I really hate that the exaggerated future of Watchdogs is becoming reality but not the exaggerated group of highly experienced black hat hackers doing crazy post compromise shenanigans that would make national news.
The problem is the same reason why a Robin Hood type of character already doesn’t really exist in modern history. There will always be thousands of highly skilled people in defense of the very system you wish to see dissolved.
You would need the resources of at least a highly advanced APT, which often means you’re funded by a nation state which has very specific compromise goals.
Everyone else falls into cybercrime, which is much less sophisticated and is almost always after money.
Hence why most highly publicized attacks end in bitcoin ransoms.
EDIT:
Also at the risk of giving too much info about my career, big banks are absolutely notorious for having extremely tight security. Even if you managed to jump over the custom EDR, pivot your way through a massive amount of proprietary systems, and land in a suitable position to carry out the motherload of a supply chain attack, the bank could just halt their infrastructure and manually nullify whatever transactions they want with full backing from the government.
The closest I ever hypothetically witnessed was being able to manipulate the loan data for a small credit union. And emphasis on hypothetical, a real attacker would have needed some hard internal access to a heavily restricted subnet.
The only way I can see this successfully happening is like if the Chief Network Architect of say Chase also happened to be a highly competent hacker who uses his decades of experience to formulate a plan with an APT over the course of several years.
We need to not expect some hero figure to appear and change our world for us.
You know how hard it is to hack with bow and arrow?
https://gamerant.com/hawkeye-best-trick-arrows-from-comics-mcu/pretty much the plot of mr. robot
closest thing we had to it was arrested in a Mcdonalds because some dumbass making less than 12 dollars and hour dropped a dime on him.
Can’t have robin hood without some class solidarity.
Luigi is innocent, we were playing videogames together
I thought I read somewhere that they actually used face rec and CCTV, but leaked that it was a call-in tip to obfuscate the extent of the surveillance state from the public?
And he just happened to still be carrying around a backpack full of evidence several days later for funzies. Convenient.
I mean, I don’t doubt that honestly, makes a lot more sense to me especially since they never got any reward money.
Also could of been a way to “legalize” the illegally obtained facial recognition, or some other form of illegal intelligence gathering.
And I don’t think they even got the reward money the feds claimed they’d give out for turning him in but I’m not sure.
He really shouldn’t have stopped in Allentown. That’s the redneck meth capital of PA.
because some dumbass making less than 12 dollars and hour dropped a dime on him.
You really should learn about how that actually happened…
Because it’s most likely going to be how the case gets thrown out. If you care about it, I don’t know why anyone would willing stay ignorant
Less hints more links my guy! Strong “parallel construction” vibes but I haven’t seen anything real solid yet and like to think I’m reasonably tuned in
Literally the first link from searching “luigi McDonald’s”
Authorities said a customer in the restaurant thought he matched the description of the suspect in Thompson’s killing and notified an employee, who called 911.
https://www.newsweek.com/mcdonalds-worker-luigi-mangione-private-security-1999217
That customer was almost certainly law enforcement, they just needed a scapegoat to call in the tip because they couldn’t say how they found him.
The McDonald’s worker had no idea, that’s why their call was basically: “some guy said another guy is dangerous and wanted by police, I don’t know who”.
And cops immediately swarmed and singled out Luigi.
You may believe you’re “reasonably tuned in” but this information was out within like 24 hrs of his arrest everywhere.
That link says absolutely nothing about the source of the “tip”, you’re kinda being a prick about this without providing the substance that makes people put up with that. We’re even on the same side of this very specific niche case and you put more effort into some weak dunks than sharing info and downvoted me. Fuck off dude
That link says absolutely nothing about the source of the “tip"
Because it originated from an anonymous source…
Someone that was aware of who Luigi is and the bounty, wanted to turn him in…
But didn’t take the two seconds to ensure a call was made, instead they told someone else to call and just left.
