Electronic Measures vs Electronic Counter Measures. It's a game.

Ron

And Electronic Counter Counter Measures, and ....

It's a game without end.

 

And Electronic Counter Counter Measures, and ....

It's a game without end.

It's fun when the other side is capable and clever. In this case of code protection, it was too easy to crack by using decades old techniques from the old SAT box hacks to glitch the access control processor.

 

Crap. I actually like SMS for 2FA.

I guess no more.

https://gizmodo.com/feds-warn-sms-a...-worst-hack-in-our-nations-history-2000541129

 

Crap. I actually like SMS for 2FA.

I guess no more.

https://gizmodo.com/feds-warn-sms-a...-worst-hack-in-our-nations-history-2000541129

I still use it for 2FA with things like github. Passkeys or authenticator apps are IMO are just not practical as a fail-safe access method for regular Joes.

 

Now no VPNs.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/feds-advice-highly-targeted-individuals-171925688.html

 

Now no VPNs.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/feds-advice-highly-targeted-individuals-171925688.html

Nothing is really safe When clever hacks fail, there are other means

 

Nothing is really safe When clever hacks fail, there are other means

I'm just gonna leave my clothes home and walk around naked from now on.

It's safer that way.

 

I'm just gonna leave my clothes home and walk around naked from now on

It's safer that way.

That's why highly classified systems are compartmental. You can't tell what you don't know or give away what you don't have.

Everyone and everything breaks eventually, people are trained to 'rat' slowly and highly secure systems are designed to break in stages that hopefully can be detected.

 

Now no VPNs.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/feds-advice-highly-targeted-individuals-171925688.html

How many people use one of these many free VPN services without considering the question of why these sites would provide a VPN service for free? What is their business model that considers this a good investment? Sure, for some of them it is a way of getting their foot in the door to customers who will hopefully then subscribe to paid-for services. But there are VPN providers (including some paid ones) that are at best slipshod and at worst actively snooping on your traffic for illegitimate purposes.

So I wouldn't be surprised at all if there isn't a large body of people who are less secure because they use a VPN than they would be without.

 

How many people use one of these many free VPN services without considering the question of why these sites would provide a VPN service for free? What is their business model that considers this a good investment? Sure, for some of them it is a way of getting their foot in the door to customers who will hopefully then subscribe to paid-for services. But there are VPN providers (including some paid ones) that are at best slipshod and at worst actively snooping on your traffic for illegitimate purposes.

So I wouldn't be surprised at all if there isn't a large body of people who are less secure because they use a VPN than they would be without.

I actually run my own VPN between my offices (and my home) in three states.

But it's mine, so I can keep it secure.

Same reason why I run my own mail, phone, and video conferencing servers.

I don't trust 3rd parties. Ever.

 

I actually run my own VPN between my offices (and my home) in three states.

But it's mine, so I can keep it secure.

Same reason why I run my own mail, phone, and video conferencing servers.

I don't trust 3rd parties. Ever.

And that's fine and wonderful. The FBI recommendations aren't aimed at folks like you. They are aimed at folks like my stepmother, who never did grasp the distinction, at any level, between a hard drive, a floppy drive, and a CD drive.

 

The FBI recommendations ... are aimed at folks like my stepmother

What'd she do?

 

What'd she do?

Knows about the formula to the secret BBQ sauce?

"highly targeted" individuals—defined as people "in senior government or senior political positions and likely to possess information of interest to these threat actors."
https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-12/guidance-mobile-communications-best-practices.pdf

Do not use a personal virtual private network (VPN). Personal VPNs simply shift residual risks from your internet service provider (ISP) to the VPN provider, often increasing the attack surface. Many free and commercial VPN providers have questionable security and privacy policies. However, if your organization requires a VPN client to access its data, that is a different use case.

It's the Encryption is your friend CISA (civilian version of NSA) agency talking about personal VPN recommendations. The FBI is the Encryption we can't break is bad agency.

 

https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/us-treasury-hacked-china-security-breach-d2pfxww00

 

https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/us-treasury-hacked-china-security-breach-d2pfxww00

https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/...-middle-schools-this-fall.199185/post-1889396

These guys fingers are in everything in their pursuit of the destruction of democracy and freedom.

 

Speaking of...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...troves-of-possibly-sensitive-data/ar-AA1wX8Lo

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateof...-payout-heres-whos-eligible-and-how-to-claim/

I think Apple got off amazingly light. So light, in fact, that they might view it as an acceptable cost of doing business. What fraction of their revenue that was due to these practices does it represent?

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateof...-payout-heres-whos-eligible-and-how-to-claim/

I think Apple got off amazingly light. So light, in fact, that they might view it as an acceptable cost of doing business. What fraction of their revenue that was due to these practices does it represent?

We've come a long way since ... wait a minute, no we haven't

Pretty nutty the way things deteriorate over time:
dp/dt
the change in privacy with time. It's always negative.

We know about this NOW, but imagine what it is that we don't know that is also taking place now.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateof...-payout-heres-whos-eligible-and-how-to-claim/

I think Apple got off amazingly light. So light, in fact, that they might view it as an acceptable cost of doing business. What fraction of their revenue that was due to these practices does it represent?

I can't read sites that have an ad block blocker.

Here's a link to a similar AP article that is ad blocker friendly.

 

I can't read sites that have an ad block blocker.

Here's a link to a similar AP article that is ad blocker friendly.

I've got an ad blocker and had no problems. But thanks for a cleaner link.