Facctum

facctum

Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on Some of Its Causes by Charles Babbage, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . Section 3 here SECTION 3. OF THE SECRETARISHIPS. Whether the present Secretaries are the best qualified to aid in reforming the Society, is a question I shall not discuss. With regard to the senior Secretary, the time of his holding office is perhaps more unfortunate than the circumstance. If I might be permitted to allude for a moment to his personal character, I should say that the mild excellencies of his heart have prevented the Royal Society from deriving the whole of that advantage from his varied knowledge and liberal sentiments which some might perhaps have anticipated; and many will agree with me in regretting that his judgment has not directed a larger portion of the past deeds of the Councils of the Royal Society. Of the junior Secretary I shall only observe, that whilst I admit his industry, his perseverance, and his talents, I regret to see such valuable qualities exerted at a disadvantage, and that I sincerely wish them all the success they merit in situations more adapted for their developement. There are, however, some general principles which it may be important to investigate, which relate to the future as well as to the past state of the office of Secretary of the Royal Society. Inconvenience has already arisen from having had at a former period one of our Secretaries the conductor of a scientific journal; and this is one of the points in which I can agree with those who now manage the affairs of the Society. [These observations were written previous to the late appointment, to which I now devote Section 6. Experience seems to be lost on the Council of the Royal Society.] Perhaps it might be advantageous to extend the same understanding to the other officers of the Society at least, if not to the members of its Council. Another circumstance worthy of the attention of the Society is, to consider whether it is desirable, except in special cases, to have military persons appointed to any of its offices. There are several peculiarities in the military character, which, though they do not absolutely unfit their possessors for the individual prosecution of science, may in some degree disqualify such persons from holding offices in scientific institutions. The habits both of obedience and command, which are essential in military life, are little fitted for that perfect freedom which should reign in the councils of science. If a military chief commit an oversight or an error, it is necessary, in order to retain the confidence of those he commands, to conceal or mask it as much as possible. If an experimentalist make a mistake, his only course to win the confidence of his fellow-labourers in science, and to render his future observations of any use, is to acknowledge it in the most full and explicit manner. The very qualifications which contribute to the professional excellence of the soldier, constitute his defects when he enters the paths of science; and it is only in those rare cases where the force of genius is able to control and surmount these habits, that his admission to the offices of science can be attended with any advantage to it. Another objection deserving notice, although not applying exclusively to the military profession, is, that persons not imbued with the feelings of men of science, when they have published their observations, are too apt to view every criticism upon them as a personal question, and to consider that it is as offensive to doubt the accuracy of their observations as it is to doubt their word. Nothing can be more injurious to science than that such an opinion should be tolerated. The most unreserved criticism is necessary for truth; and those suspicions respecting his own accuracy, which every philosophical experimenter will entertain concerning his own researches, ought never to be considered as a reproach, when they are kept in view in examining the experiments of others. The minute circumstances and apparently trivial causes which lend their influence towards error, even in persons of the most candid judgment, are amongst the most curious phenomena of the human mind. The importance of affording every aid to enable others to try the merits of observations, has been so well expressed by Mayer, that I shall conclude these remarks with an extract from the Preface to his Observations: "Officii enim cujusque observatoris ease reor, de habitu instrumenti sui, de cura ac precautione, qua usus est, ad illud recte tractandum, deque mediis in errores ejus inquirendi rationem reddere publice, ut aliis quoque copia sit judicandi, quanta fides habenda conclusionibus ex nostris observationibus deductis aut deducendis. Hoc cum minus fecissent precedentis saeculi astronomi, praxin nimis secure, nimisque theoretice tractantes, factum inde potissimum est, ut illorum observationes tot vigiliis tantoque labore comparatae tam cito obsoleverint." P. viii. There are certain duties which the Royal Society owes to its own character as well as to the public, which, having been on some occasions apparently neglected, it may be here the proper place to mention, since it is reasonable to suppose that attention to them is within the province of its Secretaries. The first to which I shall allude is the singular circumstances attending the fact of the Royal Society having printed a volume of Astronomical Observations which were made at the Observatory of Paramatta (New South Wales), bearing the title of "The Third Part of the Philosophical Transactions for the Year 1829." Now this Observatory was founded at the private expense of a British officer; the instruments were paid for out of his purse; two observers were brought from Europe, to be employed in making use of those instruments, at salaries defrayed by him. A considerable portion of the observations so printed were made by these astronomers during their employment in his service, and some of them are personally his own. Yet has the Royal Society, in adopting