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markshepard

469 karma · joined September 28, 2012

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markshepard··on As NSA Worries Cloud Dropbox, Tonido Offers its “Personal Cloud”
Unfortunately, There is no way to avoid NSA type surveillance.. without or without "Personal Clouds". I guess It does help reduce the footprint, but with the move to think clients (like mobile devices) and Cloud backends, I am afraid, the public cloud move seems quite irreversible and therefore no way to avoid snooping either by governments or abuse by corporations.
markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
Yes. I believe it has been added to a temp whitelist. But it is not clear if is domain based or somekind of signature based. If it is domain based, then whitelisting is not useful (This is hosted on various domains as noted by others). If it is signature based, it will be more effective (though the signature will change as the server code changes and since there is no idea what gets into the signature, there is no way to avoid).

Also, dev1.codelathe.com was re-setup specifically to trigger the warning (It was determined that if the login button has the keyword "Connexion", it was pushing the phishing score past 0.5)

The main thing is, if there is a clear way to contact the team responsible for this to resolve such issues, that will be the best way for anyone with similar problem and at this point there is no such avenue.

markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
I agree (and have posted in this very thread) that having controls for detecting spam/fraud is good. Also, I have posted that the primary problem is, no way to either a) avoid this problem by adhering to some guidelines b) no way to directly contact the developer to figure out the problem to resolve it.

Every update to the browser can potentially change the model that affects a large number of the users and the only way to figure out the problem is using some sort of trial and error method.

This would have been fine if the product in question is a niche product or a exotic browser. But the fact of the matter is, with Chrome (being one of the dominant browser) and Google being the product owner, the reach of Google's opinion is far reaching and can easily destroy a product (akin to killing a person based on some assumption).

Also note that, the "communication channels" listed earlier were completely useless for this type of problem where the client side is throwing the error (Not related to a specific domain or even url included in the page).

Understand that, being a commercial product, ALL possible methods were tried (obviously) to resolve it by using those methods and could not resolve it. You can see that, this specific instance gets triggered by simply having a button with the name "Connexion" instead of "Login" (purely detected by backtracking the changes).

So the frustration is not meant to belittle Google's effort at combating spam/fraud but to point out the effect of such wide ranging blanket solutions.

While "Collateral damage" is a very nice way to de-sanitize and make things palatable for all parties involved except those getting to be the "Collateral damage".

At the end of the day, I am sure folks understand that Google being Google can do what they want and probably even bury the whole issue from getting any traction.

markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
Even though this looks like a troll attempt, lets try this.

The problem is 1. No clarity on what constitutes a problem. 2. No way to officially contact to clear up a problem

resulting in possible irreparable loss of business.

So, if you insist on interesting and orthogonal "analogies".. please carry on.

markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
@hiddenfeatures

Yes. Lets apply this everywhere. Lets electrocute folks based on "heuristics" because there are no other way to find out "bad guys".

It is nice to act as an arbiter and spout philosophy isn't it?

If you really do think that there is no other better way then I guess there is no more point arguing about this.

markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
The whitelisting already active for this domain now.

Trace showing server overriding the "Phishyness" verdict of the client

[5760:1799:0701/150256:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier_delegate.cc(211)] Phishy verdict = 1 score = 0.548927

[5751:1799:0701/150256:VERBOSE2:client_side_detection_host.cc(447)] Feature extraction done (success:1) for URL: http://dev1.codelathe.com/ui/core/index.html. Start sending client phishing request.

[5751:1799:0701/150256:VERBOSE2:client_side_detection_host.cc(415)] Received server phishing verdict for URL:http://dev1.codelathe.com/ui/core/index.html is_phishing:0

markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
It is because this domain has been added to whitelist which is now overriding it

[5760:1799:0701/150256:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier_delegate.cc(211)] Phishy verdict = 1 score = 0.548927

[5751:1799:0701/150256:VERBOSE2:client_side_detection_host.cc(447)] Feature extraction done (success:1) for URL: http://dev1.codelathe.com/ui/core/index.html. Start sending client phishing request.

[5751:1799:0701/150256:VERBOSE2:client_side_detection_host.cc(415)] Received server phishing verdict for URL:http://dev1.codelathe.com/ui/core/index.html is_phishing:0

markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
Interesting! I guess most phishing guys have this on their URL and in their page. Therefore it MUST mean that every page with those keys are phishing... just great.

Chrome user$ grep phish chrome_debug.log | grep -e "UrlPath" -e "PageTerm"

[5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: UrlPathToken=html = 1

[5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: UrlPathToken=core = 1

[5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageTerm=password = 1

[5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageTerm=connexion = 1

[5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: UrlPathToken=index = 1

[5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageTerm=account = 1

markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
@alternize

That, precisely is the issue. We can only speculate as to what might be good or bad. There is no way to really know is correct (and infact why is it even the business of a browser to determine that). In a lot of situation, it is not something the product gets to decide. For example, this got triggered when a customer added translations to the application (which changes that button).

.

markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
Here is the output snippet. Basically some "algorithm" thinks it has found phishyness with some score above 0.5 and flags it. No clue as to what caused it (We know that it can be triggered by simply changing the name of the "Login" button to "Connexion"!!

