I Inspected My Take-Home Interview Project. It Was a Whole Operation

209

CCITIZENDOT about 3 hours ago 44 commentsRead Article on citizendot.github.io

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Discussion (44 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

wxw•about 2 hours ago

> They embedded a script that checks the victim’s host operating system and silently executes a remote payload.

Seems like this is becoming a recurring theme, similar story was on the front page last month.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48546294

gowld•22 minutes ago

The OP says as much, and links to a Google Search results that says the same.

ivanjermakov•about 1 hour ago

> Why use a raw IP address? If anything, this screams “malware.”

If the victim is deep enough to check hook's content, it's unlikely they will just stop here losing suspicion. I'm sure most devs wouldn't think that doing `git commit` can be malicious (git security oversight?).

vardalab•22 minutes ago

My takeaway from this was that Claude was being completely useless as a helper Thanks to all the safety safeguards and that nonsense.

nphardon•about 2 hours ago

always a good day when we get an a post on front actually related to hacking on hackernews.

ivanjermakov•about 1 hour ago

Except hackernews is about different kind of hackers.

http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html

> 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. RFC1392, the Internet Users' Glossary, usefully amplifies this as: A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular.

> 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.

lantry•about 1 hour ago

> Side note: Why use a raw IP address? If anything, this screams “malware.” At least register a decoy domain like lint-checker.com or jenkins-ci-runner.net. If the threat actors who wrote this are reading: take notes people!

Maybe they don't want to give any identifying info to the domain registrar? Or just minimizing their online presence?

HPsquared•about 1 hour ago

That's probably the reason bare IP addresses are associated with sketchy stuff.

CITIZENDOT•about 1 hour ago

fair point

ge96•about 2 hours ago

There was a funny video I saw recently someone's running Red Star OS on their computer and a scammer is trying to scam them thinking it's Windows

Unrelated to this git pre commit hook attack but yeah

darth_avocado•about 2 hours ago

If LinkedIn actually cared about preventing scams, they could implement verification using company emails if you want to list your current employment. And if it is too much of a heavy burden, then at the minimum you should have it as an optional feature that recruiters would have to comply with, if they want to be legitimate.

CITIZENDOT•about 1 hour ago

> they could implement verification using company emails

they added this back in 2023 (https://news.linkedin.com/2023/april/linkedin-s-new-verifica...), but very less people actually bother to verify with their email, so not having it doesn't always mean it's illegitimate.

darth_avocado•about 1 hour ago

The legitimate recruiters should start using it then.

fitsumbelay•17 minutes ago

TIL about tree ...

I stopped being surprised by new stuff I learn about an OS I've been using for 25+ and 10+ as my daily whip and just enjoy the discovery-buzz

these take-home interview nightmare stories are so common ... I'd hate to see a bad actor take advantage by offering a "service" to unsuspecting and underinformed folks like ... erm ... me

guessmyname•16 minutes ago

“tree” [1] has been around forever, at least by software standards.

“erd” [2] is a modern alternative written in Rust that some people prefer.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_%28command%29

[2] https://github.com/solidiquis/erdtree

ChrisMarshallNY•about 2 hours ago

I assume these types of things are going to become more and more common.

Looks like these folks really did their homework.

It's nasty, but I have to respect their skills. I'll bet it works, quite often.

CITIZENDOT•about 2 hours ago

yea, i had fun looking around, this felt like a ctf challenge lol. if they had any vuln on their server, it would've been even better.

LoganDark•about 2 hours ago

Their "skills" might just be borrowed from some LLM.

ChrisMarshallNY•about 2 hours ago

I dunno. The Norks seem to be really good at this, and have been, for a long time.

I suspect it's clever, experienced, engineers, leveraging LLMs.

throw_m239339•about 2 hours ago

Yeah, this scam is probably all automated at first place. Welcome to the "agent era"...

gtowey•about 2 hours ago

My takeaway from this is that I should use the same defense as when someone calls you "from you bank". When they reach out directly, go to the real company's site to apply and contact a real recruiter. If you can't validate that the business is legit before, then assume malfeasance.

technion•about 2 hours ago

Companies make this hard, a bit like various email scams where legit company communication comes from seemingly random domains (hello paypal). Often the company is legit, but theres no public contact that knows anything about the recruiter thats working for them.

bombcar•about 2 hours ago

Healthcare companies are the WORST at this - they will send you legitimate email from h34lthc4re.biz with a heart-happy-health.phishing.info link that you HAVE to use - and it's all legit.

paxys•about 2 hours ago

Even if the attempt is legit, going to the company’s website/careers page to try and reach them is pointless. You application will just get lost among the thousands of others. Your best bet is to ask the recruiter to email you and check for a @<company.com> email address. And even if the attempt checks out don’t run untrusted code on your machine.

yieldcrv•about 2 hours ago

it was in this moment, that gtowey’s outdated job solutions transitioned them from unc to boomer

gtowey•about 1 hour ago

I think you misunderstood.

I'm not talking about switching to cold contacting companies as a job hunting strategy. I'm saying if you get a suspicious outreach from a rando on linked in on behalf of a company THEN you only continue if you can reach out to the same person via official company channels.

drnick1•about 1 hour ago

Are these kinds of tests still relevant in the AI age? Genuine question, I have not interviewed for a very long time. They seem as useful as take home college exams.

wslh•about 1 hour ago

I assume an standard way to do this is through a VM provided by the recruiter, right?

CITIZENDOT•23 minutes ago

yea, i'm just lazy

sailfast•about 1 hour ago

Really hate that the USG overreaction on Fable has given us a neutered version of AIs for DEFENSIVE capabilities even when we just want an explanation of what we’re being subjected to with this malware.

Give defenders a better shot…

rdksu•about 2 hours ago

Bruh the harry potter theme song scared the shit out of me as it turned itself on. Bad UX for a personal site. Great article btw !

ladybro•about 2 hours ago

Where can one be whimsical and fun if not for a personal site?

CITIZENDOT•about 2 hours ago

sorry, i added it to set the mood for my site :') yk, like moving lamps at the top, hanging dementor at the right side (only visible on desktops).

should i remove it?

seanobannon•about 2 hours ago

absolutely not! it is a delightful source of whimsy on an increasingly uniform web

Lammy•about 2 hours ago

Middle ground: make it respect `prefers-reduced-motion` :)

projektfu•about 1 hour ago

No, it's your playground. My podcast was talking about the music the guest was making and I thought he was playing something Potter related.

eightysixfour•about 2 hours ago

No, it made me laugh.

girvo•37 minutes ago

Nah, it's fine! I just muted the tab, no big deal

john_strinlai•about 2 hours ago

>should i remove it?

there is no place for fun, whimsy, moods, or personalization on the web. sorry.

(no, at least not at the request of random internet stranger #10545346)

ChrisMarshallNY•about 1 hour ago

Around here, many people have their sense of humor, removed, during their first colonoscopy.

I joke, anyway, and bear the downvotes. Totally worth it.

Quarrelsome•about 1 hour ago

NEVER PURGE YOUR WHIMSY.

aftbit•about 1 hour ago

I used developer tools to delete the dementor, then I muted the site when it started playing music.

busymom0•about 1 hour ago

Nah, keep it. It's your site and that's where you get to have fun!

ikistuach•about 2 hours ago

yes