.

j3th9n 6y ago

"Of the seven Recovery Key Shareholders who possess the ability to restore the DNS root keys, Dan is the American representative." -https://dankaminsky.com/bio/ https://dankaminsky.com/bio/

sebmellen 6y ago
I wonder what the procedures are to change the Recovery Key Shareholders in the event of a death like this. Interesting article here https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/the-problem-with-the-seven-keys-13-2-2017-en https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/the-problem-with-the-....
- invasi0n 6y ago
  Currently being assessed, given current global issues it poses come additional challenges but the community will find a way.
  - sebmellen 6y ago
    Wow, your first comment since 2014! Are you deeply involved with ICANN? It seems you know are well-informed about the internals.
    - invasi0n 6y ago
      I lurk a lot =) Yes have been involved in various capacities for many years now (not staff for the record)

rdl 6y ago

Dan was basically the best example of "infectious enthusiasm" combined with being really smart and interested in a lot of stuff. He was one of the first "security people" who got interested in bitcoin as a network, plus all his DNS stuff, and a lot of other things. He's going to be missed by a lot of people around the world for a long time.

Rafuino 6y ago

I met him at Defcon 21 and ran across him again when I was running a developer hardware access project in my last job just a couple years back. He struck me as incredibly curious (as a hacker must be!) and was a pleasure to work with. The friends who introduced me to him at Defcon are devastated for a reason... rest in peace.

rmac 6y ago

Seeing him present his work on stage at DC was one of those things I'll never forget: the technical excellence, the dazzling visualizations, his comfortable and confident style, and whether you agreed with it or not -- his own point of view, not a thinly veiled corporate / gov / academic shill. Dan: streams a tv show over DNS Crowd: goes wild He was one of the ones who I aspire to be: to show others they can do .*

bitexploder 6y ago

I first met Dan on Slashdot over 20 years ago. Over a decade after I first met him on Slashdot I got into information security and had the opportunity to share a few meals and hangout with Dan now and again. His natural curiosity about all technology is what I always will remember about Dan. He was such a good technologist. RIP. Edit: plus watching him and tqbf argue on Twitter about stuff was always fun.

billyhoffman 6y ago

I met Dan at FooCamp in 2004. I was a college kid at the time and a weekend event of people like Larry Wall or Ester Dyson was super intimidating. I was feeling a little isolated and lonely when I saw this guy in a black 2600 tshirt over by the “FooBar” bar and thought “finally someone I can talk to!” He was so welcoming and engaging it broke the ice and made the whole weekend worth it. We started talking about tunneling various protocols over DNS and ended up doing a midnight stroll with Fyodor all around Sevastopol looking for “interesting” things. That’s the kind of guy Dan was. Everyone felt his warmth. Dan was a rare mix of genius with an over the top personality. Seeing what crazy RFC-bending project Dan was doing was one of the best things about going out to Blackhat, DEFCON, or RSA. He is easily one of the best presenters I’ve ever seen: a perfect blend of compelling story, esoteric tech details, and those classic Dan mischievous grins. I will miss you dearly Dan

vabmit 6y ago

RIP, Dan. I work with a lot of very smart people. So, I've gotten a bit used to it and don't normally find myself in awe of many people's intelligence. Dan was a person that I was absolutely in awe of. The fist time I met him very long ago (almost 20 years), he showed me code he wrote to share movies through abused DNS slaves... building a p2p network like Napser/Gnutella from the technology. No one had ever thought of such a thing. I don't think anyone else in the world knew DNS well enough to be inspired to think of it. He was so kind and friendly to everyone. It was fun to talk with him about tech/security because he had such enthusiasm and excitement... like a little kid on Christmas or a puppy. :) I learned a lot from him. I have nothing but great memories of him. I remember once when someone hacked him. He even took that in good humor and didn't let it bother him.

tlb 6y ago

What a shame. I had many enjoyable conversations with him over the years at various events. He was a hacker's hacker and a gentleman.

