revelarts
10-07-2013, 05:59 PM
Wire magazine ran this list of extreme measure to get your computer offline and untracked, unrecorded and free of malware spyware and such.
but some of the comment were almost more interesting than the article. here's one
Not as far off the deep end as you might think. My company, a German conglomerate, does not allow us to bring phones, tablets and laptops across the oceans - - if we bring a laptop to the UK, Japan, China or India, it stays there and can't be connected back to the home network. Same for cellphones (we're keeping RIM in business with one-time or few-time uses) We're not there for Canada and South America yet, but there are policies being prepared.
We don't fear other governments as much as we fear our competitors, China and US-based organizations. In China, there is no difference between our competitors and the government.
When we send people through Customs in China, their Customs Officers usually need to be convinced we're carrying absolutely no technology with us.
We grind-up, shred and incinerate a lot of devices, and we view it as a cost of doing business.
interesting huh?
the wired article starts with..
Want to Evade NSA Spying? Don’t Connect to the Internet
http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/10/149481/
Since I started working with Snowden’s documents, I have been using a number of tools to try to stay secure from the NSA. The advice I shared (https://www.schneier.com/essay-450.html) included using Tor, preferring certain cryptography over others, and using public-domain encryption wherever possible.
I also recommended using an air gap (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_gap_%28networking%29), which physically isolates a computer or local network of computers from the internet. (The name comes from the literal gap of air between the computer and the internet; the word predates wireless networks.)
But this is more complicated than it sounds, and requires explanation.
Since we know that computers connected to the internet are vulnerable to outside hacking, an air gap should protect against those attacks. There are a lot of systems that use — or should use — air gaps: classified military networks, nuclear power plant controls, medical equipment, avionics, and so on.
Osama Bin Laden used (https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2011/05/bin_laden_maint.html) one. I hope human rights organizations in repressive countries are doing the same.
Air gaps might be conceptually simple, but they’re hard to maintain in practice. The truth is that nobody wants a computer that never receives files from the internet and never sends files out into the internet. What they want is a computer that’s not directly connected to the internet, albeit with some secure way of moving files on and off.
But every time a file moves back or forth, there’s the potential for attack.
And air gaps have been breached. Stuxnet was a U.S. and Israeli military-grade piece of malware that attacked the Natanz nuclear plant in Iran. It successfully jumped the air gap and penetrated the Natanz network. Another piece of malware named agent.btz (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/cyber-intruder-sparks-response-debate/2011/12/06/gIQAxLuFgO_story.html), probably Chinese in origin, successfully jumped the air gap protecting U.S. military networks.
These attacks work by exploiting security vulnerabilities in the removable media used to transfer files on and off the air gapped computers.
Since working with Snowden’s NSA files, I have tried to maintain a single air-gapped computer. It turned out to be harder than I expected, and I have ten rules for anyone trying to do the same
1. When you set up your computer, connect it to the internet as little as possible. It’s impossible to completely avoid connecting the computer to the internet, but try to configure it all at once and as anonymously as possible. I purchased my computer off-the-shelf in a big box store, then went to a friend’s network and downloaded everything I needed in a single session. (The ultra-paranoid way to do this is to buy two identical computers, configure one using the above method, upload the results to a cloud-based anti-virus checker, and transfer the results of that to the air gap machine using a one-way process.)...
there are 8 other points...
the title caught my attention and made me think of the similar advice given in other areas.
Want to evade the TSA? DON'T FLY... and now don't take the bus or the train
Want to evade being physically tracked by the NSA/Police/FBI? TAKE THE BATTERY OUT OF YOUR CELL PHONE... and trash your gps and on star
Want to evade having your purchases tracked by the Businesses the NSA/FBI etc? DON"T BUY ON THE INTERNET AND ALWAYS USE CASH
Want to evade getting tazed/harassed/arrested/beaten/shot by cops? DO WHAT EVER THEY SAY...with a freakin smile
Are there more i could add here?
what does an American have to do to get some God given privacy in his life?
but some of the comment were almost more interesting than the article. here's one
Not as far off the deep end as you might think. My company, a German conglomerate, does not allow us to bring phones, tablets and laptops across the oceans - - if we bring a laptop to the UK, Japan, China or India, it stays there and can't be connected back to the home network. Same for cellphones (we're keeping RIM in business with one-time or few-time uses) We're not there for Canada and South America yet, but there are policies being prepared.
