Bonum Certa Men Certa

Security Advisory: Debian falls for social engineering hacks

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Nov 08, 2024,
updated Nov 08, 2024

Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock.

As an expert on online privacy and information security, people regularly ask me questions about whether open source is really safer or could there be any such thing as perfect security online.

The phenomena of Code of Conduct gaslighting is not about ethical standards at all, it is really a form of social engineering. The rights of co-authors are similar to the rights of shareholders. Joint authorship is nothing like membership or employment. Co-authors can not give each other orders or exclude each other from recognition. The people trying to conjure up fantasies about expulsion, which doesn't exist under copyright law, are actually engaging in a social engineering attack on our authorship rights.

I began to learn about the JuristGate scandal on 14 April 2023. That is when one of the founders, Mathieu Parreaux, asked me to buy another insurance from his new company.

It became clear to me that the unsafe nature of this insurance product had been known for some time in the Swiss legal profession and most likely in the Swiss insurance regulator too. The fact that it had taken these organisations so long to act and the fact that even when they did act, Mathieu Parreaux could still steal their thunder and ask customers to pay in another year of premiums weeks before we received any official notice from regulators suggests that the regulators don't have the means to protect small business and consumers from this type of conduct.

The FINMA records show us that they made the decision to liquidate the rogue firm on 4 April 2023.

Here is Parreaux asking people to pay the next premiums to a new company (nouvelle structure). It is sent on 14 April 2023, that is 10 days after FINMA decided to shut him down. Customers never received any warning from FINMA before Parreaux sent these messages:

 
Subject:        Fermeture de Justicia SA - Organisation de notre nouvelle structure
Date:   Fri, 14 Apr 2023 16:53:18 +0200
From:   m.parreaux@justiva.ch
To:     m.parreaux@justiva.ch

Chers tous,
...

The liquidator, Walder Wyss, only sent the first warning to customers five days later on 19 April and it has very little detail:

Subject:        Justicia SA en liquidation
Date:   Wed, 19 Apr 2023 13:18:07 +0200
From:   Walder Wyss SA <newsletter@walderwyss.info>
Reply-To:       newsletter@walderwyss.info

WalderWyss Newsletter L'e-mail ne s'affiche pas correctement? Veuillez cliquer ici. <https://news-cdn.walderwyss.com/go/dv35o6fv7g1oafuax2pklhb1r61vozjsizhk4c0go1l5/1032> Walder Wyss Ltd.
Justicia SA en liquidation
walderwyss avocats <https://news-cdn.walderwyss.com/go/c8f5o6fv7g1af46a0u16f1fbx6cosxt9tffwogs441lc/1032>
*Madame, Monsieur,
*
*Par décision de l'Autorité fédérale de surveillance des marchés financiers FINMA du 4 avril 2023, Justicia SA a été exhortée de cesser ses activités, dissoute et mise en liquidation. L’Etude Walder Wyss SA a été nommée en qualité de liquidateur de Justicia SA en liquidation.*

On 5 September 2023, an order was submitted to rename the Swiss corporate entity to Open Source Developer Freedoms SA.

All companies eventually go into liquidation. For example, even if a company is bought by another company, the assets of one company are often transferred to the other company and the company without any remaining assets is technically liquidated.

Therefore, it is reasonable to suspect that at some point in time, the company name would subsequently add the suffix en liquidation and become something like Open Source Developer Freedoms SA en liquidation.

In January 2024, after I finished the cancelation of the Debian trademark in Switzerland, I then made the decision to order the liquidation of the company in good standing.

Liquidation is a process whereby a company sells its assets, pays outstanding bills and then gives the remaining money back to the shareholders. Some companies do not have sufficient money leftover to pay their debts and these companies choose to declare bankruptcy. Declaring a liquidation is not the same as declaring bankruptcy. When liquidations are reported in the media, they are usually the cases where debts are unpaid and many people have seen the word liquidation and bankruptcy used together in the news. Nonetheless, in many cases, companies proceed with an orderly liquidation and then quietly remove themselves from the corporate register without bankruptcy.

It has always been my intention as administrator that assets would be realized and the company would be dissolved in an orderly manner without bankruptcy. In Switzerland, a company must wait at least 12 months before completing the process.

