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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday January 26 2020, @06:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the what-not-to-do dept.

What Jeff Bezos Can Teach You About Smartphone Security:

Jeff Bezos might be (much) wealthier than you, but he's not smarter than you—at least, not when it comes to basic smartphone security. As you probably read and laughed at (and then sighed at, after you looked up how much Bezos makes each minute), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently sent Bezos a video file via WhatsApp. This file actually "contained malware that penetrated Bezos's mobile phone and exfiltrated a large amount of data within hours," describes The Guardian.

[...] As The New York Times notes, it's not even clear whether Bezos opened the video file (and malware) himself, or whether the simple act of receiving it was enough to exploit a vulnerability in WhatsApp. In other words, the simple act of receiving malicious code, buried in an innocent piece of content, is enough. You could do everything you can to not engage with it, but it might not even matter—unless you avoid the message entirely, which is contrary to the point of a messaging app.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 26 2020, @06:39PM (12 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 26 2020, @06:39PM (#948954)

    Many recent reports are saying that his girlfriend turned the data over to her brother and the Saudis didn't have anything to do with it. In which case the lesson is, don't give anyone else your passwords, ever.

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by barbara hudson on Sunday January 26 2020, @07:05PM (3 children)

    by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Sunday January 26 2020, @07:05PM (#948963) Journal

    I thought the real lesson was don't use WhatsApp? What's up with that? :-)

    You've got to wonder, why would people like Bezos and Gates even need any sort of social media or social media messaging account? If you don't already have their phone number, they don't want to talk to you.

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    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday January 26 2020, @08:04PM (2 children)

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday January 26 2020, @08:04PM (#948976) Homepage

      Whatsapp is an Israeli spyware invention spread through inorganic hype, like a lot of other things with Israeli and/or Jewish origin.

      Personally, when somebody asks me to install one of those apps, I can tell them to fuck off and send me a standard SMS text message or with large files use something like Dropbox or Mega that's external to the phone. I don't need to install another fucking app just to send and receive texts.

      B-but MUH SIGNAL

      There are a gazillion different things in the average phone that spy on you. If you can't trust any link in the chain then the whole chain is untrustworthy. Keeping your texts secret doesn't mean shit as long as there's something else storing your keypresses. And I doubt we'll ever see functional phones with the deep state out of both the hardware and ISPs that are allowed to actually be useful over the network.

      • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Sunday January 26 2020, @09:51PM (1 child)

        by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Sunday January 26 2020, @09:51PM (#949015) Journal
        Don't know why someone modded you troll initially ... have an upmod
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        • (Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Monday January 27 2020, @05:48PM

          by Osamabobama (5842) on Monday January 27 2020, @05:48PM (#949426)

          Don't know why someone modded you troll initially

          Oooh! I know why -- it's name recognition. He has a fan club, of sorts.

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday January 26 2020, @07:05PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday January 26 2020, @07:05PM (#948964) Journal
  • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Sunday January 26 2020, @10:02PM (6 children)

    by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Sunday January 26 2020, @10:02PM (#949019) Journal
    Coming up next - wha Jeff Bezos can teach you about pre-nips.

    It's not a big read - only one page.

    The page is blank.

    Order your copy now from Amaz@$;"@&-/:;NOCARRIER

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    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday January 26 2020, @10:23PM (3 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday January 26 2020, @10:23PM (#949029) Journal

      Here’s the romantic gesture Jeff Bezos does to surprise his wife—and he suggests you try it too [cnbc.com]

      [Although] the CEO spends much of his time overseeing his various companies, which include Whole Foods and the Washington Post, it doesn’t preclude him from being a family man.

      In fact, in a 2014 interview with Business Insider, the billionaire said that doing the dishes is a part of his daily routine.

      “I do the dishes every night,” said Jeff, who’s currently worth $118 billion. “I’m pretty convinced it’s the sexiest thing I do.”

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @01:22AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @01:22AM (#949091)

        I do the dishes too, maybe it's sexy, maybe not, but I get plenty of sex.

        At any rate it didn't keep Jeff's marriage hot because he fooled around on the side...which is not the sexiest thing you can do (with the person you actually married).

      • (Score: 2) by jelizondo on Monday January 27 2020, @02:16AM (1 child)

        by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 27 2020, @02:16AM (#949113) Journal

        I do the dishes too but I don't have to

        It's the difference between a slave and a free man, between being married and being single...

        ...ducks...

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @06:46PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @06:46PM (#950167)

          you're right, it's much easier to do it before she gets mad.

    • (Score: 2) by driverless on Sunday January 26 2020, @11:32PM (1 child)

      by driverless (4770) on Sunday January 26 2020, @11:32PM (#949052)

      What Jeff Bezos can teach you about smartphone security is very simple:

      Don't be a high-profile target

      If you are, they'll get you in some way no matter what you do. No matter how good your security, a targeted attack will get in. So: Don't be a target.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @01:24AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @01:24AM (#949093)

        > Don't be a high-profile target

        Or if your are, don't use COTS software. Have your IT specialist cook up some things just for you.