We don't fear other governments as much as we fear our competitors, China and US-based organizations. In China, there is no difference between our competitors and the government.
When we send people through Customs in China, their Customs Officers usually need to be convinced we're carrying absolutely no technology with us.
We grind-up, shred and incinerate a lot of devices, and we view it as a cost of doing business.
interesting huh?
the wired article starts with..
Want to Evade NSA Spying? Don’t Connect to the Internet
http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/10/149481/
Since I started working with Snowden’s documents, I have been using a number of tools to try to stay secure from the NSA. The advice I shared (https://www.schneier.com/essay-450.html) included using Tor, preferring certain cryptography over others, and using public-domain encryption wherever possible.
I also recommended using an air gap (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_gap_%28networking%29), which physically isolates a computer or local network of computers from the internet. (The name comes from the literal gap of air between the computer and the internet; the word predates wireless networks.)
But this is more complicated than it sounds, and requires explanation.
Since we know that computers connected to the internet are vulnerable to outside hacking, an air gap should protect against those attacks. There are a lot of systems that use — or should use — air gaps: classified military networks, nuclear power plant controls, medical equipment, avionics, and so on.
Osama Bin Laden used (https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2011/05/bin_laden_maint.html) one. I hope human rights organizations in repressive countries are doing the same.
Air gaps might be conceptually simple, but they’re hard to maintain in practice. The truth is that nobody wants a computer that never receives files from the internet and never sends files out into the internet. What they want is a computer that’s not directly connected to the internet, albeit with some secure way of moving files on and off.
But every time a file moves back or forth, there’s the potential for attack.
And air gaps have been breached. Stuxnet was a U.S. and Israeli military-grade piece of malware that attacked the Natanz nuclear plant in Iran. It successfully jumped the air gap and penetrated the Natanz network. Another piece of malware named agent.btz (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/cyber-intruder-sparks-response-debate/2011/12/06/gIQAxLuFgO_story.html), probably Chinese in origin, successfully jumped the air gap protecting U.S. military networks.
These attacks work by exploiting security vulnerabilities in the removable media used to transfer files on and off the air gapped computers.
Since working with Snowden’s NSA files, I have tried to maintain a single air-gapped computer. It turned out to be harder than I expected, and I have ten rules for anyone trying to do the same
1. When you set up your computer, connect it to the internet as little as possible. It’s impossible to completely avoid connecting the computer to the internet, but try to configure it all at once and as anonymously as possible. I purchased my computer off-the-shelf in a big box store, then went to a friend’s network and downloaded everything I needed in a single session. (The ultra-paranoid way to do this is to buy two identical computers, configure one using the above method, upload the results to a cloud-based anti-virus checker, and transfer the results of that to the air gap machine using a one-way process.)...
there are 8 other points...
the title caught my attention and made me think of the similar advice given in other areas.
Want to evade the TSA? DON'T FLY... and now don't take the bus or the train
Want to evade being physically tracked by the NSA/Police/FBI? TAKE THE BATTERY OUT OF YOUR CELL PHONE... and trash your gps and on star
Want to evade having your purchases tracked by the Businesses the NSA/FBI etc? DON"T BUY ON THE INTERNET AND ALWAYS USE CASH
Want to evade getting tazed/harassed/arrested/beaten/shot by cops? DO WHAT EVER THEY SAY...with a freakin smile
Are there more i could add here?
what does an American have to do to get some God given privacy in his life?