During early COVID lockdowns, a teen raised $1.8 million in venture funding and built a web filter with a team of data scientists and psychologists that he now hopes will help students safely surf the web
This remind me of my school. At the time they used some software to block sites. So I searched for the name of that software, and found an executable file with that name plus config.
I executed it, and much to my surprise, I could now configure the filters for the whole school. I tested it by entering the URL of a game my classmates was playing at that moment. It was a very weird sensation to see his game getting closed by the software the moment I added it to the blacklist…
So:
I and every other students had read and write acces to the directory where the software was installed.
The directory was indexed to make it easier for students to find.
There was no extra password or authorization.
I showed a classmate. Told him to not show anybody else. A week later, he added the startpage to the blacklist. As a result, if you opened Internet Explorer, it would close immediately. Obviously, this caused admins to check out what was going on…
It was fixed later, but it was fun while it lasted.
You never ever share the exploit that you intend to leverage for personal gain. Sorry you had to learn that the hard way.
I made thousands of dollars in World
Of Warcraft with a couple of gold and xp exploits that let me build chars that were super leveled and loaded with gold and sell them. Never ripped anyone off, just exploited a game mechanic that I think was unintended. Saved some people some time in exchange for dolla.
And no, I’m not fucking telling you what it is/was—I don’t think they’ve been patched; I just don’t have time to play or the need for that money anymore. Too busy and well paid with my real job :).
This remind me of my school. At the time they used some software to block sites. So I searched for the name of that software, and found an executable file with that name plus config.
I executed it, and much to my surprise, I could now configure the filters for the whole school. I tested it by entering the URL of a game my classmates was playing at that moment. It was a very weird sensation to see his game getting closed by the software the moment I added it to the blacklist…
So:
I showed a classmate. Told him to not show anybody else. A week later, he added the startpage to the blacklist. As a result, if you opened Internet Explorer, it would close immediately. Obviously, this caused admins to check out what was going on…
It was fixed later, but it was fun while it lasted.
You never ever share the exploit that you intend to leverage for personal gain. Sorry you had to learn that the hard way.
I made thousands of dollars in World Of Warcraft with a couple of gold and xp exploits that let me build chars that were super leveled and loaded with gold and sell them. Never ripped anyone off, just exploited a game mechanic that I think was unintended. Saved some people some time in exchange for dolla.
And no, I’m not fucking telling you what it is/was—I don’t think they’ve been patched; I just don’t have time to play or the need for that money anymore. Too busy and well paid with my real job :).