And ultimately, Wireshark is WAY to much of an essential tool to not use it, regardless of the risk.
Like driving, it may be the most risky thing I do every day (especially yesterday), but I still have to go to work.
John
On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 9:36 AM, Adam Thompson athompso@athompso.netwrote:
On 14-01-17 08:36 AM, Sean Walberg wrote:
If you still like reading, https://research.microsoft. com/en-us/people/mickens/thisworldofours.pdf is actually pretty funny. There are a few themes, but the relevant one is "your security measures depends on your adversary. If the Mossad wants your data, there's nothing you can do. A good password is enough to keep your ex-boyfriend out of your computer though"
Thank you for that link, the reading of which made me snort a carbonated beverage out through my nose!
If you are reading this message in the first place, you are not the majority. You are not a significant minority. You are not a visible minority. You are not the 1%. You are not the 0.1%. You are probably not even the 0.01%, you're more likely [collectively part of the tier that is] 0.001% of the world's population.
If you have everything triple-encrypted, you're defending against 0.1% of the 0.001% - someone who simultaneously has the skills to defeat ordinary passwords and good computing hygiene *and* cares about your data *and* is willing to do illegal things to access it. In other words, you're spending a measurable portion of your day defending against, roughly, one or two other persons in the world, and you don't even know who they are.
If you don't have an alarm system, a fog system, exploding dye packets scattered randomly throughout your belongings, several guard dogs, bars on your windows, and 24x7 CCTV coverage of your entire property to prevent any and all unwanted intrusions to your home... then you're not defending against 0.1% of the other 99.999%, which is a much more common and likely threat than the Mossad wanting your data. We now know the NSA does want your data, but mostly in a very impersonal way - kind of like an obsessive collector, they simply feel the need to have everything for the sake of having it. I'm unsure if the Mossad wants everyone's data in the same way, but both organizations are perfectly capable of hiring some local criminal (that's the 0.1%) to break into your house and steal your computer.
On the other hand, the "organized crime" threat category is, IMHO, a bit more dangerous than the author posits - that's not a huge bin of people, but they do cast a very wide net, and you're now relying on 99% of the 0.001% to apply common sense when building and configuring *their* servers, and we know that simply doesn't happen consistently.
Ultimately, I configure my systems correctly, I assume the vendors I rely on aren't complete idiots (until proven otherwise), I don't (usually) do blatantly stupid things online (usually, I said), and beyond that, I *choose* to Not Worry About It, and I spend my life doing more interesting, entertaining and pleasurable things.
Or, in reference to what James Mickens wrote: "what he said". :-)
-- -Adam Thompson athompso@athompso.net Cell: +1 204 291-7950 Fax: +1 204 489-6515
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