»Wednesday, February 23, 2005
The boy who topped NASA but didn't..
On February 17th, Rediff along with many other Indian news agencies reported that a 17 year old boy from Uttar Pradesh, Saurabh Singh had topped the NASA International Scientist Discovery exam. I thought it was interesting and checked Google News for other related reports, but it seemed that only Indian news agencies were reporting it. Pretty strange for an exam of supposedly high repute. Not even the main Google search engine had anything to say about this exam. Nevertheless, the story kept getting bigger and bigger with newspapers reporting that the Indian president had taken the exam in 1960 and 'finished seventh' while astronaut Kalpana Chawla had 'stood 21st in 1988'.
Ah, it keeps getting curioser and curioser. One newspaper, the Indian Express (check facts? real journalists don't check no facts!) even wrote about the tough exams that he passed. "He scored a mere A+ for Electronics and he is furious with himself". His school announced a scholarship - the Saurabh Singh scholarship for Rs. 40,000. The UP Legislative Assembly decided to 'honor him' and declared that every member would donate a day's salary to him.
Every bubble of bullshit has to break due to its own pressure. The enterprising reporter who contacted NASA for further information must have really shocked the folks out there. Of course, NASA doesn't have any such exam, nor did Abdul Kalam or Kalpana Chawla take those fictitious exams. (The Indian Express reported that the President had 'expressed a desire to meet him' - Well, Kalpana Chawla being dead cannot dispute the story, but did someone really get that news from the office fo the President who must have surely remembered that he had never taken such an exam? This must be a new high in news reporting). The whole story would have been ridiculously hilarious, if not for the fact that it shows (sadly) how easily the media and with it, an entire nation can be manipulated!
UPDATE: Google News shows that the scam has been outed all over.
Tags: news, reporting, scam, fake news
...
Navin says.. The student's name is Saurabh Singh, not Saurabh Shukla. Saurabh Shukla is a movie director.
Ben Houston says.. It is strange how many details the kid provides in the earliest Google News story from February 8, 2005:
In 2004, when advertisements were placed in newspapers for the event, Saurabh managed to get his father’s approval to fill up the form.
A school teacher in Narheji village of Ballia, his father Ramkeshwar Singh was initially reluctant to give his son the go ahead. “Money”, he said, “has always been a hurdle for me.”
At that time, Saurabh was undergoing coaching for the IT entrance exam at Kota in Rajasthan. “In class X boards, I had managed a mere 72 per cent...the marks were not enough to boost me for the IIT.”According to Saurabh, he competed with 1.5 lakh other children in India during the prelims. “Later, when the finals were held at the prestigious Oxford University in Britain, I competed with 100 others from across the globe. I topped the list of eight children who were finally selected,” he said.
Azim says.. Not only in IndiaHere in Italy Repubblica.it got scammed too.
Repubblica.it is the online version of "LaRepubblica", second italian newspaper. They too published the news about that Indian genius :)
says.. We need a mediawatch site
says.. We need a mediawatch site that gives a list of news orginizations known to not check their facts, ALWAYS. This site should provide a quick reference list of such orginizations as well as the ability to see what story got them marked.
So, where is it?
dkjariwala says.. Time for you to move to Journalism. Become Google Powered Reporter, how about that? :)
JD
says.. Stories like this are good for the public. The more stories like this that come out the more people may realize they shouldn't trust the "news." Or at least not rely on one source.
says.. I don't recall the student's name, but the "venerable" radio commentator Paul Harvey reported about a NASA test student from India in his Wednesday morning report.
says.. Well Sify has clarified that President Kalam never took the Scientist Discovery Competitive exams. However the article did not say whether the exam is really present.
While BBC Asia also got into reporting this news. BBC Bengali has now come out saying the news may be wrong. It says Kalam has cancelled the his proposed meeting with the boy and they have a photo of the enterprising Saurabh Singh. Looks like another "Petrol from Water" episode.
BBC Bengali NASA--Ullas
Anil says.. Navin: thanks for pointing out that the boy's name is Saurabh Singh, not Shukla. I need to check my facts too :-)
Anil says.. To the anonymous grammer nazi: 'curioser and curioser' is a reference to Alice in Wonderland. Just google for the book :-)There's plenty of stuff in there that has become part of our slang today.
says.. Yes... Indian Genious who showed all of India is a cheap pride grabbing whore... "yeah I took that exam too cause I'm the president bla bla bla"
says.. hahaha, just read the Ankit Fadia news articles. What a faggot! cant stop laughing... going to spill my guts out.