them as part of its Transactions, omitted all mention, either in their title-page, preface, or in any part of the volume, of the FACT that the world owed these valuable observations to the enlightened munificence of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Brisbane; whose ardent zeal in the pursuit of science induced him to found, at his own private expense, an establishment which it has been creditable to the British Government to continue as a national institution. Had any kindred feelings existed in the Council, instead of endeavouring to shift the responsibility, they would have hastened to rectify an omission, less unjust to the individual than it was injurious to English science. Another topic, which concerns most vitally the character and integrity of the Royal Society, I hardly know how to approach. It has been publicly stated that confidence cannot be placed in the written minutes of the Society; and an instance has been adduced, in which an entry has been asserted to have been made, which could not have been the true statement of what actually passed at the Council. The facts on which the specific instance rests are not difficult to verify by members of the Royal Society. I have examined them, and shall state them before I enter on the reasoning which may be founded upon them. In the minutes of the Council, 26th November, 1829, we find— "Resolved, that the following gentlemen be recommended to be put upon the Council for the ensuing year." [Here follows a list of persons, amongst whom the name of Sir John Franklin occurs [Sir John Franklin was absent from London, and altogether unacquainted with this transaction, until he saw it stated in the newspapers some months after it had taken place. That his name was the one substituted for that of Captain Beaufort I know, from other evidence which need not be produced here, as the omission of the latter name is the charge that has been made.], and that of Captain Beaufort is not found. [Any gentleman may satisfy himself that this is not a mistake of the Assistant Secretary's, in copying, by consulting the rough minutes of that meeting of the Council, which it might perhaps be as well to write in a rough minute-book, instead of upon loose sheets of paper; nor can it be attributed to any error arising from accidentally mislaying the real minutes, for in that case the error would have been rectified immediately it was detected; and this has remained uncorrected, although publicly spoken of for months. As there is no erasure in the list, one is reluctantly compelled to conjecture that the real minutes of that meeting have been destroyed.]] Now this could not be the list actually recommended by the Council on the morning of the 26th of November, because the President himself, on the evening of that day, informed Capt. Beaufort that he was placed on the house list; and that officer, with the characteristic openness of his profession, wrote on the next or the following day to the President, declining that situation, and stating his reasons for the step. Upon the fact, therefore, of the suppression of part of a resolution of the Council, on the 26th of November, there can be no doubt; but in order to understand the whole nature of the transaction, other information is necessary. It has been the wish of many members of the Society, that the President should not absolutely name his own Council, but that the subject should be discussed fairly at the meeting previous to the Anniversary—this has always been opposed by Mr. Gilbert, and those who support him. Now, it has been stated, that, at the meeting of the Council on the 26th of November, the President took out of his pocket a bit of paper, from which he read the names of several persons as fit to be on the Council for the ensuing year;—that it was not understood that any motion was made, and it is certain that none was seconded, nor was any ballot taken on such an important question; and it was a matter of considerable surprise to some of those present, to discover afterwards that it was entered on the minutes as a resolution. This statement I have endeavoured to verify, and I believe it to be substantially correct; if it was a resolution, it was dictated, not discussed. It is also important to observe, that no similar resolution stands on the council-books for any previous year. On examining the minutes of the succeeding Council, no notice of the letter of Captain Beaufort to the President is found. Why was it omitted? If the first entry had been truly made, there would have been no necessity for the omission; and after the insertion of that letter, a resolution would naturally have followed, recommending another name instead of the one withdrawn. Such was the natural and open course; but this would have exposed to the Society the weakness of those who manage it. If the rough minutes of each meeting of the Council were read over before it separated, and were copied previously to the next meeting, such a substitution could hardly have occurred; but, unfortunately, this is not the case, and the delay is in some cases considerable. Thus, the minutes of the three Councils, held on February 4, on February 11, and on March 11, were not entered on the minute-books of the Council on Tuesday, the 16th March; nor was this the fault of the Assistant-secretary, for up to that day the rough minutes of no one of those Councils had been transmitted to him. Deeply as every friend to the Royal Society must regret such an occurrence, one slight advantage may accrue. Should that resolution be ever quoted hereafter to prove that the Council of 1829 really discussed the persons to be recommended as their successors, the detection of this suppression of one portion of it, will furnish better means of estimating the confidence due to the whole. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Charles Babbage (1998).Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on Some of Its Causes. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1216/pg1216-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

