• Zeon@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Do you really trust these proprietary systems to do what they say they’re doing? Sure, the key may be stored locally, but an OS backdoor or compromise could still exfiltrate it, giving users a false sense of security.

    • S4m_S3p1l@infosec.pub
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      14 hours ago

      It’s not about me trusting these proprietary systems, it’s about me trusting mathematics, and basing my decisions off historical facts. Apple can’t just “magic” backdoors into their devices, and since a significant part of their business model has been in pioneering widespread commercial data privacy, it would literally go against their entire business interests. OS backdoors do compromise devices, which is why Apple pays > $1M for bug bounty hunters who find them first.

      The problem with you, is that you have no foundational knowledge of how digital devices work, and that’s understandable given how widespread these technologies have become. But trust me when I say, cybersecurity isn’t a multi-billion dollar industry for no reason, individuals and large corporations pay a shit ton of money to guarantee they aren’t shooting in the dark with their systems security & privacy. If you wanna learn more about this stuff, I highly recommend watching Edward Snowden’s video interviews where he talks extensively about what he found in the leaks he made about the NSA, because he’s able to detail a lot about what intelligence agencies can and can’t do when it comes to this stuff.

      Keep in mind though, that encryption has been a fundamental game changer which makes it impossible for the CIA even to create a giant search engine that indexes everyone’s data, that was only possible back then because everything was sent in plain text with practically zero wifi security. Now wifi security has become a cybersecurity speciality in and of itself.

      • Zeon@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        Saying Apple “can’t” put a backdoor into their own devices is an absolute claim, they’re the ones who control the software, so it’s possible in principle. Business incentives and bug bounties reduce the risks sure, but they don’t eliminate the pressure or legal mechanisms major governments can apply. Snowden’s documents showed that governments have methods to compel or exploit access, and implementation flaws or covert agreements can defeat cryptography in practice.

        I do have a solid foundation in how these systems work. You should read the GNU Manifesto and learn about Free Software, it explains why blind confidence in a completely proprietary stack is to remain untrusted. No one should ever be this certain a proprietary system will always respect users rights.