End to End Encryption may be worthless soon

[Geffers]

Bob Braxman is a security expert, he does sell security products but in this video he is not selling anything, he is merely pointing out the technology is in place to eradicate the benefits of end to end encryption. This makes the privacy of WhatsApp, Telegram and even Signal now suspect.

Although Linux is currently exempt from various Government requirements to be able to overcome encryption (No-one owns Linux so not covered by legislation to comply) who knows what the future holds.

Fascinating video, 20 minutes duration.

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Geffers

 

[live627]

Perhaps this is why Tucker Carlson suspected that a shady alphabet agency obtained information exclusively on his Signal.

 

[Geffers]

For the moment Signal is supposedly still secure but who knows. Even if one doesn't have a mobile phone if you are captured in the background of someone else's photo facial recognition puts you somewhere specific at a certain time.

 

[Retro]

Why am I not surprised at this total and complete invasion of our privacy by the big names like Apple, Android and Microsoft. They're really taking the piss now. I wonder, how will the big cheeses of these companies stop their devices from doing the same to them? There must be a secret off switch, perhaps? But hackers would then eventually find it, surely?

Great find, Geffers.

 

[live627]

All at the behest of the government. Must be quite jealous of China's internal spy network that enables total control.

 

[Geffers]

It is becoming like the 1984 novel, that was meant to be a fictional story, not a rule book. I'm guessing some bright spark will develop a program that bypasses the screen, maybe even a second screen. It may even evolve into disconnecting from the internet and only connecting when required. It will be complicated whatever happens and most people have to take it on trust as to whether it works or not.

 

[Retro]

@Geffers this is relevant in the context of mass surveillance that this thread is about. Fear not, the US and UK are key partners in this...

The Five Eyes Alliance (FVEY) may be the largest intelligence alliance you’ve never heard of before today. The mass surveillance and data interception by the Five Eyes nations are touted as intelligence services for national security but seem to have more of the hallmark traits of global surveillance.

This anglosphere of surveillance feels unheard of given the prevalence of information in the media about the Russian and Chinese intelligence community. China, Russia, India, and to lesser extents Japan and India all have their own intelligence communities outside of these alliances.

Whether you live in a Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, or Fourteen Eyes country or not, here’s what you should know about the alliances and how to protect your online privacy by using tools like VPNs.

The Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes alliances are groupings of countries that have entered into intelligence sharing agreements. The original group, the Five Eyes, was formed after World War II in an effort to share intelligence in the interest of national security.

After WWII, the UKUSA agreement was signed between what would become the (National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). As it grew, eventually ramping up during the Cold War, British and U.S. intelligence agencies banded together to share signals intelligence.

What You Should Know About the 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, and 14 Eyes Alliances

The 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, and 14 Eyes Alliance agree to share global surveillance data. Here's what that means for you and how you can protect your online privacy.

allaboutcookies.org

 

[Geffers]

Knew of 5 eyes, not heard of 9 or 14 but not surprising. Problem with security is it is only as strong as the weakest link. An operating system called 'Tails' may be the way to go, based on Linux Debian it runs entirely from memory, loaded from a USB memory stick. Apparently Edward Snowdon had a lot to do with it, it is designed to leave no (or very little) trace. All browsing is done via the TOR network.

Worth a look if you are concerned about security.

 

[Retro]

tbh, I think other than the basic, routine security that I currently practice, it's just not worth it. A big part of it is that any interaction with someone or something else means that it's going to be monitored from their end, defeating all the paranoid measures used to avoid being spied on - indeed only as strong as the weakest link. Only if they're gonna be doing the same as you or better may it be effective. And then, it's a moving target anyway and it's not exactly like one knows when there's been a snooping advance is there? What if the surveillance powers notice this "black hole" of unreadable data, or lack of data moving around? That could draw them like a magnet to investigate it. And then find you.

Also, how does one know that those supposed privacy tools like this Tails are really so private? To be reasonably sure (not absolutely sure as that's simply not possible) one would have to inspect the source code line by line for every version and patch and then compile it themselves; a huge task that's completely impractical and requiring expert technical knowledge that almost none of us have, including me. And even so, how do the creators of that distro know that there isn't a way to get past its defences already or in the future?

What about bugs in the code, or snooping measures built right into the chips on the motherboard? We know that bugs exist and the latter isn't paranoia, but fact: Intel vPro is one such thing as it's touted as a feature built right into certain chipsets for supporting users in a corporate environment. It works completely independently of any operating system installed on the PC and is impossible to get round by the user. Then, there are all the secret snooping tools / possible security holes built into these chips that we'll never know about, but that these governments and black hat hackers will...

No, this is a constant cat* and mouse game with one never knowing where the cat* is: it's a quick way to insanity. No, I think the best way is to simply not be interesting to them so that you just blend in with the billions of other people online so that they don't focus on you.

*Oh, here it is. Awww.

 

[Geffers]

Seems the screen is the weak link. We must remember, politicians are elected to serve us, we are not meant to serve them.

Code back in the Acorn days was efficient and streamlined, now with huge computing power many programs are just using libraries that already exist and rune routines that call them. Result is huge bloated code where bugs difficult to resolve. There are 8 billion people in the world and a small percentage are computer programmers, there are trillions of tines of code.

A trillion seconds is 30 THOUSAND years. A trillion is an enormous figure, data storage is now thought it terms of quadrillions.

 

[Tiffany]

Just watched your video and took two pages of notes, omg! This stuff can freak you out.