Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Programming Contest Hacked and Defaced
davidmwilliams writes "Microsoft followed their major annual Tech-Ed event in Australia with a week-long programming contest called 'DevSta,' to find 'star developers.' While the quantity and quality of submissions suggest a poor turnout, it certainly caught the attention of at least two hackers who left their mark. Here is the low-down on the contest, what happened, by whom, and screen shots for posterity in case it's been fixed by the time you read this. And unless the volume of submissions increase dramatically within the next few hours, someone may be awarded an Xbox for doing nothing more than rewriting the Windows calculator as a .NET app."
Nooo.
This isn't news. If it were, it'd carry a headline like "Microsoft Programming Contest Security Thwarts Hackers" and be about how Microsoft employed some effective security measures without subjecting all applicants to activity-monitoring rootkit DRM and attendees to cavity-searches.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, watch it -- I'm huge!
Nobody wants an XBox that badly do they? :-)
If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.
So it's like all their other software then?
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
They really shouldn't be running HTTP daemons without SELinux running. Such services are just too popular a target.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
What about the guy who found a security hole on IIS and wrote and exploit for it? that sounds way cooler than rewriting calc.
--
Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!
If I write an app for Apple's iPhone, I run the chance of being denied, but I could make lots of $$$. If I write an app for MS, I could get some lovely departing gifts. Tough choice.
Impetuous! Homeric!
1. Microsoft Programming Contest Hacked and Defaced.
2. Story posted to Slashdot and nobody cares.
3. Posting Anonymously to protect my kharma - priceless.
They are. And don't call me Shirley.
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
> Cavity search is news to me. Where do I sign up?
Ask Mr. Goatse. I think there's a .NET version of it now, too!
I want to see the calculator wins, it would be damn funny if the STAR application is the calculator.
I speak from about 15 years experience at multiple companies and not bias that the more "Microsofty" the programmer is, the worse they are.
Works the same for users, too.
He clearly means Dentistry software. Manage the patient's records, search cavities...
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
they designed a Windows Registry as an interface to the database on Linux.
So wait, let me get this straight... these people know both Windows *and* Linux so well that they wrote a Windows Registry for Linux, rather than cutting the bullshit and using SQL?
That sounds very... irresponsible.
Boot Windows, Linux, and ESX over the network for free.
In other news, Alanis Morissette is found posting on Slashdot under the name 'db32'.
Google doesn't have an IDE with a built in application creator wizard.
An Xbox sounds pretty cool if all I have to do is
Project -> New
Select "calculator" from list, next
Select radial button "scientific", next
Checkbox a few skins and an include contentless help-pages, next
Hit Create
Run it, accept the EULA
Hello Xbox.
Modding me -1 troll doesn't make me wrong.
The Headlines:
A hacker known by the name BENJYMOUSE has today been arrested for defacing a popular news site. The 2 SWAT teams were deemed necessary as hackers are known to be armed and dangerouse and usualy in company of muslim terrorists. Only 2400 rounds were fired and a mere 25 bystanders were killed. Rumors that the terrorist-hacker was playing a loud videogame instead of firing his as yet undiscovered arsenal of weapons show that these terrorists are not just evil, but also lazy.
The hacker will be put on trail for possesion of illegal invisible weapons of mass destruction.
commodoresloat writes "Slashdot followed their major annual asteroid-collision article with an article called 'Microsoft Programming Contest Hacked and Defaced.' While the quantity and quality of posts suggest a poor turnout, it certainly caught the attention of a hacker named 'BENJYMOUSE' who left his mark. Here is the low-down on the slashdot post, what happened, by whom, and screen shots for posterity in case it's been fixed by the time you read this. And unless the quality of posts increase dramatically within the next few hours, someone may be awarded mod points for doing nothing more than rewriting the *BSD troll as an anti-M$ post."
Now that's just mean. I happen to be a star developer and I tell you it's hard work. If you don't balance mass vs. density, hydrogen vs. deuterium vs. tritium vs. helium etc. just right you end up with something that blows up or goes brown dwarf in a couple dozen myriads alredy. Developing a solid (ha!) star that keeps burning for millions of years (without the spectral lines creeping out of spec, to boot) is pretty difficult, really.
Star development really should become an engineering job and I don't think that Microsoft will be happy with talent they just pick up from the street. That's just going to lead to mediocrity at best.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Had I known it were news, I'd have contacted local news media rather than the modest response of contacting my web hosting provider and asking that they patch the vulnerability in their SQL server.
~Mike (Titan_X)