Bro, if you can’t logic this out, and you only want help when it’s sugar coated…
Just block me.
Otherwise I’m cool to keep answering you’re questions, but this is standard delivery.
We’ve come to similar conclusions, I asked for a link because the confidence of your presentation made me think you had a good source. Instead of arming me with evidence, all this conversation has provided is arrogant, childish abuse. If you had something worth sharing you could just share it, “bro”
The deification of Luigi really pisses me off because he didn’t do shit to help anyone. Robin Hood wasn’t a deranged murderer, he stole from the rich to help the poor. What the fuck did Luigi actually accomplish with his idiotic “plan”? It just shows how dire the current situation is that people are desperately latching onto that assclown as some kind of revolutionary, when in reality he is nothing of the sort.
In the aftermath there was a wave of insurance companies approving procedures they had been stalling for a while. People’s cancer treatments were finally approved and a multitude of common folk where allowed to live because the rich realized how vulnerable they are.
Keep telling yourself that, it’s a nice story to fantasize about but I don’t personally buy it. I wonder if you have any hard data supporting that claim
Unfortunately the hard data on UHC’s denial rate is not public information. The company wouldn’t want all the bad publicity that would come with transparency.
There would be other signs, though. For example, UHC investors suing to increase the denial rate.
The lawsuit argues that the company’s changing corporate practices in the wake of Thompsons murder have been too consumer-friendly, and the investors’ profits are suffering as a result.
The article you linked mentions a litany of active lawsuits against UHC, many of which were already initiated prior to the murder of Brian Thompson. UHC was already on the legal chopping block prior to Luigi’s actions; in fact it seems fairly obvious that the preexisting lawsuits and bad publicity were the reason he chose to target Thompson specifically.
Let’s dig a bit deeper into the article. Right off the bat, I’d like to point out this tidbit, which perfectly supports the argument I was already making in this thread, namely that nothing has been changed by the murder.
Still, Potter warned that UnitedHealth Group’s own claims about reforms to its denials process should be treated with skepticism. “In my view, I think this is mostly for show,” he said. “It’s mostly for PR.”
As for the lawsuit in question, it was filed by some random shareholder from NY, who has no more access to the hard data than we do. He was concerned that
the company’s new projections for 2025, released in April, forecasted a significant cut in earnings.
And in an attempt to explain said concern, this talking head speculated
Wilkes, in an April media appearance, attributed the stock value drop to “probably United, and maybe the industry, pulling back on prior authorizations” — i.e., denying care to patients less often.
That’s not any kind of proof or data, it’s just speculation. Furthermore,
Shortly after the new investor case was filed, attorneys for CalPERS intervened in the new investor lawsuit, and last week, the plaintiff agreed to drop the suit and consolidate it with the larger case.
The lawsuit in question was promptly rolled into the comprehensive legal action which had already been initiated prior to the murder. And in case you didn’t read the whole article, they also mention that
On Monday, shareholders greenlit a $60 million pay package for the company’s CEO and shot down a proposal that would have increased investor scrutiny of executive payouts.
Bottom line is, your characterization of the legal action as “UHC investors suing to increase the denial rate” is reductive and inaccurate, although to be fair to you, it simply mimics the editorialized perspective of the journalist who wrote the article. The parts of the article which emphasize that interpretation of the lawsuit are basically just the journalist pandering to the lowest common denominator which comprises the majority of their audience. In other words, the writer of the article intentionally sensationalized the nature of the lawsuit, which is really quite a boring legal footnote that doesn’t make any of the claims implied by the article. I.e., it’s clickbait, and it’s obviously working.
I do appreciate you providing a relevant link that at least attempts to answer my request for evidence of the previous commenters’ claim, but unfortunately it’s not a very strong piece of evidence.
Lastly, I’d just like to point out that even if UHC does end up changing its practices and extending more coverage, all that ultimately means is that rival health insurance companies under less legal scrutiny will expand their market share proportionally and it’ll simply be a situation of new boss, same as the old boss.
lol they aren’t going to pay you for your service either, turncoat.