sillysaurusx 6y ago

I’m shocked. I didn’t know Dan except via Twitter. What happened? He was so curious about everything that it caught my attention, and I’m not just saying that. He pointed out how good the GPT-Neo samples were, which I hadn’t seen before. I didn’t know he was anything except an enthusiastic person interested in AI. He even tried to help me with my M1 build of tensorflow. https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Adakami%20to%3Atheshawwn&src=typed_query https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Adakami%20to%3Atheshawwn&... I’ll miss him.

floatingatoll 6y ago
Regarding your question, the link above answers it: “Please keep speculation to yourself and be respectful of his family and friends.”
- sillysaurusx 6y ago
  I was just in mild shock. I clicked through his Twitter profile and saw his icon, and my heart dropped. Perhaps appreciate the people around you, I suppose. Never know when they’ll be the last words you exchange with them.

ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago

I did not know him (but I have heard his name for years), but, from the comments here, I feel that the industry has lost a great humanitarian, as well as a skilled and talented person. So sorry for the loss.

deleted 6y ago

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burtonator 6y ago

This really hits me hard. Dan was the kind of guy you read about and were almost intimidated by his work. Then you met the guy and realized he's just an awesome guy. This just insanely sad. I'm really sick of hearing about my friends passing - especially when they're brilliant.

psaux 6y ago

Dan was a great soul and genius, this is very sad to hear. Dan made life fun, my stomach would hurt from laughing so hard with him. I am looking over our chats, and found a video he sent me that I can’t stop watching. He was working on streaming VM state to the cloud and decided a mouse wasn’t fun, so busted out a turntable to control it in realtime. It totally worked and was way better! He even starts making record scratching sounds. I love how someone posted the DEFCON shot of his nap, that made me smile! Remember those moments of joy. Much love to his family and friends.

adfm 6y ago

I first met Dan in Santa Clara at some event when he came over to our table and showed off some ssh fu. We’d reconnect at events every so often and he’d always share his latest interest. I recall once Dan turning me on to the unique world of software produced and shared primarily by doctors who code by opening a video of a jet engine crash landing in an MRI viewer app. The time after that, he was telling me about going to see the new Star Trek movie that had just come out and how his friend couldn’t see the green alien lady, which led him to build one of the first truly useful applications of augmented reality with his colorblindness app. When people say Dan Kaminski was a hacker’s hacker, it’s with good cause. Not only did he defend the Internet from itself, but he changed the way people see the world. He put a noticeable dent in the universe.

madrox 6y ago

I met Dan at BarcampLA, and his talks stuck with me. I’ve relived moments from those talks throughout my career, and I’m a more security conscious person because of it. He was one of those rare security folks that still retained his fundamentally optimistic view of humanity, though I think that may be rare of any human now that I think about it. If Tomorrowland were an actual thing, Dan definitely would’ve been invited. I hope he knew how much he inspired.

melb-un-er 6y ago

Oh no! I met Dan during my time first working on DNS in 2008. He came to many of us with the cache poisoning bug he discovered and pulled us together to address the vulnerabilities before it became public. I remember thinking thank god this guy is using his powers for good, because the damage he could easily do would be significant. After that I ran into him numerous times over the years, at conferences and airports (we seemed to always be leaving or arriving from different places at the same time), and he was always so kind, interesting and interested. I feel lucky to have known him. The works is a sadder, emptier place today.

lawrenceyan 6y ago

Through it all, there were those who fought valiantly against the tsunami of fakery and fabrication, generating new methods and protocols to hold back the tide undermining consensus reality. Rest in peace Dan.

alisonkisk 6y ago

The tweet is a strange announcement. Usually an announcement like this is by or refers to next of kin sharing the news. Is Marc Rogers Dan's family, or close friend?

hedgehog 6y ago
Marc is among other things longtime DEFCON staff.
rincebrain 6y ago
It was the most authoritative report I could find at the time, albeit a reaction to other people having shared the news on Twitter first (I found a number of people complaining at the one or two people who first tweeted about it, saying it shouldn't have been shared so soon.) In the interim, obviously a great many additional people and sources have reported it that could be chosen instead.
igetspam 6y ago
Marc knew Dan very well. He's as close as almost anyone that isn't Dan's family and his family would like some privacy.

wheresmycraisin 6y ago

Dan was exceptionally good at explaining his complex work, and he always did so with 100% passion. He will be missed.

