The DMZ - 2020-07-09

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Anonymous

8:02 AM

lol. I just had a company try to tell me that my initials as the first name & last name was not sufficient for the parcel to be delivered.

Anonymous

I put "J J" because, why the fuck would I give them my full name? There is absolutely no need for that, especially since the parcel is going to a locker - they just need to give me the code it makes no difference what the name is.

Anonymous

But they won't ship it with just my initials.

Anonymous

That really annoys me.

8:20 AM

Theoretically, "anonymous" mail is not allowed in the US, although I've never figured out how well that rule is enforced. (However, I think that the focus is on identifying the sender, not the receiver?)

Anonymous

I'm in the UK and this is a consumer parcel.

Anonymous

It is clothes.

Anonymous

I have never been asked by anyone to hand over my personal information so I can buy a t shirt.

8:44 AM

Ah, it seems like it's been a while since we've received a good ol' DRM question.

0

Q: APIs Security for publicly exposed APis for Website/App

We have a website using PWA Client calls / Mobile APP, all using the same APIs. We have APIs Exposed to Public. Currently, our APIs are not secure meaning that anyone can check APIs signature via developer tools/proxy tools and hit the API. We want our APIs to be hit by verified clients. Verified...

9:05 AM

@J.J Someone in my village once had a parcel delivered to them that was just labelled "For Mama" and the ZIP code

Anonymous

@MechMK1 LOL

@J.J It actually delivered, since the village was rather small and people knew the sender

Anonymous

Wow lmfao

Anonymous

I live practically in london

Anonymous

If I tried that there is no way it would work

Anonymous

9:14 AM

lmfao

I guess you would get away with just writing your last name on it

Anonymous

Yeah, if I put the exact address.

Anonymous

The thing is, I never order things to my house really.

Anonymous

I always order to lockers and I always just put "J. J"

Yeah, that's fine

Anonymous

9:16 AM

So I am so confused by this company and why they NEED the name.

"J.J is my name"

Anonymous

Yeah, I tried that but they told me the name has to be more than 2 characters each.

Anonymous

So I just wrote back with "Jo Jo"

"Jay Jay"

Anonymous

Since those are actually the first two characters.

Anonymous

9:16 AM

lmfao

Like Homer J. Simpson who finds out his full name is Homer Jay Simpson

Anonymous

I just hate giving out my name for little to no reason.

Anonymous

I mean if they really wanted it, they could just check with the payment provider what the card said.

Anonymous

Although that particular card doesn't even have my last name on it.

Man, you can have a card that does't have your full name on it?

Anonymous

9:19 AM

Yup.

Anonymous

Well, technically no.

Anonymous

You can have a credit card that does not.

Anonymous

Simply by telling them you want the lastname to be hidden on the physical card.

Anonymous

And then when you process a transaction on it the last name is just whats on the card

Anonymous

And in my case its just a "J"

Anonymous

9:20 AM

But a bank card has to have your full name sadly

Ah, that makes sense

I wonder, how difficult is it to get bitcoin paid out in traditional currency without breaking anonymity

Anonymous

You can get pre-paids without your full name on though. Pre-paid debits. I have two.

Can you get cash for bitcoin?

Anonymous

I can tell you how difficult it is

Anonymous

Next to impossible

Anonymous

9:21 AM

Especially in the UK.

Anonymous

The ONLY way to do it is to find someone willing to trade cash for a BTC transfer.

Anonymous

BUT if you're storing your BTC in an e-wallet like coinbase

Anonymous

well then that isn't anonymous at all

Anonymous

So it makes no difference lol

What does electrum do? I guess that's a regular BTC address

Anonymous

9:23 AM

Yeah, I think so.

Anonymous

You can buy bitcoin fairly anonymously.

Anonymous

But to actually cash it out for real cash, it's very hard.

I mean it's not like it's a huge sum, but it would interest me

Anonymous

^ because of money laundering laws

Yeah, I guessed so

Anonymous

9:23 AM

The reason why it's so hard is because of money laundering regulations, which sucks.

Anonymous

But the thing is, it's very easy to launder money though Bitcoin.

Anonymous

And I mean super, super easy.

