One of the most basic tenets of cybersecurity is that you must “consider your threat model” when trying to keep your data and your communications safe, and then take appropriate steps to protect yourself.
This means you need to consider who you are, what you are talking about, and who may want to know that information (potential adversaries) for any given account, conversation, etc. The precautions you want to take to protect yourself if you are a random person messaging your partner about what you want to eat for dinner may be different than those you’d want to take, if, hypothetically, you are the Secretary of Defense of the United States or a National Security Advisor talking to top administration officials about your plans for bombing an apartment building in Yemen.
Your threat model is being authoritarian + a moron.
They’re using Signal with disappearing messages instead of official channels because they don’t want their conversations documented for accountability. It’s the same shit they relentlessly blasted Hillary for.
I was most disappointed when I read that he left the group chat. Missed opportunity for some top-class trolling:
We are good on OPSEC
Are you really tho? 👀 🥸 😱
He was running better OPSEC than the morons in charge.
Well, the bar was low…
I was most disappointed when I read that he left the group chat. Missed opportunity for some top-class trolling:
Although that may have had him arrested/raided for accessing most secret information he lacks clearance for, so leaving upon finding out it was the real thing and not a joke group was the better move.
He didn’t “access” anything, it was sent directly to him.
But that obviously wouldn’t stop them from having him disappeared. Heck I don’t even think that’s off the table now
Probably not, especially now that he’s leaking the previously undisclosed classified information (that the people involved insisted was not classified). But them’s the brakes when you’re a journalist.
I think even the Trump administration is just about bright enough to realize that disappearing a top journalist wouldn’t go well for them. Especially if he never turned up again.
I really don’t think they’d care. Until someone shows them they’re not untouchable, why wouldn’t they?
Remember when the Governor of Missouri tried to have a guy arrested for notifying the state of Missouri that they had a breach in one of the state websites, making peoples PII publicly visible?
That’s the kind of idiots you’re dealing with here. “We added you to a group chat by mistake and it’s all YOUR fault.”
The reporter is a former IDF soldier, there is no way he would face any real blowback from Trump. There is a reason they had his number to add to the group and it’s because they were already feeding him information. The Atlantic is just a left coded mouthpiece for the State Department.
So your conspiracy is that a left-wing aligned journalist was in the phone of a right-wing politician. Therefore it’s his fault he received the information and shouldn’t have reported it?
Really? Even the flat Earth people would think that’s stupid.
Lol, I didn’t say any of that. But it’s a fact Goldberg has been a mouthpiece for the State department going back to at least the Iraq war in my opinion. He’s not a Trump guy but just doesn’t want to piss off any current administration so he won’t lose his access.
This is one of the greatest headlines in the history of tech journalism.
Its actually perfect. No notes. No possible improvements.
This deserves some kind of award.
MAGA Administration Secure Communication Assessment Procedure:
- Are you Hillary Clinton?
☐ Yes ☐ No
If No, discontinue assessment and do whatever the fuck you want.
- Are you Hillary Clinton?
I recall hearing that professional poker players hate playing against novices, because novices are so unpredictable. It’s really hard to plan a defense against someone(s) who are so incompetent that you have no idea what’s going to happen.
That’s why I win at poker. I don’t know what I’m doing, so I’m always putting most of my chips in, whether I have nothing, or a pair of 2s.
That’s probably why you lose at poker, too.
That’s why drunk poker is so much fun lol. (Note: Don’t bet too much money. And only play with friends, if possible.)
Reminds me of the time that one of my flat mates managed to actually convince a bunch of girls to play strip poker, and then it turned out he didn’t know how to play.
I actually got kicked out from a poker club in college because of this. I wasn’t “playing properly”.
Military gear generally has tons of anti-moron safeguards. Unfortunately, Signal is for civilians.
Which also means these conversations were on an unapproved app on an unapproved device. Actual government phones wouldn’t be able to get Signal, right?
Government secure phones are special hardware made by the NSA. They are nothing like civilian phones. Obama got the NSA to lock down his Blackberry but I doubt that is doable with today’s mainstream smartphones.
I actually wouldn’t be shocked if it was possible with modern smartphones. A significant amount of money is available to be made from federal security work, and meeting the NSA criteria has benefits that extend to companies that work in the federal security space as well.
The last stu-3 stopped working in 2009.
Yes they have different stuff now, but same idea.
As long as you can flash them, everything’s possible.
In that spirit: Fuck Apple to hell.
I have a government-issued iPhone. It has Signal on it, and I have access to the appstore. It’s also not allowed to be used for anything but unclassified communication and isn’t permitted inside restricted areas.
By 2028 “alcoholic idiot” will be the only condition still protected by the ADA.
Finally, the recognition I deserve
Another 9/11 scale fuckup is all but guaranteed, mark my words.
Yup, people are going to die, and it is going to be their fault… and they won’t care. Maybe the American people will. 🤔
Americans will be pissed, but at the end of the day nothing measurable will come of it. We’d have to be straight starving to get off our asses and get shit done.
And by then they’ll already have declared martial law.
That’s gonna happen when a riot occurs or a protest gets violent. Presidents can do it for any length of time, and only Congress has the power to reign them in. And of course, none of them would do that, so it’s “Marshall” Law until they crown Trump or Vance emperor.
I’m cool with starving, just don’t touch my internet service.
But her emails, but Benghazi.
this is what we used to call a “layer 8” issue
about your plans for bombing an apartment building in Yemen.
Then maybe don’t.
Can we just imagine if al Qaeda had added a journalist to their group chat regarding a bombing?
