This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
My conspiracy theory: those signing keys are very "tasty" maybe Microsoft was aware that some state-sponsored attacker got hold on them and blacklisted for everyone's safety.
Imagine what would happen if NSA or that other Israeli spy company could sign fake veracrypt or Wireshark binaries
I keep dual boot with Windows available for my wife. About a year ago my Fedora install was stuck in a boot loop and I hadn’t used my PC in a good while, nor updated anything the last time I had used it. The only conclusion I can think of is either bitflips corrupted the boot process, or Windows fucked with my Fedora install at some point while — perhaps my wife’s activity allowed a Windows update through, I don’t know. They’re on separate drives though, so… I recovered my data and reinstalled, kept Windows but I am now extremely sensitive to any shenanigans from that drive. Reading this news has me considering to tell my wife she will have to use Windows from a VM on my PC.
Glad I got out when I did.
I'm happy with Linux Mint, and most Windows users would be too, methinks.
Thanks for evolving VPN, Wireguard. Here's a boot in your face! ~Microsoft
Pretty wild to see them this brazen. They really don't want citizens to have access to encryption of any kind. What's the tipping point?
Oh, better switch to bitlocker and onedrive then...
How many more of these do people really need to just get the fuck out from under Microsoft's umbrella?
But open source is janky and doesnt Just Work!
Totaly agree, but dev need to sign their software to run on windows.
Yeah, no, I totally get it. It just blows that people just bends over like this for all the corpo bullshit, users, devs and other companies alike. I have a small business with my wife, and I try to run as much as humanly possible on open source software. I donate to the platforms we use, and for almost 3 years we've gotten away with not giving any money to Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple or any of the other tech giants. It is a Titanic task to keep everything running, for sure, but absolutely worth it. My point is that, if we can do it being so small and barely profitable, I can't imagine larger companies having an issue with moving away from these predatory practices. Then again, I'm not fully aware of what other businesses might require that we can live without comfortably.
Congrats! I did the same.
You know all those conveniences that Google gives us for "free" that we all of a sudden can't seem to live without? Microsoft does that for "enterprise level" companies.
Microsoft Gave FBI Keys To Unlock Encrypted Data, Exposing Major Privacy Flaw
They don’t want you to be able to use encryption they can’t control.
Probably the government is the one telling them to do it, the governments I should say. By probably I mean absolutely although they will be given their own enticements for doing such things.
Tbf they literally tell you that your keys will be uploaded...
I dunno that “they’re open about it” makes it any better
Doesn't it? You get the option to use it knowing its got extra security against hackers, but no security against Microsoft or state actors who can demand the keys.
When you live in a police/surveillance state, you're a fool to fear criminals more than the government.
Introduce mandatory signatures for driver files, they said. It's so safe, it's for your protection against viruses - they said. Keys can always be revoked from unscrupulous developers - they said. It will never be used to fight opensource, they said. It will never be a tool against inconvenient CIA applications - they said.
"Not every 'WTF micro$oft' moment is a slam dunk," he tweeted. "I've emailed VeraCrypt personally and we'll get him unblocked. I've already talked to Jason at WireGuard. Not everything is a conspiracy, sometimes it's literally paperwork."
Funny how paperwork never really seems to be a problem for any other OS.
It's not a conspiracy, just plain old incompetence.
The older I've gotten (or the further into late stage capitalism), the less I'm inclined to accept "Never attribute to malice, that which can be adequately explained by incompetence" (- Napoleon, perhaps) and the more I subscribe to "Why not both?".
Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
Nice.
"It's probably malice."
There's definitely plenty of evidence for both at MS.
No, it’s incompetence to have the hubris to do this on purpose.
Few journals criticize Apple (and Apple doesn't reveal these things that often) and the rest have no mandatory certification.
My guess?
NSA is currently figuring out how to insert backdoors into all these things.
You see, the last backdoor they used all the time, well.... people figured it out.
So, they had to ban uh, checks notes, apparently all routers, basically.
So, now they need a new backdoor into literally everything.
Not quite. The way the NSA and CIA usually work with Microsoft for exploits is pretty much just having them hold off on specific updates whenever needed.
In this case it sounds like they have specific targets using windscribe and veracrypt that they need to remain unpatched.
So, they had to ban uh, checks notes, apparently all routers, basically.
And ban firmware updates for existing models.
Meanwhile, Russian state hackers use vulnerabilities in old routers to poison DNS and steal credentials through MITM attacks. Agent Krasnow just keeps delivering.
Whoa, I heard about banning non US routers, they also banned firmware updates on existing hardware?
Could you in theory demand a refund from the government if you were willing to switch to their backdoor US hardware now?
"Waiver Expiration: This permission to receive updates for existing routers is currently scheduled to last until at least March 1, 2027, at which point the agency will re-evaluate."
I didn't realize this either until this persons comment you replied to. Scary as fucking hell shit dude. Honestly. We have lost so much freedom over the years.
Yikes! That is insane ontop of the already insaneness of the banning.
They didn’t get any punishment for that coup and Biden was a piece of shit that lost us abortion while wearing a fucking MAGA hat right before the election like the piece of shit tool he is. The fact no one fucking put two and two together over these established Dems is why we’re here.
Then they beat you down if you dare say this to anyone.
Why the fuck did he wear a MAGA hat? That’s why I’ll never trust those fucking assholes.
@Skankhunt420@sh.itjust.works was faster than me (thanks!). Yes, as of now, firmware updates for existing models are only allowed for yet another year and must be discontinued after. As always in this administration, the reasons given for these measures (Chinese attacks on US infrastructure) are built on lies and misinformation (none of the attacks targeted consumer routers). Hence, this is likely just another shakedown: "pay us a bribe or we'll damage your opportunities to do business in the US." Depending on whether foreign router vendors opt to go this route and give in to the orange grifter's demands, things may be different in a years' time.
Could you in theory demand a refund from the government if you were willing to switch to their backdoor US hardware now?
From a government of the Epstein class, by the Epstein class, for the Epstein class? No. You most certainly cannot.
Wow, that’s pretty damming. Three of them? This can’t be a random absurd error like it plausibly could have been for the first one reported.
There must be a really big flaw in their system if three VPN devs just “missed an email”. Is Microsoft sending the emails from a bullshit sus address?
Eh, it could be just a vibe code blunder, given this hit a suitably large number of others.
Which would be equally damning.
Don’t give benefit of the doubt to fascist. They thrive on that.
Hmfhh, quite so, dropped this...
/s
Probably an "accident'", until CIA got what they want.
Microslop doing microslop things.
I'd like to believe that this means that these three pieces of software actually work and that someone in high office has decided that that is unacceptable.
Paranoid authoritarians really do not like ordinary people having access to secure communications and personal privacy. That might be an avenue they can use to organise and elect someone who isn't a paranoid authoritarian, and that won't do.
On the other hand, these pieces of software might already be compromised and this is all an elaborate double-bluff.
In which case it's time for a few well placed communications over purportedly secure channels that would be guaranteed to generate an authoritarian response. Which they'll then have to pretend they didn't read until it's too late.
I'm talking organising - horrors - peaceful protests. They really don't like those. They have to use their brains, or someone else's, in order to find a good excuse to stick the boot in.
full disk encryption and VPNs wont do anything if the OS just starts snitching on you anyways...