Did that Saurabh kid actually get whatever prize money they said he would get? Hats off to him if he made off with the stash ;-)
Anil says.. The Saurabh kid was all set to get a few lakhs from the state government (plus a day/month's salary from the legislators), but it seems that everything has been put on hold. (Of course, it didn't stop some people from trying to make hay by taking credit for coaching him).
Ankit Fadia seems to be very interesting too - notice how he claims to have intercepted Osama Bin Laden's communications and that his website (none of which seem to exist now) was ranked 2nd by the FBI (since when did the FBI become a ranking agency? And now, for the FBI top ten countdown...). It's also funny how his website is owned by some search engine spammer. Thank you Rediff :-) It's a hilarious world.
says.. I have always heard of the educated idiot (not kicking education, which is vary important in today world). Now India has taken it to a new low. This must make them proud to be gullible and ignorant. This is what happens without a reality check during the education process. LOL
says.. You have to thank the internet, in the pre internet days he would have gotten away with it.
by the way how difficult is it to check wiki on kalam/kalpana to see if he took an exam like that.It took me about 10 seconds.
What kind of reporting these guys do.
this is about the third case i am looking at in the past year.
says.. About Ankit Fadia, Let the kid have his glory, he's done a good job and is studying at Stanford on a scholarship. I don't think Stanford takes prodigies like him without doing a background check. He also travels the world giving lectures on ethical hacking, I don't think all news agencies are a bunch of crap like the indian ones so give credit where it's due guys.
As for the guy calling him a faggot, Dude I seriously think that you're manifesting your inability to accept anothers success and absolute jealousy not to mention the lack of confidence in yourself. Lighten up, get the book he's written and maybe you can write a better book rather than waste time bitching about people you don't know squat about. It's a typical case of you not knowing the difference between your elbow and your butt,when asked to scratch your elbow you end up scratching you butt.
It's nothing personal but it's just annoying to see a fellow Indian bring down someone who's doing well and who should be supported. One of the reasons we don't succeed as a nation is not only because we're lazy as a race but also because people like you are a vindictive lot who forget the bigger picture and waste time in such trivial matters.
And just incase this website doesn't give you guys my name, It's Tullika Wangdi and I'm 18. So for those "faggots" who think people my age can't think please think again and get over your sorry state of affairs and think of the ways you can better the world rather than be such masochists who serve no purpose of existance. The world's a huge place so expand your petty minds and do something worthwhile rather than waste the iota of intelligence that you've been given. Sods!
says.. Tullika, while I agree that credit is due to Ankit (not for his hacking skills - he has never been able to substanstiate his hacking capabilities, but for turning tech-speak into regular english, and popularising the importance of security), I do believe you're guilty of the same ignorant intolerance that you're accusing the others of by thinking that you know better - unless ofcourse you really know what Ankit's talking about, and are well versed with security protocols and pracices.
But I do agree, credit must be given to Ankit Fadia for what he has accomplished.
jynnbox says.. come on guys ,all such geniuses should be given their credit
----------------------------
saurabh and maybe even ankit fadia might be bragging but whatever they did they cleverly "socilal engineered " all of India .
take saurabh's case
"Indian boy from a poor background making it to NASA"
Indians will be pleased to hear such a story .parents might be telling their kids "look at that boy why can't you study like that"
this behaviour us widely seen only among Indian public (we all see how IIT top rankers make it to front pages)
Do SAT rankers in US make it to front page??(I don't think so)
and media bites on such stories..
now take ankit fadia
----------------------
His new book "guide to hacking mobile phones"
contains well known tricks go to a cell phone shop and they will readily show you cheat codes...
and all such info is already available on web..
but why does media call him an expert??
simple-"say something in fine english which sounds complicated and bingo you are an expert "
(all engineering students know such tricks and they employ them widely at interviews)
for me both of them are true geniuses i bet they have an IQ like 150 or so more then any average Indian
(they might not be knowledgeable but some thing like danny ocean or rusty ryan in "oceans eleven")
clever,smart and shrewd
bye
says.. At the place where the dude shits up Anki Fadia... goto the end and check the fact.. Those are the ones that define the success of hacker. You wanna see hackers .. goto www.securityfocus.com .. check out the bug-traq section..
goto : http://www.srijith.net/indiacracked/oldnews.shtml
Teh defaced site has a mention above :)
Come on.. do you think FBI will want a 19 year old semi-cyptanalyst.They have loads better. Had OSAMA used one of the average encryptions avlbl today,(DES,Blowfish,etc) with a long enough key.. no comp in the world could have cracked it:) .
