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In short: 1) secure bootup by locking up BIOS and encrypting your drive 2) set User Access Controls to the highest level 3) install up to date browser with appropriate addons (ublock)
"There is no way to really know if a computer is compromised" - Joanna Rutkowska
If I see any anomalies, then that's a hint.
Note, you should not fully rely on this but rather as a starting point.
You can get one for not less than $5,500. https://www.raptorcs.com/content/TLSDS3/intro.html
Bios? I'm not sure I can ever be certain. For the rest, I run a pretty esoteric setup (compiled-from-source custom configured linux kernel with no binary blobs; all software compiled from source, with no exceptions; aggressive, burdonsome-to-me privilege separation; chroots and VMs for various degrees of potential threat; etc). I have no illusions that it is perfectly safe. What I am comfortable with is that, in orde…
Are there guides you found helpful?
> "Compromised" meaning that malware hasn't been installed or that it's not being accessed by malicious third parties. This could be at the BIOS, firmware, OS, app or any other other level. I don't believe there is a way to be 100% certain, but if I had to go to a store and pick a new device with the lowest likelihood of being compromised, it would be a desktop, a laptop, or a tablet running ChromeOS[1]. [1] https://…
I #BuildInPublic as much as possible on GitHub and GitLab and dedicate everything to public domain (http://pledge.pub/).
I have a number of computers and can be up and running on a new Macbook in under an hour.
I run multiple mirrored web sites.
I distribute crypto keys across ledgers and safety deposit boxes in multiple states.
Most importantly: I don't pay for insurance (except for mandated auto and homeowners). Instead, everyday I go out there and try to deliver as much good to as many people as possible, knowing that the best insurance when bad luck strikes isn't some check from some corporation, but the helping hands from your fellow neighbors.
Fun story but my laptop was actually hacked remotely once, without me knowing.
It was almost 20 years ago, some would call me a script kiddie. Just trying to be bad ass, trying to live the movie Hackers. Had a stolen laptop running FreeBSD, with a wicked bootsplash just like the kids in the movie.
So you can imagine I was moving with the wrong crowds online, having little defacing wars with other groups and shit like that. Caught the wrong kind of attention.
I say that infosec comes naturally to me now but pobody's nerfect and back then I had re-used a password in a weakly encrypted service database, someone hacked this service, found my password, found my ssh logins to the servers, and traced backwards to my laptop.
I don't remember the details but somehow working back from one server, perhaps to another jumpserver, they were able to get the IP for my laptop and actually login to it.
Fortunately for me they didn't do anything but gather data, they posted this on a wall of shame saying "another hacker down". I say fortunately for me because I had thousands of customer's data on that laptop, including CC#'s for the business I was running at the time. They missed all this, and the very next day I reinstalled my laptop and reset all passwords on pure coincidence. I had no idea I had been hacked, I just felt like reinstalling for some other reason.
Found their wall of shame posting later and felt very much ashamed.
This thread has inspired me to setup a tripwire for my workstation. It's something I used to use many years ago but I think it's a good setup to have some sort of alerting if files start changing.
On my and my families windows machines, I try to follow the advice from Taylor Swift who seems to know what she is doing... https://decentsecurity.com/#/securing-your-computer/ In short: 1) secure bootup by locking up BIOS and encrypting your drive 2) set User Access Controls to the highest level 3) install up to date browser with appropriate addons (ublock)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you lock your computer every time you leave your desk? And do you always check for keylogger thumbdrives and such?
> Do you lock your computer every time you leave your desk? This was a corporate requirement where I used to work, unofficially reinforced by the local jokers who would rotate the screen and / or send prank messages if you didn't.
My colleagues edited my .bashrc to echo "lock your screen next time"