6 ms·

I've had a novel idea from years ago. For the most part, there is no security on mega yachts. Moreover, they hire random people to wash them and maintain them.

I've had a novel idea from years ago. For the most part, there is no security on mega yachts. Moreover, they hire random people to wash them and maintain them. It's nothing to gain access to the all the electronics in the cave under the wheelhouse. So, the novel idea is this, a bunch of kids from MIT or CalTech or where ever decide to bug yachts. They get unassuming jobs as deckhands and stewards to give themselves time to install devices like this DIY boat monitoring system along with microphones behind all the panelling around the yachts which are owned by CEOs of major companies. More or less, the device caches all the audio recordings and waits for the ship to enter a marina where it connects to wifi and sends the information home. They are looking for stock trading information, mostly. They are in the Caribbean maybe in St. Martin and overhear some nasty things by the Russian mafia. Someone made a mistake and they get caught. That's the beginning. The rest of the novel is a bunch of nerdy kids having to MacGyver their way out of the Caribbean while being chased by the most powerful and dangerous people on Earth.

batch12 5y ago
Ha, at the beginning I read the word novel as new. I was getting a little disturbed by this until I read on to understand this was fiction. Wrong novel :). Embarrassingly, this took too long to realize...
- nexuist 5y ago
  You are not alone!
- hnnnnnnng 5y ago
  I interpreted it the same way but instead of being disturbed I searched for boat cleaning jobs and wondered how much the CIA and other intelligence agencies invest in bugging mega yachts.
  - dataviz1000 5y ago
    Here is a popular list of available jobs.[0] The site started by listing day work jobs which means a job that is only day to day. The captain usually picks up the day workers in the morning who are crew between jobs and they sand the rails, varnish, clean bilges, wash the yachts, and detail the metal work. The site lists lots of other more permanent jobs too and is a popular resource for people in the industry. > "144192 5/4/2021 Yacht Looking for 8 day workers to wash and detail yacht on Monday May 10th. 8 hours. FT LAUDERDALE" That job probably pays $15 - $20 an hour cash under the table and the chef will make them all lunch. Not a bad gig job. 8 day workers? That's a lot, they wouldn't need that many people for 120 foot yacht[1]. The price of that yacht probably starts at something like $18,000,000. It would be a nothing burger to install anything on that boat with nobody noticing. [0] https://www.daywork123.com/JobAnnouncementList.aspx https://www.daywork123.com/JobAnnouncementList.aspx [1] https://www.denisonyachtsales.com/yachts-for-sale/?brand=&minlength=120&maxlength=130 https://www.denisonyachtsales.com/yachts-for-sale/?brand=&mi...
lozaning 5y ago
A while back I got interested in sailing and paid for lessons on a Benetau 57. I was absolutely blown away by the ease with which one of these boats could be stolen. Granted anyone that has the time and money to actually learn how to sail the things is likely not in a position where boat heists have a great risk/reward.
- throw0101a 5y ago
  It's a bit of a thing: > The group’s modus operandi involved renting a yacht from a charter company with different passports in each case, paying all costs in cash, and then taking out the automatic identification system of the yacht and putting it in a remote control toy boat to make the renters think that the yacht was adrift in territorial waters. Meanwhile, the stolen yacht had already reached international waters. * http://theislander.net/member-of-yacht-robbery-group-arrested-in-moscow/ http://theislander.net/member-of-yacht-robbery-group-arreste... Of course fencing a boat can be difficult, but I'm guessing they probably break it up for parts (engine, electronics, galley/kitchen, etc).
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- jjav 5y ago
  Super easy to steal but nothing you can profitably do with it so there's no point. You can't haul out and tow away a giant boat like that without involving a lot of people (marina travelift, trucking company with wide load permits) so that's out. You could try sailing it away but with a top speed not much over 10mph, it'll be the lowest speed chase ever. A boat was stolen from a charter company in SF bay some years ago. I think they got about a day head start, but even so it's not like they got very far.
Johnny555 5y ago
If you're willing to get a fake job to plant a bug, why not pretend to be an office janitor and plant the bugs in the CEO's office and boardroom? You might even be able to hide it in the VoiP phone on his desk and steal both power and network.
- emmelaich 5y ago
  I've been in a semi high security environment and seen casuals given too much independent access by well meaning staff. Examples ... 1. Guy allowed to come in and check our microwave for 'radiation leakage'. May have been a simple money scam but obviously a way to listen to staff conversations. 2. Casual cleaners employed to sanitise desk phones .. after a scare saying that's where a lot of bacteria collects. I noticed these cleaners being way too slow and too likely to let their gaze linger on computer screens. They didn't last.
  - Johnny555 5y ago
    We hired a physical pentester and he got in the first day by convincing the night janitorial staff that he was an employee that left his badge on his desk and just needed to go pick it up. He wore a jacket with our logo to make himself look more legit. He hid out in a conference room and had unfettered access to the office all night, he left behind a network device plugged in to a spare network jack behind a printer.
herval 5y ago
I wanted to help out with your story here, and I had some OpenAI credits available, sooooo here's a high level chapter summary, straight from our AI Overlords. I'd give it 2/5, too much microphone. --- Plot: A bunch of kids from MIT or CalTech or where ever decide to bug yachts. They get unassuming jobs as deckhands and stewards to give themselves time to install devices like this DIY boat monitoring system along with microphones behind all the panelling around the yachts which are owned by CEOs of major companies. More or less, the device caches all the audio recordings and waits for the ship to enter a marina where it connects to wifi and sends the information home. They are looking for stock trading information, mostly. They are in the Caribbean maybe in St. Martin and overhear some nasty things by the Russian mafia. Someone made a mistake and they get caught. That's the beginning. The rest of the novel is a bunch of nerdy kids having to MacGyver their way out of the Caribbean while being chased by the most powerful and dangerous people on Earth. Chapter 1: ____ is on a yachting trip in the Caribbean. He gets a message from his friends on shore telling him they've been caught and are on the run. He has to decide whether to try and help his friends or try and get off the boat and call the authorities. Chapter 2: ____ decides to help his friends. He needs a weapon, so he builds a crossbow from materials he finds on the boat, and he needs to learn how to use the weapon. He also needs to know how to defend himself in hand-to-hand combat, so he takes some of his friends' martial arts training. To learn how to use the crossbow, he goes to a nearby island where he has to steal or purchase a target. Chapter 3: ____ steals a target from a competitor. He then goes back to the yacht and practices using the crossbow on the target. Chapter 4: ____ goes to a nearby island to look for a drink to help him stave off seasickness. While there, he meets a young girl named ____ who is a pickpocket. She also teaches him some thieving skills. Chapter 5: ____ returns to the yacht. He needs to make a plan for the next day. The yacht is going to be in a marina to drop off the CEO of a company who is on the yacht and ____ needs to decide what he's going to do with the microphone. He also has to spend some time learning to use the microphone in case he decides he wants to stay on board. Chapter 6: ____ decides he is going to stay on board. He spends the next day learning how to use the microphone and listening to the CEO of the company. The CEO gets a call from the Russian mafia, who are threatening to kill his family unless he gives them the company. The CEO gives them the company. ____ decides to stay on board after overhearing this conversation. Chapter 7: ____ has to make a plan for the rest of the trip. He needs to decide when he's going to connect the microphone to the wifi so the information gets sent home. He decides to wait until they are docked in a marina. In the meantime, he has to continue learning how to use the microphone and the crossbow. Epilogue: The whole point of the book is to show how these kids had lives that could have been, but chose to work for the government instead. I don't know. The ending was not at all satisfying.