Damn, you’re a real tough customer, I should have known I couldn’t get one over on you 😂
Where do you stand on Osama bin Laden, pray tell? Terrorist or freedom fighter?
Luigi wasn’t deranged either. He was stopping a mass murderer who monetized suffering. Luigi made the world a better place with a little perseverance and resourcefulness. It’s admiring to see folks still want to work.
Oh, the world is a better place now, and it’s all thanks to Luigi? I must have missed that part
deleted by creator
We can agree to disagree on this one, I think every single thing you said is incorrect. I hope you have a good day, and I also hope your life saving or even life improving medical treatments are never denied due to insufficient authorization.
There’s a reason Mr Robot is still incredibly popular
That, and because it’s at least moderately accurate to how actual infosec breaches work
“Fight club for nerds afraid to get punched” is my favorite description, even tho Elliot routinely gets his ass beat.
And modern day guillotine while at it.
The neat thing is that guillotine technology has advanced quite far since the French revolution
I need to rewatch Tucker and Dale vs Evil.
I was just thinking about all the industrial spying China has done over the years. Would be awful if someone released their secrets for battery tech in their cars (if they actually exist).
Or billions of studies being hosted on torrent sites, oh the misery of publishers
They exist, but they’re also are on 4chan, so it’s a wash.
Having worked with highly regulated industries like banking, health care, and others that a “Robin Hood” hacker would target I can say that it’s not feasible.
Do you know how many days of Zoom meetings they’d have to be on to compromise just one system?
That’s management. The actual physical RFID card generator is on an employee’s Windows laptop with the password sticky noted on the screen.
Okay so now you’re in one system in one company. And that person still needs approval and a four hour zoom call to push anything into a position where it can make a difference.
I know, I’ve been on dozens of calls like that.
And even then you’ve pwned one of about a dozen companies you’d need to make a dent.
And then some dickhole will rat you out to the FBI for leniency.
And that person still needs approval and a four hour zoom call to push anything into a position where it can make a difference.
You don’t need approval when you are a criminal and have used exploits to gain root access to the company’s computers.
You think Aaron Swartz was on Zoom meetings to get approval before picking the lock to the network closet, hacking root and downloading all the University’s public research papers?
You think ShinyHunters are on Zoom meetings asking for approval? https://cybernews.com/security/software-11m-students-hacked-shinyhunters-attack/
This is you:
“No one can rob a bank. Think of the meetings needed to get HR to approve bringing a gun in the building.”
Downloading a bunch of data from educational systems is significantly easier than getting exploits into banks and financial systems, which is what I assumed a Robin Hood hacker would be doing.
Banks are hacked too:
edit:
In one episode of Mr Robot, they setup a fake cell tower and steal sims to bypass the 2 factor authentication on the cell phone of the people they stole from.
This actually happens in the real world: https://apnews.com/article/fraud-identity-theft-fcc-wireless-providers-8df930f2983d589c4822bba53eedfc1b
Again no Zoom meetings about stealing the SIM in your cell phone.
Another data theft, which is not what people envision when they think “Robin Hood.”
They’re picturing a Mr. Robot-like restructuring of the financial system, or even just eliminating debt like was proposed in Sneakers, or maybe just moving money around like that one episode of SeaQuest with Tim Russ.
And to do that you need a lot of people to get code anywhere near production, and everything is audited, and the timelines are measured in quarters.
And then you need to do it for the rest of the banks in the system. Mr Robot only worked because Ecorp was a monopoly.
Or they could just ransomware the money from the big companies and give it away
There are tons, op. Getting ahold of a corporate card and ordering strangers (maybe you’re one of them, maybe you aren’t) presents is a classic for a reason. You just never hear about victories of the resistance, that’s kinda propaganda 101
We already kinda do.
