Starbucks Deem Reported Security Flaw 'Fraudulent' by Hacker

[Lazmarr]

Egor Homakov discovered a flaw in which allowed him to duplicate funds on a gift card, which he spent in a store to test his theory.

After discovering his theory did indeed work, he reported the flaw to Starbucks. However their response on the matter was less than pleasant; calling his acts 'malicious' and 'fraudulent'.

"The unpleasant part is a guy from Starbucks calling me with nothing like "thanks" but mentioning "fraud" and "malicious actions" instead," Egor wrote.

A Starbucks spokeswoman replied, to the bbc, with the following statement;

"After this individual reported he was able to commit fraudulent activity against Starbucks, we put safeguards in place to prevent replication."

However they are yet to respond to questions on their response to Egor.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32844123

--------

Now I feel that Starbucks took this the wrong way, the guy exploited a flaw so that the company could fix the issue; but instead of thanking him for the work they instead call it malicious and fraudulent

Also sorry for any mistakes, will fix it as soon as I gain access to my PC; wrote this article on my phone

[TheKDub]

Wow, stupid starbucks.

 

If anything they should be thanking him for finding it and reporting it.

[GhostWindGamer]

He should get a gift card for his efforts

[SImoHayha]

Damn wow really Starbucks really ? Are you guys mental ? You know you should be so goddamn thankful for this guy. They should be thankful for this dude, if he decided to not be a good Samaritan he could of easily just showed his friends and then friends to their friends and watch Starbucks lose hella amounts of money. 

 

Don't be an ass Starbucks be a grateful that there are always good people, finding loop holes and actually telling you instead of using them for their own personal gain.

[Wakestock]

Lets not pay our taxes and then refuse to acknowledge someone reporting security flaws. Starbucks #1.

 

Joking aside, numerous companies actually pay people when they discover and report security flaws. What a dick move by Starbucks.

[ofr057]

starbucks just slapped him in the face, what if he uploaded his stuff to gethub or something.

[Suika]

WHH - "Hey, you guys have an issue where people can steal money, I've verified that it works, you should fix it before people potentially steal thousands from you."

 

SB - "Wow fuck you for telling us what to do, and thanks for stealing money, asshole."

 

--

 

Yea, I'm sure the next guy that finds an exploit will abuse it rather than report it, because let's face it, is Starbucks going to reward you for being a good guy?

[BOT Edward]

I've had something similar happen to me in High School (aus).

I discovered multiple network insecurities that allowed me domain administrative access to everything including Active directory.

 

Upon testing this and reporting it I was "excluded" (suspension until the end of the year) in my final year and wasn't allowed to participate in my leavers dinner (basically a formal) or the schools trip (which was an "educational" trip to Melbourne and the MCG), I was also charged for it by the police.

They then asked me how I did it but I wouldn't tell them because i'm not going to get into that much shit and just tell them what they want to know... The school ended up being closed a year after I left anyways but the security flaws are still there across the DoE and can be executed really easily

[Wakestock]

I've had something similar happen to me in High School (aus).

I discovered multiple network insecurities that allowed me domain administrative access to everything including Active directory.

 

Upon testing this and reporting it I was "excluded" (suspension until the end of the year) in my final year and wasn't allowed to participate in my leavers dinner (basically a formal) or the schools trip (which was an "educational" trip to Melbourne and the MCG), I was also charged for it by the police.

They then asked me how I did it but I wouldn't tell them because i'm not going to get into that much shit and just tell them what they want to know... The school ended up being closed a year after I left anyways but the security flaws are still there across the DoE and can be executed really easily

 

That says a lot about the worlds attempt at caring about data security.

[Guest Kloaked]

I guess we're beta testing companies now?

[BOT Edward]

That says a lot about the worlds attempt at caring about data security.

That's exactly it.

When they first said about me being in trouble I said to them "wait hold on, would you not be praising me about finding this flaw and presenting it to you?" upon which the principal said "by paper you have still done wrong".

I ended up just walking out and telling them to shove the idea that i would tell them how to fix it up their a**, especially after getting me charged from the authorities.

[Wakestock]

That's exactly it.

When they first said about me being in trouble I said to them "wait hold on, would you not be praising me about finding this flaw and presenting it to you?" upon which the principal said "by paper you have still done wrong".

I ended up just walking out and telling them to shove the idea that i would tell them how to fix it up their a**, especially after getting me charged from the authorities.

 

Has the ordeal caused any issues since? Mainly being charged.

[shujin]

those company really deserve that somebody find a flaw and use it for evil someday without  anyone noticing them because they are to scared. seriously respect the people that help you even if you are rich as hell it's not a reason

[sof006]

WHH - "Hey, you guys have an issue where people can steal money, I've verified that it works, you should fix it before people potentially steal thousands from you."

 

SB - "Wow fuck you for telling us what to do, and thanks for stealing money, asshole."

 

--

 

Yea, I'm sure the next guy that finds an exploit will abuse it rather than report it, because let's face it, is Starbucks going to reward you for being a good guy?

Exactly this.

 

Starbucks new slogan "Starbucks - We're all a bunch of idiots"

[dalekphalm]

Egor Homakov discovered a flaw in which allowed him to duplicate funds on a gift card, which he spent in a store to test his theory.

