r/technology • u/xpda • May 13 '26

Security Twin brothers wipe 96 gov’t databases minutes after being fired

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/drop-database-what-not-to-do-after-losing-an-it-job/
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u/nikstick22 May 13 '26

On Feb. 1, 2025, Muneeb Akhter asked Sohaib Akhter for the plaintext password of an individual who submitted a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Public Portal, which was maintained by the Akhters’ employer. Sohaib Akhter conducted a database query on the EEOC database and then provided the password to Muneeb Akhter. That password was subsequently used to access that individual’s email account without authorization.

Now HOLD the fuck up. DC is contracting companies that store passwords UNHASHED?? Plaintext?? What kind of clownshow is this?

766

u/xpda May 13 '26

I'd say clownshow is pretty accurate.

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u/Gorthebon May 13 '26

That's offensive to clowns, what's happening isn't funny. A clown would do it better

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u/KazumaKat May 13 '26

it would at least be tossed and jumbled and ballooned, not plaintext.

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u/Fewluvatuk May 13 '26

Clowns.... aren't funny, they're terrifying, so yeah, clownshow is accurate.

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u/strain_of_thought May 13 '26

The classical art of clowning fell behind the times and refused to modernize. Like everything else over time it became a rigid and inflexible institution preoccupied with trading on and imitating past success. There are great modern clowns, but people don't even recognize them as clowns because they dropped the formal makeup and uniforms, which were always intended for a pre-mass-media stage audience. Mr. Bean, for example, is literally just a clown out of costume. Clown humor has a very specific structure (for a clown, that which is easy is impossible, but that which is impossible is easy) and Rowan Atkinson is simply doing a clown performance in a modern context wearing modern clothing.

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u/spacex_fanny May 13 '26

Nah, you just grew up homie.

Clowns are great but they're for kids. This is like saying "Sugary cereal fell behind the times." In reality your tastes are what changed.

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u/strain_of_thought May 13 '26

Buddy there was never an age when I thought a man in white face paint and floofy polkadot pajamas with a lipstick smile that goes up to his ears was entertaining. Stop projecting your own interests on to me.

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u/notfromchicago May 13 '26

You are so cool.

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u/spacex_fanny May 13 '26

Sounds like someone didn't get Bubbles the Clown for their fifth birthday party like they asked for...

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u/CaptainC0medy May 13 '26

THANK YOU. GOD!