The Internet Of Things
http://www.fastcompany.com/3044046/tech-forecast/welcome-to-privacy-hell-otherwise-known-as-the-internet-of-things
I don't personally have any IoT devices...yet. But if I did, I'd probably setup a separate router or enable a guest network for them to keep that part firewalled from my real network. The lack of security on these things is amazingly short-sighted.
We had a thread here about LG (??) smart tv phoning home user conversations and usage. Other smart tvs were recently similarly outed in my headline stream. Nest's tstat knows more about the owner's home routine than they do. I just installed that Channel Master DVR. My Samsung Note 4 kept pleading with me to set up the smart remote app.... It's creepin in.
But it doesn't take what we think of as an active IOT device to expose you, it can be more subtle --remember, my son-in-law who works on ultra-secure products found and documented a worm coming in on his printer's firmware update.
I wonder if open source hardware initiatives will go anywhere. If there were ways to be able to monitor some of this stuff in public it might help. That's not a cure-all by any means.
I'm not sure it's possible in all cases, but signed, verifiable firmware could help as well.Then we could at least know who to blame then things start hitting the fan.
Time warp
Reading this it just occurred to me that the drop in concern over privacy has corresponded with the drop in shame as a governor of society's norms.
I use to work with Japanese national, we had a conversation once where he said that the US was a guilt based society and Japan was a shame based society. At the time I didn't think it was 100% true, there were instances where Americans are ashamed of their behavior. However, today I think the feeling of individual shame, in the US and the rest of the Western world, is probably at an all time low. People are less religious than they use to be, those who are religious seem to hand pick faiths that support their desired lifestyles. People also seek media that enforces their values as appose to getting the 'established' opinion on a topic as they would in the past.
I am old enough to remember when the average person had two or three skeletons in their closet, these days most people wear their choices on their sleeves.
edit: fixed a homonym
worth a re-post
...and now I have an LG TV... and a new router is on order so that I can separate it out into its own network where it can't play with my other toys.
Update from our Told-You-So! Department
Consumer Reports: Your 'Smart' TV Remains A Privacy & Security Dumpster Fire
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180207/10173639185/consumer-reports-your-smart-tv-remains-privacy-security-dumpster-fire.shtml
This guy has an awesome guide https://github.com/mjp66/Ubiquiti
$50 - Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X
$100 - Ubiquiti AP-AC-LR Access Point
Follow the step-by-step guide, which is now 100+ pages, and you can use this router and access point to setup physically separate networks on your home network. One for IoT stuff, that can access the Internets, but can't access your other networks. Separate Guest networks with bandwidth throttling. Even a separate network that you might only use for banking or shopping. Very impressed with this one.
I think I posted elsewhere in here where you could use separate routers/switches to achieve this as well. Here you get everything in one $50 box.
But wouldn't I need one access point per network? So for three networks, I still have four devices?
Quote from: ergophobe on February 16, 2018, 01:51:22 AM
But wouldn't I need one access point per network? So for three networks, I still have four devices?
No. The Ubiquiti access point is slaved to the router, and one AP can work for several networks. It's the router that does the work of keeping the different networks apart. So your IoT, guest network and home network WiFi can all run through the one access point. The networks can all can have different SSIDs broadcasting, but you're just accessing that one device.
You'd only want more access points if you wanted to cover a wider area. That would work the same way with the router keeping everything apart.
One thing I did like about these devices is they handle Power over Ethernet (PoE), which means the device doesn't need anything more than a LAN cable attached to it to run. That helps with device placement and mounting as it doesn't need to be near a wall socket for a power cord.
The one take away here for me, is its for less than 1% of society:
QuoteFollow the step-by-step guide, which is now 100+ pages,
If its not plug and play, I dont know many outside the walls here who could manage it. And my feeling is I cannot be bothered. I have 2 broadband services. One open for home, one for work, thats tight with no wireless.
Quote from: Rupert on February 16, 2018, 07:51:11 AM
The one take away here for me, is its for less than 1% of society
Agreed.
I consider myself pretty good with these things and I was a bit taken aback by the length of that document. However, given a few hours almost anyone could go through that. It's step-by-step instructions and a lot of screenshots and background information.
The idiot-proof commercial gear is possible for this sort of setup as well. You just need more equipment to do the same thing that this cheaper, yet more complicated, setup will provide.
<bump>
Read the comments.
There's a simple reason why your new smart TV was so affordable: It's collecting and selling your data
https://old.reddit.com/r/tech/comments/afewnr/theres_a_simple_reason_why_your_new_smart_tv_was/
https://www.businessinsider.com/smart-tv-data-collection-advertising-2019-1?r=US&IR=T
So in addition to putting your IoT stuff on its own network segment, I'd highly suggest you throw a PiHole into the mix. You can really tame and micromanage a 'smart TV' or other device with this.
What's this Streisand stuff about?
Secure & Ad-free Internet Anywhere With Streisand and Pi Hole
https://ifelse.io/2019/01/12/secure-ad-free-internet-anywhere-with-streisand-and-pi-hole/
>I'm sorry, you must have mistaken me for someone who wants to f### with IP numbers, hhh.
Gawd, I'm being sucked into the swirling vortex of ip numbers more & more. I had to do *gasp* DHCP Reservations the other day because of the smarthome stuff.
Quote from: rcjordan on January 16, 2019, 09:02:28 PM
What's this Streisand stuff about?
A lot of people like to run a VPN with their PiHole, and then have the VPN use the PiHole for DNS queries as well. Probably a fun addition, but not necessary for the PiHole on your network.
<bump>
This thread was started in 2015 and, AFAIK, pi-hole & vpn are still the most viable privacy solutions. And still a PITA.
Household privacy is only going to get worse. Eventually, you won't be able to buy a dumb tv|dishwasher|refrig.
I guess I am, indeed, going to have to "fuck with IP numbers."
And now my entire home network is forced through multiple PiHoles, whereas before only certain segments that I personally used had the PiHole love. And I tightened the PiHole down using internal DNS with Unbound. No more DNS calls to Google or Cloudflare. The PiHoles are really essential...my TV seems to be lonely as it appears desperate to call home.
I've read that the newer "smart" TVs know when they're being blocked and will send out gibberish domain calls when they realize they can't phone home. They know they're being blocked.
The thing we have to watch for now is encrypted DNS calls that bypass the PiHole. Some Google devices will do this already. They can bypass network DNS this way to make their precious call home. Ever wonder why Google and the other big boys are pushing for this secure DNS?
Then there's malware that can run its own encrypted DNS that can use this same functionality to call home through your network protections... It's getting more difficult to keep up.