After discovering his theory did indeed work, he reported the flaw to Starbucks. However their response on the matter was less than pleasant; calling his acts 'malicious' and 'fraudulent'.

A Starbucks spokeswoman replied, to the bbc, with the following statement;

However they are yet to respond to questions on their response to Egor.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32844123

--------

Now I feel that Starbucks took this the wrong way, the guy exploited a flaw so that the company could fix the issue; but instead of thanking him for the work they instead call it malicious and fraudulent

Also sorry for any mistakes, will fix it as soon as I gain access to my PC; wrote this article on my phone

 

 

Lets not pay our taxes and then refuse to acknowledge someone reporting security flaws. Starbucks #1.

 

Joking aside, numerous companies actually pay people when they discover and report security flaws. What a dick move by Starbucks.

 

Quite, if this was a Silicon Valley or other industry Tech company, he would have been awarded a multi-thousand dollar Bounty for finding a security exploit that bad.

 

Microsoft or Google will literally pay you $15,000 for finding a critical level exploit, for example.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

I suggest we all mail Starbucks to tell them how thankful they should be and what assholes they are in this matter. 

 

Looks like they don't have an email address (a PO box, seriously?  A bit stuck in the 70s, are we?), but you may be able to use their contact forms.

http://customerservice.starbucks.com/app/contact/ask/

[dalekphalm]

I just wrote Starbucks a rather scathing email via their "Contact Us" form on their website. I (rather fittingly, if you ask me) chose the "Corporate Social Responsibility" topic:

 

 

I recently saw this news article on the BBC:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32844123

In the article, a person named Egor Homakov discovered a serious security exploit in the Starbucks Giftcard web tools. This exploit enabled someone to duplicate money from one giftcard to another one.

Egor, after discovering this potential exploit, performed the correct course of action, which was to verify the exploit. Thus, he used the duplicated funds to purchase a small amount in-store.

After discovering and confirming this serious exploit, he topped up the giftcard to "repay" the amount of money he "duplicated", and then reported the exploit to Starbucks.

This was the *correct* course of action for someone finding an exploit like this in the wild.

Starbucks, however, responded by claiming his actions were malicious and fraudulent.

Frankly, I'm utterly disgusted with how Starbucks handled this situation.

There is a global precedence with companies rewarding those who find and verify exploits, and bring them discretely to the attention of the affected companies.

Egor could have kept the exploit to himself and stolen hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Egor could have went public with the information, creating a situation where potentially millions of people suddenly know about a serious and unpatched exploit. Egor could have sold this exploit to hackers for the highest bid.

Did he do any of these things? No. Instead, he privately disclosed the information to Starbucks so that you could fix the issue.

He did not ask for a reward, nor am I asking you to start offering a "security exploit bounty", but at the very least, you should not proverbially slap him in the face with your disrespect.

Starbucks has acted disgracefully. All you've accomplished is ensuring that the *next* person who discovers an exploit will not inform you privately, but will instead use it for their own purposes.

Well done Starbucks.

 

I encourage others to write to Starbucks and express their own opinion on this matter.

[NeatSquidYT]

I just wrote Starbucks a rather scathing email via their "Contact Us" form on their website. I (rather fittingly, if you ask me) chose the "Corporate Social Responsibility" topic:

 

 

I encourage others to write to Starbucks and express their own opinion on this matter.

Can I copy and paste yours?

[bcredeur97]

This man should have been rewarded. For all Starbucks knows he could of just not told them and people could have figured it out and started doing it themselves resulting in big losses.

[dalekphalm]

Can I copy and paste yours?

You're certainly welcome to use it as a template. I would however ask you to rewrite it (at least in part) in your own words, simply so that each message carries actual weight (Many companies or politicians will simply disregard a "template" letter". They even sometimes assume the person who sent it didn't even read the content).

 

But definitely, take it and rearrange to your hearts content

[NeatSquidYT]

You're certainly welcome to use it as a template. I would however ask you to rewrite it (at least in part) in your own words, simply so that each message carries actual weight (Many companies or politicians will simply disregard a "template" letter". They even sometimes assume the person who sent it didn't even read the content).

 

But definitely, take it and rearrange to your hearts content

k, thanks

[Trik'Stari]

I hope the next guy isn't so kind to them as a result of this, might teach them a lesson.

 

Also their coffee sucks. NO FRENCH VANILLA CAPPUCCINO? SCREW YOU STARBUCKS. (hazlenut cream is not french vanilla damnit)

[Maslofski]

how dare him take those 5$, no damage done by this flaw could have ever been this extreme

[BOT Edward]

Has the ordeal caused any issues since? Mainly being charged.

Yeah working in a government position now, when I went for the interview and they did the police check they confronted me about it and I just told them everything. To my surprise they thought that could be an extra reason to employ me

 

So no negative side affects so far thankfully, but im sure it will affect something at some point

[sgloux3470]

To be fair, if someone broke into my house and was sitting on my couch until I got home only to tell me "You should change the locks on your door.  They're really easy to break in to" I probably wouldn't be too happy about it.