Nonetheless, at the time I changed the company name, I had a sneaky suspicion that rogue members of Debian may cut-and-paste the full company name into some defamatory statement. In fact, they did exactly that. Therefore, by choosing this particular company name, I was able to put the text string "Open Source Developer Freedoms SA en liquidation" into the Debian.org web site. The string is a strong hint to everybody that freedom is in liquidation. I was able to place this string in the Debian web site without having any access rights to modify the Debian web site.

Therefore, I have proven that the people running Debian today are basically asleep at the wheel, cutting and pasting without thinking about what the words mean.

Far and wide, people suspect that was my intention all along and congratulate me for proving that Debian has become so gullible.

Of course other organizations have also been able to bend Debian to their will. Google is able to push out new versions of Chromium with thousands of lines of code changes and they get accepted into the Debian stable releases with relatively little scrutiny. Google has a lot of insiders in Debian to help achieve that. I was able to land that hint about freedom in liquidation on the Debian web site without help from anybody.

The current Debian Project Leader, Andreas Tille, was elected on Hitler's birthday. The fact that my social engineering hack landed in Debian.org on 6 June, the anniversary of the D-Day landings, was a bonus.

Here it is, Debian, under the influence of a German and Google, has confirmed that our freedoms are in liquidation. Long live freedom.

debian social contract, freedom in liquidation

Who will be next? First they came...

First they came..., Debian, Code of Conduct

Please see the chronological history of how the Debian harassment and abuse culture evolved.

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

UEFI "Secure Boot Doesn’t Play Nice at the Moment"
UEFI "Secure Boot" does not improve security. It's an artificial obstacle in service of monopoly.
If You Want to "make your 'Windows PC' lean, mean, and fast" You Will Install GNU/Linux or Some BSD
That kind of article says a lot about IDG
"Bad Shim Signature"; So 'Secure' That It Overrides Users' Preferences and Turns Itself Back on (Coercive Measure)
This was a few hours ago
We Covered UEFI 'Secure Boot' Scandals. The World Listened.
To hell with UEFI 'secure boot'
 
