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I think Alexandra Elbakyan actually did not want to be revealed as the librarian behind Sci-Hub, it was her poor opsec that led to her being identified. Basica
by ynno 4y ago
I think Alexandra Elbakyan actually did not want to be revealed as the librarian behind Sci-Hub, it was her poor opsec that led to her being identified.
Basically her servers were set up to emit detailed error messages from PHP, including full path of faulting source file, which was under directory /home/ringo-ring, which could be traced to a username she had online on an unrelated site, attached to her real name. Before this revelation, she was anonymous.
- pilimi_anna 4y agoDid not know that detail. Will add to the post, thank you.
- userbinator 4y agoAnd from your addendum: So, use random usernames on the computers you use for this stuff, in case you misconfigure something. ...or a username that is so common as to be meaningless, like "user", "Administrator", or even "root".
- jtsuken 4y agoThe next step is to change your legal name to Zhang Wei or at least a John Smith.
- Fnoord 4y ago差不多 (chabuduo / chàbuduō)
- mgdlbp 4y agoYou get a little obscurity with random though
- bigiain 4y ago"ec2-user"
- rakoo 4y agoYou're actually supposed to use a specific username for each process. That's what permissions are for.
- O__________O 4y agoI was able to find an archived page of hers using ringo-ring back in 2010, which I believe predates Sci-Hub’s launch in 2011; not able to find reference to “home/ringo-ring” anywhere else, but given prior information, very least seems plausible.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- est 4y ago> which was under directory /home/ringo-ring, which could be traced to a username Ha, my home dir is always called "me" or "and". Try google that.
- pavel_lishin 4y agoPeople might be able to, now!
- counttheforks 4y agoDon't worry, I'm a "me" too.
- thakoppno 4y agoI’ve narrowed it down to the east coast of the US.
- O__________O 4y agoElectron star - seems oddly specific, though maybe not spelling it same way you do.
- est 4y agoyeah that's a regrettable mistake. It was registered in early days, OPSEC wasn't considered then. The Internet was supposed to connect people not hunting people.
- O__________O 4y agoAll good, OpSec is hard, which was point I was trying to make, great you take it seriously, just be little more humble. Everyone slips, only matter of time, either in past or future.
- NaturalPhallacy 4y agoThis is deep infosec. Instead of security through obscurity, it's security through ubiquity.