Unrefined memoir of observations & a tapestry of who I am. ليس لنا فروعًا أخرى
CAI 🇪🇬/ BER 🇩🇪
Joined October 2009
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27 July 2021
I always loved this poem, and specifically this part. When I first moved to Berlin, I was going through some stuff. I used to have walks to get out of my head, and I ran into it. It helped.
الattacks كل يوم بتبقى أكثر إبداعا عن اللي قبله 🥲
That engineer was so desperate to get the job, apparently 🥲
Reading the Binance post-mortem gave me serious déjà vu.
A while back I was cold-emailed via my GitHub commits for a remote tech director role. Real humans replied, polished website, white paper, decent tech architecture, legit company name, active GitHub org. The setup was immaculate.
Then came the "coding assignment" repo they wanted me to fork and run locally. I audited it before touching it, spotted the red flags, and ghosted.
The wild part is a solo dev inspecting a repo over coffee had better endpoint paranoia than an engineer inside a $100B exchange's wallet infrastructure.
If a recruiter asks you to clone a repo onto your daily MacBook in 2026, assume it's Pyongyang until proven otherwise. 🤓
⚔🪷 Lenore نور 🪷⚔ retweeted
TLDR: Basically it was a social engineering phishing attack in two parts. One of the engineers downloaded a bogus AI coding tool off of a fake link on Google, and the second engineer was tricked by a fake interviewer for a new job to download a coding “assignment” containing a virus. With those two engineers compromised they could gain access to Binance.
The takeaway here? You are only as strong as your weakest link. Social engineering remains the best way to hack systems. Also DO NOT DOWNLOAD THINGS. Check to see if the Google links are REAL, do not click links or download things for “job interviews.”
Separately phishing similar to this happens all the time on X. People will DM you posing as journalist or whatever and ask you to set an interview time by connecting your X account to some calendar. Don’t do that. In the words of Admiral Ackbar, it’s a trap.
Also separately separately nobody from Google is trying to call you. We promise you. Don’t be a mark.
Stay safe all
Should a nuke ever drop, I would be doing this in the peace of my apartment (iykyk). But you can read the instructions as well.
Should a nuke ever drop, do not under any circumstance try to drive. You have a limited amount of time such as 10 minutes to get inside your house in the basement away from windows.
It’s best to be as far inside your house as possible.
If you are in the kill zone you will just die. For those not in kill zone, you need to stay inside for at least 24-72 hours up to a week due to radiation. Radio would give further instructions.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Get inside the nearest sturdy building immediately rather than traveling to your house. Shelter for at least 24 hours unless local authorities instruct otherwise.
ready.gov/radiation
fema.gov/sites/default/…
cdc.gov/radiation-emer…
It's also so stupid, because why would I apply on a visa if I am not planning to travel and book a ticket and hotel if I got accepted? What are they trying to prove there?
I want to sell my Apple airpods, but I am too sorry for anyone who would have to use this abomination of a product. Back to my ANC earphones like god intended for things to be.