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The list says to use an iPhone instead of a laptop, I presume because the iPhone has hardware encryption coming from the Secure Enclave. But newer MacBook Pros
by philistine 8y ago
The list says to use an iPhone instead of a laptop, I presume because the iPhone has hardware encryption coming from the Secure Enclave. But newer MacBook Pros from Apple, and even the iMac Pro, feature the T2 chip to achieve the same result as the Secure Enclave with regards to encryption.
I guess my point is this list is deeply flawed because it explains none of its decision-making process. Journalists aren’t idiots. Tell them why they should not use a laptop.
- maxerickson 8y agoWorking journalists don't care about the T2 chip in the iMac Pro. They don't even know what it is. (Maybe a few tech journalists do, but certainly it's going to be a small minority of journalists in general)
- philistine 8y agoYou’re not even following the logic of the list: it explains in detail how to turn on full disk encryption, meaning that journalists should care about those details. I guess my second point is: don’t trust a list about security that was not updated in a year.
- tptacek 8y agoPlease do tell us which of the details on that list are now outdated.
- philistine 8y agoTwo small things: the list says to buy an iPhone Se, 6 or 7. Obviously newer iPhones have been released. Someone could construe that as implying there is something wrong with the newer iPhones, when it’s quite the contrary on the security front. The list bans laptops, all laptops. For no explained reason. I assume it’s because of hardware encryption, and since last year we now have hardware encrypted computers from Apple (the 2018 MacBook Pro and the iMac Pro).
- Tomte 8y agoThe list bans laptops because they are general computing devices where you install a huge multitude of programms willy-nilly from all kinds of sources. Chromebooks are exempted, because they are basically a web browser and little more.
- tptacek 8y agoI mean, yes, that is the reason the guidelines recommend avoiding laptops, but it's also worth saying that not only does the list not ban laptops, but it also has multiple recommendations for using laptops more securely.
- tptacek 8y agoTrained a lot of journalists, have you? A lot of them asked you about the chipsets in the machines they were using? For what it's worth: no, the important difference between a Macbook and an iPhone isn't the SEP.
- philistine 8y agoWhat is so different from physical access to an unlocked iPhone than an unlocked Mac? You’re screwed either way, no?
- vladvasiliu 8y agoYes, if someone has physical access to an unlocked iphone or mac you're screwed. The author's idea might rather be about the OS, the main difference between an iphone and a mac (or pc for that matter) is the os. Hence the recommandation for a chromebook. I suppose the author assumes that on ios a random website is less likely to have access to your files (articles). So this might be more about protection from attackers who don't have physical access to the device.