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NSO still have multiple ubpatched 0 days in WhatsApp Telegram and most other messaging apps. Your best bet is to use something obscure so you cannot easily be
by inglor 7y ago
NSO still have multiple ubpatched 0 days in WhatsApp Telegram and most other messaging apps.
Your best bet is to use something obscure so you cannot easily be targeted or not being connected to the same net.
At the Israeli army we had phones that ran completely separate software stacks and talked to a different network for this. Nothing was on the internet.
- inglor 7y agoAlso since modem stacks are so terrible - ideally two phones where one is just a hotspot for the other one and the one using the hotspot does not have a cellular modem. Also ideally not Android or iOS. Of course it is better to not be on the public internet with any sensitive device if at all possible. Anything on the internet is considered public.
- eru 7y agoSecurity by using obscure software has its own problems, alas. You have less eyeballs looking for exploits on the good guys side as well. So problems stay open.
- wolco 7y agoThe more obsure and different the less likely. If closed source the knowledge belongs to the creators. If the circle is extremely small the chance of that knowledge being shared with your enemy is low. It goes up when that circle is increased. When you want the biggest circle open source is safer. If your circle is small closed will be safer.
- eru 7y agoYour enemy can often learn those secrets not by being shared, but by other means. Eg reverse engineering. But in any case, the original comment was using 'obscure' in the sense of uncommon not in the sense of 'secret'. As far as I can tell.
- egeozcan 7y agoWithin my experience, security by obscurity works only if you're low profile. If significant amounts of money will be spent decrypting your mess, it's game over. OTOH, we usually only hear about the failed attempts, so there's a selection bias.
- eru 7y agoI deliberately didn't use the phrase security by obscurity, because that usage of obscurity is synonymous with secrecy. And that's not what the original comment was about. I agree about the low profile being necessary (even if not sufficient).
- fulafel 7y agoTerminology: vulnerability or flaw is what the good guys are looking for. Exploits are implementions of the attack enabled by the vulnerability.
- jacobwilliamroy 7y agoThat sounds pretty cool. Did you all have your own separate physical layer just for military too, or did you use the same physical layer as the civilian world?
- wolco 7y agoThat's really clever. Using a custom made program or something obscure would be the only safe way.
- CapricornNoble 7y agoPureOS + GNURadio + a software-defined radio + a power amplifier...