Secure hardware

[cervids]

On 9/21/2021 at 5:29 AM, heavyhorse said:




Your replies are somewhat impaired lately--  You doing OK?




 

How so?




I'm fine as far as I know.




My replies mainly relate to the PC market, which may be the confusion.  Phones != PCs or even "secure hardware" in my eyes.  The two words just don't go together.  And my point was it isn't China spying on you if you live in the states.  China literally does not care, it's going far more local.

[heavyhorse]

15 hours ago, cervids said:




How so?

Not as on-target as you usually are.  Thought maybe you had the Covid mind fog.  Glad to hear you're good.

15 hours ago, cervids said:




My replies mainly relate to the PC market, which may be the confusion.  Phones != PCs or even "secure hardware" in my eyes.  The two words just don't go together.

No argument from me.  I've said repeatedly that a phone is not a computer; you can secure a computer, but the underlying foundation of how a cellphone system functions makes it un-secure, and trying to make it so with some "app" is like trying to make the Hindenburg safe by applying duck tape.  

[cervids]

18 hours ago, heavyhorse said:




Not as on-target as you usually are. 

I'll tell my brain to aim bettter.

[threelegs]

Mozilla is now offering their own VPN for $5/mo if you sign up for a year's worth. Is that a good deal?




Specifically, would it be a good deal for me? I don't use wifi for anything and have it shut off. About the only time I worry about my security is when I visit here, visit a porn site, or do a websearch on what might be a questionable topic. and that doesn't account for much of my online usage at all.

[caikgoch]

1 hour ago, threelegs said:




Mozilla is now offering their own VPN for $5/mo if you sign up for a year's worth. Is that a good deal?




Specifically, would it be a good deal for me? I don't use wifi for anything and have it shut off. About the only time I worry about my security is when I visit here, visit a porn site, or do a websearch on what might be a questionable topic. and that doesn't account for much of my online usage at all.

Bundles are almost always a rip off.   Using someone else's VPN cost them something so they try to sell you convenience to get you back.   What is the only thing you have that they want?   Your info.




As a general rule, you want a VPN headquartered in another country.    They will all give you up when the cops knock on the door because if they don't, the cops will just take over and run the VPN until they get what they want.    Making them carry legal matters (like warrants) across national boundaries makes you not worth the trouble unless you have a sideline of nuclear terrorism.




$5/month is an average price.    The one I use is $11/month for 6 devices with VPN, Proxy, and e-mail on each paid monthly or about half that paid yearly.   This is a premium service.   This way I can cover desktop, laptop, and phone quickly and easily including separate channels for messenger services.   Color me paranoid.

[heavyhorse]

Epic Browser has a VPN, the basic one is free.    Pick from many locations.




 




While we are at it, does anyone know how to defeat the Cloudflare "Just a moment" that hangs forever?




 

[caikgoch]

4 minutes ago, heavyhorse said:




Epic Browser has a VPN, the basic one is free.    Pick from many locations.




 




While we are at it, does anyone know how to defeat the Cloudflare "Just a moment" that hangs forever?




 




<a class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image" href="https://zoowg.org/uploads/monthly_2021_10/cloudflare.png.cad91f942d616c19ff616ff5dd115ae1.png" data-fileid="4516"></a>

Whitelist the site for whatever is blocking it from showing you a captcha.   Noscript usually does it for me.

[DingoJay]

 I recently rebuilt my desktop computer using a business class motherboard.  It includes TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module) and Secure Boot firmware, for whatever either/both of those are worth.  Probably a new way for Micro$oft to track what you're doing.  It's fully Windows 11 compliant, allegedly.  From what I've read about Win 11, if you don't have an internet connection, it doesn't work.  Well, my Internet connection was down for better than 2 weeks after Hurricane Ida.  It's still a bit flaky.  When Windows 10 dies in 2023, I'll probably switch to a Linux distro full time.




 Phones?  "Real" 5G, i.e. millimeter wave connectivity is only available in the U.S. within the 70 major metropolitan areas, e.g. New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, and so on.  It's strictly line of sight, so you pretty much need to be able to see the antennas for it to work.  If you're in the middle of a windowless building, forget it.  Everywhere else, you have make-believe 5G.  They repurposed the 850 MHz bands and former UHF TV channels 36 and up.  They moved a lot of the 4G and any remaining legacy voice to to the 2 GHz range.

[cervids]

1 hour ago, DingoJay said:




Probably a new way for Micro$oft to track what you're doing.

FWIW, there's a lot of valid criticism that can be levied at "hardware security" like TPM, but that isn't amonst the concerns.  You'd be looking at the likes of the Intel ME or AMD PSP for that.