Must be nice to dream up some "algorithm" and push it out.. sigh

[5570:1799:0701/133949:VERBOSE1:client_side_detection_host.cc(221)] Instruct renderer to start phishing detection for URL: http://dev1.codelathe.com/ui/core/index.html [5579:1799:0701/133949:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier_delegate.cc(238)] Not starting classification, no Scorer created. [5579:1799:0701/133950:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier_delegate.cc(238)] Not starting classification, no Scorer created. [5570:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:client_side_detection_service.cc(255)] Sending phishing model to RenderProcessHost @0x7aa18a00 [5570:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:client_side_detection_service.cc(255)] Sending phishing model to RenderProcessHost @0x8043d620 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier_delegate.cc(283)] Starting classification for http://dev1.codelathe.com/ui/core/index.html [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: UrlTld=com = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageImgOtherDomainFreq = 0 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: UrlOtherHostToken=dev1 = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: UrlPathToken=html = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageLinkDomain=tonido.com = 1 [5574:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier_delegate.cc(275)] Not starting classification, last url from browser is , last finished load is chrome-extension://jpjpnpmbddbjkfaccnmhnkdgjideieim/background.html [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: UrlPathToken=core = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageTerm=password = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageHasTextInputs = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageExternalLinksFreq = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageHasPswdInputs = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageSecureLinksFreq = 0 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageTerm=connexion = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: UrlDomain=codelathe = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: UrlPathToken=index = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageTerm=account = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageHasForms = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageNumScriptTags>1 = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier.cc(192)] Feature: PageNumScriptTags>6 = 1 [5579:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier_delegate.cc(211)] Phishy verdict = 1 score = 0.548927 [5570:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:client_side_detection_host.cc(447)] Feature extraction done (success:1) for URL: http://dev1.codelathe.com/ui/core/index.html. Start sending client phishing request. [5570:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:client_side_detection_host.cc(415)] Received server phishing verdict for URL:http://dev1.codelathe.com/ui/core/index.html is_phishing:1 [5570:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:client_side_detection_service.cc(255)] Sending phishing model to RenderProcessHost @0x802b7ff0 [5580:1799:0701/133954:VERBOSE2:phishing_classifier_delegate.cc(259)] Toplevel URL is unchanged, not starting classification.

markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
It has now been patched to throw the error. It shows up now on Version 27.0.1453.116
markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
Very nice! This will actually be very helpful in tracking this. Thank you.
markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
Try http://dev1.codelathe.com

Shows up now with Chrome v27.0.1453.116

markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
It shows up now on Version 27.0.1453.116
markshepard··on Ask HN: Google Chrome heuristic warnings pose threat to our business
While I think chrome having strong anti fraud protection built in is nice, the fact that there is no way to understand what constitutes "correct behavior" and no clear way to get clarification is appalling.

It is essentially engineering how things should be developed, which still could be tolerable if there are guidelines.

If an average user sees a red page indicating risk to a page, then that site/page is essentially killed.

markshepard··on Show HN: New iOS App - Watch your videos from Anywhere
The iPad app is pretty functional. It has some rough edges to polish but not many apps I have found that seems to handle range of files as this app.
markshepard··on "Your criticisms are completely wrong": Stallman on software patents
This is definitely an issue to be tackled. After working in a large software company I can attest to the fact that ridiculous stuff that are patented just to increase the portfolio.
markshepard··on Morphing Hexapod Robot
The demo of this robot in youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuC6q9kbryw
markshepard··on Software on Steam
Dont you know that it is cool to pass summary judgements and being cynical? Combative or putdown type responses seem to be the order of the day. FWIW I agree with you.
markshepard··on How to put all your data on the Web without storing it in the cloud
I am assuming you have not met all the users of Dropbox then? Clearly there are people (like me) who do care about consuming the data other than just downloading them as raw files.
markshepard··on Does Apple have a Scott Forstall problem?
Interesting. I was thinking the same thing. Everytime I decide to depend on ios4 maps (pre-debacle) for active usage (while driving), I end up getting lost because it was horribly offcourse. Other than offline direction search, I learnt not to depend on it. So technically, other than the Schadenfreude, I dont really have a lot of problem with ios6 maps since I can fireup maps.google.com for maps/directions
markshepard··on How to put all your data on the Web without storing it in the cloud
So basically this is good if you need the flexibility of Cloud based apps like Dropbox or Box with the convenience of data ownership and storage.

It is interesting to see that folks can "replace" dropbox with ftp/ssh/rsync/webdav etc. But the strength of dropbox or similar solution (self-hosted or otherwise) is the consumability model (music transcoded and streamed, Photos resized and presented as slideshows, controlled share support). With more and more access to the data coming from mobile clients, the differentiation of these services from those "traditional access services" are their support for new mobile clients/OSes.

markshepard··on A Letter from Tim Cook on Maps
Is it really true that there are 100 million devices using ios6 already?
markshepard··on Even Windows 8 early adopters prefer Windows 7 by two to one
Poor windows. It is damned if you do and damned if you don't. First they aren't radical enough. Now they are too radical. sigh.
markshepard··on Apple Apologizes for Its Maps Problem
Apology can be accepted if they fast track google's map application to at least mitigate this mess. I am glad that I didn't update my iphone to ios6. The wife isn't so happy that I update her phone!
markshepard··on A Letter from Tim Cook on Maps
Considering that Apple knew that every single aspect of its software will come under scrutiny, Releasing the software in this state indicates callous attitude towards the users.

Do I believe that the software will improve? Yes.. eventually. I know in enterprise software provides like IBM tend to ship hardware with incomplete software and rely in service packs to complete the functions.And if Apple thinks that the same model will work for Consumer products, then they are plain wrong.

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