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Author Topic: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!  (Read 6599 times)

Renegade

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TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« on: January 17, 2013, 05:46 AM »
You might think that's hyperbole, or that it's yelling, but it's understating the pure awesomeness of this fellow!

http://www.tgdaily.c...his-own-job-to-china

US programmer outsources his own job to China

Does that get yer attenshun? ;D IT ONLY GETS BETTER!!!

Verizon says it uncovered the scam when it was hired by the man's unnamed employer, which suspected a security breach. It had discovered that a VPN connection had been opened between its systems and China almost every day for months - sometimes staying open for the whole of the working day.

"They're a US critical infrastructure company, and it was an unauthorized VPN connection from CHINA. The implications were severe and could not be overstated," says Verizon's Andrew Valentine.

"The company implemented two-factor authentication for these VPN connection. The second factor being a rotating token RSA key fob. If this security mechanism had been negotiated by an attacker, again, the implications were alarming."

To make matters worse, he says, the developer whose credentials were being used was sitting at his desk in the office at the time.

Verizon staff leapt into action, recovering as many files as possible from the affected workstation - and discovered hundreds of .pdf invoices from a third party contractor/developer in Shenyang, China.

"As it turns out, Bob had simply outsourced his own job to a Chinese consulting firm. Bob spent less that one fifth of his six-figure salary for a Chinese firm to do his job for him," says Valentine.

"Authentication was no problem, he physically FedExed his RSA token to China so that the third-party contractor could log-in under his credentials during the workday."

So what was this man of leisure actually doing with his day? Verizon staff checked his web browsing history to find out. Apparently, he was engaged in a gruellling round of surfing Reddit and Ebay, watching cat videos and checking Facebook, before submitting end of day update e-mail to management.

Worse, it seems that this wasn't his only job: the man had the same scam going across several different companies in the area, and was making a profit of several hundred thousand dollars a year.

"The best part?" says Valentine. "Investigators had the opportunity to read through his performance reviews while working alongside HR. For the last several years in a row he received excellent remarks. His code was clean, well written, and submitted in a timely fashion. Quarter after quarter, his performance review noted him as the best developer in the building."

(Love the Orwellian newspeak about the "scam". It's ok when WE do it, but just not you.)

But seriously, gotta give the guy props! He's obviously very good at managing developers~! ;D :P

 :Thmbsup:
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

TaoPhoenix

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2013, 06:57 AM »
Heh - yeah Helmut and 40hz are discussing much the same thing the next thread over. : )

Stoic Joker

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2013, 06:58 AM »
Gave me a good laugh this morning when I heard it on the radio. Nice kick in the teeth to the corporation.

40hz

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2013, 08:14 AM »
We can probably thank Tim Harris and his book The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. It's a faintly poisonous variation on the "other people's money" and "how to succeed without really trying" school of thought.

Most of it is the traditional "approach your employer with this idea" and "get rich starting your own corporation" stuff you've seen or read about before.

But the real "new idea" he has is the recommendation you outsource as much of your work life as possible to offshore 'boiler-room' business service and manufacturing firms. He recommends India very highly. Nothing really new here. Major corporations have been doing this for the last two decades. But Tim's 'contribution' to making the world a slightly darker place is how he shows where it's possible (although not as easy as he makes it sound) for individuals living in wealthier, well-connected countries to do the same.

Guess Tim's "big idea" is slowly making it's way into the mainstream corporate world, huh? ;D

The only problem is I can see a scenario where the larger corporate world just might come to embrace this practice.

Consider - why go through the hassle of having the mother ship qualify and manage subcontractors on a project basis? Hire somebody (under the usual employment contract) and allow him/her get the job done any way they can. If they need additional help or resources, don't come begging to daddy for additional money or help. Go hire or get whatever you need. "Out of your paycheck, mate! That's what you're getting paid for. You said you could do it - so you'd better deliver! Remember, you signed an employment agreement with us...unless of course you just want to pack up...and also pay back what we've paid you to date...."

Maybe a little far fetched today.

But they said the same thing about people working from home, pumping their own gas, ringing up their own groceries, home-schooling, and finding and paying for their own medical insurance plan not too long ago.

Yup...I can see it coming. No more managerial employees or traditional white collar jobs. Everybody either a contractor or subcontractor.

The securities analysts and corporate attorneys will positively salivate at the "opportunities for increased flexibility" this would make possible.

Please... Don't anybody suggest it to them. ;D

slava.jpg

 :Thmbsup:

Renegade

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2013, 09:03 AM »
This has cemented in my mind an idea that I've had for a long time:

If you live in the West, DO NOT GO INTO MANUFACTURING OR IP. EVER.

The only jobs in the West are in services, e.g. hostess, waiter, grocery store clerk, plumber, electrician, etc. You cannot get someone in Brazil to pour a cup of coffee for you if you're in Boston. You cannot get a mechanic in India to fix your car. You cannot get someone in the Philippines to fix your toilet.

The only jobs left in the West are in services. Everything else is dead.

