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Two big points here, any hacker with a brain wouldn't 1) Rummage through your emails with image loading turned on 2) At least at a minimum be behind a service

Two big points here, any hacker with a brain wouldn't 1) Rummage through your emails with image loading turned on 2) At least at a minimum be behind a service such as tor.. so uhhh, i guess this is a good idea for alerting you, if that is you are un/lucky enough to get 'hacked' by those that ignore the previous two points.

skrebbel 15y ago
Seems like two erfectly sensible points to me. Why did people downvote this without even bothering to comment on why?
Wilya 15y ago
1. is indeed quite a problem. It would detect most people rummaging idly through the web interface, but not much more. 2. is not quite relevant. I'd say the idea is to know that someone has accessed the email. Not who. As long as you can be sure that it's not yourself, something bad is happening anyway.
3pt14159 15y ago
Well you can always turn on the "always display images from this email" for that specific email address. That way the hacker won't click on "show images".
- MiguelHudnandez 15y ago
  Why would an intruder use the web interface, anyway? Also, you can tell your web browser not to load any images, so an intruder might do that if they did resort to the web interface.
JabavuAdams 15y ago
Do you have data to support that? It sounds too much like the No True Scotsman Fallacy for me to take it too seriously.
- metalfrog 15y ago
  Why do i need to provide you data? If i were to hack your email account there is no way i'd use the web interface to trawl through them one-by-one. Initial hack->Gains credentials->Pull down everything imap/pop->Load that shit into thunderbird on a dedicated vm->And we're away
  - JabavuAdams 15y ago
    > If i were to hack your email account there is no way i'd use the web interface to trawl through them one-by-one. Well, I don't doubt that. I'm just wondering how well "what I would do" generalizes, here.
  - jodrellblank 15y ago
    Why do i need to provide you data? You pulled a statement about behaviour out of thin air, and it wont hold up to scrutiny. Now its being scrutinised, you are dodging it. 1) What percentage of all hackers count as "hackers with a brain"? 2) How do you know most or all "hackers with a brain" would not be caught by this, without generalising from your example of one (you)? 3) Since both of the above are unknown, how can you use those as arguments to justify this being an ineffective precaution?
    - idonthack 15y ago
      >You pulled a statement about behaviour out of thin air, and it wont hold up to scrutiny. Now its being scrutinised, you are dodging it. Why does the most obvious and logical course of events require justification? "Most hackers breathe constantly." "Do you have data to support that?" Maybe you're right. Maybe this "canary" is extremely effective. Maybe everyone who makes a living by breaking security also happens to be dumb enough that they fail to take the most basic precautions to protect themselves. Even if that's true, there are still more effective solutions that should be used instead of this "canary".
      - mootothemax 15y ago
        Why does the most obvious and logical course of events require justification? Obviously because what you've written is non-obvious ;) Enough people "hack" by using simple password-reset forms[1]. Whilst I have no doubt that there are plenty of worringly-competent hackers out there, I'd bet that there are also lots of less competent hackers. Taking this through to its logical conclusion: I'd rather know about some of them than give up and know about none of them. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin_email_hack http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin_email_hack
rmc 15y ago
Yes, some hackers would no act in such a way as to do this, but the world is full of stupid people. Just look at Sony and their PSN network hacks. 1 year ago people would have said that of course a big company would never be that stupid. And it turns out they were that stupid. Likewise there are hound to be some stupid hackers. This canary email will catch them.
lurker14 15y ago
You could also leave your keys in the ignition and the door open whenever you go to the grocery store, because that's more convenient and any thief with a brain could hotwire your car anyway.

skrebbel 15y ago

Seems like two erfectly sensible points to me. Why did people downvote this without even bothering to comment on why?

Wilya 15y ago

1. is indeed quite a problem. It would detect most people rummaging idly through the web interface, but not much more. 2. is not quite relevant. I'd say the idea is to know that someone has accessed the email. Not who. As long as you can be sure that it's not yourself, something bad is happening anyway.

3pt14159 15y ago

Well you can always turn on the "always display images from this email" for that specific email address. That way the hacker won't click on "show images".

MiguelHudnandez 15y ago
Why would an intruder use the web interface, anyway? Also, you can tell your web browser not to load any images, so an intruder might do that if they did resort to the web interface.

JabavuAdams 15y ago

Do you have data to support that? It sounds too much like the No True Scotsman Fallacy for me to take it too seriously.

metalfrog 15y ago
Why do i need to provide you data? If i were to hack your email account there is no way i'd use the web interface to trawl through them one-by-one. Initial hack->Gains credentials->Pull down everything imap/pop->Load that shit into thunderbird on a dedicated vm->And we're away
- JabavuAdams 15y ago
  > If i were to hack your email account there is no way i'd use the web interface to trawl through them one-by-one. Well, I don't doubt that. I'm just wondering how well "what I would do" generalizes, here.
- jodrellblank 15y ago
  Why do i need to provide you data? You pulled a statement about behaviour out of thin air, and it wont hold up to scrutiny. Now its being scrutinised, you are dodging it. 1) What percentage of all hackers count as "hackers with a brain"? 2) How do you know most or all "hackers with a brain" would not be caught by this, without generalising from your example of one (you)? 3) Since both of the above are unknown, how can you use those as arguments to justify this being an ineffective precaution?
  - idonthack 15y ago
    >You pulled a statement about behaviour out of thin air, and it wont hold up to scrutiny. Now its being scrutinised, you are dodging it. Why does the most obvious and logical course of events require justification? "Most hackers breathe constantly." "Do you have data to support that?" Maybe you're right. Maybe this "canary" is extremely effective. Maybe everyone who makes a living by breaking security also happens to be dumb enough that they fail to take the most basic precautions to protect themselves. Even if that's true, there are still more effective solutions that should be used instead of this "canary".
    - mootothemax 15y ago
      Why does the most obvious and logical course of events require justification? Obviously because what you've written is non-obvious ;) Enough people "hack" by using simple password-reset forms[1]. Whilst I have no doubt that there are plenty of worringly-competent hackers out there, I'd bet that there are also lots of less competent hackers. Taking this through to its logical conclusion: I'd rather know about some of them than give up and know about none of them. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin_email_hack http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin_email_hack

rmc 15y ago

Yes, some hackers would no act in such a way as to do this, but the world is full of stupid people. Just look at Sony and their PSN network hacks. 1 year ago people would have said that of course a big company would never be that stupid. And it turns out they were that stupid. Likewise there are hound to be some stupid hackers. This canary email will catch them.

lurker14 15y ago

You could also leave your keys in the ignition and the door open whenever you go to the grocery store, because that's more convenient and any thief with a brain could hotwire your car anyway.