German goverment warns of Windows 8

Originally posted by antoinemarionette
reply to post by ManFromEurope

 

Nor should anyone trust American IT services until they clean up their act.

Indiscriminate spying on our own allies, not to mention our own citizens???

It's an outrage!

All the rest of the world needs to do is BOYCOTT them...

... and let nature take it's course.

actually i think it speaks loudly that no IT services worldwide can be trusted, i mean come on people do you really think other governments are not spying on everyone as well?

the NSA sucks balls but i'm sure so does everyone elses version of them also.

It's the same danger that has always existed. Just compounded for users of a Windows Live ID since every little thing they do will be bridged via the cloud to anyone who wants it.

Encrypt your # people. It's not rocket science. If I can show my 90 year old grandma how to make use of PGP and TruCrypt you can do it too.

Originally posted by ManFromEurope
The NSA/Snowden-affair WILL cost the IT-industry billions of dollars, and has already. All because foreign companies are not trusting the security of their data in the US-based cloud services anymore.

Hey, thank you, NSA.

We will save our data over here, because, you know.. your spying and copying of our companies valuable data as soon as it crosses into the USA!

And this will cost you dearly. Really, really dearly.

Maybe you people over there haven't realized it yet (NSA spying on other countries? Who cares?), but no *freaking* company in the world is trusting your cloud services anymore!

Have a nice one!

Thats nice. Because as a businessman myself based in Texas, I have never trusted the cloud services either. i don't use them in my shops.

reply to post by RageAgainstFascism

Good thread, S+F.

Isn't it weird that the United States (our allies!)... ironically the same folks who reproved us twice in our history for upholing surveillance states (and rightly so!), are now doing exactly the same thing themselves to their people and the world?!

The moral high ground is lost for the U.S..
No more finger pointing.

Weird times.

Ahhhh...Time to switch to Linux !!!

Originally posted by Thorneblood
So are we just all going to pretend that China hasn't been hacking us for years and stealing as much information as they can on almost every possible industry?

Are we gonna also pretend that the growing number of terror based hacking groups can't breach into systems and do what they want to get their message across?

I might not trust the NSA completely, but i trust them a hell of a lot more then i trust our enemies.

What enemies are you talking about?

China? They're not an enemy, they are a trading partner of the US. They are buying up property in the US like it's going out of fashion.

You don't trade or sell your country's property to an enemy.

Who else?

The Taliban? Nope...they may well have been rammed down our throats as 'enemies', our troops have been killed by them and we have killed them...but when they suit our purposes, like they are doing in Syria right now, we send them aid, weapons and money.

This isn't what happens with a traditional enemy either.

If i was a cynical type, i would think tptb are a bunch of self serving, lying, profiteering psychopaths inventing just about anything and doing almost anything to get more of what they want.

reply to post by RageAgainstFascism

It's deja vu all over again...didn't I hear exactly the same thing about Windows 7? Except at that time they denied it.

Microsoft's rejection of the idea that it's hidden a backdoor in Windows came as no surprise to security researchers, who yesterday expressed doubt that the company would put its reputation at such risk. "I can't imagine NSA and Microsoft would do anything deliberate, because the repercussions would be enormous if they got caught," Roger Thompson, the chief research officer of antivirus vendor AVG Technologies, said yesterday.

It didn't seem to affect their sales all that much then. I can't wait to see if anything happens this time.

I have lots more to say about Microsoft, but I have to get ready for work right now.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


You really think the current version of PGP is safe? About as safe as Windows 8

Somewhere I think I have an OLD copy of PGP.. from MIT before the NSA put hooks in the newer versions.

and BTW.. I was in the computer business before Gates was.. and the opinion of all my associates at the time was that Gates and Microsoft were the worst thing that ever happened to computing.

reply to post by SubSea


I've read conflicting things about PGP and GnuPG. I've yet to be convinced either is insecure by design but I will admit to using GnuPG rather than PGP simply because Symantec owns PGP.

If it did have a backdoor or some master key to unlock all I'm sure in all these years of use at least one case would have made the news.

Thanks Germany -
I have been thinking about downloading whounix - any thoughts?
whounix

jibajaba
Thanks Germany -
I have been thinking about downloading whounix - any thoughts?
whounix

If you want to experiment with an alpha build thats fine but there are other flavors of Linux out there built for privacy that have been in steady use for years.

Tails
LPS

The feature of running Whonix inside an already running OS is just Virtualbox. You can use that for anything.

I'm skeptical of how secure, anonymous or private it can be running inside your OS.

