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Yeah, experts also tell you to avoid any mobile OS and you're claiming that Signal is the best secure messenger. What am I missing here?

forapurpose 9y ago
> experts also tell you to avoid any mobile OS Experts I know recommend iOS above any other consumer platform (though that might have something to do with Apple's hardware and of course you can't use iOS without Apple hardware).
- RasputinsBro 9y ago
  So the experts you know recommend a closed-source OS? They recommend something that no one has any idea what's inside above ANY OTHER consumer platform? You're joking, right? Can you put me in touch with these experts? I'd like to ask them about it directly.
  - forapurpose 9y ago
    Personally, I strongly prefer FOSS for many reasons. IME, real security experts are not so focused on that issue. Saying that nobody knows what is inside is a large exaggeration and an over-emphasis on one factor.
  - kasey_junk 9y ago
    I don't want to speak for him but I suspect for communication purposes 'tptacek prefers iOS to the FOSS alternatives. When talking with the security folks I know, this is not a rare opinion. You can't trust the source of any comms platform. So you have to reverse engineer the binaries. Once you get into that game the more important things than open source are, do you trust the team? Is the protocol open and vetted? Does it rely on 'odd' implementation details. The idea that the nature of the software license of the OS that your comms platform is running on, is important for its security characteristics, does not seem to be something that the experts I know believe. Quite the opposite. It seems to be a signal of people who don't do this sort of research for a living.
  - wglb 9y ago
    It seems to be a common misconception that closed source is an obstacle to understanding what is in there. It is not an obstacle.
wolf550e 9y ago
Here are recommendations by experts for regular people (meaning people who can't run Qubes OS): https://techsolidarity.org/resources/basic_security.htm https://techsolidarity.org/resources/basic_security.htm
tptacek 9y ago
A good indication that someone is not an expert is them telling ordinary users to avoid mobile operating systems in favor of general-purpose desktop operating systems.

forapurpose 9y ago

> experts also tell you to avoid any mobile OS Experts I know recommend iOS above any other consumer platform (though that might have something to do with Apple's hardware and of course you can't use iOS without Apple hardware).

RasputinsBro 9y ago
So the experts you know recommend a closed-source OS? They recommend something that no one has any idea what's inside above ANY OTHER consumer platform? You're joking, right? Can you put me in touch with these experts? I'd like to ask them about it directly.
- forapurpose 9y ago
  Personally, I strongly prefer FOSS for many reasons. IME, real security experts are not so focused on that issue. Saying that nobody knows what is inside is a large exaggeration and an over-emphasis on one factor.
- kasey_junk 9y ago
  I don't want to speak for him but I suspect for communication purposes 'tptacek prefers iOS to the FOSS alternatives. When talking with the security folks I know, this is not a rare opinion. You can't trust the source of any comms platform. So you have to reverse engineer the binaries. Once you get into that game the more important things than open source are, do you trust the team? Is the protocol open and vetted? Does it rely on 'odd' implementation details. The idea that the nature of the software license of the OS that your comms platform is running on, is important for its security characteristics, does not seem to be something that the experts I know believe. Quite the opposite. It seems to be a signal of people who don't do this sort of research for a living.
- wglb 9y ago
  It seems to be a common misconception that closed source is an obstacle to understanding what is in there. It is not an obstacle.

wolf550e 9y ago

Here are recommendations by experts for regular people (meaning people who can't run Qubes OS): https://techsolidarity.org/resources/basic_security.htm https://techsolidarity.org/resources/basic_security.htm

tptacek 9y ago

A good indication that someone is not an expert is them telling ordinary users to avoid mobile operating systems in favor of general-purpose desktop operating systems.