mintCast 350.5 – Change Your SSID (mp3)

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0:16 HPR Spot
1:26 Show Start
2:44 Linux Innards
50:34 Vibrations from the Ether
1:04:09 Check This Out
1:07:14 Outro

In our Innards section, we talk spooky scary security

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

LINUX INNARDS:

The Art of Invisibility by Kevin Mitnick

  •  Joe
    • I do like this book.  But it is not about security it is about anonymity and the different things that you have to go through in order to be truly anonymous and the reasoning behind it.  It does get to be what seems a bit extreme but they do discuss the reasoning that you need someone else to purchase the gift cards in order to get the vpn and the bitcoin wallet and the ways of putting more into the wallet anonymously.
    • One of the things that I want to mention is Kevin says in the start of the book “You may not have anything to hide but you do have everything to protect.”
    • Kevin goes into detail about how different people were attached to the identity that they created online and how they were caught also advises how to not make those same mistakes.
    • The most extreme of which is to get someone that is not associated with you to go in and buy a gift card so that you are not on camera buying the card.  Then you use that card to purchase a VPN from a company that does not log and does not require you to identify yourself.  Then you set up a burner machine and never log in from home and you use that burner machine and the VPN in order to set up a bitcoin wallet and then you can either use more gift cards to add to it or you use a cleaning service to get more coins into it so its untraceable where the bitcoins came from.  You can use that to pay any further fees to the VPN and opr purchase items online. You can also use this to do things like publish articles and remain unknown.  But you have to keep switching locations and continue to trust your VPN
    • Also spends some time talking about PGP keys and touts the use of https everywhere which is a good thing to have but most of your modern browsers do that built now anyway
    • Also discusses the various types of tracking that advert agencies and the government do and different ways to subvert that including using a VPN, HTTPS everywhere a non standard DNS and never log in to anything that is attached to your identity if you want to stay anonymous.  Also changing mac addresses every time you log in or every time you change locations so that your fake identity is not attached to a specific machine
  • Tony:
    • Due to my lack of concentration in the last few weeks I’ve not listened to apart from the first chapter, but this alone is enough to make you wary of security issues, and although I never use 12345678 or password, as a password. But I must admit I do need to pay more care in choosing passwords in the future. And I need to consider using a VPN at least when I am doing financial transactions or having a dedicated laptop that is only used for this task.  
  • Leo
    • Things to know
      • You are likely the weakest link.
      • If it’s not you, it’s because you never update
    • The argument “I’m not interesting, they won’t hack me.” misses the point
      • They don’t have to target you. The entire thing is an automated humanless process. If you have lax security practice, you’ll show up vulnerable in a scan, sometimes even on Shodan. Then it’s all downhill from there.
    • Just good, simple wifi recommendations
      • Change your SSID
      • Use WPA2 or 3 if it’s available
      • Change the admin password*
      • Change the admin username*
      • Use long passwords
      • MAC Allow/Deny list
      • Wardriving is rare, not non-existent.
    • Keep it separated
      • If you can, use a device dedicated to banking and health type services. The private ones.
    • HTTPS everywhere
      • Thanks to the EFF you can use this plugin. But with the latest Firefox, you don’t need it.
    • VPN in public
      • Public wifi is never secure. Not ever.
      • VPN to obfuscate your traffic from prying eyes in public. Use a Raspberry Pi to set up OpenVPN manually, or use PiVPN. If you’re adventurous, set up Wireguard.
      • VPN’s for getting special Netflix is something different.
    • Tor isn’t for you
      • But if it is, keep in mind that logging into any service attached to your real name or using your own finances pretty much defeats the purpose.
    • Don’t be the low hanging fruit
      • If it’s easier to hack your neighbor, they will.

Tinfoil hats are for sale in the lobby as you leave the theater…

VIBRATIONS FROM THE ETHER:

  • Hank Barta by email
  • From Larry Murphy by email
  • Nick (Followup from Last Time) email
  • Wayne (mintcast.org)
  • Aaron (email)

CHECK THIS OUT! 

  • Leo
  • Moss
    • I found my history – BBS The Documentary. It’s 5 hours long, but you’ll never see this stuff elsewhere. I didn’t get into BBSing until 1988, but there are a lot of forgotten things here, including the age when free phone calls were only for your local calling area.
    • Yippy – Privacy-focused search engine, powered by Watson — one click to make it default in Firefox

Announcements:

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible …

  • Owen Peery for our audio editing, Josh Lowe for all his work on the website, Hobstar for our logo, and Londoner for our time sync
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • HPR for our backup Mumble room
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem!>

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