Kicking down the open doors

When it comes to Security and Anonymity, the techniques are as old as humanity itself, and the methodologies are so varied and numerous that for someone new in studying these things, it can be overwhelming. And looking at the innumerable facets necessary to uphold one’s anonymity and security, many questions, and reactions, come to mind immediately, and we see coping mechanisms activate in people.

The goal of this short article is to demolish those open door to make it absolutely clear that the problem is overwhelming and it just keep becoming more and more of a mess, yes. But how it remains a necessity for everyone to not only care about it, but become proactive in remedying to the problem.

I have nothing to hide!

This is generally the first open door to demolish for the vast majority of people specifically related to anonymity. It is a kneejerk reaction related to a mental condition present for the unfortunately vast majority of people. It is what the book “The Art of Hunting Humans” describe in the concept of drawers.(A fantastic book that you should absolutely take the time to read by the way)

Consider the following image if you would: A Captain of a ship that cannot get outside of his cabin and can only issue orders via a single drawer to the crew on the left side of his cabin’s door. On the right-side of the door, two drawers are there. One for “good” news and one for “bad” news. However, these drawers can only fit a paper on which a single word can be written. The captain must make all his decisions based on a single description.

Now, you would think this is fairly simple. The ship is being attacked by a ship with the Jolly Roger up high, the single word “pirates” in the bad drawer will be more than enough to make decisions. Same thing with “land” in the good news.

But what if another ship sails closer, but doesn’t have any flag up?
Well, “ship” is probably going to be the single word to describe what’s going on, but now in which drawer does it go?
Good? Bad? We don’t know yet. But the crew must deliver that information to the captain, else if they ARE pirates, then the captain will be too late to react. And so the crew doesn’t take the risk and put “ship” in the bad drawer.

The captain is the human brain in this story, and the crew are the body’s perceptive organs and the ship, the body. Humans have survival instincts, built over thousands of years. And unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the population does not have the tools to make more drawers than “good” or “bad”.

And in face of an incomplete picture, the reflex of people is to put a piece of information in the bad drawer, equating this to really, really bad stuff like a genuine assault. This is why for example, in a gas station, when the pumps only accept prepay people can react aggressively against the cashier. They do not have the full picture(how does prepayments works) and thus immediately go on the defensive. It’s a natural survival mechanism that kicks in.

So, to circle all the way back to Anonymity, people do not have the full picture, and put it in the bad drawer. And the person who proposes the idea of anonymity becomes the vector of the “bad”. An unfortunate form of accuser if you will, even if neither party in this conversation would put it in those words exactly.

What is important to make these people understand is that:
1-There is nothing bad about having things to hide(people wear clothes in public don’t they? They have a password on their phones so people will not access their private information such as their credit card number, their driver’s license, their home address etc.)
2-That keeping these information anonymous provides an additional barrier between them and a potential aggressor who would love to dox them, and incite other people to attack them. Good example of this is swatting.
3-Make it clear that people are, in fact, assholes. Humans are emotional and may use private information, or information that should be private, against them.

My Information is already out there, so there’s no point!

And here we have our first coping mechanism. People will point to their social medias and say “it’s too late, I cannot get back all that information. Once it’s online, the cat is out of the proverbial bag and good luck putting it back inside.

And honestly? Yeah, they are right. The internet never forgets. However, this reaction is what we call the sunken cost fallacy. I have already committed to it, so I must see it through. That is not true at all. It is a bad habit for sure! But just as much as one can learn to stop smoking cigarettes, or stop eating junk food all the time, and learn to go to the gym, one can learn to restrict the outflow of information. Sure, it will be a process and going all out all at once is going to be as successful as new years resolutions. Take it one step at a time, and eventually, you’ll get there.

There’s too much information about anonymity and security, I do not know where to start.

Yeah, there is a ridiculous of information on the subject to parse through and making heads and tails of what is immediately important can be difficult and frankly? Even amongst the specialists we disagree on the best methodology all the time on what to prioritize. There is no good answer here so I will give you the best answer. What do YOU feel is the most urgent?

For someone, the most urgent may be putting locks on their doors. For someone else, it may be learning to live without Alexa. As I already mentioned, start small and take it one step at a time. Keep going through all the various things, methods, vulnerabilities and others that you find and adapt those that really bother you first, and come back to the least pressing ones later. We all have different priorities and that’s fine!

This is exactly why we, Firewall, exist to begin with. To help you organize these thoughts, and compile all that information in a easy to understand manner.

Can’t I be Secure without Anonymity?

And now, we get to the compromises. I’ll do one but not the other. Let me go in detail over this, but before that, if my work here makes you, dear reader, aware and start working on even one of the two, I’ll consider that a win.

To answer the question itself: The short answer is yes, and the long answer is “yes ish.”
Let me completely shatter all your illusions right now by spoiling the single biggest secret of Security specialists hold in their dark labyrinthine offices: Security is an illusion.

There isn’t a single system, computer, phone, house, complex or nation that is secure. Even a house with ten locks on the door has windows to break through. And all those locks can be picked.
Discouraged already? Don’t be. See, Security is not a state of being, it’s a process. A house with ten locks on it’s door will be more secure than a house with one lock. A computer with a password will be more secure than one without, etc. Security and what professionals call “penetration” are an ever evolving race to beat the other. Think of it like an onion.
The more layers you have, the more the core will be hard to access. It always is accessing for a dedicated attacker, for sure. But each delay increases risks for the attacker to get caught and have active countermeasures be deployed against them (calling the police, getting the fireplace’s shotgun, unplugging the computer…). That is the goal of security, make yourself look too hard of a target to dissuade would be attackers at all.

This onion concept has been expanded a lot, in fact, by private security enterprises and by the military. I will expand more upon the threat onion in more details in the next article so stay tuned on that note. 😀

How can I trust you?

And this is the final question people have usually. And frankly, the only correct answer is “you cannot”. I am a person writing on a website you probably accidentally stumbled upon. I have not delineated any credentials and hiding my real identity behind a moniker. I am consuming what I am selling: Security and Anonymity. But as much as you cannot trust me, as much you cannot trust the police, who may be late to save you from attackers, nor can you trust politicians, whose interests most likely do not align with yours, nor big tech companies, who believe you to be the product they are selling, not the consumer. So always, always, always do your own research, and double check.

If there is one thing you should keep from this entire article, it’s that if someone tries to dissuade you from looking any information up by yourself and not by them, the biggest, noisiest alarm should be ringing in your mind and your immediate first question must be “why do you not want me to confirm what you are saying for myself?”

So, while I am, in fact, a specialist in this area, I will still highly encourage you to keep an inquisitive mind and always verify things for yourself. Always remember the “stranger danger” thing your parents taught you. It was, in fact, good advice.

Final Thoughts
Always remember than Anonymity and Security are a process. Do not rush in headlong into it. Be deliberate, Take one step at a time, and only once you are comfortable with the step you already have put in place, then add another step. Observe the small changes that this will bring to you and take the time to adjust.
You will get there, I believe in you. Firewall’s goal is to provide easy resources to help you along that journey. Nothing more, and nothing less. We’ll bring you to the proverbial river. 😉

Firewall

Kicking down the open doors

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