OF THE SECRETARISHIPS.

Hey there, fellow tech enthusiast! Are you finding yourself knee-deep in the world of software development, but something just doesn't feel right? Maybe you're working in a place where it feels like you're kept in the dark, where toxic colleagues overshadow your achievements with a spotlight on your mistakes. If this sounds familiar, it's time to shed some light on recognizing those toxic working environments. 1. The Mystery of the Hidden Updates Picture this: you're working on a cool project, putting in all your coding wizardry, and suddenly, you discover that your department has undergone a massive transformation. New hires, structure changes, all happening post-factum. It's like they're playing a real-life game of  "Among Us," and you're the last to know. In a healthy work environment, transparency is key. You should have access to the company's roadmap, departmental changes, and decisions that impact your work. If you find yourself in the dark, it's a telltale sign of a toxic working atmosphere. Being kept in the loop is not just a matter of trust but also practicality. When you don't know what's going on, how can you effectively contribute? 2. Mistakes vs. Achievements: The Toxic Balance One of the most frustrating aspects of a toxic work environment is the disproportionate focus on your mistakes rather than your achievements. Your colleagues seem to have a radar for your coding blunders, and they're not afraid to make them the centerpieces of every discussion. In a healthy setting, colleagues and managers should acknowledge both your achievements and areas that need improvement. Constructive feedback should be provided openly and directly, giving you room to learn and grow. Toxic environments, however, thrive on negativity, and they might not communicate feedback constructively, choosing to dwell on your missteps rather than offering guidance on how to improve. 3. Code Sharing or Code Hogging? One of the most telling signs of toxicity in a software development team is the reluctance to share or discuss code. You'll notice that your colleagues are more like code scavengers, revising your work without so much as a heads-up or a polite discussion. It's almost as if they're playing a one-sided game of "Let's Make Your Code Better. " In a collaborative, growth-oriented environment, sharing code is essential. It allows for the exchange of ideas, peer reviews, and the opportunity to learn from each other. Toxic colleagues, on the other hand, often prefer to hoard their knowledge, leaving you to fend for yourself and grow increasingly isolated. 4. Ignoring Your Initiatives: The Silent Treatment Have you ever poured your heart and soul into a brilliant idea or initiative only for it to vanish into the void? Toxic workplaces are notorious for dismissing your creative proposals and initiatives without a second thought. It's important to recognize that this silence can be just as toxic as overt criticism or negativity. Ignoring your initiatives can stifle your professional growth and motivation, so it's essential to address this issue when you encounter it in your software development journey. In a supportive work environment, your ideas should be encouraged, discussed, and given due consideration. Colleagues and managers should value your input, as it often leads to innovation and positive change. Toxic colleagues, however, have a knack for sweeping your ideas under the rug, leaving you feeling unheard and undervalued. 5. Unclear Roles and Responsibilities: The Muddy Waters of Dysfunction Navigating a toxic work environment in software development often feels like you're wading through muddy waters when it comes to roles and responsibilities and thrives on confusion. Colleagues might shift responsibilities without warning, leaving you baffled and disoriented, and this lack of clarity can lead to frustration, conflicts, and a sense that you're working in a chaotic and unpredictable environment. It also leaves an opportunity for your colleagues to blame you for literally all possible issues. In a healthy software development team, roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. You know your part in the bigger picture, and your colleagues understand their roles too. This clarity allows for efficient collaboration, minimizes misunderstandings, and promotes a sense of purpose and achievement, lessening the risk of a culture of blame. Clear roles and responsibilities not only foster smoother teamwork but also create a sense of accountability and shared purpose within the team. It's essential to seek this clarity when you encounter the murky waters of role ambiguity in your software development journey. 6. Neglected Growth: A Toxic Void Another glaring sign that you're stuck in a toxic software development environment is that nobody seems to care about your growth. Your skills, your potential, and your ambitions are all met with indifference. In a healthy workplace, your growth is nurtured and supported. Colleagues and supervisors should actively invest in your development, whether through mentorship, training, or providing opportunities for career advancement. Toxic environments, however, often lack this fundamental element of professional care, leaving you feeling isolated and stagnant in your journey. 7. The "Expertise Evasion" Maneuver If you've noticed that your manager is conspicuously less knowledgeable than you in technical matters and actively avoids public discussions where you could reveal your expertise, this is a big red flag. A toxic environment often thrives on hierarchy and control, with managers fearing that a subordinate's expertise might undermine their authority. This can lead to an unspoken rule that discourages you from openly sharing your knowledge and insights. The best managers recognize that fostering an environment where team members can freely share their knowledge and insights not only benefits the individual but also propels the entire team toward success. In fact, they, in such settings, are not afraid to show that they do not know something or have less experience in specific technical areas. Their primary focus is on managing and facilitating, while your focus is on the specific technical stack. What to Do When You Spot Toxicity Recognizing a toxic work environment is the first step, but what can you do about it? Here are a few tips: Speak to your colleagues or manager about your concerns. Sometimes, they may not even be aware of the toxic culture they've created. Communicate Openly: Find like-minded coworkers who share your concerns. Strength in numbers can often initiate positive change. Seek Allies: Don't let the negativity get to you. Focus on your growth, keep learning, and don't let the toxic environment define your worth. Self-Care: If things don't improve, it might be time to explore new job opportunities where your skills are recognized and valued. Consider Other Options: Recognizing a toxic work environment in software development is crucial for your own well-being and professional growth. Remember, you're not alone in facing these challenges, and you have the power to change your situation. In the end, a healthy, collaborative work environment is essential for your success and happiness in the tech world. So, keep coding, keep learning, and most importantly, keep growing!

