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XZ Hack - "If this timeline is correct, it’s not the modus operandi of a hobbyist. [...] It wouldn’t be surprising if it was paid for by a state actor." (lcamtuf.substack.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Thought this was a good read exploring some how the "how and why" including several apparent sock puppet accounts that convinced the original dev (Lasse Collin) to hand over the baton.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If you think people are going to be trustworthy just because they are getting paid you are naive.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

not trustworthy per se but maybe less overworked and inclined to review code more hastily, or less tired and inclined to have the worse judgement that makes such a project more vulnerable to stuff like this.

these people maintain the basis of our entire software infrastructure thanklessly for us in between the full time jobs they need to survive, this has to change.

as for trust in foss projects, the community will often notice bad faith code just like they just did (and very quickly this time, i might add!)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I guess you are using trust in a different way here. Trust in competency can vary with both volunteer and paid workers, everyone makes mistakes though. Trust that someone doesn't do something deliberately malicious is a different matter though.