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> Regularly trade laptops and phones with like-minded individuals That puts you into a group of people then. Groups are easier to infiltrate. In opsec, people
by geuis 6y ago
> Regularly trade laptops and phones with like-minded individuals
That puts you into a group of people then. Groups are easier to infiltrate.
In opsec, people are vulnerabilities.
- rodolphoarruda 6y agoI agree with you. But I like the idea of trading devices with people who have already tied their ID with IMEI, wi-fi networks, ISP IPs etc. Identity theft? Not really... Just borrowing it for a while.
- geuis 6y agoProblem is, you essentially can’t trust people. Not even in a personal “do I know this person” way. But fundamentally people are squishy. If you squish them too much, they’ll do things they never wanted to do. That unfortunately is why groups greater than 1 are a weak spot. In your scenario, you’ll never know if the last person increments an ID somewhere or did some other activity that adds compromises the chain.
- gruez 6y agoYour ISMI (aka your sim card) is going to be sent alongside your IMEI, which makes that type of identity "borrowing" pointless because the carrier can see right through it. wifi mac addresses can be easily spoofed without swapping hardware. Overall I don't see much value in swapping hardware.
- rodolphoarruda 6y agoIn this case I would use the SIM card used by the former owner, if it's a pre-paid plan, for example. This is quite common trade in the place I live.
- zie 6y agoonly if they are still paying the bill will this be useful. If you start paying the bill, well then.. they know exactly who you are.
- tomcooks 6y agoYou don't pay bills on burner phones. And if you do you anonymously top them up via scratch card or cash, via a different person.
- rodolphoarruda 6y agoYes, that's the idea. At least in the place I live, you just need to go to a convenience store, tell the cashier the phone number and pay cash.
- zie 6y agoagain, once you pay for it, even with cash, they can track you down(though it may take a while). It's trivially easy to see where a given # is, so once they know the phone #, they can pretty easily find out who has it in their possession, by just showing up and seeing who has it in their hand. Not to say there isn't SOME anonymity by paying cash for a burner phone, but it's not even remotely fool-proof for anyone really wanting to figure out who you are.
- tomcooks 6y agoDifferent users of one device muddle location, patterns and data being transferred. This is the usefulness. I'm lucky enough not to live a pretty vanilla life and so do my peers. Please investigate and waste time and resources in tracking down the most boring and uninteresting (on a political and criminal level) persons you could ever snoop on.
- lupire 6y agoMuddled doesn't matter. They'll convict you or lead pipe you or raise your insurance rates based on their misunderstanding of your data.
- freebuju 6y agoEvery person you swap hardware with is a chain leading back to you. It also becomes tricky to convince someone to lend you their phone in my country since ID cards are required to register any SIM cards. As someone else above said, adding more people makes the rope (your opsec) weaker. People generally can't be trusted once their self-preservation instinct kicks in. How sure are you the other guy you trusted enough to put them in your opsec isn't going to sing on you when their balls are gently fondled by LE agents.
- tomcooks 6y agoThat's precisely the point. Infiltrate me and a group of other people that have nothing going on, as long as I'm wasting your time I'm doing my part in protecting a tiny bit those who lack freedom.
- why_Mr_Anderson 6y agoI'm pretty sure one waterboarding session will make you regret even having such ideas. Everyone breaks, it's just matter of time.
- lupire 6y agoBreaks how? Torture me all you want; I'll cry and beg and make up stories, but I don't know anything about whatever you are investigating.
- why_Mr_Anderson 6y agoMake up stories? I don't think so. Also don't forget that those on the other side are not idiots who cannot recognize a lie/made up story.
- tomcooks 6y agoMy life is so boring I'd literally would have no other option but to invent a story. But please do keep imagining things, it's a powerful tool to progress!