7 ms·

Daniel Kaminsky, Internet Security Savior, Dies at 42

241 points by hughmandeville 5y ago

iso1631 5y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26925044 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26925044 (174 comments)
1vuio0pswjnm7 5y ago
Something I do not see being mentioned in this NYTimes or TheRegister article. If I am not mistaken he was the one who had the idea for "VisualHostKey"in SSH. I remember a column/article about "advanced" SSH usage from him in early 2000's.
- fjarlq 5y ago
  The author of that OpenSSH feature, Alexander von Gernler, tells that story: https://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article;sid=20080615022750 https://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article;sid=20080615022750 Video of Kaminsky exploring the problem and how to fix it, 10 minutes into "Black Ops 2006 Viz Edition": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT2hOyK2qv4#t=9m58s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT2hOyK2qv4#t=9m58s
jedberg 5y ago
Since a lot of people seem to care most about this part: "His aunt, Dr. Toby Maurer, said the cause was diabetes ketoacidosis, a serious diabetic condition that led to his frequent hospitalization in recent years."
- sillysaurusx 5y ago
  As a PSA, if you happen to have diabetes and COVID, you should desist from taking certain diabetes drugs, or else it can cause diabetes ketoacidosis: https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210112/common-diabetes-meds-tied-to-serious-covid-19-complication#1 https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210112/common-diabetes-med... Nasty condition.
  - diegoperini 5y ago
    My diabetic dad responded to the vaccine in a similar manner. We spent one scary day in the hospital. After changing his pills to insulin shots (temporarily for a month), he started getting well again.
    - gregsadetsky 5y ago
      May I ask what kind of diabetes does he have, and what vaccine did he get? Asking as some people close to me are diabetic and will be getting their shots soon. Thanks a lot
      - walterbell 5y ago
        There is ongoing anecdata and data collection. https://www.reddit.com/r/diabetes/search?q=vaccine+blood+sugar&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on https://www.reddit.com/r/diabetes/search?q=vaccine+blood+sug... https://medalerts.org/vaersdb/findfield.php?TABLE=ON&GROUP1=AGE&EVENTS=ON&SYMPTOMS=Diabetic+ketoacidosis+%2810012671%29&VAX=COVID19&WhichAge=range&LOWAGE=&HIGHAGE=60 https://medalerts.org/vaersdb/findfield.php?TABLE=ON&GROUP1=...
      - xxs 5y ago
        not the original poster: Type 2. Type 1 is strictly insulin dependent (and always at least 'medium severe')
      - diegoperini 5y ago
        He is Type 2 and he got the Sinovac one. Edit: I think I must share his medical history too: He is 65. 2007: diabetes 2018: multiple myeloma 2019: 6 months of kemo 2020: bone marrow transplant 2021: cancer is currently dormant, 2 shots of Sinovac in 30 days
- redis_mlc 5y ago
  Some non-doctor info on first-time T2 diabetes ketoacidosis for overweight people, and ironically, one benefit: 1) symptoms are losing 1 pound per day, vision "graying out" and constant thirst, and tiredness/loss of focus, and eventually coma and death 2) if you're overweight but otherwise healthy (you walk daily and have strong cardio), you can "ride down" the weight loss for a month or two to lose 30 - 40 pounds. This is the easiest rapid weight loss that works for most people and helps greatly with diabetes. (Do not do this if you're otherwise unhealthy. See a doctor immediately if you feel it's necessary, or if you don't understand your health state at any time.) What happens is that your body fat is consumed for calories instead of normal nutrition (since your pancreas isn't producing insulin). This affects your blood chemistry, which does affect your heart. After you lose 30 - 40 pounds, your pancreas may function better, ending the ketoacidosis. 3) read food labels and avoid HFCS and sugar. (ketoacidosis can be triggered by 3 or 4 regular Cokes daily, so don't drink that. Coke Zero is ok, but think about drinking non-soda alternatives like tea or coffee with Splenda.) Eat at regular times, and do not skip eating for a day or you could (likely) go into a coma. What will happen is that the weight loss and reduction in sugar from #2 and #3 will reduce the effects of ketoacidosis and may stop it, and possibly stop T2. At that point you need to learn about long-term mgmt., including weight loss, exercise and eating a high-quality diet (home-cooked traditional foods) at regular times daily. 4) After #3, if you still have the symptoms in #1, you need to see a doctor/ICU immediately since medium or long-term ketoacidosis is fatal. The doctor will prescribe insulin or other medicine like metformin and you will need to do glucose monitoring. Even gaining 5 pounds can trigger ketoacidosis again, so don't do that.
  - candiodari 5y ago
