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I am really glad about how they responded. Whenever Tinfoil has found vulnerabilities in companies like United Airlines[0], for example, those companies mostly

by borski 13y ago

I am really glad about how they responded. Whenever Tinfoil has found vulnerabilities in companies like United Airlines[0], for example, those companies mostly respond with anger rather than graciousness. [0] https://www.tinfoilsecurity.com/blog/132969897 https://www.tinfoilsecurity.com/blog/132969897

TallGuyShort 13y ago
Exactly. I just saw that the local bank my parents use is still vulnerable to the Heartbleed Bug. But you know what? I don't want to go down there and talk to them because I'm quite certain they'll call the police because I "hacked into their systems".
- borski 13y ago
  To be fair, there are some that respond more graciously than others, but it's entirely unclear.
  - AJ007 13y ago
    If you are a bank, and you haven't fix one of the worst and widest reaching security holes in years by now.. well. Criminal negligence would be an appropriate description.
- VikingCoder 13y ago
  One idea: Call your local newspaper with an anonymous tip?
- Semaphor 13y ago
  > I just saw that the local bank my parents use is still vulnerable to the Heartbleed Bug. Just remember, many sites use the old certificate expiration even though they generated new certificates which shows up as a false positive on the checking tools.
- derefr 13y ago
  There should be a security equivalent to hiring a lawyer to write strongly-worded letters for you. Maybe someone could set up a firm where individuals could hand them a vuln report, and then the firm would contact the vulnerable company on the individual's behalf. The firm would do the long, boring dance of "we suspect you're vulnerable to X, though we haven't tested it, but we'd like to do a free vulnerability test on you, so please sign this liability waiver", both protecting the individual from liability, and taking time the individual doesn't have. In return, if the company gives rewards, the firm could take a percentage.
  - eric_cc 13y ago
    So you pay money to hire somebody to send a company a letter informing the company of the companies problem in hopes that maybe, just maybe, the company will reward the the firm a small sum of money and you will get a small amount back. I think you have a winner on your hands.
    - derefr 13y ago
      They wouldn't be doing it for the money. The EFF would be a good example of a firm that could take this practice up.
      - stingraycharles 13y ago
        That's besides the point. It still costs money, and the company that's vulnerable is not the one paying it. A service like this would be time consuming (bogus reports, etc), and the EFF would still have to use money from donations to finance this. The only thing I can think about is some security firm doing this, using the exposure as a marketing tool and establish them as an authority on the subject.
    - ithkuil 13y ago
      I might be living in a country with very few banks (3). I may benefit from letting them know about a security issue, especially if because of that issue I could potentially go to jail I may not have the option of changing bank because the others are even worse. however I don't know how much I would pay for that. Probably some kind of class action would work.
- bananas 13y ago
  That's what pastebin is for.
carl689 13y ago
While I know plenty of companies do not respond how I feel they should to vulnerabilities, reading that story I don't see any cited anger from United Airlines. Am I missing part of the story?
- borski 13y ago
  You're right; the anger was mostly behind the scenes. It turns out it's also /incredibly/ hard to disclose a vulnerability to most companies. Companies like Google or that have bug bounty / disclosure programs are to be lauded. :)

by borski 13y ago

TallGuyShort 13y ago

Exactly. I just saw that the local bank my parents use is still vulnerable to the Heartbleed Bug. But you know what? I don't want to go down there and talk to them because I'm quite certain they'll call the police because I "hacked into their systems".

borski 13y ago
To be fair, there are some that respond more graciously than others, but it's entirely unclear.
- AJ007 13y ago
  If you are a bank, and you haven't fix one of the worst and widest reaching security holes in years by now.. well. Criminal negligence would be an appropriate description.
VikingCoder 13y ago
One idea: Call your local newspaper with an anonymous tip?
Semaphor 13y ago
> I just saw that the local bank my parents use is still vulnerable to the Heartbleed Bug. Just remember, many sites use the old certificate expiration even though they generated new certificates which shows up as a false positive on the checking tools.
derefr 13y ago
There should be a security equivalent to hiring a lawyer to write strongly-worded letters for you. Maybe someone could set up a firm where individuals could hand them a vuln report, and then the firm would contact the vulnerable company on the individual's behalf. The firm would do the long, boring dance of "we suspect you're vulnerable to X, though we haven't tested it, but we'd like to do a free vulnerability test on you, so please sign this liability waiver", both protecting the individual from liability, and taking time the individual doesn't have. In return, if the company gives rewards, the firm could take a percentage.
- eric_cc 13y ago
  So you pay money to hire somebody to send a company a letter informing the company of the companies problem in hopes that maybe, just maybe, the company will reward the the firm a small sum of money and you will get a small amount back. I think you have a winner on your hands.
  - derefr 13y ago
    They wouldn't be doing it for the money. The EFF would be a good example of a firm that could take this practice up.
    - stingraycharles 13y ago
      That's besides the point. It still costs money, and the company that's vulnerable is not the one paying it. A service like this would be time consuming (bogus reports, etc), and the EFF would still have to use money from donations to finance this. The only thing I can think about is some security firm doing this, using the exposure as a marketing tool and establish them as an authority on the subject.
  - ithkuil 13y ago
    I might be living in a country with very few banks (3). I may benefit from letting them know about a security issue, especially if because of that issue I could potentially go to jail I may not have the option of changing bank because the others are even worse. however I don't know how much I would pay for that. Probably some kind of class action would work.
bananas 13y ago
That's what pastebin is for.

carl689 13y ago

While I know plenty of companies do not respond how I feel they should to vulnerabilities, reading that story I don't see any cited anger from United Airlines. Am I missing part of the story?

borski 13y ago
You're right; the anger was mostly behind the scenes. It turns out it's also /incredibly/ hard to disclose a vulnerability to most companies. Companies like Google or that have bug bounty / disclosure programs are to be lauded. :)