54
votes
Why do people post questions on here they can easily google an answer for?
Google-searching is a rarefying skill. It seems to be a question of generation. Let me put some historical context.
In days of my youth (say, 25 years ago, in the late 1980s and early 1990s), when ...
- 325k
53
votes
Should we allow malware authors to weigh in on questions?
We should judge each answer on its own and whether it provides valid advice. The fact that the author is a malware developer is irrelevant. If the advice is good, then upvote it, if not, then downvote ...
- 12.8k
31
votes
Accepted
Zalgo text invades Security.SE
Thanks - this is a good call. Generally, unless a username is flagged as offensive, we leave them alone, however after testing this with a varied set of devices, I'd have to agree - it does break ...
Rory AlsopMod
- 61.5k
31
votes
Request for comment: Stack Overflow is hiring a Director of Information Security
Your listing seems to imply that the director of information security will respond to the CTO. This may be suboptimal. The CISO, theoretically, should respond only to the CEO and the board. (At least ...
- 325k
30
votes
Should we allow malware authors to weigh in on questions?
I don't think we should lock it. I fundamentally disagree with the poster's immoral stance. But see, in the information security field, this is what we're up against: people who don't care who they ...
- 22.6k
29
votes
Accepted
School Exercise and Answer that only give Clues
I know what you are talking about. I've puzzled over the same thing.
Answers need to be Answers and stand alone as definitive. Hints and prompts are not Answers.
So, how can we provide help without ...
schroederMod
- 127k
29
votes
"Is (x) Secure" Question Anti-Pattern
I have certainly seen my fair share of questions that are unanswerable without context and / or a threat model. Having something in the FAQ to point at would be amazing.
I also like the content of ...
- 58.6k
24
votes
Accepted
Is security.stackexchange vulnerable to session hijacking?
The session cookies (or at least, what looks like session cookies to me) acct and sgt are both served with the HTTPOnly flag. This means that client side Javascript can't access them, making it hard ...
- 27.3k
23
votes
Accepted
Why is stackoverflow not using captcha?
As stated by Jeff Atwood himself, StackExchange uses several techniques to reduce spam.
captcha
script detection heuristics and "honeypots"
user flagging (spam / offensive / moderator ...
- 14.7k
23
votes
Why do people post questions on here they can easily google an answer for?
Plenty of good reasons:
there might be only partial, disparate answers and no central knowledge repository the size of StackExchange with an authoritative answer
there might be contradictory answers ...
- 6,828
23
votes
Accepted
Too aggressive with "off-topic" comments?
This questions did strike me as especially hard over on SO, where new and/or low rep users regulary get downvoted and closed very fast.
Over here on Sec.SE, because there is way less traffic, the ...
- 14.4k
23
votes
Do we want to continue with our blog?
I would say keep it, but stay away from Wordpress (unless you want to use the blog as a live demonstration of the dangers of automated vulnerability scanners). I'd say a static site (published on ...
- 12.8k
22
votes
"Digital Forensics" — on topic here, or create a separate site?
I would definitely say there is an overlap in terms of what is on topic. I've even found some similar questions on our site :
How to identify the presence of rootkits from an image of Linux memory? ->...
- 12.8k
21
votes
Accepted
Should I accept an answer if it is very upvoted but I do not consider it is the correct answer to my question?
Absolutely not. If an answer does not address your question, then you do not have to accept it. People may upvote answers because they like it, or because they agree with the statements made, or ...
schroederMod
- 127k
21
votes
Too aggressive with "off-topic" comments?
I agree. I think this is mostly a problem with close votes on questions, but I just noticed this deleted answer:
The author is the lead of the OWASP Zap Project - one of the more significant open ...
- 33.1k
21
votes
Accepted
Do we only rely on community member's memories to identify duplicates?
In the right column of a question are "related posts", which are questions that SE has identified as having similar keywords in the text. When looking at a post, take a look at the related questions ...
- 34.1k
21
votes
Accepted
Do we need to disclose affiliation in every answer?
You have already done so with your username and logo, but the affiliation is not always clear (more brand recognition with Burp Suite than with PortSwigger).
If you are answering questions about a ...
schroederMod
- 127k
20
votes
20
votes
19
votes
Are questions from end-users on topic here?
Yes, absolutely - the "for security professionals" is the target for your questions, i.e. "when you want to ask a security professional".
Naturally there is a heavy bias towards experienced ...
AviDMod
- 73k
19
votes
I'm writing a novel and would like to refer to your site in the novel
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and I cannot speak for Stack Overflow (the company behind Stack Exchange) or the community. Voting, answers and comments on this page will hopefully show what the ...
19
votes
Accepted
Is this site limited to discussions of electronic security?
This site is for all aspects of information security - this includes everything listed on our FAQ:
IT Security Stack Exchange is for Information Security professionals to discuss protecting assets ...
Rory AlsopMod
- 61.5k
19
votes
Accepted
We have more users who vote lots but don't ever really post. How can we fix it?
I noticed that I'm third in the query results, so let me explain what happens (in my case, and probably in @tripleee's case as well). I often visit Security.SE after a report of a possible spam post ...
- 2,265
19
votes
Accepted
Is this type of behaviour acceptable?
@JoshuaJones - course you are! Why wouldn't you? Would be CRAZY to try and help the OP out and answer their question if the question isn't the pinnacle of quality. – JᴀʏMᴇᴇ
This sentence, under the ...
- 13.1k
18
votes
The Memes of Information Security
Meme: They can see your dick pics.
Originator: John Oliver (Last Week Tonight, on HBO)
Cultural Height: 2015-2016
Background: In June of 2013, documents stolen from the NSA by Edward Snowden were ...
- 27.1k
18
votes
Accepted
Should we be more strict about legal questions
Just as a moderator pro tem on Law - (hi, InfoSec! waves)...
We have received a number of inbound migrations, and of them, the most successful are those that don't presume domain knowledge - the ...
- 101
18
votes
Why security.stackexchange.com community is so unfriendly?
I am active on many SE sites, and moderate quite a few, and in my experience, Sec.SE is one of the least aggressive and mean. Here I see people making friends, helping others, including guiding new ...
Rory AlsopMod
- 61.5k
18
votes
Accepted
Can we kill the [data-security] tag?
In looking at the questions using that tag, I'd have to agree it is entirely redundant. As usual I'll await a bit more of a consensus, but I'd be happy removing it.
Rory AlsopMod
- 61.5k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible