Author's posts
Aug 31 2013
vnstat on my tor node
My last post showed the huge growth in the number of Tor clients since 19 August. Despite much speculation and discussion on the Tor email lists there is still, as yet, no definitive consensus on what is causing the rise. Many commentators seem to favour the botnet theory. Personally I’m still puzzled by the apparent …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/08/31/vnstat-on-my-tor-node/
Aug 27 2013
tor users up
Along with the longer term upward trend in the usage in tor I noted below, there has now been a large, rapid rise in the number of connected tor clients in the last week or so. The tor usage statistics graphs show a dramatic doubling of daily connected clients (from around the 500,000 mark to …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/08/27/tor-users-up/
Aug 25 2013
openPGP usage
Over at the the cypherpunks mail list, one Tony Arcieri posted a graphic showing an interesting rise in the number of OpenPGP keys registered on the SKS keyserver in the last month or so. The graphic comes from the SKS statistics page. The overall trend is clearly upwards, and has been for some time, but …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/08/25/openpgp-usage/
Aug 23 2013
thank you citizen
Imagine Dave’s censorship (^W) surveillance program outsourced to G4S.
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/08/23/thank-you-citizen/
Aug 23 2013
untrusted dod certificate
Chris Williams over at El Reg posted a nice article about the kind of crypto best practice you need to follow if you care about privacy. The article questions the wisdom of using David Miranda as what Williams calls a “data mule” to carry physical electronic media (possibly) containing sensitive data through Heathrow and goes …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/08/23/untrusted-dod-certificate/
Aug 22 2013
tor usage on the rise
A couple of weeks ago I noted that the release of tails 0.20 seemed to be popular – at least if the traffic on my mirrors was anything to go by. The statistics published by the Tor project itself show an interesting rise in (probable) Tor usage since June. The graphic shows that the number …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/08/22/tor-usage-on-the-rise/
Aug 20 2013
aunty doesn’t get it
The BBC has today commented on the Guardian story about David Miranda’s detention for nearly nine hours at Heathrow under Schedule 7 of the UK Terrorism Act 2000. The BBC’s on-line report ends with a web feedback form asking: Have you been detained under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 at a British airport, …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/08/20/aunty-doesnt-get-it/
Aug 12 2013
porn over postie
I was browsing the RevK’s blog (originally brought to my attention by David) this morning and came across this gem. It would seem that some UK households have been receiving unsolicited pornographic DVDs through the post. As the RevK says: Well, obviously the Royal Mail need a default opt-in adult content filtering in place for …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/08/12/porn-over-postie/
Aug 10 2013
tor users under attack
The Tor network does not just provide anonymous internet access, it also provides for so-called hidden services. These services are not visible outside the Tor network and are only reachable over Tor. The servers are given Tor specific addresses of the form “xyz123.onion” (actually, the addresses are a little more complicated than that because the …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/08/10/tor-users-under-attack/
Aug 09 2013
lavabit dead
I run my own mail server for a number of reasons. And I rarely regret that decision. However, there have been occasions in the past when relying on a single mail provider (even when that provider is myself) has proven problematic. The first problem arose several years ago when the ISP which I use for …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/08/09/lavabit-dead/
Aug 03 2013
security failure at digital ocean
This morning I received an email from Digital Ocean titled “Avoid Duplicate SSH Host Keys”. The email said: “If you have created an Ubuntu Droplet or snapshot prior to July 2nd, DigitalOcean recommends regenerating the SSH host keys. Droplets based on standard images now create unique SSH host keys.” (This, of course, implies that they …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/08/03/security-failure-at-digital-ocean/
Jul 28 2013
repeat after me – snowden is not the story
John Naughton has an interesting column in his “networker” series in today’s Observer. In it he laments the fact that the majority of the world’s mainstream media seem more intent on reporting on Snowden the man than on what Snowden has revealed. He starts: “Repeat after me: Edward Snowden is not the story. The story …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/28/repeat-after-me-snowden-is-not-the-story/
Jul 26 2013
soldier available cross magnet