    If you value your life (or merely living it without constant pain) you do NOT follow option 2. This option is like taking poison to lose weight (yes there are "options"), hoping it won't build to lethal levels while everything around your body is changing. It will have serious, permanent consequences even if it works. And if it doesn't work, you may not be able to react in time, and then it may kill you, or worse, it may not kill you but do long term or permanent damage. If you lose weight faster than 100gr per week max consult a doctor immediately and have your liver tested (keep in mind that you have a "weight cycle" that makes a 100kg adult's weight fluctuate by ~3kg and up to 5kg per day. For example you should drink 2 liters of water per day, of course that changes your weight by 2 kg. Same with food (longer cycle, takes 2-3 days to get through). However if you lose 6-7kg in a month, that's definitely too much. Go see a doctor and stop it). Btw: not because the liver is likely to be the problem, it is going to be in trouble, which will trigger a response from the doctor to look for the problem (first step is establishing there is an actual problem).
- xxs 5y ago
  >diabetic condition that led to his frequent hospitalization in recent years What I don't realize - he is obviously brilliant, so controlling diabetics via insulin shots should not be hard. Ketoacidosis usually takes at least a day or two of uncontrolled blood glucose (13+ mmol/l), he'd likely feel the symptoms well enough - thirst, fatigue. As the article explains, he deeply cared about medical conditions of others. Ketoacidosis would be a horrible way to go for such a brilliant hacker.
  - walterbell 5y ago
    His tweets have referenced insulin in the past, so there must have been other complications.
  - paulcole 5y ago
    > he is obviously brilliant, so controlling diabetics via insulin shots should not be hard Being brilliant and the ease someone has controlling diabetes aren’t necessarily related. The higher you are for a long time, the less you’ll notice the highs. When I was diagnosed, my A1C was over 13, so I’d likely been averaging 300+ for weeks. I felt like shit but it came on slowly over a period of months. It had been so long that I didn’t know what it felt like to feel normal. But I’m also quite stupid, so take this with a grain of salt.
    - jbn 5y ago
      "But I’m also quite stupid, so take this with a grain of salt" <-- this sounds like genuine humility, thanks for this, we only see this rarely.
    - xxs 5y ago
      I can understand not knowing the very 1st time (prior diagnosis), or a denial as there is no cure. Most Type 1 diabetes takes weeks/months to be diagnosed, indeed. However, his case was years long - I'd expect he'd have had a glucometer and at least a test a day (it takes less than 10sec). That's the controlling part. It's much easier to die from hypoglycemia than hyper one with insulin treated diabetes, with the former taking mere minutes and switching the brain entirely off.
sillysaurusx 5y ago
Archive link, for paywall bypass: https://archive.is/YwzXs https://archive.is/YwzXs I don't know why Daniel's death has impacted me so much, but it has. I think it's because he was just starting to look into AI.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
fefe23 5y ago
I have to say: This is a beautiful eulogy. We should all strive in life to get a eulogy this beautiful when we die.
- tobr 5y ago
  The hard part is finding out if you managed to achieve it.
  - SuchAnonMuchWow 5y ago
    Note that it's not completely impossible: most journals have already written eulogy of a lot of famous and old people
    - petercooper 5y ago
      Tangentially related, I saw this movie recently and it was really touching: https://www.statnews.com/2020/10/01/her-father-developed-dementia-she-made-a-documentary-a-surreal-hilarious-one-about-the-end-of-his-life/ https://www.statnews.com/2020/10/01/her-father-developed-dem...
  - keiferski 5y ago
    You could always fake your own death and then visit the funeral, as in Kurosawa’s famous film The Bad Sleep Well. https://youtu.be/-_DPoSV-nxM https://youtu.be/-_DPoSV-nxM
  - mensetmanusman 5y ago
    In Korea they sometimes hold mock funerals for those who have attempted suicide to help them grieve the situation.
- Leparamour 5y ago
  > We should all strive in life to get a eulogy this beautiful when we die. I guess it helps being aligned with the NYT's political stance. I doubt Kaminsky would have received such a glowing eulogy had he been critical of CRT or "cancel culture" publicly.
sneak 5y ago
Here's a silly picture I took of Dan with my hedgehog. He will be missed. https://dl.sneak.cloud/2011/20111230-dan-hal.jpg https://dl.sneak.cloud/2011/20111230-dan-hal.jpg
jasonladuke0311 5y ago
> Without her knowledge, Mr. Kaminsky had been examining military websites. The administrator vowed to “punish” him by cutting off the family’s internet access. Mrs. Maurer warned the administrator that if he made good on his threat, she would take out an advertisement in The San Francisco Chronicle denouncing the Pentagon’s security. “I will take out an ad that says, ‘Your security is so crappy, even an 11-year-old can break it,’” Mrs. Maurer recalled telling the administrator, in an interview on Monday. Awesome mom.
- hodgesrm 5y ago
  It's worth reading the article just for that story. Sounds like a mom to be proud of.
rasikjain 5y ago
Thanks to HN, I came across this article. Great to learn about Mr. Kaminsky achievements and his contribution to internet security. Like the story of breaking into sensitive (Military) websites at the age of 11. Truly an "Internet Security Savior". RIP
jakub_g 5y ago
Not sure why this marked as dupe. The previous link was from 3 days ago and was a short Twitter message. Today's link is a full NYTimes article full of information.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26925044 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26925044 (174 comments)