Navigating the Software Development Jungle: Spotting Toxic Work Environments

Lately, impact DAOs have been sprouting like mushrooms after the rain. They are a way to organize distributed teams around various objectives. Goals of an impact DAO can vary from local causes to topics that have a global impact - such as climate change. The Internet and web3 are a significant part of the infrastructure of impact DAOs. However, its backbone consists of ideas and people who invest their time, effort, knowledge, and money to build the desired change. DAOs are , built on web3 technologies, that enable the decision-making and synchronized collaboration of diverse groups. In the general case, a DAO will be run by . Decisions that drive the DAO towards its goals are usually reached by token holders voting for proposals to act or take no action. As new DAOs emerge, so do the tools that DAOs use - platforms and dApps that allow connecting to crypto wallets, submitting proposals, and casting votes. decentralized autonomous organizations smart contracts Prompt reactions to crises and events leave no time for the preparation and implementation of robust tooling and elaborate operational frameworks, so impact DAOs have begun to implement non-tokenized forms of governance. Non-tokenized impact DAOs tend to organize, synchronize and reach decisions within different chat apps - , Telegram, Signal; they collaborate using tools they have at hand - such as Google Docs. Typically, the DAO treasury remains on the blockchain as a multi-sig wallet, that prevents an individual from issuing transactions without the consent of other keyholders in the form of a cryptographical signature. Discord There are many types of impact DAOs that operate with different means, tools, and objectives. There are no specific rules when it comes to impact DAOs - they can be anything we want them to be. This, however, doesn’t mean that we can’t make mistakes - be it when we decide to pursue an objective by forming an impact DAO, be it when the operation of the organization is inadequate. The brief history of impact DAOs has already given us examples to learn from. Lesson #1: Objective - what is the target of the DAO, and can the DAO achieve it with the means it has? FreeRoss DAO was formed in December 2021 by a group of crypto and NFT enthusiasts, as well as friends of , the founder of , the infamous online black market. The initial objectives of the FreeRoss DAO were formulated as the FreeRossDAO Manifesto  (which is now available only as a ): Ross Ulbricht Silk Road snapshot on the Wayback Machine This DAO picked up significant media attention after collecting in a fundraiser. The governance tokens were airdropped to donors, thus turning them into the decentralized governing entity of the DAO. Proposals and decisions of the DAO were . During its operation, the FreeRoss DAO created and adopted a constitution, allocated and paid funds to contributors, artists and . However, in May 2023, the DAO voted on a proposal to stop operation completely, dissolve and transfer the remaining funds from the treasury to different organizations. The reason to halt the operation of DAO, as stated in Proposal #17: 12.5 million USD diligently documented operational staff Per the Ulbricht family’s wishes, the Free DAO will cease its operations entirely. Amidst concerns that the DAO’s existence is not helpful to Ross’s clemency efforts and can even harm his clemency, the family has asked that the DAO ends its operations. Because Ross’s life is at stake, the Free DAO’s mission has always been to support Ross’s family and respect their wishes. Proposal #17 was rejected by the DAO, but FreeRoss DAO ultimately voted to dissolve the DAO and cease all operations in Proposal #18. One might wonder how come an organization that had a lot of success in funding and organizing its work, has to cease operation because it “can even harm” the clemency of Ross Ulbricht - the most significant objective of the DAO. At the time of the formation of the DAO, Ross Ulbricht has nearly exhausted all legal options that may change his situation, but today we know - the for Ross to be a free man again is a Presidential pardon. only way Setting up an unregistered organization, that fundraises from anonymous donors, without implementing KYC and AML procedures, and handling millions outside any legal framework… simply does not help him. Some government agencies are even inclined to frown upon such operations, and this is why FreeRoss DAO had to dissolve  - . because Ross Ulbricht is better off without FreeRoss DAO than with it Lesson #2: Repurposing donations post-factum and misleading information are not the way to go was another impromptu impact DAO that was formed several days before Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The initial objective of UkraineDAO was to help and support Ukrainians suffering from the war. The core group of co-founders of the DAO had previous experience from impact DAOs - , and in less than a week, they’ve set up the multi-sig wallet, created an , organized an NFT auction and spread the word to relevant audiences and the media. Everyone was invited to place a bid for the NFT, and all participants of the auction were to receive fractional ownership of it, proportional to the amount donated. The funds collected through the NFT auction, as well as direct donations to the wallet, were intended to be transferred to charities and NGOs that help the war effort and deliver humanitarian aid. UkraineDAO PussyRiot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova among them NFT of the Ukrainian flag https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1497632851445043200?embedable=true The NFT auction was completed on March 3, 2022. The group collected a total of 7 mil USD. Most of as planned in the next few days. the funds were transferred https://twitter.com/DefiHope/status/1500565716201660417?embedable=true Nadya on March 6. Afterward, the remaining core members of UkraineDAO voted to use the funds that remained as a salary for , the operational lead of the  DAO. left UkraineDAO Alona Shevchenko Later, in June 2022, published Nadya’s statement that: Decrypt is involved in , i'd be very careful about donating to someone who has a history of mismanaging .@cryptodrftng @TheChoiceDAO i left mid-march after distributing the majority of funds. there was never an understanding that whats remained will be salary @Ukraine_DAO @cryptodrftng's UkraineDAO still holds around 200,000 USD worth of crypto in their wallet, which hasn’t been distributed as promised, and has been paying a monthly salary of 5000 USD to the operational lead for 14 months. Subsequent claims made by Shevchenko that UkraineDAO is endorsed by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, as well as the way the remaining funds were used, raised the interest of the media in the work of the DAO. https://twitter.com/cryptodrftng/status/1552711043973095428?s=20&embedable=true&thread=true https://twitter.com/cryptodrftng/status/1552711043973095428?s=20&embedable=true that . by journalists raised additional suspicions about some of the outgoing transactions from the DAO wallet, that are not listed as donations - with Global Crypto Press reaching the conclusion that around . Deputy Minister Bornyakov denied in an interview for Kyiv Post the Ministry has ever endorsed the DAO Further investigations 200,000 USD that were donated to the DAO are gone from the wallet and unaccounted for As more media outlets are picking up the story of UkraineDAO , which went from fundraising for a good and noble cause to becoming a personal piggy bank, the DAO itself remains silent - refusing to acknowledge the situation and refusing to communicate with the media and the public, that seeks explanations and accountability. (the most recent being Polish TVP World) Dima Buterin, the father of the famous Vitalik, who replaced Nadya as a keyholder for the multi-sig wallet of UkraineDAO, in a Twitter thread discussing the : UkraineDAO situation added that https://twitter.com/BlockGeekDima/status/1663885962353467392?s=20&embedable=true Obviously, the DAO vote on how the funds will be allocated - but in this case, can it is not sure that this was a good and ethical decision. Clearly, if we are asking the public to support and contribute financially to our work, or  in this case - if we seek donations with a promise that “100% proceeds will go to support Ukrainians suffering from the war” - it is just fair that we answer to the public. Legal means to pressure UkraineDAO to fulfill its original promise are limited, as the DAO was never incorporated. However, it is highly unlikely that the trust Dima Buterin has in the DAO will be there in the future. The takeaways from this piece should be that there are goals that can’t be achieved via impact DAOs, and at times the DAO will do more harm than good. As the story of UkraineDAO is still ongoing, for the time being, we can conclude that going back on a promise given in public and communicating false information definitely doesn’t help - nor the cause, nor the reputation of the people behind the DAO. Impact DAOs are in their nascent phase - technically still a toddler, mistakes are likely and expected. The future will certainly bring opportunities to improve the way we work and collaborate and to use the benefits of collective decision-making.

