Microsoft Back Doors
- Microsoft Windows has a universal back door through which any change whatsoever can be imposed on the users.More information on when this was used.
In Windows 10, the universal back door is no longer hidden; all “upgrades” will be forcibly and immediately imposed.
- Windows 8 also has a back door for remotely deleting apps.You might well decide to let a security service that you trust remotely deactivate programs that it considers malicious. But there is no excuse for deleting the programs, and you should have the right to decide who (if anyone) to trust in this way.
- Windows 8’s back doors are so gaping that the German government has decided it can’t be trusted.
Microsoft Sabotage
The wrongs in this section are not precisely malware, since they do not involve making the program that runs in a way that hurts the user. But they are a lot like malware, since they are technical Microsoft actions that harm to the users of specific Microsoft software.
- Microsoft is repeatedly nagging many users to install Windows 10.
- Microsoft informs the NSA of bugs in Windows before fixing them.
- Microsoft cut off security fixes for Windows XP, except to some big users that pay exorbitantly.Microsoft is going to cut off support for some Internet Explorer versions in the same way.
A person or company has the right to cease to work on a particular program; the wrong here is Microsoft does this after having made the users dependent on Microsoft, because they are not free to ask anyone else to work on the program for them.
Microsoft Surveillance
- Windows 10 ships with default settings that show no regard for the privacy of its users, giving Microsoft the “right” to snoop on the users’ files, text input, voice input, location info, contacts, calendar records and web browsing history, as well as automatically connecting the machines to open hotspots and showing targeted ads.
- Windows 10 sends identifiable information to Microsoft, even if a user turns off its Bing search and Cortana features, and activates the privacy-protection settings.
- Microsoft uses Windows 10’s “privacy policy” to overtly impose a “right” to look at users’ files at any time. Windows 10 full disk encryption gives Microsoft a key.Thus, Windows is overt malware in regard to surveillance, as in other issues.
We can suppose Microsoft look at users’ files for the US government on demand, though the “privacy policy” does not explicit say so. Will it look at users’ files for the Chinese government on demand?
The unique “advertising ID” for each user enables other companies to track the browsing of each specific user.
It’s as if Microsoft has deliberately chosen to make Windows 10 maximally evil on every dimension; to make a grab for total power over anyone that doesn’t drop Windows now.
- Windows 10 requires users to give permission for total snooping, including their files, their commands, their text input, and their voice input.
- Spyware in Windows: Windows Update snoops on the user. Windows 8.1 snoops on local searches. And there’s a secret NSA key in Windows, whose functions we don’t know.
- Microsoft SkyDrive allows the NSA to directly examine users’ data.
Microsoft DRM
- DRM (digital restrictions mechanisms) in Windows, introduced to cater to Bluray disks. (The article also talks about how the same malware would later be introduced in MacOS.)
Microsoft Jails
- Windows 8 on “mobile devices” is a jail: it censors the user’s choice of application programs.
Microsoft Tyrants
- Mobile devices that come with Windows 8 are tyrants: they block users from installing other or modified operating systems.
As this page shows, if you do want to clean your computer of malware, the first software to delete is Windows.
Tag Archives: privacy
Facebook Messenger’s Android Mobile App Permissions
The Insidiousness of Facebook Messenger’s Android Mobile App Permissions (Updated)
Read full article on http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-fiorella/the-insidiousness-of-face_b_4365645.html
In-app purchases An app can ask you to make purchases inside the app.
Device & app history
An app can use one or more of the following:
- Read sensitive log data
- Retrieve system internal state
- Read your web bookmarks and history
- Retrieve running apps
Cellular data settings
An app can use settings that control your mobile data connection and potentially the data you receive.
Identity
An app can use your account and/or profile information on your device.
Identity access may include the ability to:
- Find accounts on the device
- Read your own contact card (example: name and contact information)
- Modify your own contact card
- Add or remove accounts
Contacts/Calendar
An app can use your device’s contacts and/or calendar information.
