Blog Archives

Does your phone have a lockscreen? If so, why?

Stupid question, right? Your phone has a lockscreen to protect your data, of course! Well, “protecting your data” is an idiot phrase. Catchy, easy to repeat and so abstract that it can mean everything, which in the end means nothing.

Posted in Security

Explaining “privacy” to the layman (in easy terms)

Andrew has a dog named Chomper. Andrew isn’t as stupid as to use his dogs name anywhere as the answer to a password recovery question, but he doesn’t see why he should keep the name secret either. After all, he

Posted in Rants, Security

…Hey, want to sign up for a “free” account?

… We all have them, friends and relatives that jump for anything “free”. After all, if you don’t have to pay for, what’s the harm? Well, welcome to contract law. By definition, a contract is a formless, but legally binding

Posted in Security

Do not use fingerprint sensors! Period!

I had this discussion with a friend the other day, who is now the proud owner of a fingerprint protected front door and smartphone, but since fingerprint scanners are creeping into more and more security appliances, it is worth repeating

Posted in Security

Fingerprints are NOT passwords!

The three basic rules for password security are: Never write your password down. Someone might find your note. Never use the same password for different services. Otherwise you give the operators of one service access to the other. Change your

Posted in Security

Vote rigging? The real danger of Facebook is yet to come!

Currently, everyone seems to be discussing whether or not elections can be manipulated through Facebook. Good morning sheeple! Who would have thought that sharing personal information with an ad network would allow marketeers to contact and lull swing voters? Let’s

Posted in Rants, Security

The password dilemma with client/server applications.

I should probably mention this, even though it’s not actually worth mentioning: Raccoon v4.1.6 reverts to the Raccoon v3.x policy for storing credentials. That is, your password will be stored on disk again.

Posted in Security

Catch-22: When Raccoon suddenly stops working…

Back in the v3 days, I used to have this idiot discussion about handling passwords every other week. Some weisenheimer would notice that Raccoon only prompts for a password during setup. Then, dug through the config file, just to find

Posted in Security

Can someone explain to me why we are still required to sign our Android apps?

With Android O, we are well into the second half of the alphabet (no pun intended) and the Android packagemanager still requires apps to be signed. Why exactly?!

Posted in Android, Rants, Security

Interested in buying a smartphone with a fingerprint sensor?

Fingerprint sensors are broken by design. There’s no way of denying it. You leave your prints on pretty much every smooth surface you touch (i.e. the back of your phone) and you cannot change them, after they get lifted. Compare

Posted in Persepective, Security