Top all-time · #2158
mango.pdf.zone
Personal blog · mango.pdf.zonesecurityprogramming
mango.pdf.zone is a personal blog at mango.pdf.zone about security and programming. Since 2017, 34 different Hacker News readers have linked it 49 times, most often “When you browse Instagram and find Tony Abbott's passport number”. The last post was in 2021, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (19) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this security researcher's blog for long, funny hacking write-ups, including the Australian PM passport-number post, Operation Luigi and the Chrome cookies post.
- Recommended for · 6 comments
- Called great, a delight to read, fantastic and hilarious; one commenter laughed until crying and recommends the blog's long-form posts.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 19 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Blog and dumb websites by the hacker known as "Alex"
Most-linked posts?
- When you browse Instagram and find Tony Abbott's passport number13 people · 13 mentions · first linked 2020-09-16
- Operation Luigi: How I hacked my friend without her noticing (2017)6 people · 10 mentions · first linked 2017-11-26
- /4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2018-11-06
- I give you feedback on your blog post draft but you don't send it to me (2021)4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2021-08-23
- Stealing Chrome cookies without a password3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2018-11-03
- Finding a former Australian prime minister’s passport number on Instagram (2020)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-06-29
What Hacker News says?
Great post, thoroughly enjoyed reading it. BTW, on a side note, when you try and visit the blog's homepage[0] and scroll down to the bottom, you find a link to an actual (password protected) PDF file called Mango.pdf[1]. The author 'Alex' says the password for the PDF has been embedded in the page and it didn't take me a lot of time to figure the password out from the HTML source[2]. But when I opened the PDF, I was…
Comment linking /
on “When you browse Instagram and find Tony Abbott's passport number”Submitted When you browse Instagram and find Tony Abbott's passport number as a story · 2326 points
HN discussionAssociated blog post https://mango.pdf.zone/operation-luigi-how-i-hacked-my-frien... and salty hacker news comments (his words) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14919845
Comment linking /operation-luigi-how-i-hacked-my-friend-without-her-noticing
on “When you browse Instagram and find Tony Abbott's passport number”Submitted I give you feedback on your blog post draft but you don't send it to me (2021) as a story · 226 points
HN discussionThis was really a delight to read. I wonder if the author was raised on 2600. Fantastic stuff. Also visited his page. Does not disappoint: https://mango.pdf.zone/
Comment linking /
on “When you browse Instagram and find Tony Abbott's passport number”Submitted Operation Luigi: How I hacked my friend without her noticing (2017) as a story · 220 points
HN discussionI like this blog post but I also happen to quite like long forms like these, too: https://mango.pdf.zone/finding-former-australian-prime-minis... / https://apenwarr.ca/log/20201227
Comment linking /finding-former-australian-prime-minister-tony-abbotts-passport-number-on-instagram
on “It Can Happen to You”Submitted Finding a former Australian prime minister’s passport number on Instagram (2020) as a story · 170 points
HN discussionI use uMatrix with very restrictive default settings. These[0]: https://smichel.me/hn/umatrix-global.png When a page doesn't work, and I care enough to un-break it, I will first try enabling just js. If that doesn't work, I'll add XHRs, too. So, I can say with confidence that there are a good deal of sites that fall into both camps. I cannot say the ratio with confidence, but there are enough sites that work enough…
Comment linking /finding-former-australian-prime-minister-tony-abbotts-passport-number-on-instagram
on “uMatrix has been archived”Submitted Stealing Chrome cookies without a password as a story · 125 points
HN discussion> Then again, I do recall a famous post on here about australian politician and someone jusing using view source to verify a quantas ticket. https://mango.pdf.zone/finding-former-australian-prime-minis... No "view source" level hackery, but presumably what you're referring to.
Comment linking /finding-former-australian-prime-minister-tony-abbotts-passport-number-on-instagram
on “Hacking the largest airline and hotel rewards platform (2023)”Submitted Hacking your neighbour's Wi-Fi as a story · 19 points
HN discussionWhooa did you see this guy's website: http://sakibccr.com/ This is awesome! (Just kidding. It doesn't contain anything yet.) But this is a really nice website: https://mango.pdf.zone/ Especially this post: https://mango.pdf.zone/operation-luigi-how-i-hacked-my-frien...