Long live our corporate overloads, the globalist elite, and consolidated capital interests! :P (That was sarcasm.)
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

40hz

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2013, 09:25 AM »
The only jobs in the West are in services, e.g. hostess, waiter, grocery store clerk, plumber, electrician, etc. You cannot get someone in Brazil to pour a cup of coffee for you if you're in Boston. You cannot get a mechanic in India to fix your car. You cannot get someone in the Philippines to fix your toilet.

The only jobs left in the West are in services.

Interestingly, the thing that always characterized so-called 3rd-world economies was that they were service rather than manufacturing based. Something that contributed greatly to their reduced standard of living since there was little opportunity for significant "value added" gains in providing services. It's generally just a sale of "hours of somebody's life" for dollars when you're in the service industries...

In many respects quite similar to slavery or indentured servitude, the difference being that the purchase of a slave or indentured contract is a fixed expense as opposed to the variable expense an "hourly worker" represents on the books.

Let those who advocate for the "new service and information economy" ponder deeply the implications in this. :tellme: ;D

Renegade

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #6 on: January 17, 2013, 09:39 AM »
Let those who advocate for the "new service and information economy" ponder deeply the implications in this. :tellme: ;D

Inside of the "service" sector, we do need to point out the difference between PHYSICAL services and INTELLECTUAL services.

e.g. A lawyer provides both, but his physical presence is still required in court. A coder? Not so much. Those are purely intellectual services.

There's a big difference there in "services".

-- Just in case that wasn't already apparent/explicit/implicit/understood/whatever for anyone. ;)

Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

40hz

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #7 on: January 17, 2013, 09:53 AM »
Inside of the "service" sector, we do need to point out the difference between PHYSICAL services and INTELLECTUAL services.

It's also important to remember that intellectual products and services are heavily dependent on increasingly strict (and easy to manipulate for gain) IP, trademark, and copyright laws (plus increasingly capricious, arbitrary and draconian enforcement actions) to maintain their high levels of profitably.

With the ramping up of the intellectual property concept, you get what you ask for. 8)

Apparently the USA has decided to bet its collective future on just such a thing. :(

wraith808

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2013, 10:03 AM »
Let those who advocate for the "new service and information economy" ponder deeply the implications in this. :tellme: ;D

Inside of the "service" sector, we do need to point out the difference between PHYSICAL services and INTELLECTUAL services.

e.g. A lawyer provides both, but his physical presence is still required in court. A coder? Not so much. Those are purely intellectual services.

There's a big difference there in "services".

-- Just in case that wasn't already apparent/explicit/implicit/understood/whatever for anyone. ;)



Nice article-- and even nicer clarification. :)

Tinman57

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #9 on: January 17, 2013, 07:34 PM »
But seriously, gotta give the guy props! He's obviously very good at managing developers~! ;D :P
 :Thmbsup:
  Yeah, but he got his ass fired for it too.  lol

Renegade

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #10 on: January 17, 2013, 07:50 PM »
But seriously, gotta give the guy props! He's obviously very good at managing developers~! ;D :P
 :Thmbsup:
  Yeah, but he got his ass fired for it too.  lol

No good deed goes unpunished~! ;D
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

wraith808

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #11 on: January 17, 2013, 09:12 PM »
I saw an analysis on another site and a talk to the auditors that caught him- they said he could have gotten away with it with one minor change to his scheme.  Set up a server at home, and have them vpn into the server, then connect from there.

Renegade

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #12 on: January 17, 2013, 09:36 PM »
I saw an analysis on another site and a talk to the auditors that caught him- they said he could have gotten away with it with one minor change to his scheme.  Set up a server at home, and have them vpn into the server, then connect from there.

That was my first thought when I read the article. I really wondered why he wouldn't do that as he's obviously smart enough. There is the issue of downtime though, which could be mitigated by redundant connections and a UPS though...
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

wraith808

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #13 on: January 17, 2013, 11:03 PM »
The one not so awesome thing about the conclusion yet to come- I wonder if he's going to spend some time and money in court. :(

Paul Keith

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Re: TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!
« Reply #14 on: January 17, 2013, 11:27 PM »
Is there a mysterious in-joke as to why 40hz typo'd Tim Ferris' name?

Btw I always thought internet web scams predated Ferris in the outsourcing idea.

I could be wrong but even way back David Allen was already writing about delegating in GTD.

The new pop stuff Ferris is known to introduce was the bulk up/cut weight to beat someone in martial arts (sounds like Push Hands competition from the way he wrote it) and the GTD for mom advice of saving up and actually going and taking a vacation with your son being a way to better unload your work by actually unloading your work. Something about planes and focusing your work on booking a vacation.

I could be wrong though but I did read the book cover to cover and I didn't really recall any specific how to text on offshore boiler room management services. At least not in an actual, just sign-up for this, just do this. That came much later with his fanbase and his sites I think but even there I never really found any specific howto guide.

Web scams on the other hand had wordpress guides, intern guides, a couple of elance sites.

Tim mentioned ELance I think but nothing that really could get you started if you don't know what you were doing.

Edit:

Even this Quora link does not hint to any guide:
http://www.quora.com...s/Tim-Ferriss-author

The book to my recollection does not even go much in explaining how to start a fake supplement biz.
« Last Edit: January 17, 2013, 11:37 PM by Paul Keith »