Booting from a Tails LiveCD and following all the rules of Tor is the current "best bet" other than not booting up all from what I've read and seen but I'm no expert.

If somebody knows better please share.

reply to post by MarioOnTheFly


The purpose of the cloud is monetary . You give them your data and they host it for you and maintain it. Over time you become dependent on them and the cost of migrating to another vendor or getting your data back becomes more costly than its worth to keep it with them. Once you give them your most valuable asset (DATA) they got you by the b@LL$ .

As for windows 8, why windows 8 and not previous versions? Do they really think this is only on the new windows OS?

Forget the OS why aren't we and them concerned about China making the chips that run military grade systems? Drones, Nuclear sites, secured system, flash drives, laptops, network equipment, non networked equipment, etc

If the Chip is cooked so it your OS, so it doesn't matter if its linux,mac,android,windows, etc.
Although, I'm sure such a thing would never happen.

If you are looking for an alternative to Windows, keep this in mind:

• No support for your directX games, maybe some in Wine
  
• Only games that have been ported to Linux will work (OpenGL)
  

On the bright side, there is a Steam client for Linux and Steam is working on a console that is Linux-based.

There is so much software that it would be foolish to make a list. It's all free too. The firewall (iptables) is powerful and integrated. There are plenty of GUIs available for people who don't like the command line.

Linux is insensitive to spyware, viruses and malware, so you don't need to install special anti-virus software (but you can if you want to, for instance if you want to scan an infected Windows partition).

If you are new to Linux, I also suggest the following:

• Don't wipe your Windows installation just yet, just in case. Back up all your data if you do
  
• Install VirtualBox in Windows. It's free.
  
• Download a Linux distribution and try it out in a VM first (VirtualBox)
  
• Take your time to check it out, there is plenty of help online, all free
  
• A very user-friendly distro is Linux Mint. It takes 10 minutes to install the steps are very easy.
  

Remember: nothing is fail safe. A badly configured Linux machine is more dangerous than a well-protected Windows machine.

reply to post by RageAgainstFascism


Linux is only an alternative as long as you ASSUME their aren't open ports in the firmware or hardware. If back doors are integrated into the chips than no OS is safe.

reply to post by Thorneblood


The NSA does not prevent hacking. THEY DO THE HACKING!! And how will spying on all Americans prevent foreign governments from hacking?

Originally posted by Thorneblood
So are we just all going to pretend that China hasn't been hacking us for years and stealing as much information as they can on almost every possible industry?

Are we gonna also pretend that the growing number of terror based hacking groups can't breach into systems and do what they want to get their message across?

I might not trust the NSA completely, but i trust them a hell of a lot more then i trust our enemies.

Well spoken, Thornblood, but as it seems the NSA is OUR enemy.
I would feel better, if the American people would clearly speak against that spying on the closest allies and even themselves.

reply to post by RageAgainstFascism


The very first mention of cloud services rung huge alarm bells inside my head and I've never used them.

why on earth would you ever want to give your data and files to someone else to hold on to?

Your data is and always should be your own. Memory is so cheap these days you should have no problem storing anything you want on your own personal hard drives.

Anybody who honestly thinks storing all your files on somebody elses servers is a good idea is deluded

Originally posted by Silicis n Volvo
reply to post by RageAgainstFascism

 

The very first mention of cloud services rung huge alarm bells inside my head and I've never used them.

why on earth would you ever want to give your data and files to someone else to hold on to?

Your data is and always should be your own. Memory is so cheap these days you should have no problem storing anything you want on your own personal hard drives.

Anybody who honestly thinks storing all your files on somebody elses servers is a good idea is deluded

The issue is that most people are always looking for a convenient solution. Convenience does not imply security.
It's easy to install some third-party app and put all your data on line, so that you can access it with all your electronic devices, anywhere, anytime. For instance DropBox, just to name one.

This entails the following issues:

• Your data resides on servers you do not own or administer
  
• If they go off line, you don't have access to your data
  
• You don't have any legal recourse if some ASP decides to pull the plug
  
• You don't know who has access to all your data. Someone has to administer and maintain the servers
  
• Most people do not use encryption, because they find it cumbersome or inconvenient
  

I personally recommend a NAS, such as Synology, which are fairly cheap and easy to set up. If you must use the cloud, at least encrypt your data and make sure you have a local backup somewhere.

normally hearing stuff like this i'd just chalk it up to the normal rhetoric against big corporations but with all the snowden business and then making a claim like this.. i wouldn't take this claim lightly and it's probably more true than just this little snippet lets on about.

Before we brandish our sticks at America, perhaps we should remember that America is not the only country spying on internet traffic. They're just the best at it.