Maybe he's a (very) good public speaker.. But thats all...
says.. As we come to know that this news was first posted by REDIFF, I have always held that REDIFF is one of the most unreliable sites as far as news is concerned. They are just cashing in on sensationalism...
says.. Dear All,
On 03-04-2006, I attended a seminar by a so-called "Hacking Guru"
Ankit Fadia, at DAVV, Indore (MP) auditorium. I just want to share my
findings with you.
The Seminar was a complete failure, though it was attended by about well
over 100 people, but was a complete disaster.
The very first thing by which I was offended badly was using the sacred word
"Hacking" to demonstrate something we, the hackers, call cracking. The
seminar topic was "Ethical Hacking", now I want to ask Mr Fadia, what is
unethical about hacking ? Hacking is very positive word and there in no need
to put "Ethical" before it. By the way his seminar topic should be "Ethical
Cracking".
If you really want to become a hacker, please read an article by a real
hacker, Eric Steven Raymond (ESR). The man who changed the history by
writing a paper "Cathedral and Bazaar". please read the article here :
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html
The people who can not differentiate between hacking and cracking, should
read an article by the GOD of hackers Richad M Stallman (RMS), the man who
started GNU movement all by himself. The gcc (compiler), gdb (debugger),
emacs (editor) are some of the most popular softwares in the world written
by him. Please read the article here :
http://www.outpost9.com/reference/jargon/jargon_69.html
The things Fadia demonstrated were ancient techniques used by crackers to
break into some one's machine. Now a days even 10 year olds can download
these tools from Internet to control others' machines. Can we call them
hackers ?? If he calls it hacking, I doubt if he understands the term even
"Cracking", leave hacking altogether. This childish behavior is called
script kiddie.
IP spoofing, SQL Injection, password cracking softwares, Trojan horse
programs, these are the tools of cyber criminals. So I wonder what is the
significance of the term "Ethical" here ??
In the entire session I kept waiting for some program or utility, written by
himself. But I don't thing he had something like this to share with
audience. The entire session was demonstration of third party utilities, and
the saddest thing was no mention of the name of any author of any utility.
He didn't care to give some credits to the utility developers. What a shame
!!!
Mr Fadia, I real hacker always respect the creativity of others, and before
using their work proper credits are given, this is the hacker's attitude.
It's not like that, you download something from Internet, use it and forget
the person, who made it. That's pretty mean.
Second most annoying thing was that he calls himself a "hacker" and was
using a Windows XP operating system ????
I have been in to computers for the past 10 years and I never come across
any real hacker who uses Windows. I met Brian(Apache creator), Andy Cleen,
Alon cox, Rusty (all networking gods), RMS (the GOD himself) but all of them
were using some or other form of Unix or Linux.
Come on, MR Fadia, Windows is the worst OS in the world, full of security
holes, so what is the point to break into a Windows machine ???? What do
you want to prove ????
He only once mentioned Linux, just to tell how you can use it's live CD to
boot a Windows machine and cracke the password.
Actually, before attending the seminar, I Googled a lot about Fadia and his
work. But what I could find was self acclaiming statement by Fadia about
himself and his future and just crap, crap and crap by technology illiterate
Indian news papers' reports.
I just want to share my findings with you.
Vulnerabilities patches by Fadia = 0 (He may know how to break
in, but doesn't know how to fix up)
Bugtraq id's by Fadia = 0
Hacking / Security tool by fadia = 0 (He simply Goolge and
download the tools from Internet, that's not cracking. Actual cracker
is the
programmer, but Fadia never ever gives due credits. Now that's not hacking,
that's
stealing)
Any open source software by Fadia = 0 (He is afraid of suggesting
Linux to people, 'coz it's secure)
Any Linux or Windows software security patch = 0
Any recommendation or recognition by Real Hacker Community = 0 (They
laugh at him. He is just a kid)
Software / Cryptography patents by Fadia = 0
Algorithms by Fadia = 0
Any official citation by FBI/CIA/CBI for Fadia = 0 (They don't even
bother about any explanation)
Any confirmation of his self-claims = 0 (Nobody, expect
him knows, if they are real)
Any confirmation of him decrypting Osama's message = 0
(Hahahahahahahaha)
Any original technical tutorial or book by Fadia = 0 (He simply copy
the things and never he never ever gives due credits to the
original authors.)
