I think it is worth nothing the difference between active and passive attacks.
Active attacks being those where traffic is modified inflight by the eavesdropper or where there is a specific target. If you are specifically targeted I agree with Telmo there is nothing you can do, as every operating system is filled with remotely exploitable bugs which can be used to implant software on your machine, many governments possess CA private keys which can defeat SSL encryption used when you access secure sites, and even your keyboard and monitor give off RF signals that can be used to see what's on your screen or know what you are typing remotely. So if you are actively targeted and they tamper with the traffic or exploit your operating system there is little you can do. However, I am doubtful that the currently disclosed program involves mass-hacking of individual's machines or mass-tampering of traffic, which would be trivially detectable. If one is seeking protection against passive eavesdropping there are many things one can do. Even unauthenticated encryption provides protection against purely passive eavesdroppers in many cases. For e-mail protection there are some browser extensions which integrate with various webmail services ( http://lifehacker.com/5966787/mailvelope-offers-free-easy+to+use-pgp-encryption-for-gmail-outlook-and-other-webmail-services) for IM there is an OTR (off the record) messaging plugin, there are also browser extensions to enable HTTPS everywhere ( https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere ), and there are also search engines that claim to not record your searches ( https://startpage.com/ ). The big downside with PGP is that if your PGP is ever disclosed or revealed in the future, it is possible to go back and decrypt everything that you ever sent. With live protocols (such as HTTPS and OTR) that use Diffie-Hellman key agreement, there is the property of forward security. This means that in the future if your keys are disclosed, then even with the recorded traffic it is not possible to go back and decrypt what was sent. Jason On Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 7:10 AM, Telmo Menezes <te...@telmomenezes.com>wrote: > Hi Roger, > > Unfortunately this kind of system cannot protect you from the recently > leaked mass surveillance systems. This guy explains why quite well: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ftfEXxFC4Q&feature=youtu.be&t=28m53s > > > On Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 12:16 PM, Roger Clough <rclo...@verizon.net> > wrote: > > How to protect your computer from spying by the IRS and Eric H. Holder, > Jr. > > > > These days it seems that you need to protect yourself from more than > > commercial vendors, namely spying by the IRS and Eric H. Holder, Jr. > > Snowden, the man who recently exposed the NSA activities, says he can > > from his desktop listen to your telephone and read your email. > > > > To do so, at least to a partial extent, start here: > > > > 1.) See this link: > > > > > http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467304575383203092034876.html > > > > 2.) Switch your default browser to Mozilla Firefox, as most of the free > > add-ons only works on it. > > > > 3.) Download and install the freeware Firefox add-on from > > > > http://www.privacychoice.org/trackerblock/update > > > > This so far from a cursory search has not blocked me anywhere. > > > > > > Dr. Roger Clough NIST (ret.) 6/12/2013 > > See my Leibniz site at > > http://team.academia.edu/RogerClough > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "Everything List" group. > > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en > . > > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