Satya's Plan B: Try to Hide the Massive Extent/Scale/Scope of Microsoft Layoffs
fewer people buy Microsoft
Red Hat News About De Facto Mass Layoffs (Bluewashing) Gone From Reddit (Censored by Gatekeepers), Still Online in The Register
With RTOs, PIPs, relocation etc. expect IBM to "shed off" many Red Hatters
Gemini Links 14/09/2025: ROOPHLOCH, Music, and Reddit
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Google News Infested With Slop (About Half of the Results for "Linux" Today)
This is the sort of junk one finds when looking for "Linux" in Google News these days
Links 14/09/2025: Ricky Hatton Dies and McDonald's Declares War on Tipping Culture
Links for the day
Links 14/09/2025: Disasters for CEOs Obsessed With Slop and Slop Companies School Like Fish
Links for the day
"Bad Shim Signature" (Microsoft 'Secure' Boot)
"Fresh install not booting"
What Microsoft Garrett and Microsoft Lunduke Have in Common
Similar tactics, different "wings"
Links 14/09/2025: US "Economy Sagging", "Michigan Economy Wobbles From Tariffs"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/09/2025: Minimalist Snippet Manager and Omarchy Linux
Links for the day
The Face of the Digital Far Right: Microsoft Lunduke
Microsoft Lunduke is an online extremist that belongs to and panders to the far right
20 Years Later and Academia Isn't the Same
"I never dreamed of being a professor"
'Cancel Culture' by the Right: Microsoft Lunduke Contacts People's Employers Trying to Get Them Fired
Microsoft Lunduke panders to extremists online
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 13, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 13, 2025
Microsoft is Rapidly Dropped From Web Servers, Shows Survey
Microsoft lost about 8% "market share" in just 3 months
Many GNU/Linux Users Report MOK (Machine Owner Key) Issues in Recent Days
many people don't report this online and never post in Reddit
Links 13/09/2025: Escalations in East Europe and POTUS’ Health Cover-Up
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/09/2025: Lagrange Turns 5 and Lagrange 1.19.2 Released
Links for the day
Microsoft Inside Your Linux: "Security vulnerability that allowed an attacker to bypass UEFI Secure Boot."
2 hours ago
A New Low for "Linux Journal": Promoting MICROSOFT WINDOWS Using LLM Slop
They've just jumped the shark entirely
Fake News With Fake Numbers About Microsoft
"This is what happens when the world's economy is governed by sick old men"
Slopwatch: "Google News" is Fast Becoming a Mashup of Slopfarms, Linux Journal ("LJ") is a Dump of LLM Slop
Well done, Google News. Google itself can flourish as a slopfarm mashup.
Torturing Users Who Just Want to Run GNU/Linux on Their Own PC
"Linux does not want to install"
The Register MS Still Takes Money to Hype Up "AI" in Articles by Microsoft Resellers With the Term "AI" 30+ Times in Them
Notice how many times they mention "AI"
The Apache Logo News is VERY Old, Racists and 'Anti-Woke' Bigots Look for Something to Incite Other Bigots With
Nothing to see here, move along
Linux Mint 9/11: "4th One Today..." (in Reddit)
Remember that not everyone having an issue reports it to social control media like Reddit
Nepal Will Fall Without a Single Shot Fired, Thanks to Social Control Media
Or very few shots (by the authorities)
European Corruption in the European Patent Office (EPO) Targets Culture
"In reality, the project includes a new “legal instrument” shifting administrative burden and liability on EPO staff while creating new uncertainty and externalising Amicale activities."
European Authorities, Already Bribed and Infiltrated by Microsoft, Won't Help You Find BigBlueButton, Jami, Ring, and Jitsi
Because they're paid by Microsoft and are Microsoft 'addicts' themselves
UEFI Secure Boot Failing, as Expected for Nearly 15 Years Already (Techrights Said This Since 2012)
in the media
Debian 9/11
people report this issue
Gemini and Web Links 13/09/2025: MElon's Slop Grift and "Autonomous Trains"
Links for the day
Moving From Content Management Systems (CMSs) to Static Site Generators (SSGs) Saves You Time, Makes You a Lot More Productive
try to reduce the cost (financial and computational) of running your site
Pursuing Peace Through Violence
You cannot "see" a person's mind, until the mouth opens
Leak: European Patent Office (EPO) is Now Attacking Amicale Clubs
corruption has become the norm and scientists are robbed of any dignity
Can We Please Stop Celebrating Shooters?
"An important point to hammer on is that CoCs were never intended for uniform or symmetric application"
Oracle Fraud (or Defrauding Shareholders)
"the obvious [lie] is that watts are (wasted) electricity [and] and FLOPS are computing capacity"
Geminispace is Growing Faster in 2025 Than It Did in 2024
What matters is that corporations haven't ruined it and LLM slop is extremely rare
Links 13/09/2025: China Punishes for 'Negative' Posts, US Police Unable to Find Shooter
Links for the day
Who's the Mystery Financier of SLAPP Against Techrights and Is That a Millionaire/Billionaire?
Whose idea was it to fund meritless lawsuits against my wife and I?
Slopwatch: Slow Slop Day
This distracts from or may take traffic away from the original articles, actually written by actual people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 12, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 12, 2025
CoC Gone Wrong: Celebrating Murder OK, Complaining About the Celebration Gets You Banned
Hopefully the NixOS Foundation will have a word with (maybe replace) the moderator/s
Gemini Links 12/09/2025: Familiarity and Secondary Dominants
Links for the day
Explaining (in Length and Depth) the Damage Matthew Garrett Did to Linux and to GNU/Linux Users
no matter how many threats we receive
Links 12/09/2025: "Bad Reviews" as Extortion Weapon, "Free Speech At Risk in America’s Schools" According to ACLU
Links for the day
Only One Speaker Does Not Do Sharecropping for MElon (in X.com)
The man who puts principles before PR/optics
The Mind of the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI'
in a nutshell
A Day After "UEFI 9/11": UEFI Secure Boot Bypass
In the news today (right now), as published in the past few hours
Links 12/09/2025: Slop Code as Liability, Microsoft Outlook Down for Many
Links for the day
It's Still Not to Late to Turn Off "Secure Boot"
If people reboot their PC or server today, and it relies on "Secure Boot" on Sept. 12 or later, then depending on the firmware there may be trouble ahead
Links 12/09/2025: Shira Perlmutter is Back, “Software Per Se” Patent Rejections in In re McFadden
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linux Plagiarism, Slopfarms Still Infesting Google News, Many Images Are Fake
Google is promoting plagiarism
"This Morning Might Turn Out to be an Interesting One for System Admins Who Haven't Updated Their Devices' Secure Boot Certificate" (If They Reboot)
Who asked for this anyway?
Gemini Links 12/09/2025: Metric System, Dumping Windows, and Software Architecture is Dead
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 11, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 11, 2025