This is worrisome, I am curious whether publicizing his case may make matters worse than better. I would also be curious to see if someone would manage to contact relatives or friends in the area,
It is quite common view of halogen lights wiring here (Bulgaria). I have the same in my bathroom. First photo is standard transformer and second photo is a job done by some electrician not doing his job well. I do not see anything suspicious. And yes, we are EU and NATO members. Most USA citizens visiting here happily spend they time and really enjoying the visit. Without more information what was the case with Dancho Danchev (Данчо Данчев) it is nothing more then paranoia.
Have you got one of those transformers too? Is the black double insulated side supposed to be the low voltage or the high voltage side of the transformer?
In Bulgaria there is a list of people declared for national investigation (обявени за национално издирване). In this list there are people who need to be arrested, who need to be a witness in a case or who are missing(i.e. they are kidnapped or disapeared). If Dancho is truly missing since September then he should be on that list.
I tried to search for this list online but I couldn't find it (maybe it is not available yet). The article doesn't say anything about the official situation. It will be great if anyone can provide some official information.
Dancho Danchev, an expert on cybersecurity, is placed in a psychiatric hospital in Bulgaria. The information was confirmed by two sources of "Dnevnik", although the hospital refused to comment.
[...]
[...]
[...] according to reliable source of Dnevnik he was placed in a Bulgarian psychiatric hospital since December 11.
Both of the images are large PNG files, which leaves lots of room for steganographic data. Given that they're meaningless if interpreted literally (but seem to vaguely hint at meaning, which makes them good as red herrings), that seems like the most likely interpretation.
So the question is, who has the key? It seems like if anyone has it, Ryan Naraine should. But if he did, his post would be quite different.
Both of the photos are confusing, but the photo depicting the wires more so.
If you count the wires it seems right until you notice that the hacked up blue and white wires are not going to the lighting device at all. Or where the power (phase/neutral) are coming from. They go out of the frame to the left, instead.
I'm not sure what I'm looking at, but it looks like something is in the wall that requires power.
A couple of things come to mind:
- The man might be paranoid and mistook sloppy electrical work for evidence of ... something funny? A threat? I tend to think this is unlikely, as he's a security researcher and probably pretty well versed in these things. If he found a bug, taking a picture of it wouldn't mean anything.
- He's being extremely careful and photographed something that would only mean something to someone specific.
- The two wires that are kludged together seem to go into the wall. The white side is taped to what looks like standard romex, which seems to be where the phase/neutral for the lighting fixture comes from, but those wires travel outside of the frame to who knows where.
- The blue wire that's exposed doesn't look like CAT-5, but the color of the shielding is the same color as some bulk CAT-5 used in construction, though joining the wires under that blue tape seems like a really bad way to connect two exposed ends. I'm leaning towards it not being data cable, but being simple copper wire. Which, yes, could carry data.
- It's unlikely that the images contain information that would be easily deciphered. It's an in-case-of-emergency-break-glass message and it's not explicit as to what these images mean. It's probably intentional.
Anyway, fascinating story and I really hope this guy stays safe. Espionage and cyber crime are huge industries full of all sorts of bad actors.
I suspect that means someone is supposed to find that transformer. Presumably there may be something of interest with/in/near it. Its easy to hide a microSD
I don't mean to insult Mr. Danchev, but let's not dismiss the most obvious answer: He may be having psychological issues or otherwise be pulling some shenanigans.
There's no evidence to suggest otherwise at this point in time. The pictures don't suggest anything to me and he's perfectly capable of not answering the phone, email, or instant messages.
[+] [-] updog|15 years ago|reply
Perhaps someone at ZDNet re-saved them. If that is the case, they should release the originals.
[+] [-] cag_ii|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] madmaze|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aquarin|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] A1kmm|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mitko|15 years ago|reply
I tried to search for this list online but I couldn't find it (maybe it is not available yet). The article doesn't say anything about the official situation. It will be great if anyone can provide some official information.
[+] [-] wang-chung|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] redthrowaway|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] EastSmith|15 years ago|reply
Dancho Danchev, an expert on cybersecurity, is placed in a psychiatric hospital in Bulgaria. The information was confirmed by two sources of "Dnevnik", although the hospital refused to comment.
[...]
[...]
[...] according to reliable source of Dnevnik he was placed in a Bulgarian psychiatric hospital since December 11.
[+] [-] jimrandomh|15 years ago|reply
So the question is, who has the key? It seems like if anyone has it, Ryan Naraine should. But if he did, his post would be quite different.
[+] [-] nitrogen|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] elbrodeur|15 years ago|reply
If you count the wires it seems right until you notice that the hacked up blue and white wires are not going to the lighting device at all. Or where the power (phase/neutral) are coming from. They go out of the frame to the left, instead.
I'm not sure what I'm looking at, but it looks like something is in the wall that requires power.
A couple of things come to mind:
- The man might be paranoid and mistook sloppy electrical work for evidence of ... something funny? A threat? I tend to think this is unlikely, as he's a security researcher and probably pretty well versed in these things. If he found a bug, taking a picture of it wouldn't mean anything.
- He's being extremely careful and photographed something that would only mean something to someone specific.
- The two wires that are kludged together seem to go into the wall. The white side is taped to what looks like standard romex, which seems to be where the phase/neutral for the lighting fixture comes from, but those wires travel outside of the frame to who knows where.
- The blue wire that's exposed doesn't look like CAT-5, but the color of the shielding is the same color as some bulk CAT-5 used in construction, though joining the wires under that blue tape seems like a really bad way to connect two exposed ends. I'm leaning towards it not being data cable, but being simple copper wire. Which, yes, could carry data.
- It's unlikely that the images contain information that would be easily deciphered. It's an in-case-of-emergency-break-glass message and it's not explicit as to what these images mean. It's probably intentional.
Anyway, fascinating story and I really hope this guy stays safe. Espionage and cyber crime are huge industries full of all sorts of bad actors.
[+] [-] madmaze|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] taylorbuley|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LordLandon|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] uptown|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fdhjtyjkty|15 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] dhjtkyukyu|15 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] RickRoll|15 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] runjake|15 years ago|reply
There's no evidence to suggest otherwise at this point in time. The pictures don't suggest anything to me and he's perfectly capable of not answering the phone, email, or instant messages.
I hope he is ok, both physically and mentally.
[+] [-] runjake|15 years ago|reply