Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Code from the FBI’s Anom encrypted messaging app

vice.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–107 of 107 posts

Re: Code from the FBI’s Anom encrypted messaging app

#101

Post by user764743 »

l33t2328 wrote: post #38
richbell wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lots of "secure" messaging apps do this for intel and surveillance and not just the white hats. Lots of VPNs, too! "We don't keep any logs! We just pipe a direct feed to the government so they can keep logs!"

Do you have any examples?

If you have access to court records in the netherlands, look up the case of the Dutch KPN blackmailer from a few years ago. He got caught because he used NordVPN instead of only using Tor. NordVPN gave everything they had on him, which led to his conviction.

As a rule, if a VPN is hosted in Europe/North America, you need to assume that they log.

edit: my source is from this talk at BalCCon, unfortunately the video is not available. https://2k19.balccon.org/events/278.html

Re: Code from the FBI’s Anom encrypted messaging app

#102

Post by blepyzdiec »

danielschonfeld wrote: post #46
xt00 wrote: post #21

I wish somebody would create some scheme to like self host the backend of an app.. like you launch Signal and it has a button to type in the name of your own server, where that server runs a VM that you configure and setup on your own PC locally then upload to AWS or something and has some facility to constantly report to you the hash of the memory and disk contents, along with some contract from AWS that states that…

There’s plenty of that stuff. Jabber and XMPP. And also more up to date is Matrix.org which nobody seems to want to use and I’m not sure why. The problem though is that you’re still trusting the code. Nothing stops self hosted from rotting on you unless you look and read the code yourself.

No post body was provided.

Re: Code from the FBI’s Anom encrypted messaging app

#103

Post by RonMarken »

user764743 wrote: post #101
l33t2328 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any examples?

If you have access to court records in the netherlands, look up the case of the Dutch KPN blackmailer from a few years ago. He got caught because he used NordVPN instead of only using Tor. NordVPN gave everything they had on him, which led to his conviction. As a rule, if a VPN is hosted in Europe/North America, you need to assume that they log. edit: my source is from this talk at BalCCon, unfortunately the video is…

I was under the impression the KPN attacker merely used a single-hop VPN service from his KPN connection and the investigators managed to correlate traffic-flows.

Unfortunate that talk is not publicly available.

Re: Code from the FBI’s Anom encrypted messaging app

#104

Post by sneak »

calvinmorrison wrote: post #94
sneak wrote: post #3

> Last year, the FBI and its international partners announced Operation Trojan Shield, in which the FBI secretly ran an encrypted phone company called Anom for years and used it to hoover up tens of millions of messages from Anom users. What other services might be run, controlled, or surveilled by the US investigative authorities? What other services might have operators that can be extorted or blackmailed by those…

> What other services might be run, controlled, or surveilled by the US investigative authorities? More boringly, and more simply, they hire people who work at Apple, Google, and so forth to exfiltrate data, create constant new bugs that will at some point be called a 0 day, and it goes on and on.

Apple and Google turn over data without subterfuge under FAA 702. That's what the Snowden leaks were about. There are APIs for the IC to fetch this data directly from the servers of Apple and Google without a warrant. They don't need to hire anyone.

Re: Code from the FBI’s Anom encrypted messaging app

#105

Post by soulofmischief »

phendrenad2 wrote: post #75
soulofmischief wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But in many cases, movie piracy is faster, more convenient and more agreeable than consuming through locked down ad funnels like Netflix or Disney+ which don't let me outright own the content or the viewing experience, or Blu-rays which enforce DRM and specific region-locked devices.

You're the pirate equivalent of a master jewel thief. "It's so easy! Just hotwire the security system, dance through the laser field, duh!" It's stochastic. They want to cut out casual piracy, those of us who know how to pirate are acceptable losses.

I'm speaking on the UX involved in the process. If you can understand the technology at a working level (about as difficult as learning to install a browser or email client) then you have access to an ecosystem that prizes discoverability and lack of friction.

There aren't laser fields. There's a directory and concierge. A full back-catalogue. A social network.

Most importantly, the viewing experience is consistent across all media, your media viewer of choice, without the need for a constant internet connection. Just like it used to be.

I don't encourage rampant piracy, but I certainly understand when some people don't have the luxury of purchasing an unlocked blu-ray ripper and storing old blu-rays in order to get the same viewing experience.

Another good example is old games like NOLF which are entirely unplayable today without piracy. Pirated releases often contain much smaller download sizes as well as patches to enhance or correct the experience.

Pirating won't convince companies to change, so I vote with my wallet by trying to avoid purchasing media which has unacceptable licensing terms or pervasive DRM, and purchasing any media which I think integrates my values. I also only purchase on platforms which prize discoverability, such as GOG or Steam, while avoiding locked-down platforms like Origin or Epic Games store.

Re: Code from the FBI’s Anom encrypted messaging app

#107

Post by kali-ghost »

The only jump on encryption you can hope to have is quantum encryption....If you don't know what quantum encryption is well you better learn. In quantum computing qubits are always in the superimposed position meaning they are all information at the same time ....you change one thing of the first qubits and the second set changes automatically no matter the space or distance away. The military is already developing a way to use qubits to create an active network of communication that cannot be hacked there are papers already published cited:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1269020 so you know it's real .....I say again if you ever create something that's world changing you better believe it's not solely yours
Post reply on HN