3 ms·

> While Hamlin was digging into the CSH data, he came across familiar-looking sentences in the paper that presented the raw CSH data—lines that he recollected w

> While Hamlin was digging into the CSH data, he came across familiar-looking sentences in the paper that presented the raw CSH data—lines that he recollected writing in his 2007 PhD thesis. On a hunch, he pulled up Dias’ 2013 thesis and fed both his thesis and Dias’ into a plagiarism checker. His computer screen lit up; the two documents contained numerous identical passages. Oof. When the guy investigating your paper is the same guy you plagiarized for your thesis.

pianoben 4y ago
My memory is a little fuzzy, but back in 2012 or so, this programming whiz applied for a job at Square on the security team (I think?). He was impressive, and had written an SSL implementation (EDIT: it was actually a certificate authority) entirely in Ruby. Breezed through the coding challenges. Just our luck that one of the interviewers was the actual author of that implementation! Seriously, it was really just luck. It makes me wonder how many people successfully bluff their way through their careers.
- skrbjc 4y ago
  Reminds me of when the MIT admissions dean was found to have faked her degrees: https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2019/05/15/mit-dean-foretold-admissions-scandal-before-experiencing-her-own-disgrace/MAu8N1AFDsuSMH3lVE4k6J/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2019/05/15/mit-dean-for...
  - smcin 4y ago
    Marilee Jones (that article is subscriberwalled). "...and co-author of the popular guide to the college admission process 'Less Stress, More Success: A New Approach to Guiding Your Teen Through College Admissions and Beyond' (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2006)"(!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilee_Jones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilee_Jones
  - nullc 4y ago
    Interestingly it's really easy to fake degrees because the universities are prohibited by law from sharing information on students.
    - BeetleB 4y ago
      Universities have a process for providing proof of degrees as long as the student authorizes it. Thing is when you're in mid-late career, no employer cares.
- rirze 4y ago
  Did that applicant claim to be the original author of that implementation? I don't see why it would be an issue otherwise...
  - pianoben 4y ago
    Yes, that's exactly what they did and why it was a problem. They represented themselves as the sole author. I want to say that they'd never even sent in a single PR, but this was over 10 years ago and I just heard the story over lunch (the real author told us all about it).
  - smcin 4y ago
    Seriously? You think that if people insinuate plagiarized stuff was theirs but don't say so, that's not a problem per se. I've seen this loads of times. You don't think insinuating is a very bad character signal?
- lsh123 4y ago
  You could have just asked: "what's wrong with SSL?" and anybody who ever wrote actual SSL / X509 / CA related code would not stop talking :)
  - pianoben 4y ago
    My go-to Android interview question for years was simply, "Tell me your pain". A developer with any experience would be overflowing with angst about the platform and it was a really good way to gauge their ability.

pianoben 4y ago

My memory is a little fuzzy, but back in 2012 or so, this programming whiz applied for a job at Square on the security team (I think?). He was impressive, and had written an SSL implementation (EDIT: it was actually a certificate authority) entirely in Ruby. Breezed through the coding challenges. Just our luck that one of the interviewers was the actual author of that implementation! Seriously, it was really just luck. It makes me wonder how many people successfully bluff their way through their careers.

skrbjc 4y ago
Reminds me of when the MIT admissions dean was found to have faked her degrees: https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2019/05/15/mit-dean-foretold-admissions-scandal-before-experiencing-her-own-disgrace/MAu8N1AFDsuSMH3lVE4k6J/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2019/05/15/mit-dean-for...
- smcin 4y ago
  Marilee Jones (that article is subscriberwalled). "...and co-author of the popular guide to the college admission process 'Less Stress, More Success: A New Approach to Guiding Your Teen Through College Admissions and Beyond' (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2006)"(!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilee_Jones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilee_Jones
- nullc 4y ago
  Interestingly it's really easy to fake degrees because the universities are prohibited by law from sharing information on students.
  - BeetleB 4y ago
    Universities have a process for providing proof of degrees as long as the student authorizes it. Thing is when you're in mid-late career, no employer cares.
rirze 4y ago
Did that applicant claim to be the original author of that implementation? I don't see why it would be an issue otherwise...
- pianoben 4y ago
  Yes, that's exactly what they did and why it was a problem. They represented themselves as the sole author. I want to say that they'd never even sent in a single PR, but this was over 10 years ago and I just heard the story over lunch (the real author told us all about it).
- smcin 4y ago
  Seriously? You think that if people insinuate plagiarized stuff was theirs but don't say so, that's not a problem per se. I've seen this loads of times. You don't think insinuating is a very bad character signal?
lsh123 4y ago
You could have just asked: "what's wrong with SSL?" and anybody who ever wrote actual SSL / X509 / CA related code would not stop talking :)
- pianoben 4y ago
  My go-to Android interview question for years was simply, "Tell me your pain". A developer with any experience would be overflowing with angst about the platform and it was a really good way to gauge their ability.