4 ms·

I handle sensitive data on a daily basis and religiously keeping stuff like Facebook off my devices is beginning to look increasingly sensible. I'll point to t

I handle sensitive data on a daily basis and religiously keeping stuff like Facebook off my devices is beginning to look increasingly sensible. I'll point to this next time someone questions my stallman-esque stance. What's full-disk encryption do if Facebook et al are going to funnel the data off your devices anyways?

ilammy 9y ago
> What's full-disk encryption do if Facebook et al are going to funnel the data off your devices anyways? We have more-or-less mandatory full-disk encryption at work (outsourced software development) in order to prevent source code and data access in case the dev boxes are confiscated by some third-party agency. I believe it's still a good measure for this case, if you don't blatantly upload the data into the internets. (And have a religious prescription on keeping any work-related data off your personal devices.) Ironically, at the same time, most of our people use Google Drive to share project docs and discuss most of the work-related stuff via Skype. Though, I guess the disk encryption is there for plausible legal deniability as well.
xoa 9y ago
>What's full-disk encryption do if Facebook et al are going to funnel the data off your devices anyways? Serious answer: the threat model FDE aims to address is cold physical attacks. That's it, everything hot (or even warm) and online is outside of scope. Facebook would be more akin in class to gray non-persistent malware, although they aren't actually malware in the strict sense and do face some bounds from the law which should make filtering and keeping them off a sensitive system more straightforward. At any rate, FDE is a good idea for a bunch of reasons given how cheap it is at this point, but it's just one of many needed pieces. More fundamentally and beyond Facebook specifically, we need better ways to control data exfiltration and transfers from our datastores to and between software and services, period. Whitelisting should be the default. Data channels like clipboard APIs should either simply not exist at all or at least require explicit user per-application sign off (and preferably even then with restrictions like requiring code signatures, timeout options etc). While single purpose hacks are generally not justified, the specific instance of passwords & keys might be important enough in reality to justify operating systems providing some much more explicit "secure pasteboard" system that is far more heavily mediated.
- countbackula 9y ago
  The Firefox Focus app for iPhone pushed out an update a few months ago that showed an active clipboard tray below the URL bar, which was shocking and freaky to see. Anyone know whether the update had added the API or just made it visible? With the desktop browser it's enabled by default, but at least can be disabled through about:config.
  - craftyguy 9y ago
    > With the desktop browser it's enabled by default, but at least can be disabled through about:config. What option are you referring to?
forapurpose 9y ago
> What's full-disk encryption do if Facebook et al are going to funnel the data off your devices anyways? Since you mention it, full-disk encryption does nothing if your computer is on or asleep, which is the case for most users most of the time. It only works if your computer is off.
- ec109685 9y ago
  It works for asleep as well given the user would need your password to log back in after waking it up from sleep.
  - forapurpose 9y ago
    > It works for asleep as well given the user would need your password to log back in after waking it up from sleep. The disk is not encrypted when the computer is asleep. There may be other security mechanisms that may work, such as an OS-level password on wakeup, but not FDE. (The details of FDE are a bit more complex, but practically the above is true.)
    - ec109685 9y ago
      The disk is encrypted when it is asleep. The key to decrypt its content is available to the OS after it wakes up, but if you don’t know the account password, you can’t log in to access it. What exploits am I missing?
Feniks 9y ago
Hope you dont use the Google keyboard provided with your phone. I find protecting my data from the marketing parasite is a constant compromise with usability.
- uoaei 9y ago
  Are there any FOSS keyboards for Android devices?

ilammy 9y ago

> What's full-disk encryption do if Facebook et al are going to funnel the data off your devices anyways? We have more-or-less mandatory full-disk encryption at work (outsourced software development) in order to prevent source code and data access in case the dev boxes are confiscated by some third-party agency. I believe it's still a good measure for this case, if you don't blatantly upload the data into the internets. (And have a religious prescription on keeping any work-related data off your personal devices.) Ironically, at the same time, most of our people use Google Drive to share project docs and discuss most of the work-related stuff via Skype. Though, I guess the disk encryption is there for plausible legal deniability as well.

xoa 9y ago

>What's full-disk encryption do if Facebook et al are going to funnel the data off your devices anyways? Serious answer: the threat model FDE aims to address is cold physical attacks. That's it, everything hot (or even warm) and online is outside of scope. Facebook would be more akin in class to gray non-persistent malware, although they aren't actually malware in the strict sense and do face some bounds from the law which should make filtering and keeping them off a sensitive system more straightforward. At any rate, FDE is a good idea for a bunch of reasons given how cheap it is at this point, but it's just one of many needed pieces. More fundamentally and beyond Facebook specifically, we need better ways to control data exfiltration and transfers from our datastores to and between software and services, period. Whitelisting should be the default. Data channels like clipboard APIs should either simply not exist at all or at least require explicit user per-application sign off (and preferably even then with restrictions like requiring code signatures, timeout options etc). While single purpose hacks are generally not justified, the specific instance of passwords & keys might be important enough in reality to justify operating systems providing some much more explicit "secure pasteboard" system that is far more heavily mediated.

countbackula 9y ago
The Firefox Focus app for iPhone pushed out an update a few months ago that showed an active clipboard tray below the URL bar, which was shocking and freaky to see. Anyone know whether the update had added the API or just made it visible? With the desktop browser it's enabled by default, but at least can be disabled through about:config.
- craftyguy 9y ago
  > With the desktop browser it's enabled by default, but at least can be disabled through about:config. What option are you referring to?

forapurpose 9y ago

> What's full-disk encryption do if Facebook et al are going to funnel the data off your devices anyways? Since you mention it, full-disk encryption does nothing if your computer is on or asleep, which is the case for most users most of the time. It only works if your computer is off.

ec109685 9y ago
It works for asleep as well given the user would need your password to log back in after waking it up from sleep.
- forapurpose 9y ago
  > It works for asleep as well given the user would need your password to log back in after waking it up from sleep. The disk is not encrypted when the computer is asleep. There may be other security mechanisms that may work, such as an OS-level password on wakeup, but not FDE. (The details of FDE are a bit more complex, but practically the above is true.)
  - ec109685 9y ago
    The disk is encrypted when it is asleep. The key to decrypt its content is available to the OS after it wakes up, but if you don’t know the account password, you can’t log in to access it. What exploits am I missing?

Feniks 9y ago

Hope you dont use the Google keyboard provided with your phone. I find protecting my data from the marketing parasite is a constant compromise with usability.

uoaei 9y ago
Are there any FOSS keyboards for Android devices?