How so?

Anonymous

Because you can wash money a million times faster than you can cash.

Anonymous

But the problem comes with getting it out.

Anonymous

9:24 AM

So the money washing is faster, yes.

Anonymous

But then getting it out of the system is very hard.

Anonymous

^ without getting an unexplained wealth order, etc.

Anonymous

The easiest way would be to just create a corporation and pay 20% tax on it.

Anonymous

Call it a "cash in hand/bitcoin only business" which is perfectly legal

Anonymous

And then you just file a normal corporation tax return

Anonymous

9:26 AM

/shrug

Money laundering is fine as long as you pay taxes

Anonymous

Well, not if the money comes from criminal enterprises in the first place.

Anonymous

See in the UK, we have a thing called an "unexplained wealth order" if you receive over 50,000 your reported income (in a year) then you will get an order from the court asking you to prove exactly where the money came from.

Anonymous

Which is why it's so hard for people to launder in the UK now because even if they do clean the money without paying tax on it they cannot get it into the system.

Anonymous

Before 2011 there was no such order.

Anonymous

9:28 AM

Which mean you had to be investigated for fraud, etc in the first place.

Anonymous

But now its all automated by a new system that HMRC setup with uk banks.

Anonymous

And the FCA.

Anonymous

That system also tracks transfers between family & friends.

Anonymous

Since you can load about £200 a day into peoples accounts and it will go unnoticed but now they have a system where they track all transactions between people that are known to know each other or related.

Anonymous

And it tracks the transactions to see if they go over any thresholds and if they do you're gonna get a letter from HMRC.

Anonymous

9:30 AM

asking for an explanation.

Anonymous

Its very clever.

Anonymous

Impressive actually.

There are a lot of things that the government tends to be bad at, but when it comes to money they don't mess around....

Anonymous

Yeah, hahah.

Anonymous

I mean, before 2011 it was actually very easy to hide money in the UK.

Anonymous

9:33 AM

Fraud used to be really big here, not as big as the US of course, but huge.

Anonymous

But ever since they introduced the unexplained wealth orders it has become very, very difficult.

Anonymous

I know all this because I had a bank account closed because of "unexplained wealth".

@ConorMancone Look at Al Capone

Doesn't matter if you murder tons of people, as long as the IRS gets their share of the profit

Anonymous

But it's all automated so nothing anybody at the bank can actually do. Obviously the money was totally legitimate but.

@J.J So your money was just gone? Still gone?

Anonymous

9:35 AM

Yeah, you're pretty much not wrong, Mech. They couldn't give a fuck as long as they get paid.

@MechMK1 Yeah, that's my favorite go-to example :) And you can actually report and pay taxes on "illegal gains"

Anonymous

@ConorMancone No, I had to explain and prove where it came from to HMRC before they would transfer it to my new account.

@ConorMancone We in Austria say "You can break the law, but the finance minister wants his cut"

Good ol' fashion "guilty until proven innocent". The way it should be...

Anonymous

Yeah, when it comes to money you are guilty until innocent lol.

Anonymous

9:36 AM

I personally think it's ridiculous the amount of regulations around my own money but there you go, well it isn't my money really, that's the crux.

Anonymous

This is why I keep a large amount of cash at home because I don't trust the banks any longer, well, I never really did but even more so year-by-year.

The only time I ever even came close to some regulations was when my bank called me and asked me if I had just sent an unexpectedly large amount of money

"Why yes, I did. I just purchased a very expensive sniper rifle"
"..."
"..."
"Okay..."

Anonymous

I've had a few calls like that in the past too, usually they get quite passive aggressive about why I am spending.

Anonymous

It's almost as if it hurts them when I spend my money :D :D

I mean yeah, why the fuck do you take money away from the bank?

Anonymous

9:38 AM

Hahaha, exactly.

Anonymous

I tend to favour pre-paids now over actual banks.

Anonymous

The only thing is because of FCA regulations you still need to prove your ID to buy a pre-paid.

Anonymous

It's fucking annoying.

@MechMK1 That's great :)

@ConorMancone I was so happy with my new rifle, I sounded like a kid that just got a new game console

Anonymous

9:41 AM

Speaking of this reminds me of the EncroChat situation.