batch12 5y ago

Ha, at the beginning I read the word novel as new. I was getting a little disturbed by this until I read on to understand this was fiction. Wrong novel :). Embarrassingly, this took too long to realize...

nexuist 5y ago
You are not alone!
hnnnnnnng 5y ago
I interpreted it the same way but instead of being disturbed I searched for boat cleaning jobs and wondered how much the CIA and other intelligence agencies invest in bugging mega yachts.
- dataviz1000 5y ago
  Here is a popular list of available jobs.[0] The site started by listing day work jobs which means a job that is only day to day. The captain usually picks up the day workers in the morning who are crew between jobs and they sand the rails, varnish, clean bilges, wash the yachts, and detail the metal work. The site lists lots of other more permanent jobs too and is a popular resource for people in the industry. > "144192 5/4/2021 Yacht Looking for 8 day workers to wash and detail yacht on Monday May 10th. 8 hours. FT LAUDERDALE" That job probably pays $15 - $20 an hour cash under the table and the chef will make them all lunch. Not a bad gig job. 8 day workers? That's a lot, they wouldn't need that many people for 120 foot yacht[1]. The price of that yacht probably starts at something like $18,000,000. It would be a nothing burger to install anything on that boat with nobody noticing. [0] https://www.daywork123.com/JobAnnouncementList.aspx https://www.daywork123.com/JobAnnouncementList.aspx [1] https://www.denisonyachtsales.com/yachts-for-sale/?brand=&minlength=120&maxlength=130 https://www.denisonyachtsales.com/yachts-for-sale/?brand=&mi...

lozaning 5y ago

A while back I got interested in sailing and paid for lessons on a Benetau 57. I was absolutely blown away by the ease with which one of these boats could be stolen. Granted anyone that has the time and money to actually learn how to sail the things is likely not in a position where boat heists have a great risk/reward.