I am in the process of changing passwords on a bunch of different systems/applications and have been pondering my algorithms, so to speak. Like my friend David, I have an internal model of varying password schemes which I can use in different places. This means that I can happily pick a password for a low …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/26/soldier-available-cross-magnet/
Jul 26 2013
how not to hide
I have written several times in the past about the tedious crud which hits my blog spam filters. Of late I have seen an increase in spam which looks, at first sight, plausible comment, but on closer inspection turns out to have the usual links to sites flogging cheap copies of western luxury goods. A …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/26/how-not-to-hide/
Jul 23 2013
this one is for dave
Our dear PM seems to have caved in to the obsessions of mumsnet and the daily mail. As someone in the grauniad pointed out today, at least we can be sure that Lynton Crosby has no connections to the pornography industry. Here’s one of my favourites….. It is interesting that whilst Dave thinks pornography on …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/23/this-one-is-for-dave/
Jul 21 2013
ubuntu forums compromised
Right now (21.00 today), the ubuntu forums site says it is “down for maintenance”. It appears to have been down since yesterday. The site reports: There has been a security breach on the Ubuntu Forums. The Canonical IS team is working hard as we speak to restore normal operations. This page will be updated regularly …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/21/ubuntu-forums-compromised/
Jul 17 2013
save your money – just use tails
I suppose it was inevitable that the Snowden revelations would lead to greater interest in privacy and anonymity. I applaud that. I suppose it was also inevitable that there would be a rash of commercial products emerging from both “entrepreneurs” and the more established “security” companies to take advantage of that increased interest. That, I …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/17/save-your-money-just-use-tails/
Jul 15 2013
nokia lumia 1020
I have been a Nokia fan for many years. Like many people, I guess, my first mobile phone was made by Nokia. I have certainly owned more Nokia mobiles than those from any other single company. One of my favourite mobiles (which I still own as a backup) is the 6500 slide. I also still …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/15/nokia-lumia-1020/
Jul 15 2013
tor and https at eff
For those of you unsure of what might leak where and when using tor and/or https to protect your browsing, there is a useful interactive graphic on the EFF site. As EFF point out, the potentially visible data includes: the site you are visiting, your username and password, the data you are transmitting, your IP …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/15/tor-and-https-at-eff/
Jul 14 2013
base64 gets past omani deep packet inspection
Back in December 2011 Roger Dingledine and Jacob Applebaum of the torproject gave a talk at the 28th Chaos Communication Congress titled “How governments have tried to block Tor“. That talk focused on the arms race between privacy campaigners and technologists working on tor and the actions of oppressive governments. The presentation gave many examples …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/14/base64-gets-past-omani-deep-packet-inspection/
Jul 09 2013
bizarre searches
Today I stumbled across what appears to be a Vietnamese search engine called coccoc. The front page shows the typical search box as pioneered by google, but underneath that box is some text which seems to comprise text terms, mathematical formulae and (perhaps) chemical symbols. Sure enough, passing that page through microsoft’s on-line translator at …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/09/bizarre-searches/
Jun 24 2013
more irony
This is lovely. On a whim I have just checked the DNS for the Guardian. I got the following results: MX records: guardian.co.uk mail exchanger = 30 guardian.co.uk.s200b1.psmtp.com. guardian.co.uk mail exchanger = 40 guardian.co.uk.s200b2.psmtp.com. guardian.co.uk mail exchanger = 10 guardian.co.uk.s200a1.psmtp.com. guardian.co.uk mail exchanger = 20 guardian.co.uk.s200a2.psmtp.com. So – all four MX records point to SMTP …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/06/24/more-irony/
Jun 24 2013
ironic advert
There is a wonderful advert in today’s Guardian. Most of page 6 is taken up with a Microsoft advert saying: “Aston Martin is now on Office 365 – your complete office in the cloud.” Right. An advert for a cloud based office suite from a major US software supplier. Tough sell. Especially in the Guardian.
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/06/24/ironic-advert/
Jun 24 2013
facebook login searches
About 18 months ago I posted a note objecting to facebook’s apparent new policy of insisting that its users hand over a mobile phone number in order to continue using its “service”. In that post I included a png image which I labelled “facebook-login.png”. Oddly enough I note that over the past two weeks my …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/06/24/facebook-login-searches/