Comment linking /operation-luigi-how-i-hacked-my-friend-without-her-noticing
on “Ask HN: What are some great personal blogs/portfolios?”Submitted Finding a former Australian Prime Minister’s passport number on Instagram (2020) as a story · 6 points
HN discussionOn the site ( https://mango.pdf.zone/ ), the above link is called 'Salty Hacker News comments'
Comment linking /
on “Operation Luigi: How I hacked my friend without her noticing (2017)”Submitted Stealing Chrome cookies without a password as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSure: - https://www.myid.gov.au/verifying-your-id-in-myid#myid-Austr... - https://www.afp.gov.au/sites/default/files/PDF/NPC-100PointC... - https://www.equifax.com.au/personal/identity-verification-10... The blog post has more use case examples: https://mango.pdf.zone/finding-former-australian-prime-minis...
Comment linking /finding-former-australian-prime-minister-tony-abbotts-passport-number-on-instagram/
on “Finding a former Australian prime minister’s passport number on Instagram (2020)”Submitted Operation Luigi: How I hacked my friend without her noticing as a story · 4 points
HN discussionOnline systems sometimes use it as an indicator to prove your identity. When combined with other sensitive data it can be useful for an identity thief. Edit: The blog post also mentions this: https://mango.pdf.zone/finding-former-australian-prime-minis...
Comment linking /finding-former-australian-prime-minister-tony-abbotts-passport-number-on-instagram/
on “Finding a former Australian prime minister’s passport number on Instagram (2020)”Submitted Operation Luigi: How I hacked my friend without her noticing as a story · 3 points
HN discussionhttps://mango.pdf.zone/finding-former-australian-prime-minis... Security researcher finds the Australian prime minister’s personal info. Very much a love it or hate it writing style, but as someone who’s lived in Australia for a while I found it hilarious.
Comment linking /finding-former-australian-prime-minister-tony-abbotts-passport-number-on-instagram
on “Ask HN: What are some blog posts that you have enjoyed going through?”Submitted When you browse Instagram and find Australian PM Tony Abbott's passport number as a story · 3 points
HN discussionA famous demonstration of how easy it is to use a photo of a boarding pass to get a prime minister's passport info and personal phone number via the PNR: https://mango.pdf.zone/finding-former-australian-prime-minis...
Comment linking /finding-former-australian-prime-minister-tony-abbotts-passport-number-on-instagram/
on “What's in a Passenger Name Record (PNR)? (2013)”Submitted How to hack your neighbour's Wi-Fi as a story · 3 points
HN discussion> Eg when an airline had a public API where you could get someone's passport number and details just from their boarding pass https://mango.pdf.zone/finding-former-australian-prime-minis ... Underneath all the garbage, good story. But Holy Hell, why do bloggers write so terribly and self-indulgently? That's a half hour of my life I'll never get back that shouldn't have been more than 10 minutes. Don't they have Rita…
Comment linking /finding-former-australian-prime-minis
on “how to completely own an airline in 3 easy steps”Submitted Operation Luigi: How I hacked my friend without her noticing as a story · 3 points
HN discussionAs a software engineer even I sometimes can't help romanticising hacking in my imagination. But so many times it turns out to be just like some company left the front gate wide open and the "hacker" walked in and took a look around. Eg when an airline had a public API where you could get someone's passport number and details just from their boarding pass https://mango.pdf.zone/finding-former-australian-prime-minis...
Comment linking /finding-former-australian-prime-minister-tony-abbotts-passport-number-on-instagram
on “how to completely own an airline in 3 easy steps”Submitted When you browse Insta and find former Australian PM Tony Abbott's passport num (2020) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionReminds of me of Tony Abbott getting hacked https://mango.pdf.zone/finding-former-australian-prime-minis...
Comment linking /finding-former-australian-prime-minister-tony-abbotts-passport-number-on-instagram
on “Man hacked airline Web site to locate his lost luggage”Submitted When you browse Instagram and find former Australian PM's passport number (2020) as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
