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#insecureatanyconfiguration

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@douglevin see, this exact scenario is why I act as "#BenevolentDictator" and literally lockdown stuff so hard #TechIlliterates cant fuck up!

  • Unless you put that option on the table as a.fellot #TechLiterate, you won't be able to survive this game.

I wasted 15+ years of my life trying to make #Windows somewhat secure to come to terms with the fact that ut's an #unfixable #Givware that is #UnsafeAtAnyConfiguration / #InsecureAtAnyConfiguration.

  • Believe me when I'd tell you that "#Users" like her don't give a shit about what Hardware/OS they get: Just set her up once with a good config (i.e. #UbuntuLTS if you're lazy like me), backup all the important stuff, setup regular backups, remove #sudo privilegues and then you'd only need to check in once a year at most if not have a system that just runs for the next 2-5 years without intervention.

On the flipside I've seen cases where #Scam|my Sales Reps were able to upsell some 5-digit 21,5" gaming monster to a photographer that uses ACDSee to do minimalist editing of their JPEGs.

At least I won't deal with #Windows11 or any of that shite because noone is gonna pay me enough to loose my sanity over such a garbage software!

And yes, WE, THE "TECH LITERATES" ARE TO BLAME FOR THIS because we didn't demand #Security and #Simplicity before #Convenience!!!

Infosec ExchangeDoug Levin (@douglevin@infosec.exchange)This weekend I spent half a day remediating an elderly relative's Win 11 home laptop. Totally overpowered and overpriced for her needs, it was recommended to her by BestBuy when her old machine was complaining it wasn't compatible with the new MS OS rollout :( Both her OS and primary email were compromised. The threat actor did not disable Defender but just excluded every important directory from scans. May have also punched a hole in her device firewall for all I could tell. Only reason she even knew an issue had occured was due to issues with her email. She stopped receiving any emails and we reached out upon recieving what appeared to be a phish from her account. (No link to click in initial message, but an invitation to a longer urgent conversation.) Turns out they just redirected her email to her outlook account email (which she didn't even know she had, but was generated as part of her Win 11 install). They created a new alias and added some other rules to auto-forward further comms. FWIW, the rogue device attached to her account was coming from a TX location - many states away from us. No 2FA, no adblocker, no password manager, no understanding of firewalls, what makes a password stronger vs weaker, confused by messages about actions that were computer/browser/OS related. But look. She's 80+. I only had a few hours to investigate and remediate. I can't change all that and expect her to manage it on her own. How the f*ck is it possible that an average user can manage this stuff? Why is Win such a trash fire? Can't MSFT make a default config for non-technical home users that is locked down by default? She has literally ZERO chance against threat actors on the modern web. We in tech have totally lost the plot... I am NOT looking for advice (just use Linux or w/e). I am venting about shit UI, shit tech co's pushing the next new crap tech for no other reason than $, and the state of the modern web.