When Security Geeks Get Snarky

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4030746:

My father would be saying stuff about knocking your heads together, sort of thing.

jsprinkles 16 hours ago | link

I’m respectful of your qualifications, but annoyed when you use your credentials without qualification. A paranoid man might assume your comments are strategically placed to benefit parties you’re aligned with, based on how little context there is here; I know better, others might not.
“These are good guys. This paper is the real deal.”
I appreciate what you bring to HN, but that this is the top comment worries me, particularly when it comes to security of all things. There’s valuable comments that are contrary to your opinion surrounding you, and I wish you’d explain your side a bit more clearly in cases like this.
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rdl 51 minutes ago | link

There’s really no debate that Cambridge has probably the top university hardware security analysis program in the world. They published attacks on the IBM 4758 Security Coprocessor, a bunch of attacks on specific smartcards, and are basically the standard bearer for (non classified) research into this kind of stuff. I think some of the chip companies (Intel, IBM) might have better resources for pure silicon debugging, but less security clue to go with it.
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tptacek 16 hours ago | link

You caught me. I’m a secret shill for Ross Anderson.
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jsprinkles 16 hours ago | link

That wasn’t the gist of my comment, but okay. I’m disappointed that you feel the rest of my comment wasn’t worth your time, and you chose to attach to a throwaway hypothetical. Alas, it was worth a shot.
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tptacek 11 hours ago | link

I find it exhausting to have to write things defensively just to ward off drama. The fact that I had to offer was very simple: that the security group at Cambridge is very credible. And you knew that, because you acknowledged in your comment. I’m left wondering why you commented at all.
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Comments

One response to “When Security Geeks Get Snarky”

  1. Brad

    My favorite line in all that is:

    > ktizo 16 hours ago | link

    > I suspect it was just plain old fashioned sarcasm.
    > Not that I’m in favour of sarcasm, ever. Honestly.

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