Taygetan and "Swaruunian" Team Forum

gobuta

Member

Space News 22 - Human electronics

In regards to electronics I'm sure the Taygetan team understands that all electronic devices (CPU, phones routers, etc.) are vulnerable to remote takeover by design on both silicon, firmware and software level. Almost every microchip of the dozens chips in a device is vulnerable (by design) not to mention all operating systems. There is NO publicly available secure electronics on Earth and any piece of equipment can be compromised at any time - by opportunist hackers - occasionally, by certain government agencies - always...
Widely used encryption algorithms and encryption protocols are a joke and often can be circumvented altogether...

akos996

Member

Re: Space News 22 - Human electronics

I agree.
Intel and AMD has architecture level backdoors to all computers (Intel Management Engine, and its equivalent for AMD) While it's impossible for us to completely block all these it is possible to lessen the vectors of attack.

Before I say any of my ideas it's possible that their strong AI is capable of completely decrypting every little detail about the hardware and the software, network traffic to completely stop any malicious behaviour but that's my guess.
Although that still doesn't mean it's a bad idea to help that poor AI out not having to handle all that junk traffic and noise.

I cringed a little when Windows was mentioned as their operating system of choice.
Linux has come a long way and there are many newbie friendly options with the added bonus that it is not ridden with malware, spyware, backdoors, telemetry. These days "security through obscurity" is no security at all.
For example Linux Mint is often mentioned and there are many slim Linux alternatives for relatively old computers as Linux can be minimalistic and less resource intensive. The operating system can be restrictive in terms of professional editing software choices but I think it's not an issue for browser usage mainly. (Nowadays even gaming works)

It migh help circumventing the need to refurbish every computer or at least give a reason to reuse them along the new ones adding more people to the effort. Not sure if my info gets anywhere but these are my two cents. I've been using Linux for a long time and I can't go back to Windows ever again.
Another useful tool is using Firefox instead of Chromium based browsers (Google spyware) and adding browser extensions like "Privacy Badger", "uBlock Origin", that helps get rid of tracker stuff and annoying ads.
It's also advisable to completely turn off third party cookies in browser settings. They do no good.
There are many tracking tester webpages that look at your computer how bad it is.

But blocking all sorts of trackers is also a double edged sword since fingerprinting through anonymous data gets easier the more you stick out of the main user groups. This is because your screen resolution ,operating system, browser client name, number of CPU cores and many other settings are sent in your requests to load webpages correctly, giving away who you are through fingerprinting, like a real fingerprint duh...

There are extensions that can fake your browser and hardware to be grouped in the majority of users. I think it's called " CanvasBlocker", but it can break some scripts on webpages. It might cause script-based  online editors stutter badly from my experience as 3D editing software has a lot of bandwidth and running scripts because things are rendered in real time.

The same can be said about Android phones and custom operating systems
but now I'm going too much in depth for probably not much effect and as a mere human I can't know how bad the state of spying is. It could be unstoppable for all I know.

Last edited by akos996 (2024-05-06 08:36:58)

gobuta

Member

Re: Space News 22 - Human electronics

The point is that there is no way to prevent a takeover by parties that control the manufacturing of electronics. Having electronics that does not have intentional flaws (it still may have unintended flaws) requires designing from scratch and manufacturing electronics by yourself. Having software that does not contain intentional flaws (all operating systems and most software - open source or not - contains intentional flaws) requires producing most/all software from scratch. The end result is secure as long as you can reasonably prove that the electronics and software operate as intended under all circumstances.

The above requires an enormous effort and expertise in terrestrial electronics which is at the very least impractical considering the small benefit of having (supposedly) secure system, considering that all activity you need the system for is tightly linked to communicating using terrestrial networks and servers (social media accounts for example).

Following good security practices including a choice of operating system, browsers, ad-blockers, firewalls, keeping all software updated and being aware/trained about the kinds of online dangers (phishing and fraud, recognizing spoofed/mimicked websites, downloading and installing unsafe software, etc.) can help avoid unpleasant accidents from opportunist hackers and the rampant online fraud and malware. However, it is no guarantee for real security and privacy.

On the Internet there is no real privacy or anonymity. A person can have privacy on his own PC as long as they choose appropriate tools and are not a target of sufficiently capable parties.

akos996

Member

Re: Space News 22 - Human electronics

@gobuta Amen to that.
Reasonable security is still "good enough" in my eyes if the last percent of it requires additional years of expertise, work and training.
They have 3d scanned CPUs and chips they print out. Unless their AI can automatically reverse engineer and fix everything in hours through insane amount of computational and simulation power, it's not worth it. I don't underestimate their abilities to solve the issues, only their awareness of the depth of these problems, but I digress. There's more to it also, the value of the spent time:

The main focus of concern should be weeding out the easily fixable and the majority of the glaring problems, like using Microsoft Windows, or invasive software. I mean seriously, if a high level alphabet agency wants to know something, they will know. There will always be that small percentage left after every plugged security hole. I consider that an acceptable compromise.
Otherwise they will become unreasonably restricted in their time and resources for very little in return. (rebuilding all software after every feature breaking update for example)
I wouldn't tell anyone to use smoke signals because I don't trust cell towers. And I'm not ridiculing anything here, just clearing the mindset that there is only so much that can be done without making things too complex. A healthy bit of paranoia is good, but I'm not gonna restrict myself in spite of it.

That is why me and you pointed out the more blatant ways computers are exploited and hardwired. After all all their traffic goes through the central UFOP communication lines so...
But if I remember correctly from some video they use military grade encryption, but to my knowledge that only means end-to-end safety, not after the information is unpacked (by Google, Meta, Alphabet etc...) since the metadate itself has the vulnerabilities we both mentioned.

Last edited by akos996 (2024-05-06 15:05:38)