5 ms·

How on Earth is $110,000 a reasonable value for this level of vulnerability? (And with a multi-thousand dollar up front cost to boot.) I'm not remotely an exper

by Steuard 12y ago

How on Earth is $110,000 a reasonable value for this level of vulnerability? (And with a multi-thousand dollar up front cost to boot.) I'm not remotely an expert on security, much less nefarious black-market hacks, but I would think that a whole lot of nations around the world would be willing to pay millions (each!) for this capability. Heck, if not for this, I would have included Russia on that list.

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jcromartie 12y ago
The "hackathon" spirit has caught on at the state level. Get a bunch of college kids to slave away for free and give the best one a paltry sum for their efforts and retain all rights to the work.
- aroman 12y ago
  How is that the "hackathon" spirit?
  - TeMPOraL 12y ago
    It's the spirit ever since the term "hackaton" caught the attention of the employers and the events are organized by companies for their profit instead of hobbysts/enthusiasts just for fun.
    - dmix 12y ago
      For ex: Hackathon's shouldn't primarily be about cash prizes. It defeats the purpose and ideology behind hacking culture.
      - eli 12y ago
        Isn't that the parent comment's point? That it's such a relatively small amount of money that the only people who are into hacking stuff anyway would attempt it.
        dmix 12y ago
        There shouldn't be any money at all in hackathons, it should be voluntary and tinkering/hacking on technololgy for fun or societal benefit. This is for a project with a well-defined goal defined by a large government that may be used against dissidents by a authoritarian state. That doesn't quite fit into hacker culture at all. If they aren't going to hire a well-paid hackers full-time like the NSA does to do the same thing, then at least make the prize significant similar to X-prize.
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don_draper 12y ago
They should have just put the proposal on elance
JulianMorrison 12y ago
They may not intend to pay it. Just inspiring worries about the safety of TOR might be enough for their nefarious purposes.
scarmig 12y ago
I saw this headline and immediately thought, "that's much too low." But I've got no idea how much that vulnerability would actually go for. Millions? Tens of millions? Anyone with a stronger understanding of the market have any rough estimate?
- cantankerous 12y ago
  I'm like you, I'm not sure how to assign a dollar value to this vulnerability. The implications of a broken TOR are huge for all players, especially over time. Considering TOR protects the livelihood (and lives even) of so many people who employ it, it doesn't seem unreasonable to put the ticket price up in the tens of millions to me. TOR's mission-critical for the work of a lot of folks, shady-dealings or no.

by Steuard 12y ago

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jcromartie 12y ago

The "hackathon" spirit has caught on at the state level. Get a bunch of college kids to slave away for free and give the best one a paltry sum for their efforts and retain all rights to the work.

aroman 12y ago
How is that the "hackathon" spirit?
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  It's the spirit ever since the term "hackaton" caught the attention of the employers and the events are organized by companies for their profit instead of hobbysts/enthusiasts just for fun.
  - dmix 12y ago
    For ex: Hackathon's shouldn't primarily be about cash prizes. It defeats the purpose and ideology behind hacking culture.
    - eli 12y ago
      Isn't that the parent comment's point? That it's such a relatively small amount of money that the only people who are into hacking stuff anyway would attempt it.
      - dmix 12y ago
        There shouldn't be any money at all in hackathons, it should be voluntary and tinkering/hacking on technololgy for fun or societal benefit. This is for a project with a well-defined goal defined by a large government that may be used against dissidents by a authoritarian state. That doesn't quite fit into hacker culture at all. If they aren't going to hire a well-paid hackers full-time like the NSA does to do the same thing, then at least make the prize significant similar to X-prize.

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don_draper 12y ago

They should have just put the proposal on elance

JulianMorrison 12y ago

They may not intend to pay it. Just inspiring worries about the safety of TOR might be enough for their nefarious purposes.

scarmig 12y ago

I saw this headline and immediately thought, "that's much too low." But I've got no idea how much that vulnerability would actually go for. Millions? Tens of millions? Anyone with a stronger understanding of the market have any rough estimate?

cantankerous 12y ago
I'm like you, I'm not sure how to assign a dollar value to this vulnerability. The implications of a broken TOR are huge for all players, especially over time. Considering TOR protects the livelihood (and lives even) of so many people who employ it, it doesn't seem unreasonable to put the ticket price up in the tens of millions to me. TOR's mission-critical for the work of a lot of folks, shady-dealings or no.