Ask HN: How to disclose something without disclosing it?

Re:Ask HN: How to disclose something without disclosing it? by EGreg on Sunday July 15, 2018 @06:10PM (#17537361)

I’m gonna go against most comments here and say YES. But you’re not gonna like the method.

You have to get someone kidnapped. Or do it yourself.

Then see if it gets paid out.

In other words, when push comes to shove, do they pay out? That’s how you are able to find things out that they won’t tell you. See for example Sherlock Holmes yelling fire and Irene Adler revealing where her treasures are.

Just um, pay some people to hide an existing employee for a while, treat them well, in fact provide a budget for them to be in on it and not try to escape, but instead help make everyone believe they were kidnapped against their will. If a person agrees you go with that person.

Then hope no one reads HN religiously at that company.

Of course, this is all theoretical. But - you asked.

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Re:Ask HN: How to disclose something without disclosing it? by exikyut on Sunday July 15, 2018 @07:25PM (#17537693)

I like this idea, in theory. But it feels it aligns with the trend to apply overkill to lots of real-world security scenarios nowadays.

I'm sure that in some situations this kind of approach would be up there on the drawing board. Lots of money pitted against unknown trust, or military projects (the super-super expensive kind) immediately come to mind.

But even then, in the theoretical "high risk / untrustworthiness" scenario, surely one payout event wouldn't provide enough confidence to predict similar behavior in the future, and causing multiple events is suspicious enough you wouldn't be able to rule out whether the adversary was paying out each time because they'd caught on.

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