2 Lessons From The Early Years Of Impact DAOs

Of the two Contemporary Empires of the Babylonians and Medes

Of the relation which the Prophecy of John hath to those of Daniel

Opticks by Isaac Newton, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . PROP. III. Prob. I. PROP. III. Prob. I. To define the Refrangibility of the several sorts of homogeneal Light answering to the several Colours. For determining this Problem I made the following Experiment. Exper. 7. When I had caused the Rectilinear Sides AF, GM, [in Fig. 4.] of the Spectrum of Colours made by the Prism to be distinctly defined, as in the fifth Experiment of the first Part of this Book is described, there were found in it all the homogeneal Colours in the same Order and Situation one among another as in the Spectrum of simple Light, described in the fourth Proposition of that Part. For the Circles of which the Spectrum of compound Light PT is composed, and which in the middle Parts of the Spectrum interfere, and are intermix'd with one another, are not intermix'd in their outmost Parts where they touch those Rectilinear Sides AF and GM. And therefore, in those Rectilinear Sides when distinctly defined, there is no new Colour generated by Refraction. I observed also, that if any where between the two outmost Circles TMF and PGA a Right Line, as γδ, was cross to the Spectrum, so as both Ends to fall perpendicularly upon its Rectilinear Sides, there appeared one and the same Colour, and degree of Colour from one End of this Line to the other. I delineated therefore in a Paper the Perimeter of the Spectrum FAP GMT, and in trying the third Experiment of the first Part of this Book, I held the Paper so that the Spectrum might fall upon this delineated Figure, and agree with it exactly, whilst an Assistant, whose Eyes for distinguishing Colours were more critical than mine, did by Right Lines αβ, γδ, εζ, &c. drawn cross the Spectrum, note the Confines of the Colours, that is of the red MαβF, of the orange αγδβ, of the yellow γεζδ, of the green ηθζ, of the blue ηικθ, of the indico ιλμκ, and of the violet λGAμ. And this Operation being divers times repeated both in the same, and in several Papers, I found that the Observations agreed well enough with one another, and that the Rectilinear Sides MG and FA were by the said cross Lines divided after the manner of a Musical Chord. Let GM be produced to X, that MX may be equal to GM, and conceive GX, λX, ιX, ηX, εX, γX, αX, MX, to be in proportion to one another, as the Numbers, 1, 8/9, 5/6, 3/4, 2/3, 3/5, 9/16, 1/2, and so to represent the Chords of the Key, and of a Tone, a third Minor, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth Major, a seventh and an eighth above that Key: And the Intervals Mα, αγ, γε, εη, ηι, ιλ, and λG, will be the Spaces which the several Colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) take up. Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Now these Intervals or Spaces subtending the Differences of the Refractions of the Rays going to the Limits of those Colours, that is, to the Points M, α, γ, ε, η, ι, λ, G, may without any sensible Error be accounted proportional to the Differences of the Sines of Refraction of those Rays having one common Sine of Incidence, and therefore since the common Sine of Incidence of the most and least refrangible Rays out of Glass into Air was (by a Method described above) found in proportion to their Sines of Refraction, as 50 to 77 and 78, divide the Difference between the Sines of Refraction 77 and 78, as the Line GM is divided by those Intervals, and you will have 77, 77-1/8, 77-1/5, 77-1/3, 77-1/2, 77-2/3, 77-7/9, 78, the Sines of Refraction of those Rays out of Glass into Air, their common Sine of Incidence being 50. So then the Sines of the Incidences of all the red-making Rays out of Glass into Air, were to the Sines of their Refractions, not greater than 50 to 77, nor less than 50 to 77-1/8, but they varied from one another according to all intermediate Proportions. And the Sines of the Incidences of the green-making Rays were to the Sines of their Refractions in all Proportions from that of 50 to 77-1/3, unto that of 50 to 77-1/2. And by the like Limits above-mentioned were the Refractions of the Rays belonging to the rest of the Colours defined, the Sines of the red-making Rays extending from 77 to 77-1/8, those of the orange-making from 77-1/8 to 77-1/5, those of the yellow-making from 77-1/5 to 77-1/3, those of the green-making from 77-1/3 to 77-1/2, those of the blue-making from 77-1/2 to 77-2/3, those of the indigo-making from 77-2/3 to 77-7/9, and those of the violet from 77-7/9, to 78. These are the Laws of the Refractions made out of Glass into Air, and thence by the third Axiom of the first Part of this Book, the Laws of the Refractions made out of Air into Glass are easily derived. Exper. 8. I found moreover, that when Light goes out of Air through several contiguous refracting Mediums as through Water and Glass, and thence goes out again into Air, whether the refracting Superficies be parallel or inclin'd to one another, that Light as often as by contrary Refractions 'tis so corrected, that it emergeth in Lines parallel to those in which it was incident, continues ever after to be white. But if the emergent Rays be inclined to the incident, the Whiteness of the emerging Light will by degrees in passing on from the Place of Emergence, become tinged in its Edges with Colours. This I try'd by refracting Light with Prisms of Glass placed within a Prismatick Vessel of Water. Now those Colours argue a diverging and separation of the heterogeneous Rays from one another by means of their unequal Refractions, as in what follows will more fully appear. And, on the contrary, the permanent whiteness argues, that in like Incidences of the Rays there is no such separation of the emerging Rays, and by consequence no inequality of their whole Refractions. Whence I seem to gather the two following Theorems. 1. The Excesses of the Sines of Refraction of several sorts of Rays above their common Sine of Incidence when the Refractions are made out of divers denser Mediums immediately into one and the same rarer Medium, suppose of Air, are to one another in a given Proportion. 2. The Proportion of the Sine of Incidence to the Sine of Refraction of one and the same sort of Rays out of one Medium into another, is composed of the Proportion of the Sine of Incidence to the Sine of Refraction out of the first Medium into any third Medium, and of the Proportion of the Sine of Incidence to the Sine of Refraction out of that third Medium into the second Medium. By the first Theorem the Refractions of the Rays of every sort made out of any Medium into Air are known by having the Refraction of the Rays of any one sort. As for instance, if the Refractions of the Rays of every sort out of Rain-water into Air be desired, let the common Sine of Incidence out of Glass into Air be subducted from the Sines of Refraction, and the Excesses will be 27, 27-1/8, 27-1/5, 27-1/3, 27-1/2, 27-2/3, 27-7/9, 28. Suppose now that the Sine of Incidence of the least refrangible Rays be to their Sine of Refraction out of Rain-water into Air as 3 to 4, and say as 1 the difference of those Sines is to 3 the Sine of Incidence, so is 27 the least of the Excesses above-mentioned to a fourth Number 81; and 81 will be the common Sine of Incidence out of Rain-water into Air, to which Sine if you add all the above-mentioned Excesses, you will have the desired Sines of the Refractions 108, 108-1/8, 108-1/5, 108-1/3, 108-1/2, 108-2/3, 108-7/9, 109. By the latter Theorem the Refraction out of one Medium into another is gathered as often as you have the Refractions out of them both into any third Medium. As if the Sine of Incidence of any Ray out of Glass into Air be to its Sine of Refraction, as 20 to 31, and the Sine of Incidence of the same Ray out of Air into Water, be to its Sine of Refraction as 4 to 3; the Sine of Incidence of that Ray out of Glass into Water will be to its Sine of Refraction as 20 to 31 and 4 to 3 jointly, that is, as the Factum of 20 and 4 to the Factum of 31 and 3, or as 80 to 93. And these Theorems being admitted into Opticks, there would be scope enough of handling that Science voluminously after a new manner, not only by teaching those things which tend to the perfection of Vision, but also by determining mathematically all kinds of Phænomena of Colours which could be produced by Refractions. For to do this, there is nothing else requisite than to find out the Separations of heterogeneous Rays, and their various Mixtures and Proportions in every Mixture. By this way of arguing I invented almost all the Phænomena described in these Books, beside some others less necessary to the Argument; and by the successes I met with in the Trials, I dare promise, that to him who shall argue truly, and then try all things with good Glasses and sufficient Circumspection, the expected Event will not be wanting. But he is first to know what Colours will arise from any others mix'd in any assigned Proportion. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Isaac Newton (2010). Opticks . Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/33504/pg33504-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org, located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.

PROP. III. Prob. I.