Any originality in his tutes or books = 0 (Hahahahahahaha)
Skill level of Fadia = Only God
knows !!!
I tried to read a few books by him, but to my wonder some part of his books
are nothing but simple "copy and paste" material from well known sites for
Windows registry editing. Please visit www.winguides.com and compare the
material with his first book. Oh God ! this is the clear violation of
intellectual property rights of the website. Please inform the webmaster. I
have done it already.
I was astonished by the course he came to promote here, "Ethical hacker
certified by Ankit Fadia" ! He sill is child in hacking field, and he is
giving the certificates for hacking ????? And worst thing, Reliance web
world is promoting it. What a shame !!! Have all gone mad ? Can't they see
?
Unfortunately, question and answer round was cut from the seminar, that's
also because of Fadia arrived there one hour late. Well, that's India's
celebrity style statement. Otherwise, I would have asked all these questions
to him there only.
Anyways, I went to him at the end of the seminar, and asked if Windows is so
vulnerable, can he suggest audience to use Linux rather than Windows. And
the reply came was straight "NO". What a shame ???
I understood the reason, why he said no. The reason is same why Microsoft
does not patch up it's OS. Plain economics. If you make system secure with
Linux who is going to ask for people like Fadia, so called "security expert"
???
I want to make an appeal to all of you, please make all of your friends
aware of these facts. Let one should not get undeserved advantage. I also
want to appeal news papers, please do not make a hero out of nothing. Stop
polluting the honest media by prejudiced reports.
And at the end I want to tell Mr Fadia, that I don't have any personal
problem with you or your achievements, but please behave properly in hacking
community. We hackers are very positive people we never ever try to harm
anybody, until he comes to our or our philosophy's way. Please stop calling
your self a hacker, if does not understand the hacker culture.
And for god sake, stop behaving like a child, now you are in college, so
GROW UP !!!
Prabhat.
PS : I am sending this mail to Mr Fadia, Reliance web world, most of Linux
mailing lists and all of my friends. Please post your comments at
lug-indore@googlegroups.com
says.. Hi guys,
I am sure you remember, the story I posted few days back, on the
mailing list about Ankit Fadia, "Ankit Fadia : The real picture " .
There is a new twist in the story. :-)
I sent this mail to various people, including one IT and Cyber Law
expert, Deepti Chopra. She also felt that Mr Fadia is doing something
fraud and misleading people. She talked to Certificate authority of
India and questioned about the authenticity and credibility of the
certificate. When I posted the original story to various people, I got
many positive responses. I forwarded all those mails to Deepti and she
passed them to the Certificate authority of India.
Now the twist in the story. :-)
Deepti just informed me that, she got positive reply from Certificate
authority of India. They have issued a notice to Mr Fadia and CEO,
Reliance Web World to stop the issuing certificates. Now we are also
thinking about taking some legal action against Mr Fadia and Reliance
Web World.
Cheers to our victory over unethical business practice and fraud. :-)
Do send me your suggestions and views.
Prabhat
says.. can i have sum tips, how to make it
says.. i m also very much keen to work at nasa, what can be done to get through, plzzzzzzzz sir give some essential tips, how to initiate itto get through dere... if any body knows plzzzz inform at amittriar214@yahoo.co.in
says.. That story is as funny as it gets. It will give me a long long chuckle about the India President's policies. There is no way the US president would ever say such a thing even though he has his many faults. Pride grabbing whore is a little harsh, but slang.
says.. (Name: LOLKID) Lol. i, s Ankit so a sad noob., lol. As well Surabh story is considered all i can say people as these are called attention whores (sorry for my lingo, buts its a slang). as for you anonymous get a real name :D . Ok Hats off to you anonymous for replying a story thats 2 year old lol.
says.. Tulika,
Ankit Fadia studied in my school, wasn't a bright chap anyway.
About Stanford well guess what,
they threw him out of there.
says.. hi all,
about social engineering here's a recent case.
Mathura Lad from BSA college gets 1.4 crore salary in NIGERIA.
I saw his report on Zee News the company he said doesn't exist (atleast i cudn't find it).
here's a link :-
http://www.saharasamay.com/samayhtml/articles.aspx?newsid=76336
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