fortran77 6y ago

His final tweet: https://twitter.com/dakami/status/1383978072655818753 https://twitter.com/dakami/status/1383978072655818753

CryptoPunk 6y ago
Technically this was his final tweet: https://twitter.com/dakami/status/1384011738807341065?s=19 https://twitter.com/dakami/status/1384011738807341065?s=19
- xallarap 6y ago
  Just wanted to apologize for my below post, it should have read Coca Cola, not Diet Coke.

brownglock 6y ago

I was fortunate enough to meet Dan in the flesh at RSAC and engage in Twitter conversations after that. He didn’t suffer fools gladly, or at all. No higher praise than that.

josh2600 6y ago

Dan was like family to me. I remember so many evenings talking to him with all the stops out for countless hours about a universe of topics. Interacting with his brain was like what I imagine it would feel like to be caught between a supernova and a black hole. He was such a generous soul. There are so many things that existed because Dan sprinkled some magic here and there. He was incredibly charming, making electrons dance in ways I never thought possible. The man was a technomage, a grey-hatted magician. Dan was far from perfect but I am thankful for every moment I spent with him. He was the first person to tell me that he believed in me when I was starting a hard technology company (I had never really managed any software project before). I will miss Dan’s kind and generous soul until my dying breath. A true titan in all senses of the word.

brownglock 6y ago

I was fortunate to be introduced to Dan at RSAC and then engage via Twitter. He didn’t suffer fools gladly, or at all. No higher praise...

sillyquiet 6y ago

So many different stories in this thread from people about how much of a mentor, friend, and inspiration he was. There's a simple Yiddish word for this kind of person: mensh. That's a great tribute.

beprogrammed 6y ago

Damn, we are all worse off for it.

moepstein 6y ago

I loved the complexity of his thoughts, and the nonlinearity of our conversations. The way I could plop down next to him, ask him what he was doing, working on, or thinking, and he always had the time and inclination to talk without a hint of condescension. I'll miss his infectious excitement, the way he could weave narratives from lines of code, and his goofy sense of humor.

nomy99 6y ago

I’m one of those people who never knew you. Ironically, Your death brought forth your achievements for me. I’m impressed and I wish I had interacted with you. RIP

alexnewman 6y ago

I hope when I die people care

MrLeap 6y ago
Isn't affecting that outcome, for good or ill - the primary work product of our lives? What else can we do?
- CyberRabbi 6y ago
  Reproduce
  - sitkack 6y ago
    Kindness, generosity and wonder transcend biology.
    - CyberRabbi 6y ago
      Not if you don’t exist

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

yoloyoloyoloa 6y ago
He took the vaccine two weeks ago. Check on his twitter. I suspect blood clots

walterbell 6y ago

Short tribute from Elonka Dunin earlier today, https://www.facebook.com/elonka/posts/10164920101840459 https://www.facebook.com/elonka/posts/10164920101840459

candeira 6y ago

Dan answered earnestly and generously to some uninformed questions I emailed him at random one day. He was a good man. My condolences to his friends and family.

antonzabirko 6y ago

How old was he? Any cause out yet?

davrosthedalek 6y ago

It feels wrong to upvote a story of somebody dying. How about such stories are pinned and don't have to be voted on to stay on the front page, at least for a couple of days?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
samhwr 6y ago
I just wanted to say I agree with you and I don’t know why you were downvoted. This seems to me a well-intentioned and quite reasonable request.
- quickthrower2 6y ago
  You are simply upvoting to say “this submission is important”.
  - samhwr 6y ago
    Are you telling me why I upvoted, or (by implication) why his original post was downvoted by others? Because yes, I’d argue it was important. (I’m sorry if I’m not familiar with the rules here quite yet.)
    - quickthrower2 6y ago
      Sorry my bad grammar there. By you I meant the collective “you” of HN not you specifically. While any person can individually upvote for any reason they like. I suspect most upvote a death announcement as a sign of respect for the person - a kind of anonymous electronic “hear hear” I had never heard of Dan Kaminsky because I’m a typical 9-5 app dev who knows as much about security as I need to but never watch black hat or defcon presentations. It’s really interesting to peak into this world and discover someone who seemed to be a hero to many and unwittingly to me as it sounds like he has helped make the internet more secure. I appreciate the work of people who bring the issues to our attention. I’m beginning to go down the privacy rabbit hole (Pi holes etc.) as a result.

