Microsoft Gave FBI BitLocker Encryption Keys, Exposing Privacy Flaw
www.forbes.com
The tech giant said providing encryption keys was a standard response to a court order. But companies like Apple and Meta set up their systems so such a privacy violation isn’t possible.
  • wuffah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    6 days ago

    It’s not a security flaw, it’s by design. Microsoft has been building this surveillance apparatus for years, and the purchase of government access to your computer and data using your tax dollars is a lucrative alignment of state and corporate power. Their recent design choices point to a rabid desperation to turn your PC into an Apple-style walled-garden.

    It goes like this:

    • Require online Microsoft account creation.

    • Require TPM compliance to run Windows.

    • Forcibly encrypt the user’s data under the guise of “security”, even without permission or even user action. (Encryption is good! Right?)

    • Link your identity, payment information, data, online activity, and encryption keys to your hardware ID.

    • Record everything you do and use that data to train an AI model with onboard tensor hardware.

    • Exfiltrate the entire model, or just query it remotely for “online services.” Or, in this case, just have MS give you the fucking recovery keys. lol

    All done “securely” with tamper resistance and mathematical verifiability that whatever is on your device is yours, and that you took that action with limited plausible deniability.

    If you think you’ve got nothing to hide, think again about the current activities of ICE, law enforcement investigations based on reproductive health data, the pornography suppression movement, age verification, and the data harvesting of dissenting speech. What’s legal today can quickly become “illegal” tomorrow. The constitution is just a piece of paper in a fancy climate controlled box.

    • SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      1·
      6 days ago

      Because if a company gives up profits to be nice, another company will swoop in and get inherently rewarded by doing the profitable thing instead

    • Zephorah@discuss.onlineEnglish
      1·
      6 days ago

      It’s all being dumped into data centers now. Google and Meta don’t need your face to prove who you are to create a new login, they need it to link data. What’s awful is the need to log in is so intense, it worked. Apparently YouTube aspirations are worth it. And shopping Facebook marketplace.

      Now, Amazon isn’t allowing returns for many an individual without a pic or upload of government issued ID. Amazon allowed you to both pay and have an item shipped without this ID. But for a return, they now need it. I’m not saying this ask isn’t multipurpose, but it also links your data together and is probably being dumped into data centers with everything else.

      My point is, it’s not just Microsoft’s choices.

  • kn0wmad1c@programming.devEnglish
    1·
    6 days ago

    If they’re selling bitlocker as “full-disk encryption”, doesn’t that open them up to a class action since encryption with a backdoor isn’t encryption?

      • m0stlyharmless@lemmy.zipEnglish
        1·
        4 days ago

        Apple did add a new feature to iCloud called Advanced Data Protection, which enables E2E encryption on iCloud contents, which includes message and device backups.

        After enabling this, it is likely prudent to regenerate FileVault keys. It’s also notable that for the initial setup of macOS, it does offer you to forego uploading the recovery key to iCloud, but selecting this option presents a warning stating that Apple will be unable to help you retrieve your data if you lose it. Thus, I am certain most Mac users just upload them to iCloud, which opens them up to exactly the same issue as in the article, but does help protect against thieves or adversaries with brief device access.

        I have tried to convince Apple users I know to enable ADP, but I have been faced with the expected dismissal of it being unnecessary because they are not interesting, etc.

        More people need to engage in a culture of security and privacy when it comes to their digital lives.

        Edit: added missing word