363
Security in the 90s. (programming.dev)

The red circle was there when I found it, I swear!

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[-] nexguy@lemmy.world 69 points 22 hours ago

In case anyone can't find the security parts I found it:

[-] irelephant@programming.dev 5 points 7 hours ago

here, I added more in case you guys didn't notice the lock

[-] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 15 points 21 hours ago

I hope they weren't counting on security through obscurity, because if so you've just ruined them

[-] Valmond@lemmy.world 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

I don't understand...

Edit: woosh my friends 😎

[-] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 26 points 20 hours ago

I can provide some context. In the 90s, over 40 years ago, they enjoyed displaying their floppy discs to gain their guests’ envy but they were still wary of theft, so they placed them inside of heavy transparent enclosures. This practice descended from the premise of china cabinets. I’ve circled the floppy discs in blue for clarity.

[-] Goretantath@lemmy.world 7 points 19 hours ago

Oh wait lmfao! Didnt notice you can just pull the hinges out from the base and lift it off XD

[-] Cruel@programming.dev 8 points 18 hours ago

The security of 90s technology was largely based on the honor system.

[-] catsAndComputers@programming.dev 5 points 13 hours ago

added layer of security i'd say

[-] 58008@lemmy.world 17 points 18 hours ago

Pretty much everyone I knew who had an Amiga had that box, and from the age of about 6 I was able to jimmy it open easily. Not that I had nefarious intent, just wanted to play Monkey Island.

[-] PurplebeanZ@lemmy.world 8 points 16 hours ago

Can confirm. Had Amiga, and had that box.

[-] vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 14 hours ago

had that box, didn't have an amiga.

Got one 2 months ago though!

[-] Davel23@fedia.io 34 points 20 hours ago

What kind of sociopath stored their 3.5" floppies with the metal shutter up?

[-] SARGE@startrek.website 15 points 20 hours ago

Someone who wants to make super sure that no dust gets into the discs, as even a single mote of dust in the drive will set off a chain reaction that destroys every universe simultaneously.

At least, according to my mother. She always insisted that floppy discs be stored like this since dust could settle in the tab if left the other way.

[-] 4am@lemmy.zip 11 points 19 hours ago

Isn’t the lid and key supposed to keep the dust out?

[-] SARGE@startrek.website 1 points 5 hours ago

You'd think, but she was paranoid that the tiniest mote of dust would cause the computer to break.

[-] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 13 points 17 hours ago

No. The key is strictly for security. It does nothing for dust.

[-] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 42 points 22 hours ago

Locks keep honest people honest.

That's all.

[-] Whelks_chance@lemmy.world 25 points 22 hours ago

And children from messing with them

[-] tdawg@lemmy.world 15 points 21 hours ago

Considering most petty crime is a crime of opportunity then yeah. Locks are a good thing

[-] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 4 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)
[-] dalekcaan@feddit.nl 5 points 20 hours ago

On the other hand, I think most petty criminals probably aren't lockpickers, especially on their level. Probably more important to protect against someone drilling out the core or cutting the shackle. Of course, all this is a balance of how beefy and expensive the lock is versus how valuable and at risk what you're securing is.

[-] Jg1@lemmy.zip 5 points 17 hours ago

Most locksmiths aren't at their level...

[-] SARGE@startrek.website 3 points 20 hours ago

I miss BosnianBill, it always felt like my grandpa was sharing his hobby with me.

LPL and BB got me into picking locks, and so far it's saved a couple of massive personal headaches and one extremely expensive piece of industrial equipment (for which I recieved absolutely no recognition in saving the company about $450,000-550,000 in broken equipment)

It's also a fun quick thing to teach people and I have a spare set with me and an acrylic demonstration lock to show newbies.

I had fun at a park in south-western ohio once when I started picking all the padlocks couples were leaving on a bridge. I left about a dozen of them sitting on top of the railing.

Fun times, cheap hobby.

[-] Broken@lemmy.ml 3 points 16 hours ago

What ever happened to BosnianBill? I agree with your description of him seeming like a grandpa sharing.

I never got into lock picking, just did some small desk locks and such years ago, but I just loved watching him and enjoying his hobby.

[-] spacesatan@leminal.space 8 points 18 hours ago

I hate this saying because it's claiming lazy thieves are honest people. If you would steal a bike outside a grocery store just because it's not locked you're not an honest person.

[-] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 1 points 15 hours ago

Locks counters the finders keepers rule.

[-] Horsecook@sh.itjust.works 2 points 17 hours ago

It’s a saying from a different morality than your own. You see honesty as an intrinsic, binary trait. The saying is from the perspective of sin, where everyone is dishonest and through conscious acts attempts to achieve relative honesty. By locking goods, you reduce temptation, making the struggle for honesty easier for another right-minded sinner.

[-] MnemonicBump@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 20 hours ago

During the pandemic I learned how to pick locks for fun and that was the exact thought that I had

[-] VeryVito@lemmy.ml 22 points 22 hours ago

The idea of data security just wasn’t a thing until very recently.

Credit cards sales were recorded using ink imprints of the cards’ raised numbers, and the “duplicate paper” was then discarded with little thought into the trash. Phone books listed names and addresses of anyone who didn’t pay extra to have them omitted (very few people bothered). Checks (the things you wrote and handed out to ANYONE from the phone company to the paperboy) usually included social security numbers, and most universities also used Social Security Numbers as student ID numbers and required them to be printed on just about everything until well into the 90s. Simpler times.

[-] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

The uni I am going to right now, focused on technology, decided to use birth numbers (similar to SSN I guess) as a password for housing accounts of new students.

Birth number isn't even treated like something that should be super private. I think it still is considered private information like phone number and email address, but its only purpose is supposed to be identification. Some 4 digits that are chosen somehow + date of birth.

I was also surprised to just get sent the password for another system by email in plaintext.

Better than McDonald's security I guess: https://bobdahacker.com/blog/mcdonalds-security-vulnerabilities

[-] 4am@lemmy.zip 2 points 19 hours ago

I’m not sure I ever saw a check with a social security number on it, but the rest of this is absolutely true

[-] Railing5132@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

Was a common practice for me until my mid-20's. If it wasn't pre-printed on then, cashiers would ask what it was and write it in the check.

[-] VeryVito@lemmy.ml 1 points 18 hours ago

I just burned some old ones I found in an old file cabinet the other day. I don’t think I ever had them myself, but I l remember a teller asking whether I wanted to include it.

[-] BootLoop@sh.itjust.works 13 points 20 hours ago

You could get in without the keys if you dropped it from chest height but there would be evidence of accessing the data.

[-] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 3 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

That plastic lid opens from prying gently at the rear pressure hinges pretty easily, if I recall correctly.

[-] Steve@startrek.website 4 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Or if you figured out how to make or buy a wave rake.

[-] Cruel@programming.dev 7 points 18 hours ago

I bet that whole case is just Microsoft Office 97. I remember that was like 50 floppy disks.

[-] tuckerm@feddit.online 6 points 19 hours ago

When I was 13, I looked at web pages about lock picking and then successfully picked the lock on our floppy disk case. Felt like a Mission Impossible operative for two whole days after that.

this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
363 points (100.0% liked)

iiiiiiitttttttttttt

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