throw0101a 5y ago
It's a bit of a thing: > The group’s modus operandi involved renting a yacht from a charter company with different passports in each case, paying all costs in cash, and then taking out the automatic identification system of the yacht and putting it in a remote control toy boat to make the renters think that the yacht was adrift in territorial waters. Meanwhile, the stolen yacht had already reached international waters. * http://theislander.net/member-of-yacht-robbery-group-arrested-in-moscow/ http://theislander.net/member-of-yacht-robbery-group-arreste... Of course fencing a boat can be difficult, but I'm guessing they probably break it up for parts (engine, electronics, galley/kitchen, etc).
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
jjav 5y ago
Super easy to steal but nothing you can profitably do with it so there's no point. You can't haul out and tow away a giant boat like that without involving a lot of people (marina travelift, trucking company with wide load permits) so that's out. You could try sailing it away but with a top speed not much over 10mph, it'll be the lowest speed chase ever. A boat was stolen from a charter company in SF bay some years ago. I think they got about a day head start, but even so it's not like they got very far.

Johnny555 5y ago

If you're willing to get a fake job to plant a bug, why not pretend to be an office janitor and plant the bugs in the CEO's office and boardroom? You might even be able to hide it in the VoiP phone on his desk and steal both power and network.

emmelaich 5y ago
I've been in a semi high security environment and seen casuals given too much independent access by well meaning staff. Examples ... 1. Guy allowed to come in and check our microwave for 'radiation leakage'. May have been a simple money scam but obviously a way to listen to staff conversations. 2. Casual cleaners employed to sanitise desk phones .. after a scare saying that's where a lot of bacteria collects. I noticed these cleaners being way too slow and too likely to let their gaze linger on computer screens. They didn't last.
- Johnny555 5y ago
  We hired a physical pentester and he got in the first day by convincing the night janitorial staff that he was an employee that left his badge on his desk and just needed to go pick it up. He wore a jacket with our logo to make himself look more legit. He hid out in a conference room and had unfettered access to the office all night, he left behind a network device plugged in to a spare network jack behind a printer.

herval 5y ago

I wanted to help out with your story here, and I had some OpenAI credits available, sooooo here's a high level chapter summary, straight from our AI Overlords. I'd give it 2/5, too much microphone. --- Plot: A bunch of kids from MIT or CalTech or where ever decide to bug yachts. They get unassuming jobs as deckhands and stewards to give themselves time to install devices like this DIY boat monitoring system along with microphones behind all the panelling around the yachts which are owned by CEOs of major companies. More or less, the device caches all the audio recordings and waits for the ship to enter a marina where it connects to wifi and sends the information home. They are looking for stock trading information, mostly. They are in the Caribbean maybe in St. Martin and overhear some nasty things by the Russian mafia. Someone made a mistake and they get caught. That's the beginning. The rest of the novel is a bunch of nerdy kids having to MacGyver their way out of the Caribbean while being chased by the most powerful and dangerous people on Earth. Chapter 1: ____ is on a yachting trip in the Caribbean. He gets a message from his friends on shore telling him they've been caught and are on the run. He has to decide whether to try and help his friends or try and get off the boat and call the authorities. Chapter 2: ____ decides to help his friends. He needs a weapon, so he builds a crossbow from materials he finds on the boat, and he needs to learn how to use the weapon. He also needs to know how to defend himself in hand-to-hand combat, so he takes some of his friends' martial arts training. To learn how to use the crossbow, he goes to a nearby island where he has to steal or purchase a target. Chapter 3: ____ steals a target from a competitor. He then goes back to the yacht and practices using the crossbow on the target. Chapter 4: ____ goes to a nearby island to look for a drink to help him stave off seasickness. While there, he meets a young girl named ____ who is a pickpocket. She also teaches him some thieving skills. Chapter 5: ____ returns to the yacht. He needs to make a plan for the next day. The yacht is going to be in a marina to drop off the CEO of a company who is on the yacht and ____ needs to decide what he's going to do with the microphone. He also has to spend some time learning to use the microphone in case he decides he wants to stay on board. Chapter 6: ____ decides he is going to stay on board. He spends the next day learning how to use the microphone and listening to the CEO of the company. The CEO gets a call from the Russian mafia, who are threatening to kill his family unless he gives them the company. The CEO gives them the company. ____ decides to stay on board after overhearing this conversation. Chapter 7: ____ has to make a plan for the rest of the trip. He needs to decide when he's going to connect the microphone to the wifi so the information gets sent home. He decides to wait until they are docked in a marina. In the meantime, he has to continue learning how to use the microphone and the crossbow. Epilogue: The whole point of the book is to show how these kids had lives that could have been, but chose to work for the government instead. I don't know. The ending was not at all satisfying.