architect 6y ago

The fact that we aren't told what he died of is beyond suspicious! If he died of cancer why not tell so? If he had a heart attack why keep it secret?? An accident? Sad yes, but no reason for "please don't speculate" Without jumping to conclusions - how much would it cost to hire a private investigator?

swat535 6y ago

Let us take a moment to slow down and think about how fragile life really is. Dan was a bright person and loved by many. The value he added to this world will not be forgotten and let us take comfort in the fact that some of us had the great fortune of meeting him. Rest in peace Dan.

notklaatu 6y ago

It's so sad to lose Dan. I met him back in 2008, I think it was, at a Barcamp in L.A. I was lucky enough to precede his talk, and he was gracious enough to sit through mine. He was a blast to talk to and to learn from. Even his questions were educational. For me, he was one of my earliest examples of what a hacker was and should be. I aspire to his level of curiosity, openness, and kindness, and he'll be missed.

zestyping 6y ago

Kind, generous, warm, infectiously enthusiastic, and always curious. I have long held kindness and curiosity as the highest of virtues and that's what comes to mind when I think of Dan, together with a crushing sadness at what we have lost. This is a lovely moment I captured of Dan having a good time. I like 0:29 in particular, and wanted to share it with you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4jRaetW7k0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4jRaetW7k0

jbirer 6y ago

As sorry as I am that he died, he was no celebrity or anybody of special status, just another statistic. My condolences but I wish I did not see the ugly black border on top.

vages 6y ago

Has anyone else noticed the thin black bar across the top of the HN pages today? I think it may be because of this.

jdougan 6y ago

I had a few hours with Dan at a Think Conference, back in 2008. I was working on a Smalltalk implementation of SSL, and it was having connection issues to different servers. So someone pointed me at him, and he walked me through how to troubleshoot it. Didn't find the problem then, but it made it a lot easier later. He was one of the good guys. I'll miss him.

bunnie 6y ago

Dan will be missed. I am saddened by his passing and my heart goes out to his family.

strenholme 6y ago

Rest in peace Dan Kaminsky and prayers for his family and friends. He was a very good colleague and someone who I am honored to have interacted with. (Context here: He publicized a big DNS security hole which my MaraDNS never had, because I read Daniel Bernstein’s writings)

samhwr 6y ago

NXDOMAIN :(

throwaway039093 6y ago

My very first memory of the in-person security world is from watching Dan talk outside of the Alexis Park back in 2004. I was drinking bourbon from a plastic water cup. He was doing a live demo showing streaming audio proxied by DNS servers. I will never forget the sense of wonder I felt listening to that talk.

leet_hakkerz 6y ago

Drugs or COVID? Wah wah.

xallarap 6y ago
Saudists or Diet coke?

relyks 6y ago

I really wish HN had the black bar linked to an obituary or an article about the person (or some other method of distinguishing who it is for). It isn't always obvious who is being recognized or memorialized. Getting the black bar isn't that common

ponytech 6y ago

I am among the people who met him at a conference (CCC 2006 for me) and at the after party. I remember he was super friendly. I'm very sad to hear that news. RIP

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

logicalmonster 6y ago

I'm genuinely sad that anybody died. Everlasting peace to him. Just want to post the objectively true and unquestionably verifiable facts for the record. https://twitter.com/dakami/status/1381716799905886210 https://twitter.com/dakami/status/1381716799905886210 https://archive.is/1zYlW https://archive.is/1zYlW Dan Kaminsky @dakami Back to Vaxcon, at Moscone South. I think I’ve literally worked a booth 20 feet from here; injections are now on the show floor. Again, a smooth, efficient, well oiled operation. So proud of San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente for executing like total bosses. Vaxxed! 5:12 PM · Apr 12, 2021

sunkenvicar 6y ago

I understand keeping the details of his death private. But at this time anti-vaxxers are running rampant.

deleted 6y ago

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