[I sent this a couple of hours ago, hasn't appeared on my feed, lne.com. Apologies if you get it twice.]
On Monday, November 26, 2001, at 11:49 AM, Sunder wrote: > Great and wonderful except: > > 1. If such spyware has already been installed on your system you can't > trust your os therefore: > > a. It may use your OS to hide the key capture log, so you > won't be able to just watch files. Think of a kernel patch > that removes all references to a specific file, not just > sets it to be hidden. Yes, but this is probably beyond current and foreseeable attacks. I don't dispute that all sorts of advanced attacks are possible, just that the fixes this guy suggested are "much better than doing nothing." Even _secure_ OSes (KeyCOS, for example) are vulnerable to attacks when physical access is gained...doesn't make it easy, though. > > 4. If you live in a crowded area, your iPod can be lifted off you > in a false mugging, or break in, pick pocketting while you're at a > restaurant, movie, etc. This implies a level of surveillance/commitment beyond what most FBI attacks are at. More importantly, theft of my iPod would then trigger certain actions. Cancelling my existing key and generation of a new one. All of these kinds of "they've got your hardware" attacks are present with nearly all systems. All require more work than the simple insertion of a keystroke logger involves. It's all measures and countermeasures. > > 10. Ordered any new copies of a bit of software? Maybe they have a deal > with FedEx, UPS, the Mailman. Maybe what you're getting is the upgrade > and then some. How can you tell that copy of SmallTalk doesn't carry an > extra bit of code just for you? How can you tell that the latest patch > to > MacOS you've just downloaded really came from Apple? Sure DNS said it > was > from ftp.apple.com but how do you know that the router upstream from > your > internet provider didn't route your packets via ftp.fbi.gov? Paranoia can be a dangerous thing. --Tim May "Gun Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her panty hose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound" --Tim May "That government is best which governs not at all." --Henry David Thoreau