Anonymous

Fucking global surveillance laws spits

I didn't even think that this might be seen as "suspicious" or "potentially dangerous" for some

@J.J That's almost dangerous these days in the US with civil forfeiture laws. In many circumstances the police can confiscate your money with little provocation, and unless you can then prove that you gained it through legitimate means, you will not get it back. Nor is doing so an easy process

Anonymous

@ConorMancone Yeah, the same here, Conor.

@ConorMancone WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?

Anonymous

9:42 AM

If I am carrying more than I would say £500 in cash in the UK, and I was stopped by a police officer - they could take that to the station and keep it there until I prove where it came from.

How can I prove that something is mine?

Which, the entire situation is quite "unfortunate", because property right laws are a natural extension of basic human rights. Having to "prove" ownership of my own money really goes to the very heart of, well, everything...

Anonymous

Yeah, it's pretty similar here. It isn't quite so invasive.

Anonymous

And usually they won't confiscate the money unless they really believe it came from an illegal enterprise.

wikipedia's summary of it is actually fairly reasonable

Civil forfeiture in the United States

Civil forfeiture in the United States, also called civil asset forfeiture or civil judicial forfeiture, is a process in which law enforcement officers take assets from persons suspected of involvement with crime or illegal activity without necessarily charging the owners with wrongdoing. While civil procedure, as opposed to criminal procedure, generally involves a dispute between two private citizens, civil forfeiture involves a dispute between law enforcement and property such as a pile of cash or a house or a boat, such that the thing is suspected of being involved in a crime. To get back the...

9:43 AM

Imagine I have 500 € with me. How do I prove that this money belongs to me? How can I prove I was gifted it by my grandmother? Or that I had it stashed under the bed for bad times?

Anonymous

But they can, and they do.

Anonymous

So I was walking on the street once with £1000 in cash

> Civil forfeiture has generated substantial controversy.

YOU DON'T FUCKING SAY

Anonymous

And an old phone

Anonymous

The police saw me and stopped me and searched me under the drugs act

9:44 AM

The key is that, in essence, the police are taking action against your "property" rather than you, which somehow let's them skip pass our basic rights...

Anonymous

because an old phone & cash are associated with drugs

Anonymous

they then asked me to prove where i got the cash

Cop takes my cash away for no fucking reason. No shit it's controversial

@J.J Obviously. Clearly you're a criminal

Anonymous

and why i was using an old phone

Anonymous

9:44 AM

lmfao

Anonymous

I've also been searched (illegally) under the counter terrorism act

Anonymous

because i was carrying my laptop which has hacker stickers on it

Anonymous

And the police accused me of potentially being a terrorist threat.

You're a regular in the DMZ, of course you're basically a cyber terrorist

Anonymous

and searched me :D

9:45 AM

What did they expect to find in your pockets? Bitcoin? Exploits?

Anonymous

A lot of people don't realise how morally & lawfully wrong the UK police are.

Anonymous

Granted we don't get gunned down illegally, but they are awful here.

@MechMK1 I keep all of my exploits in my left sock

Anonymous

I've been search probably 15 times in my entire life.

Anonymous

I'd say only 2 of them were lawful searches.

9:46 AM

Is that normal? I've been searched exactly 0 times.

Yes it is

Anonymous

In the UK, in London it is quite normal, yes.

Anonymous

Especially if you have a rucksack and black clothes on.

I got harassed by police quite a lot too, since I had long hair and a beard

Anonymous

Then you're gonna get searched by every single police officer possible.

Anonymous

9:47 AM

Because you "fit the description" of a criminal.

Anonymous

"why are you in all black in 30 degree heat?" - because I hate you and everything.

Anonymous

"OKAY IM SEARCHING YOU UNDER THE COUNTER TERRORISM ACT HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACK"

Anonymous

lmfao.

And people complain about police profiling in the US

That sounds like the stupidest thing ever

Anonymous

Yeah, it is a lot worse here than people imagine.

9:48 AM

Apparently criminals are all dumb enough that they all dress alike?