Something I do not see being mentioned in this NYTimes or TheRegister article. If I am not mistaken he was the one who had the idea for "VisualHostKey"in SSH. I remember a column/article about "advanced" SSH usage from him in early 2000's.

fjarlq 5y ago
The author of that OpenSSH feature, Alexander von Gernler, tells that story: https://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article;sid=20080615022750 https://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article;sid=20080615022750 Video of Kaminsky exploring the problem and how to fix it, 10 minutes into "Black Ops 2006 Viz Edition": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT2hOyK2qv4#t=9m58s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT2hOyK2qv4#t=9m58s

jedberg 5y ago

Since a lot of people seem to care most about this part: "His aunt, Dr. Toby Maurer, said the cause was diabetes ketoacidosis, a serious diabetic condition that led to his frequent hospitalization in recent years."

sillysaurusx 5y ago
As a PSA, if you happen to have diabetes and COVID, you should desist from taking certain diabetes drugs, or else it can cause diabetes ketoacidosis: https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210112/common-diabetes-meds-tied-to-serious-covid-19-complication#1 https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210112/common-diabetes-med... Nasty condition.
- diegoperini 5y ago
  My diabetic dad responded to the vaccine in a similar manner. We spent one scary day in the hospital. After changing his pills to insulin shots (temporarily for a month), he started getting well again.
  - gregsadetsky 5y ago
    May I ask what kind of diabetes does he have, and what vaccine did he get? Asking as some people close to me are diabetic and will be getting their shots soon. Thanks a lot
    - walterbell 5y ago
      There is ongoing anecdata and data collection. https://www.reddit.com/r/diabetes/search?q=vaccine+blood+sugar&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on https://www.reddit.com/r/diabetes/search?q=vaccine+blood+sug... https://medalerts.org/vaersdb/findfield.php?TABLE=ON&GROUP1=AGE&EVENTS=ON&SYMPTOMS=Diabetic+ketoacidosis+%2810012671%29&VAX=COVID19&WhichAge=range&LOWAGE=&HIGHAGE=60 https://medalerts.org/vaersdb/findfield.php?TABLE=ON&GROUP1=...
    - xxs 5y ago
      not the original poster: Type 2. Type 1 is strictly insulin dependent (and always at least 'medium severe')
    - diegoperini 5y ago
      He is Type 2 and he got the Sinovac one. Edit: I think I must share his medical history too: He is 65. 2007: diabetes 2018: multiple myeloma 2019: 6 months of kemo 2020: bone marrow transplant 2021: cancer is currently dormant, 2 shots of Sinovac in 30 days
redis_mlc 5y ago
Some non-doctor info on first-time T2 diabetes ketoacidosis for overweight people, and ironically, one benefit: 1) symptoms are losing 1 pound per day, vision "graying out" and constant thirst, and tiredness/loss of focus, and eventually coma and death 2) if you're overweight but otherwise healthy (you walk daily and have strong cardio), you can "ride down" the weight loss for a month or two to lose 30 - 40 pounds. This is the easiest rapid weight loss that works for most people and helps greatly with diabetes. (Do not do this if you're otherwise unhealthy. See a doctor immediately if you feel it's necessary, or if you don't understand your health state at any time.) What happens is that your body fat is consumed for calories instead of normal nutrition (since your pancreas isn't producing insulin). This affects your blood chemistry, which does affect your heart. After you lose 30 - 40 pounds, your pancreas may function better, ending the ketoacidosis. 