4 ms·

Is a postdoc hacking a cluster something you have seen before? I am genuinely curious because I worked on a cluster owned by my university as an undergrad and e

Is a postdoc hacking a cluster something you have seen before? I am genuinely curious because I worked on a cluster owned by my university as an undergrad and everyone was kind of assumed to be trusted. If you had shell access on the main node you could run any job you wanted on the cluster. You could enhance security I just wonder about this threat model, that's an interesting one. I am sure it happens to be clear.

walnutclosefarm 4y ago
Yes. Probably not surprise that the postdoc was a PRC national. Very competent in their field of study, but also in this country with instructions from an APT group.
- onetimeusename 4y ago
  I had a feeling you would say that. I don't think this was part of our threat model until pretty recently. That was why I asked, because these stories aren't really internalized collectively yet I think and it's valuable to reconsider who we can trust and what threat actors might value.
- kregasaurusrex 4y ago
  Sorry you were on the receiving end of that and had to learn the hard way. We had the dean of the college (large public research university) I was working at the time receive a gift of a bunch of new MBPs as a token of goodwill from a foreign country, and heard in the very next sentence that they would be going straight into a shredder. At the time I thought these brand-new laptops could easily be wiped & repurposed; but now realize it was a potential attack surface that can easily leak info to APT/espionage groups the second it connects to a network. Less than a year later a story made national headlines that a professor with direct access to classified material had mysteriously disappeared & never disclosed his close ties with their home country. So not only should you be worried about back doors and side doors; but also watch what's going through your front door as well!

walnutclosefarm 4y ago

Yes. Probably not surprise that the postdoc was a PRC national. Very competent in their field of study, but also in this country with instructions from an APT group.

onetimeusename 4y ago
I had a feeling you would say that. I don't think this was part of our threat model until pretty recently. That was why I asked, because these stories aren't really internalized collectively yet I think and it's valuable to reconsider who we can trust and what threat actors might value.
kregasaurusrex 4y ago
Sorry you were on the receiving end of that and had to learn the hard way. We had the dean of the college (large public research university) I was working at the time receive a gift of a bunch of new MBPs as a token of goodwill from a foreign country, and heard in the very next sentence that they would be going straight into a shredder. At the time I thought these brand-new laptops could easily be wiped & repurposed; but now realize it was a potential attack surface that can easily leak info to APT/espionage groups the second it connects to a network. Less than a year later a story made national headlines that a professor with direct access to classified material had mysteriously disappeared & never disclosed his close ties with their home country. So not only should you be worried about back doors and side doors; but also watch what's going through your front door as well!