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I'm just informed enough about IT security to know that I really know very very little about it. That said, I probably know ten times as much as do 99% of people. I'm an expert in my field, and while I've been a jack of all trades on many fronts, today's threats to privacy and IT security require expert knowledge to combat.
I do not have time.
- For example, I hear that Microsoft added updates to Win7/8 that threaten my family's privacy...yet I have not yet gone and removed the offending updates. I moved myself to Ubuntu/xfce, but my son is still using Win8. I'll get to it eventually.
- For example, java script is a security risk, and I have No-Script, turn off 3rd party cookies, etc, but invariably I have to turn it off for some website (i.e. to pay my bill), and eventually, I stop turning it back to full security.
- I installed Cyanogenmod and Fdroid on my phone. And for the most part its great..and I have very few apps with permissive permissions settings....but my wife is still using an iphone and ipad, with all sorts of apps...with ridiculous permission leaks..and that is a struggle.
The long winded point I have is that it is now just too damn much work to do it all right. I'm tired after a 10 hour workday. I've obviously taken more steps than most, but it is still leaky as hell...
I need a company/organization that I can reasonably trust to manage my information security/property, to manage my computers, manage my vpns, e.g., to isolate my web browser windows over multiple vpns, ... all of it, and it can't be GOOGLE. My data is my property, as long as I can hold it, so it needs to be a company/organization that built in privacy obligations (like lawyers and doctors supposedly do).
-Signed: A Frustrated Tired Old Nerd (with children)
[Ed's Comment: Does such a company exist? Is it even possible to provide such a service? Or have we just identified a niche in the market for some enterprising person to fill?]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday October 05 2015, @02:41PM
Renumber all the system calls. That is, suppose read() were system call number 1 and write() were system call number 2. Switch them both in the C standard library and in the kernel exception dispatch table.
Rename /bin/bash to /bin/ls and vice-versa.
I thought of writing a tool to do this in an automated way and so that everyone could scramble them differently but I just don't have the headspace for it now.
Also remove from your servers any software that the servers don't really need - especially the compilers. Don't just stop the deamons you don't use, remove their binaries, X11 programs and libraries and the like.
Put your deamons in separate chroots. It's a PITA to set the first one up but once you see how it's done setting up the second is straightforward. While it is possible to bust out of a chroot - I don't know how but understand that's the case - all but the most determined attackers, automated attacks in particularly won't know what to do.
Enable ssh public key authentication then disable password authentication.
Run ssh on a nonstandard port.
Add an extra round or two to your AES key schedule. Throw away the source code.
Set up "port knocking", that is, ssh won't listen for incoming connections unless you ping your server a certain way.
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