Dark pool trades are an excellent indication of what’s really going on in the market. Markets have always been more than what is shown to the public eye. There are many factors that happen behind the scene but potentially may have an impact on markets' sentiment and trends. The crypto market is not an exception here. It's not that I'm inviting you here to start looking at things through the conspiracy theory lenses. My point is just that There is always something that remains on the periphery of our perceptions as we don't know much about it. markets' pictures are always bigger than we see them. Dark pool trading is a great example here. Not so many market players have access to them. However, they deal with big money and can't but impact the whole market ecosystem. Dark pools have been existing for a while in traditional markets. Now they are coming onto the crypto scene.  So let's look at what dark pools essentially are, how strong their presence is on the crypto market, and whether they can come in handy for a deeper understanding of the market's vibe. What Is a Dark Pool, And Why Is It Dark? A dark pool is an alternative trading system (ATS) or a marketplace for anonymous trades. Unlike a regular exchange where all your bids and asks are open to the public eye right after they are placed, in a dark pool, they would become visible sometime later after they have been filled. off-exchange Let’s say you’ve made a trade in a dark pool - other pool participants will learn about it a few hours later or even on the next day. In other words, your trade will leave a post-factum “ ” on the dark pool’s dashboard. print That’s how prints look like in general: Summing up, the “darkness” of dark pools means the following: information on trades comes in a delayed manner in the form of buy/sell prints; a print doesn’t contain much information about a trade. Essentially, it only indicates the quantity, price, and currency of a trade; prints are deemed to be available only for dark pool participants. However, there are some methods to spot them indirectly (i.e., through dark pool scanners, financial reports, news, and the like). What’s The Purpose of a Dark Pool? Dark pools are tailored for large-scale traders, i.e., primarily institutions and whales. The purpose here is to enable them to trade in big sizes off the public market and therefore avoid causing extreme volatility in assets' market prices. Imagine someone is placing an X-million dollar order on an exchange. Will it cause anxiety or panic in other participants? Chances are, it will! Because there is a general belief that big players always know more than the rest. This is why they sell or buy at a particular moment. So to avoid bringing chaos to markets, a whale would be better off going to a dark pool. Besides this, they would also be able to: Stay relatively confidential with their trades Transact with lower (unless they use ) slippage market orders Get a better price for assets, and Save on transactional costs. Seriously, Dark Pools Don't Affect Asset Prices At All?! Theoretically, they shouldn’t. But if we approach the market as a living and wholistic organism, it’s impossible that big trades would remain neutral to the market! trading doesn’t mean trading in a vacuum, agree? Over-the-counter However, in the case of dark pools, the effect of big moves is delayed. It would be more correct to say that dark pool trading does impact the market but in a smooth and caring manner. What Are Crypto Dark Pools? In the crypto market, we have dark pools as well. Unlike conventional pools, cryptos are not currently subject to any sort of scrutiny from security agencies or other regulatory bodies. Therefore they are not on any official register that could indicate how many exist so far. Basically, crypto dark pools work similarly to the stock market pools: they match buyers and sellers for large orders without a public order book. As you might have guessed here, the main difference is the specific asset type (i.e., crypto) and the technology behind - blockchain. Types of Dark Pools in Crypto Roughly, there are two types of crypto dark pools: centralized and decentralized. Centralized Dark Pools Current centralized dark pools exist as “special features” of crypto exchanges or other types of trading apps. To explore a dark pool, one must pass verification and create a separate PRO or Business-type account. While trading, an app can offer you to choose the destination of your order - a public order book or a dark pool. It can look like this: Examples of centralized crypto dark pools: , and sFOX . Kraken Dark Pool Decentralized Crypto Dark Pools In fact, a decentralized crypto dark pool is a DEX (decentralized exchange) but with the difference that it is tailored for large-scale players and enables anonymous trading. Conceptually, a decentralized dark pool can have the following features: . When a trader places a buy/sell bid, it automatically breaks down into several smaller chunks that are distributed among a network of independent nodes (i.e., dark nodes). Such chunking allows to hide the original order and the trader's identity. It also helps avoid price plummeting, which would be inevitable if a large order was placed once in full size. Order chunking . The nodes verify that the chunks belong to the same order and validate transactions with it. Validation by nodes . Examples of such mechanics are multi-party computation (MPC) and zero-knowledge proofs. Their primary purpose is to enable transactions without revealing parties' details such as wallet address and exchange. Use of cryptographic mechanics in order matching Use of for cross-chain trading. atomic swaps Implementation of to stimulate users' retention and loyalty. For example, a dark pool's tokens can grant users some commission discounts or let them harness the exclusive pool's features. token incentivizes Here is how a decentralized crypto dark pool works schematically: Example: (formerly Republic Protocol) Ren Pros of Crypto Dark Pools While currently, there are not many crypto dark pools out there, we can talk about their merits mainly from a theoretical standpoint. So the outcomes that these pools are designed to bring are as follows: Execution of large trades without adverse effect on digital assets' market prices. Protection against front-running activities of malicious traders. I explained this in more detail in the article on - check out the “sandwich attack” section. HFT crypto trading Reduced slippage: as decentralized dark pools allow to break down large orders into smaller chunks and fill them partially, traders may trade with lower slippage. Better execution price. Privacy: currently, crypto dark pools are not subject to any regulatory requirements and imply almost zero information disclosure about parties and trades. Decentralized crypto dark pools entirely comply with the DeFi standard, which means they enable p2p trustless anonymous transactions backed up by the blockchain record. Cons of Crypto Dark Pools Exposure to the same risks as on CEXs/DEXs. To avoid repetition, I would refer here to my long read " ," which dissects all those risks in every detail. Welcome to check it out. Major Weak Points Of Crypto Exchanges That Create Unprecedented Risks For Traders Due to the lack of regulatory requirements on trades' reporting applicable to crypto dark pools and their technological designs enabling complete anonymity, most market participants would not be able to understand the market's sentiments and trends comprehensively. Only big guys would. What can this potentially lead to? Right! To a variety of ways of market manipulation. What Are the Perspectives of Dark Pools in Crypto? Meanwhile, there are no official statistics or substantial analytics that would allow making any info-backed conclusion. However, we can still try to make some predictions based on what we have so far. Here is my train of thoughts on it. As we know, . The more "big guys" would come onto the crypto scene, the bigger would be the demand for " " type of trading venues wired for large-scale transactions with crypto. the institutional adoption of crypto is gaining momentum over-the-counter As most institutions are subject to various regulatory requirements, including those on trades' reporting and financial information disclosure, sooner or later, crypto dark pools, to some extent, would get more transparent. If so, they will get traced with "scanners" and other professional analytical tools, helping, in the end, get a more comprehensive and deep understanding of the market's sentiment and where it is headed. So the time will show. Let's keep watching! Final Thoughts Crypto dark pools don't have much exposure right now. However, as the crypto market matures and starts resembling the traditional one in many aspects, the chances are that in the not too distant future, dark pools may evolve and become an integral element of the DeFi ecosystem. After all, there are already enough reasons to anticipate that. By for . Julie Plavnik Yellow Network Learn Web3 with Yellow Network. We Can’t Wait to See You Driving This Movement! Check out OpenDAX v4 cryptocurrency exchange software stack on GitHub Follow Yellow Twitter Join the public Yellow Network Telegram Stay tuned as Network unveils the developer tools behind , brokerage nodes stack, and community liquidity mining software! Yellow Yellow Network