3) read food labels and avoid HFCS and sugar. (ketoacidosis can be triggered by 3 or 4 regular Cokes daily, so don't drink that. Coke Zero is ok, but think about drinking non-soda alternatives like tea or coffee with Splenda.) Eat at regular times, and do not skip eating for a day or you could (likely) go into a coma. What will happen is that the weight loss and reduction in sugar from #2 and #3 will reduce the effects of ketoacidosis and may stop it, and possibly stop T2. At that point you need to learn about long-term mgmt., including weight loss, exercise and eating a high-quality diet (home-cooked traditional foods) at regular times daily. 4) After #3, if you still have the symptoms in #1, you need to see a doctor/ICU immediately since medium or long-term ketoacidosis is fatal. The doctor will prescribe insulin or other medicine like metformin and you will need to do glucose monitoring. Even gaining 5 pounds can trigger ketoacidosis again, so don't do that.
- candiodari 5y ago
  If you value your life (or merely living it without constant pain) you do NOT follow option 2. This option is like taking poison to lose weight (yes there are "options"), hoping it won't build to lethal levels while everything around your body is changing. It will have serious, permanent consequences even if it works. And if it doesn't work, you may not be able to react in time, and then it may kill you, or worse, it may not kill you but do long term or permanent damage. If you lose weight faster than 100gr per week max consult a doctor immediately and have your liver tested (keep in mind that you have a "weight cycle" that makes a 100kg adult's weight fluctuate by ~3kg and up to 5kg per day. For example you should drink 2 liters of water per day, of course that changes your weight by 2 kg. Same with food (longer cycle, takes 2-3 days to get through). However if you lose 6-7kg in a month, that's definitely too much. Go see a doctor and stop it). Btw: not because the liver is likely to be the problem, it is going to be in trouble, which will trigger a response from the doctor to look for the problem (first step is establishing there is an actual problem).
xxs 5y ago
>diabetic condition that led to his frequent hospitalization in recent years What I don't realize - he is obviously brilliant, so controlling diabetics via insulin shots should not be hard. Ketoacidosis usually takes at least a day or two of uncontrolled blood glucose (13+ mmol/l), he'd likely feel the symptoms well enough - thirst, fatigue. As the article explains, he deeply cared about medical conditions of others. Ketoacidosis would be a horrible way to go for such a brilliant hacker.
- walterbell 5y ago
  His tweets have referenced insulin in the past, so there must have been other complications.
- paulcole 5y ago
  > he is obviously brilliant, so controlling diabetics via insulin shots should not be hard Being brilliant and the ease someone has controlling diabetes aren’t necessarily related. The higher you are for a long time, the less you’ll notice the highs. When I was diagnosed, my A1C was over 13, so I’d likely been averaging 300+ for weeks. I felt like shit but it came on slowly over a period of months. It had been so long that I didn’t know what it felt like to feel normal. But I’m also quite stupid, so take this with a grain of salt.
  - jbn 5y ago
    "But I’m also quite stupid, so take this with a grain of salt" <-- this sounds like genuine humility, thanks for this, we only see this rarely.
  - xxs 5y ago
    I can understand not knowing the very 1st time (prior diagnosis), or a denial as there is no cure. Most Type 1 diabetes takes weeks/months to be diagnosed, indeed. However, his case was years long - I'd expect he'd have had a glucometer and at least a test a day (it takes less than 10sec). That's the controlling part. It's much easier to die from hypoglycemia than hyper one with insulin treated diabetes, with the former taking mere minutes and switching the brain entirely off.

