The xz backdoor thing reminds me of a story

Re:The xz backdoor thing reminds me of a story by jmb99 on Sunday March 31, 2024 @07:19PM (#39889147)

At least in Canada, the numbers provided for direct deposit are the same numbers used for direct/pre-authorized debit (i.e. withdrawals). So, while your employer likely wouldn’t abuse that information? People may be wary of giving out those numbers unless absolutely necessary, since someone could indeed drain their bank account. They’re also the same numbers that appear on cheques, so someone could easily forge a cheque in your name with those numbers.

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Re:The xz backdoor thing reminds me of a story by magicalhippo on Sunday March 31, 2024 @07:54PM (#39889422)

> the numbers provided for direct deposit are the same numbers used for direct/pre-authorized debit (i.e. withdrawals)

Reading up on that, it seems similar in nature to our AvtaleGiro[1]. While indeed having my account number would allow a business to issue a AvtaleGiro request, it's just a request. I would then have to go to my (online) bank and approve it, including setting up a monthly withdrawal limit. So it can't happen without action on my part.

> They’re also the same numbers that appear on cheques, so someone could easily forge a cheque in your name with those numbers.

Cheques I don't know about because they were going the way of the Dodo even when I was young, but we did have BrevGiro[2] which was a way to transfer money. However it relied on the bank sending me serialized pre-filled forms, so someone would have to steal one of those as well to be able to withdraw money from my account.

[1]: https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/AvtaleGiro

[2]: https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brevgiro

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Re:The xz backdoor thing reminds me of a story by jmb99 on Sunday March 31, 2024 @10:43PM (#39890404)

That’s the biggest difference - here there isn’t a request, the money’s just gone. I can of course go through the process of calling my bank, filing a fraud claim, waiting 6-8 weeks and then hopefully getting my money back, but that’s not particularly ideal. Especially since lots (most?) of the population is living paycheck to paycheck, and all that they have is probably sitting in the same bank account that they receive said paycheck in.

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Re:The xz backdoor thing reminds me of a story by astrange on Monday April 01, 2024 @02:10AM (#39891319)

The median US household has $8k in checking+savings accounts, three months of expenses saved, and a net worth of $193k and therefore is probably not "living paycheck to paycheck" in the sense you meant. Also, "living paycheck to paycheck" is a made up status with no clear definition, invented by payday loan companies for lobbying purposes.

However, many Americans do say on surveys that they are doing it. This happens even if they say their income is $200k/year. The likely explanation for this is that nobody knows what it means and are answering something like "if I missed a paycheck I'd feel bad about it".

https://twitter.com/besttrousers/status/1753260817389162516

A funny thing that happens with this discourse is that it comes up all the time, and every single time a hundred people reply those numbers are a trick because of outlier rich people, and then it turns out none of them know what a median is.

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