Crypto Dark Pools: Big Deals Behind the Closed Doors

Second Treatise of Government: Chapter XIX

Ivan Starinin and Alexander Salnikov are two alumni of Moscow’s elite Higher School of Economics that went on to forge a prolific entrepreneurial partnership in the blockchain space. The now seasoned blockchain entrepreneur duo got started by building cryptocurrency trading software and went on to helm a number of projects, including MarginCall, the fastest and most advanced open-source crypto exchange as well as CoinOffering, the first company to offer its shares in the form of blockchain assets. Together, Ivan and Alexander raised the total of over BTC 5,000 for various blockchain companies as a result of successfully performed ICO campaigns. Currently, Starinin and Salnikov are exploring the potential of the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. With almost a decade of entrepreneurial experience in the blockchain space, you’ve sent waves in two distinct areas of the industry: the cryptocurrency market and virtual infrastructure development. Which of these spheres do you prefer working in? Well, while it might seem like these kinds of projects are distinct from each other on the surface, if you look a bit deeper, they are interconnected and feed off of each other. The growth of the cryptocurrency market contributes greatly to the evolution of the blockchain industry. It’s unfortunate that there are still people who associate virtual currencies with reckless speculation, but that is gradually giving way to recognition of the opportunities inherent in the space. IS: Even though working with cryptocurrencies has served many as a means to enter the blockchain space and get a taste of the benefits of digital money short-term, there are also a select few who stay devoted to the cause and create technological breakthrough solutions. Yes, each emerging coin or token, so long as it brings something of worth to the table, has the potential to make the market function more effectively. Some digital assets fuel blockchain networks while also serving as a store of value in their own right. AS: For instance, a lot of blockchain projects have designed their own native cryptocurrencies in order to lower fees for cross-border payments or to give access to financial services for developing economies. That’s why we are convinced that crypto goes hand-in-hand with blockchain development and both are essential for future technological development. In this context let’s talk about the overall growth of decentralized finance. Taking into consideration all the possible vulnerabilities in DeFi, what is your opinion on the short and long-term prospects of this sector? What comes to mind when hearing talk of DeFi, and specifically concerning possible security issues, is the old Bitcoin mantra of “be your own bank.” While the freedom that comes with that is great, it comes at a price. Ultimately you are responsible for your experience with digital money and security is an issue that has to be reckoned with by everyone involved in this space individually. As for the short-term, the DeFi economy is organized in such a way that higher risks can lead to higher capital gains. IS: However, all of the above are more growth related challenges than inherent flaws. This is reflected by the current investment environment surrounding DeFI. The space is still free and full of potential in terms of technical innovation. There is certainly risk and, perhaps DeFi isn’t for the faint of heart, but, then again, what sector of finance is? AS: Meanwhile, there are safety nets out there, like decentralized insurance, which can help people protect their capital. The beauty of DeFi lies in its transparent nature. As an open system, anyone can audit DeFi, so, the more investors and developers that get involved, the more positive growth and system refinement we are going to see. What other problems exist in the DeFi market and how can these problems be resolved? There is lack of regulation, making the market rather uncertain for those seeking to invest big money. As it happened to blockchain in general and crypto in particular, initial legislation was only created post factum with regulators playing catch up, and the process seems to be repeating itself with DeFi. What is important here is to understand that the lack of regulation at this stage provides opportunities for higher revenue and ROI - when there is no regulation, there is often a substantial  growth potential. IS: I’d also say that there is a vulnerable link between decentralized services and the real world. Let’s go back to decentralized insurance as an example of what I’m talking about. Here, transactions are executed through the participation of a third party which in many cases is a trustee, chosen by vote and in charge of transmitting information to the blockchain. Unfortunately, third party intermediaries are not always honest. A perfect solution for this problem might be creating an independent and self-contained system that runs in accordance with game theory concepts with minimal influence from third parties. There is actually, I believe, quite a lot that could be improved in DeFi via the application of game theory principles. In addition to that, there is a general perception out there that the UX design of DeFi products tends to be far from high-quality. What we need here is detailed “user manual” style instructions - similar to those provided to first telephone users right after it was introduced to the general public in 1876. If you’re well versed in decentralized finance, structure your product so that it is straightforward, user friendly and serves as a practical representation of the technology. AS: Again, this is more indicative of the industry being in its early stages of development than it is of structural problems. What areas of DeFi development do you find the most promising? Before we move on to that, let me just briefly comment on the ongoing debates about whether it’s necessary to upgrade the protocols and interfaces of DeFi projects. My personal stance is that market participants should focus more on the business end of things. Currently, the DeFi community has plenty of technical enthusiasts but very few skilled entrepreneurs capable of introducing solid business models and bringing theoretical fundamentals to reality in the form of innovative products. IS: Once serious revenue flows are established, they will naturally improve both protocols and the interface as well as attract more ambitious developers. So, the most remarkable examples of DeFi businesses deal with lending and deposits, insurance and various investment products and instruments. From this list, those that deal with lending and deposits seem the most promising to us because their success represents a further advancement of the original principles behind Bitcoin and can lead to the construction of an alternative global banking system open to everyone. AS: Not all projects in the industry are intent on establishing a new financial system. What is your take on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)? To make it more clear, we’d better start with explaining the essence of CBDCs which are a type of a stablecoin. Stablecoins are virtual assets that are pegged to fiat currencies and designed to mimic their value so as to avoid extreme market volatility. There are centralized stablecoins like Tether whose backing by the US dollar is guaranteed by a private company. Now, compare that to what are essentially similar initiatives, but from the likes of the Federal Reserve or the People’s Bank of China. IS: It’s about reputation, and CBDCs supported by big governmental institutions will add credibility to stablecoins, which are still a bit undervalued. We are going to see the effect these projects have on the market in the nearest future, as the accelerated issuance of the digital yuan will force other leading countries to follow suit if they don’t want to be left behind. As for the link with centralization, I wouldn’t put it quite like that. Actually, the recent flourishing of the stablecoin market was the main impetus behind DeFi’s progress, as this class of digital assets serves as the fuel for decentralized finance. Moreover, we don’t know much about the nature of CBDCs and how they will function exactly, but if similar state-backed stablecoins, such as the digital dollar or the digital euro, are launched on public blockchains, there will be an opportunity to make them decentralized, which will significantly increase the level of DeFi market penetration. AS: This could work in a similar fashion to cash, in the sense that the issuance of banknotes is obviously centralized, but their circulation is not. This could also happen with CBDCs, whose supply could be controlled by central banks without compromising their further movements. What are your own plans in decentralized finance? Now the DeFi sector is experiencing an influx of users who are curious about how things will play out here, so we’re preparing to contribute to the mass adoption of the technology by creating a consumer UX-friendly application that simplifies access to DeFi and connects it with real life. AS: We haven’t announced this project yet and aren’t really ready to reveal any details about it, but I can assure you that, with DeFi technology under its hood, our company will be able to compete with the world’s major existing banking services. IS: We’ve touched on regulations in the blockchain space. What countries do you find the most blockchain-friendly now and where do you think entrepreneurs are privy to the best development conditions? We’ve decided to incorporate our company in the US, which may seem surprising with all the blockchain entrepreneurs that have been moving to areas with more amiable legislation, like Malta, or to countries where blockchain regulations aren’t as clearly defined, giving them a lot of room to manoeuvre. But as far as the latter option is concerned, one has to be aware that chances are that your business will hit the top of its growth potential way too quickly. IS: Another country determining the vector of blockchain evolution is China, the US’s main political and economic rival. Between the two we’ve chosen America because we find this option more suitable in view of long-term development. Moreover, the ongoing crisis impacting the US economy has opened up opportunities for growing demand for DeFi businesses. Additionally, this will assist in dealing with the crisis-caused unemployment issue in the United States. AS: What advice do you have for blockchain entrepreneurs and investors as far as dealing with the constantly growing level of competition in this industry? For entrepreneurs, I’d go back to the point about concentrating on the business end of things I made earlier. It’s not that important right now to create a super technically advanced code or an awesome user interface. What is more important is crafting an effective business model and producing a sustainable product that will bring money to your investor. IS: And for investors, now’s the time to get on board with DeFi. The industry is open now in a way that it is unlikely to be for long. Now’s the time to start gathering teams of highly conscious professionals and determining points of entry. If you don’t act quickly, you may miss out on a golden opportunity. AS:

An Interview With Ivan Starinin And Alexander Salnikov On DeFi Tech

The article is intended for white hats, professional pentesters, and heads of information security departments (CISO). Today, I want to share several methods of social engineering that can be used in targeted attacks, that is, in cases where a specific victim (person or company) is selected. Targeted attacks take a lot of preparation time. During mass attacks, it is easier to make several people click your link, but mass attacks are not well suited for penetration tests. Pentester cannot allow himself to rely on probability theory and distribute his mousetraps to all employees of the organization in the hope that someone will get caught. One or two vigilant users will definitely notify the security manager, and the pentest will fail. Careful preparation is needed for each new company and infrastructure. Methods of a social engineer should be non-standard. Security rules are always written post factum, and therefore they are inert and weakly protect against new threats. The need to rob banks with weapons has already gone. Today email is enough to penetrate most organizations. However, in many, even big companies, old stereotypes are still present. They place great emphasis on physical security, considering digital less important. IT professionals are not tired of constantly repeating that social engineering is the biggest evil in the world of information security. At the same time, many “security guards” continue to believe that certain security software and once written instructions for employees are enough to withstand hacker attacks. Evil @ sign This method of social engineering will not be effective with attentive employees, but if all users were attentive, then social engineering would not exist as such. For those who are used to watching what comes right after https:// when verifying if the URL is safe, a link like this: https://bankname.com@hacksite.com will not lead to anything good. All valid characters for URLs are documented in RFC 1738. The @ character is used in the URL as a special separator when you need to give permission to access the page directly in the URL. It is intended to look like this: https://<login> <password>@<host>. So, you can put anything before @. The browser will still send the user to the host specified after @. Evil encoding Let’s add to our URL several Arabic or Hebrew characters encoded in UTF-8 > HEX so that it begins to look incomprehensible to humans and seems safe at first glance: https://bankname.com@%D0%B9%32%D1%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%B9% When you hover the mouse over the encoded URL, desktop browsers decode the characters, but this does not happen with the Outlook email client and browsers on mobile devices. Preview overflow You already probably know that the real file extension can be hidden by using the Windows built-in restriction conspiring the length of the extension line. Something similar may be used with URLs. Evil links, for example, may look like this: https://bankname.com:eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee@hacksite.com/nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.html Instead of eeee and nnnn, you may put different keywords that are usually used on the original site. In Firefox, such long strings get shortened in the middle, and so the part with hacksite.com is not seen. You can see only those many characters that do not look suspicious: https://bankname.com:eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.html Different browsers treat long URLs in different ways. There are tricks for Edge and Chrome. The exact method is selected when the victim’s browser is known. Regular post and social engineering If the victim holds an executive position in the target company, you can try to use his sense of self-importance. A fake site is created that is designed like a conference, business event, business forum, etc. Now you need to make the victim visit that site. Why not sending a paper letter? Here you will definitely get around all the digital protection mechanisms and even the neural network firewall in the form of a secretary because, in her opinion, if she throws such a letter into the trash, her boss will not be happy. The envelope and letter have a professional design. The content sounds very attractive - an invitation to participate in a pathos event as a speaker or jury member, laureate of a prestigious award, etc. At the end of the letter, it is proposed to fill out the participant registration form. There can be a printed QR code or website URL. Personal or public? The following several methods of social engineering relate to attacks on the organization using information about the personal life of a particular employee. Talking about protection against social engineering, all people should follow the safety rules not only for the sake of the organizations they work at but first of all for their own security. If you are looking through a user's accounts on social networks, pay attention to places where he has been relaxing recently. If you spot a hotel name, feel free to write on behalf of the hotel administration and demand a surcharge for the service. In the letter, add a note that this message is generated automatically, and for the answer, you need to use the form on the official website in the customer support section. After giving a fake link, invite the victim to sign in. Who knows, maybe he uses the same loin/password on other sites. If a potential victim prefers to fly Southwest Airlines, write that he urgently needs to activate an additional program of bonus miles to double his total number. Has the victim recently attended an event? You may ask him to sign in (using your link) to get additional important conference materials and a discount on participation in the next even. So, that the victim does not suspect anything after signing in, he can be redirected to the 404 page saying that something went wrong or redirected to the homepage of the real website. Here several phishing methods were described. This is often enough. True mischief, however, will not stop there and will use browser vulnerabilities and malicious files to infect the victim’s device, but that is already a technical part, not a social one. SMS redirects Let’s see how, using phishing, you can get access to the employee’s online services protected by multi-factor authentication. An employee is sent an SMS with a request to do something in his mobile carrier’s cabinet. It is better to choose a scary reason (or play with greed) to make the victim go there right now and not to give time to call technical support. You just need to know which carrier his phone number belongs to and give a suitable phishing link. After gaining access to the mobile account, a person with malicious intent sets his own phone to receive SMS in the section “Message Forwarding.” Most mobile service providers offer flexible rules for setting up redirects. For example, you can specify specific time frames for redirects to happen. Bonus Finally, I will provide some more tips: 1) Send a letter to a targeted company corporate email address, get a response and see how the message is formatted. Then copy this message design for your phishing messages on behalf of this company. 2) Having heard the message of the answering machine that the employee is on vacation, you can write letters on his behalf to other employees (supposedly from a personal, non-corporate email), as well as make posts on social networks from his “secondary account.” 3) A new trend in social engineering is called Find Trap. It is a way when a victim is given an info-bait and starts to search for additional details using search engines. The victim finds your website since everything is designed to display your site on top of search results. Conclusion You probably know a lot about technical protection mechanisms against hacker attacks. Unfortunately, they are not enough. No matter what security technologies you use, everything becomes meaningless if employees open suspicious attachments, click on phishing links, or use weak passwords. So, it is crucial to systematically train your employees not to fall for the tricks of social engineers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About the Author: David Balaban is a cybersecurity professional writing for TechShielder.com . His key competencies include malware analysis, online privacy, and software testing. Additionally, he does his best to stay current with the e-threat landscape and keep tabs on the evolution of computer viruses. With 15 years of experience under his belt, David knows how security works and how important it is to maintain privacy on the Internet.

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