VPN, EdgeOS, Matrix, IPv6, AVIF, IM, P2P

1. Updated several systems so that those only allow administration via WireGuard connections. This is the ultimate "cryptographic port knock" haha. Were able to get rid of some older solutions being used. And also of course able to permanently hide SSH ports.

2. A few friends recommended UrbanVPN (not linked on purpose!). I did read their site and whoa, it's P2P VPN. Ok. If I would run some kind of clandestine operations, I would LOVE to provide P2P VPN. Because it would allow me to abuse the end points of all of my users. Are some P2P VPNs run / funded by agencies? Maybe, maybe not? I don't know. Yet, if it would be my job to provide untraceable / hard to trace networking for my operations, I would probably find controlling something like that very handy. That site is fishy as ...

3. Needless to say, I've been monitoring the SolarWindws attack case and resolution very closely. Cyber defense is very very hard, if you'll start thinking paranoid stuff (eh, you mean reality?) of supply chain attacks and other more advanced attacks where you can't basically trust anything or anyone at all.

4. Netlify, something negative to say about it? It's ... bleeping bloop ... to use some drag'n'drop stuff. Do you really know how soybean cafe stuff it is? I've hardly hated any UI decision as much as using drag'n'drop it's guaranteed way to f-things. With mouse it totally sucks, with touch screen it's pure insanity.

5. Loyalty programs and targeting specific customers. Lidl at least in Finland, seems to be having really bad loyalty program. It's basically same stuff for everyone. There's no any kind of optimization. I guess it's just easy to run. Again, it shows that all the big data blah blah blah, is blah blah. Why would you need that, if doing something extremely simple works just as well? As stated, there's often huge amounts of totally useless data being collected. I see that every day. It's so easy to spot how marketing algorithms work, how optimized or bad those are. And question is, if better algorithm turns out to any real world practical benefits. Good topic to discuss.

6. Long discussion about why some claimed to be secure programs, aren't secure, if you're expecting interest from powerful adversaries. Because they control:

   1. The end device client software

   2. The encryption and key management (in the client)

   3. The server side software

   4. The data storage / processing on server side

   5. The update processes for everything above

   6. Potential audits for everything above

7. Which means that, even if it's proven to be now secure right now, they have opportunity to change it any time.

8. Listened security review of year 2020 security issues. Summary of all Zoom related security issues made it sound like espionage malware. I really don't understand why anyone would have ever used Zoom. Those issues doesn't sound like accidents or incompetence, but direct attack against users privacy on purpose.

9. It would be so nice if Matrix would allow deleting messages and removing encryption keys per room after some specific time. Yes, I know it's not fool proof, but it's better than leaving all the data around. Could be implemented even on the client level. Delete messages after N days. If server would support it, then it could be on room level. Partially implemented using m.room.retention room event, but this is still far from a good solution.

10. No IPv6 in 2021? Not acceptable (@ ungleich.ch). That's well said. But still some don't get it.

11. AVIF has landed (@ jakearchibald.com). Excellent article about AVIF image format with new improved image compression algorithm. Coming to Firefox and Chrome browsers soon. I've been waiting for this a long time.

12. Lot's of security & feature discussion Signal vs Telegram vs WhatsApp vs Element vs Wickr vs Threema vs Matrix vs Briar vs Session, etc. Finally it was summarized as bkil/secuchart (@ GitLab).

13. I've been wondering where p2p based distributed social networks are hiding? It seems that someone has shared same thought. See: Manyverse (@ manyver.se). kw: censorship resistant

14. Weekend reading? EdgeOS full user guide with though. If I'm going to use EdgeOS devices, I'll need to know that stuff to avoid unnecessary suffering.

15. Something not so different? - Betz's Law (@ Wikipedia), related to wind turbines and power harvesting.

2022-03-20