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Checked the power draw a couple years ago on reddit's new design, which was a huge increase from the old design. Should have written a paper with lots of clever

by Aachen 5y ago

Checked the power draw a couple years ago on reddit's new design, which was a huge increase from the old design. Should have written a paper with lots of clever words in it, could have been my first scientific contribution! I didn't because this research has been done long ago and with rsa key operations, which are both more severe if you can capture it and much more difficult to measure. That you can see the difference between multi-megabyte JavaScript pages is a given at that point.

Fnoord 5y ago
I wonder if someone tested this on Tor Browser, I'm curious if the attack can be implemented on that.
- Aachen 5y ago
  Of course it can, one doesn't need to test this. It's not as if any browser would allocate and burn the cpu at 100% for 30 seconds and then stop all javascript execution or css rendering or anything on the page. That's the kind of solutions you're looking at to fix this. This is like research to confirm the sky is blue. Good to know for sure but we're rather sure to begin with. If you want to try it, a power meter is a good thing to have anyhow, or someone could lend you one. Plug it in and load different websites a few times, then look how many joules you used. Not every site can be told apart with a limited measurement like this, especially on the lighter end of the spectrum, but if you want to know if Tor Browser mitigates this then you can confirm it this way.
  - Fnoord 5y ago
    What if background processes meddle with the measurement? Also, wasn't there some kind of WebRTC which allowed a remote website to get battery readings?
westurner 5y ago
From https://planetfriendlyweb.org/mental-model https://planetfriendlyweb.org/mental-model : > When you think about how a digital product or website creates an environmental impact, you can think of it creating it in three main ways - through the Packets of data it sends to users, the Platform the product runs on, and the Process used to make the product itself. From https://sustainableux.com/talks/2018/how-to-build-a-planet-friendly-web/ https://sustainableux.com/talks/2018/how-to-build-a-planet-f... : > SustainableUX: design vs. climate change. Online, Worldwide, Free. The online event for UX, front-end, and product people who want to make a positive impact—on climate-change, social equality, and inclusion

by Aachen 5y ago

Fnoord 5y ago

I wonder if someone tested this on Tor Browser, I'm curious if the attack can be implemented on that.

Aachen 5y ago
Of course it can, one doesn't need to test this. It's not as if any browser would allocate and burn the cpu at 100% for 30 seconds and then stop all javascript execution or css rendering or anything on the page. That's the kind of solutions you're looking at to fix this. This is like research to confirm the sky is blue. Good to know for sure but we're rather sure to begin with. If you want to try it, a power meter is a good thing to have anyhow, or someone could lend you one. Plug it in and load different websites a few times, then look how many joules you used. Not every site can be told apart with a limited measurement like this, especially on the lighter end of the spectrum, but if you want to know if Tor Browser mitigates this then you can confirm it this way.
- Fnoord 5y ago
  What if background processes meddle with the measurement? Also, wasn't there some kind of WebRTC which allowed a remote website to get battery readings?

westurner 5y ago

From https://planetfriendlyweb.org/mental-model https://planetfriendlyweb.org/mental-model : > When you think about how a digital product or website creates an environmental impact, you can think of it creating it in three main ways - through the Packets of data it sends to users, the Platform the product runs on, and the Process used to make the product itself. From https://sustainableux.com/talks/2018/how-to-build-a-planet-friendly-web/ https://sustainableux.com/talks/2018/how-to-build-a-planet-f... : > SustainableUX: design vs. climate change. Online, Worldwide, Free. The online event for UX, front-end, and product people who want to make a positive impact—on climate-change, social equality, and inclusion