sillysaurusx 5y ago

Archive link, for paywall bypass: https://archive.is/YwzXs https://archive.is/YwzXs I don't know why Daniel's death has impacted me so much, but it has. I think it's because he was just starting to look into AI.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

fefe23 5y ago

I have to say: This is a beautiful eulogy. We should all strive in life to get a eulogy this beautiful when we die.

tobr 5y ago
The hard part is finding out if you managed to achieve it.
- SuchAnonMuchWow 5y ago
  Note that it's not completely impossible: most journals have already written eulogy of a lot of famous and old people
  - petercooper 5y ago
    Tangentially related, I saw this movie recently and it was really touching: https://www.statnews.com/2020/10/01/her-father-developed-dementia-she-made-a-documentary-a-surreal-hilarious-one-about-the-end-of-his-life/ https://www.statnews.com/2020/10/01/her-father-developed-dem...
- keiferski 5y ago
  You could always fake your own death and then visit the funeral, as in Kurosawa’s famous film The Bad Sleep Well. https://youtu.be/-_DPoSV-nxM https://youtu.be/-_DPoSV-nxM
- mensetmanusman 5y ago
  In Korea they sometimes hold mock funerals for those who have attempted suicide to help them grieve the situation.
Leparamour 5y ago
> We should all strive in life to get a eulogy this beautiful when we die. I guess it helps being aligned with the NYT's political stance. I doubt Kaminsky would have received such a glowing eulogy had he been critical of CRT or "cancel culture" publicly.

sneak 5y ago

Here's a silly picture I took of Dan with my hedgehog. He will be missed. https://dl.sneak.cloud/2011/20111230-dan-hal.jpg https://dl.sneak.cloud/2011/20111230-dan-hal.jpg

jasonladuke0311 5y ago

> Without her knowledge, Mr. Kaminsky had been examining military websites. The administrator vowed to “punish” him by cutting off the family’s internet access. Mrs. Maurer warned the administrator that if he made good on his threat, she would take out an advertisement in The San Francisco Chronicle denouncing the Pentagon’s security. “I will take out an ad that says, ‘Your security is so crappy, even an 11-year-old can break it,’” Mrs. Maurer recalled telling the administrator, in an interview on Monday. Awesome mom.

hodgesrm 5y ago
It's worth reading the article just for that story. Sounds like a mom to be proud of.

rasikjain 5y ago

Thanks to HN, I came across this article. Great to learn about Mr. Kaminsky achievements and his contribution to internet security. Like the story of breaking into sensitive (Military) websites at the age of 11. Truly an "Internet Security Savior". RIP

jakub_g 5y ago

Not sure why this marked as dupe. The previous link was from 3 days ago and was a short Twitter message. Today's link is a full NYTimes article full of information.