Contacts and calendar access may include the ability to:
- Read your contacts
- Modify your contacts
- Read calendar events plus confidential information
- Add or modify calendar events and send email to guests without owners’ knowledge
Location
An app can use your device’s location.
Location access may include:
- Approximate location (network-based)
- Precise location (GPS and network-based)
- Access extra location provider commands
- GPS access
SMS
An app can use your device’s text messaging (SMS) and/or multimedia media messaging service (MMS). This group may include the ability to use text, picture, or video messages.
Note: Depending on your plan, you may be charged by your carrier for text or multimedia messages. SMS access may include the ability to:
- Receive text messages (SMS)
- Read your text messages (SMS or MMS)
- Receive text messages (MMS, like a picture or video message)
- Edit your text messages (SMS or MMS)
- Send SMS messages; this may cost you money
- Receive text messages (WAP)
Phone
An app can use your phone and/or its call history.
Note: Depending on your plan, you may be charged by your carrier for phone calls.
Phone access may include the ability to:
- Directly call phone numbers; this may cost you money
- Write call log (example: call history)
- Read call log
- Reroute outgoing calls
- Modify phone state
- Make calls without your intervention
Photos/Media/Files
An app can use files or data stored on your device.
Photos/Media/Files access may include the ability to:
- Read the contents of your USB storage (example: SD card)
- Modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
- Format external storage
- Mount or unmount external storage
Camera/Microphone
An app can use your device’s camera and/or microphone.
Camera and microphone access may include the ability to:
- Take pictures and videos
- Record audio
- Record video
Wi-Fi connection information
An app can access your device’s Wi-Fi connection information, like if Wi-Fi is turned on and the name(s) of connected devices.
Wi-Fi connection information access may include the ability to:
- View Wi-Fi connections
Device ID & call information
An app can access your device ID(s), phone number, whether you’re on the phone, and the number connected by a call.
Device ID & call information may include the ability to:
- Read phone status and identity
Other
An app can use custom settings provided by your device manufacturer or application-specific permissions.
Note: If an app adds a permission that is in the “Other” group, you’ll always be asked to review the change before downloading an update.
Other access may include the ability to:
- Read your social stream (on some social networks
- Write to your social stream (on some social networks)
- Access subscribed feeds
When you review individual permissions, all permissions, including those not displayed in the permissions screen, will be shown in the “Other” group.
Identifying Back Doors, Attack Points, and Surveillance Mechanisms in iOS Devices
Upon receipt of a valid search warrant, Apple can extract certain categories of active data from passcode locked iOS devices. Specifically, the user generated active files on an iOS device that are contained in Apple’s native apps and for which the data is not encrypted using the passcode (“user generated active files”), can be extracted and provided to law enforcement on external media. Apple can perform this data extraction process on iOS devices running iOS 4 or more recent versions of iOS. Please note the only categories of user generated active files that can be provided to law enforcement, pursuant to a valid search warrant, are: SMS, photos, videos, contacts, audio recording, and call history. Apple cannot provide: email, calendar entries, or any third-party App data.
Tails, the OS used by Edward Snowden
When NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden first emailed Glenn Greenwald, he insisted on using email encryption software called PGP for all communications. But this month, we learned that Snowden used another technology to keep his communications out of the NSA’s prying eyes. It’s called Tails. And naturally, nobody knows exactly who created it.
Tails is a kind of computer-in-a-box. You install it on a DVD or USB drive, boot up the computer from the drive and, voila, you’re pretty close to anonymous on the internet. At its heart, Tails is a version of the Linux operating system optimized for anonymity. It comes with several privacy and encryption tools, most notably Tor, an application that anonymizes a user’s internet traffic by routing it through a network of computers run by volunteers around the world.
Read more at: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/tails/
Tails is a live operating system, that you can start on almost any computer from a DVD, USB stick, or SD card. It aims at preserving your privacy and anonymity, and helps you to:
- use the Internet anonymously and circumvent censorship;
all connections to the Internet are forced to go through the Tor network; - leave no trace on the computer you are using unless you ask it explicitly;
- use state-of-the-art cryptographic tools to encrypt your files, emails and instant messaging.