Anonymous

Mostly it is only black males that get profiled that badly. But if you are any way like a social outcast you're gonna get searched.

Anonymous

Wearing a hood for example is "suspicious".

Maybe the police should pass a law that requires "criminals" that wear signs that say, "I have committed crimes" and then they can just arrest people as they walk down the street

Anonymous

The thing is, the general public doesn't realise the police are that bad because they don't have to deal with it.

Anonymous

Guys in suits are never getting searched for example. But I wear black hoodies everywhere.

Anonymous

9:49 AM

So to the police that just means I'm either a drug dealer or a terrorist.

Anonymous

If I was a black man it would be even worse so at least I have that to be thankful of.

Anonymous

The UK police are getting so bad though that if you are wearing a tracksuit you MUST be a criminal.

Anonymous

Because only criminals wear tracksuits apparently.

Anonymous

I hate this country, really.

Anonymous

It is getting more and more Authoritarian by the minute.

9:57 AM

The whole world is. Some of us just aren't quite so far along

In essence we spent a couple hundred years experimenting with this thing called "freedom". The general consensus, however, is that it just hasn't been worth it so now we're slowly walking the whole thing back. It was fun while it lasted

Anonymous

I am glad I will be dead before the world turns full 1984 (hopefully).

Ah fuck I forgot the DMZ

7 discussions at once

I think we have a few more generations before we hit full 1984.

10:25 AM

>implying we have not long surpassed 1984

10:58 AM

security.stackexchange.com/a/234344/163495

Is this the poor man's way of bumping a post?

1 hour later…

12:19 PM

Failed attempt at self-answer?

@MechMK1 From the comments you're definitely right, which makes me feel a little bad for answering the question. He's obviously missing a lot of key details though, so...

12:41 PM

It would be interesting to compare laws and how they are enforced in different countries, you would find out a lot of ridiculous stuff. Unfortunately I don't even think I know enough about my own country

What country are you in? [muwahahaha!!!]

All I know is that the public perception (not just mine) is that punishment is usually ridiculous and it's hard to go to jail (compared to the US for example)

The land of Mafia, the original one

The police won't even arrest drug dealers (those who only sell small amounts of drugs on the streets), they know who they are and where they are, they pretend they don't see them, because they know it's a waste of time... They would be arrested, sentenced, and then released after a few days/weeks in jail

Anonymous

1:28 PM

@reed Are you from the UK?

Anonymous

Because, it sounds like you are "the police won't even arrest drug dealers" - in the UK that is mostly true.

Anonymous

The street dealers, the police don't bother with them. Police in this country are only bothered by dealers that run county lines.

Anonymous

That's the only "dealers" the police care about here. They care way more about catching suppliers, and that is probably mostly true in a lot of countries.

Anonymous

Just made me wonder if you're UK based since I know it to be true about this country.

2:13 PM

I'm guessing Italy, the land of my forefathers!

@ConorMancone That never occurred to me. Is that e on the end of your name supposed to be pronounced then? (man CONE ee)

Apparently, but that's not how we pronounce it. My grandfather took his Italian heritage very seriously, although I think even he was only a quarter Italian (I think the original Mancones came over just a couple generations before he was born)

2:51 PM

I recently learned to use Metasploit on Windows boxes and the migrate has been pretty useful. I'm looking around at process migration but I'm not getting much so far. What exactly allows the migration to work? Can you give me some better keywords to look up?

@JohnZhau Do you mean Metasploit or meterpreter?

3:34 PM

it should be more like "monk OWE nay"

3 hours later…

6:38 PM

@reed :) I'll take your word for it. I'm not really Italian so I have no idea.

@MechMK1 this one's just for you. I run across these "advice columns" occasionally and they are usually terrible, but this is one of the worst. And yes I'm exaggerating a bit but my summary is: "My friend used to date a trump supporter. Therefore when they broke up I reported my friend's ex to the FBI as a white supremacist so they can start keeping tabs on him before he starts lynching blacks. Now my friend won't speak to me. What did I do wrong?"

slate.com/human-interest/2020/07/…

5 hours later…

11:45 PM

Is it possible to associate a DDoS attack with a particular botnet?

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Jul '209

The DMZ

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