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The Dangers of Microsoft Pluton

(gabrielsieben.tech)
733 points gjsman-1000 | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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userbinator ◴[] No.32234457[source]
What is to prevent school WiFi from one day requiring a Pluton assertion that your Windows PC hasn’t been tampered with before you can join the network?

Remote attestation is the true enemy of your freedom. The power of the authoritarian corporatocracy to force you to use only the (entire) systems they control. It's worth reading https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html again just to see how prescient Stallman was.

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aplanas ◴[] No.32235241[source]
Windows security models and policies are the enemy, not remote attestation (RA).

RA is a technology that has its fair use, and can be desired for other systems, like in Linux. With a pure RA system your services can decide to trust or not those devices on your network that can be compromised, and report to other devices that there is something suspicious.

As anything, this can be used properly to increase the security of your edge architecture, or wrongly to limit the users actions.

Let me put another example. With RA I should be able to authorize validated systems in my R&D VPN. If you are using your own laptop with the company certificate, and the verifier tag the systems as "unknown" or "unhealthy", it will not allow the access to the internal network, but sure you can still use your laptop for anything else. This, IMHO, is a fair use of this technology.

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fulafel ◴[] No.32235515[source]
Yes, lots of Linux devices apply it like that today: You can't use your banking app or consume DRM crippled media on your Android phone if you have root or run a open source Android distribution.
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Aeolun ◴[] No.32235557[source]
> if you have root

Because god forbid you have control of your own PC?

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npteljes ◴[] No.32235770[source]
Yep! Basically, it's safer if you don't own your PC. Think about users with a million toolbars and Bonzi Buddy installed.

Of course, the system for it is rudimentary, and puts a disproportionate amount of control in the hands of providers. And that works very well for them too.

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userbinator ◴[] No.32238033[source]
Think about users with a million toolbars and Bonzi Buddy installed.

I say let them be. As long as they also have the freedom to remove or not install such software, it's a good thing. Instead we have locked-down devices with the functional equivalent of such unwanted software, protected so that you cannot remove it without somehow getting root.

"Those who give up freedom for security deserve neither."

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lotsofpulp ◴[] No.32238267[source]
My parents grew up in a non English speaking developing country, and they cannot be reasonably expected to learn the nuances of malware laden links to figure out which English text link is good or bad.

Do they deserve to not be able to shop online without fear of having their payment information stolen? Or mistyping a URL in their non native language and ending up at a scam website that installs malware? Or simply having a device that comes to a crawl such that they cannot reliably video call their grandkids?

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1. npteljes ◴[] No.32238391{3}[source]
I don't mind the lock, but why don't we have the key? There's no reason to centally hold these hostage.