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Fun with Red Star OS

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Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#71

Post by IntelMiner »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #37
netsec_burn wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Red Star 4.0 (2017). Good luck finding it, I haven't.

So far, even though we know Red Star 4 exists and has for years now, it's very elusive with (AFAIK) no disc images yet found. I think that there was a rumor that it was FreeBSD based instead of Linux based but don't quote me on that.

If I remember rightly, 3.0 was sold in shops in North Korea? At least that's what the talk on it mentioned

Might just be a game of finding someone who goes to NK for teaching or the like to pick up a copy while there for archiving

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#72

Post by koffiedrinker »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #50
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So far, even though we know Red Star 4 exists and has for years now, it's very elusive with (AFAIK) no disc images yet found. I think that there was a rumor that it was FreeBSD based instead of Linux based but don't quote me on that.

According to Wikipedia, a South Korean magazine got a copy, but they never uploaded the disc images. However, they did takes a few screenshots. Red Star OS 4 is still MacOS-inspired but with a little more modern of a Mac look - think Mavericks (Red Star OS 3 inspiration) -> Yosemite (Red Star OS 4.0 inspiration). With a touch of Chrome OS and GNOME in there for good measure. https://www.nkeconomy.com/news/articleView…

Did they take photos of their screen because it was running on a computer they didn't own or did they really have access to the ISOs (and for some reason didn't take screenshots)?

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#73

Post by trasz »

jeroenhd wrote: post #34

> Spoiler, he doesn’t give a fuck about your hentai porn. These operating systems do actually contain code that add a signature belonging to your install of the machine to pictures and video files, so be wary if spreading your hentai porn in Kim's country because it can be traced back to you. That said, there's a lot of panic about fears of having it reach out across the internet and infect your entire network withou…

>These operating systems do actually contain code that add a signature

[citation needed]

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#74

Post by throwaway4good »

iJohnDoe wrote: post #17

Seems more privacy focused than Microsoft and Apple? So sad to even think that. Also, remember that China wouldn’t use Windows 10 due to how invasive the telemetry is unless Microsoft gave them a special version just for China. I’m not saying that NK or China are privacy focused. It seems like even the spies don’t like to be spied on.

China also insisted on and got its own version of the trusted platform module, a chip that is present on all pcs that can run windows.

Rather than ridiculing what countries such as China or North Korea do in the name of national security, we tech people should pay strict attention as here are hints on how our own daily technology is being surveilled and controlled.

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#75

Post by ceejayoz »

whimsicalism wrote: post #64
BuildTheRobots wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The KGB used to require all typewriters to be registered, so they could identify the authors of anything they found objectionable. Being able to track who produced an image that's doing the rounds spreading "propaganda" seems like it adds a lot of value (from an authoritarian point of view, at least).

LOL yeah the US does the exact same thing. I would pay to read a newspaper that (somewhat satirically) reported on the US the way we report on our adversaries. Complete with referring to police as "security forces", including wild speculations about the backstabbing behind-the-scenes of their top politics, etc.

The Washington Post does this occasionally.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/29/how-weste...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/...

"'Culturally, Americans are a curious lot,' said Andrew Darcy Morthington, an United Kingdom-based commentator who once embarked on a two-year mission trip to teach rural American children and therefore qualifies as an expert on U.S. affairs."

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#76

Post by oleg_antonyan »

BuildTheRobots wrote: post #54
simonebrunozzi wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> add a signature belonging to your install of the machine to pictures and video files But why?

The KGB used to require all typewriters to be registered, so they could identify the authors of anything they found objectionable. Being able to track who produced an image that's doing the rounds spreading "propaganda" seems like it adds a lot of value (from an authoritarian point of view, at least).

Nowadays they're trying to enforce social media and messengers to require your phone number (most of them do this already anyway), and to get SIM-card you need your ID document. This way they can track down who posted a link to "Putin's palace", for example. And thanks to enforced data localization they may not even need help from social platform itself - they pwn hard drives.

The difference between this and Apple's data collection, for example, is that Apple cannot use this information to imprison or kill you. At least until they deploy automatic scanner for cp in your photos.

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#77

Post by johannes1234321 »

emteycz wrote: post #43
steviedotboston wrote: post #36

this always looked surprisingly well polished to me.

Why is it surprising that the top 1% programmers of an entire country (many of them probably with western education) can produce quality software when put under deadly threat?

The top 1% won't work on that.

The top 1% either work on surveillance (domestic and foreign), rocket control, hacking etc. to strengthen the state or for outside companies (I remember a German story about somebody regularly printing out android API docs for their team in North Korea) to bring money.

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#78

Post by [deleted] »

npteljes wrote: post #33
marcodiego wrote: post #3

"The system is absolutely network-silent except when you actively do something that requires network access, like using the browser. It does not call the mothership, not for updates, not for telemetry, not to let Kim Jong Un know the status of your internal organs. Spoiler, he doesn’t give a fuck about your hentai porn. " Take that, Microsoft!

This is something that black-box testing can never really verify. Behavior could be altered by the VM, by detecting that it's not in NK, be triggered sometime later, after typing an entry from a list, and so on. And it's not like Microsoft gives too much fuck about anyone's hentai porn.

[deleted]

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#79

Post by ROARosen »

_adamb wrote: post #9
marcodiego wrote: post #3

"The system is absolutely network-silent except when you actively do something that requires network access, like using the browser. It does not call the mothership, not for updates, not for telemetry, not to let Kim Jong Un know the status of your internal organs. Spoiler, he doesn’t give a fuck about your hentai porn. " Take that, Microsoft!

This could be true, or it could recognize that it is running in a VM and change its behavior. This is a somewhat common trait of malware meant to throw off security researchers.

> or it could recognize that it is running in a VM and change its behavior.

Agree. I would go even further to state this probably comes pre-installed on any computer using it but anyone allowed access is only as standard user with the root user locked (maybe as standard user you do get monitored?)

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#80

Post by nix23 »

trasz wrote: post #73
jeroenhd wrote: post #34

> Spoiler, he doesn’t give a fuck about your hentai porn. These operating systems do actually contain code that add a signature belonging to your install of the machine to pictures and video files, so be wary if spreading your hentai porn in Kim's country because it can be traced back to you. That said, there's a lot of panic about fears of having it reach out across the internet and infect your entire network withou…

>These operating systems do actually contain code that add a signature [citation needed]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35188570

>>The watermarking function...

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