Everyone has something to hide!

Author: Vasco Gonçalves
Date: April 19, 2022

Secure your data (composed by Vasco Gonçalves / images source: PixaBay)

Let’s start with a real-life story where some of you might identify yourselves:

A CEO, let’s call her Joanna, lost her job for being trolled on social media.

What happened?

Joanna worked very hard to attain her position. She was relatively young, ambitious, and very successful. One morning, as usual, she arrived at the office and found her employees whispering and acting strangely.

She called her executive assistant and asked if she knew what was going on. Reluctantly, the assistant explained:

“Someone posted some photos of you and a man kissing, along with some nasty comments and other stuff.” The “other stuff” included partially masked nude photos of Joanna and a man, avoiding Twitter’s bans.

She asked to see the posts.

“Oh my God! These photos are of my husband and me! How did they get these photos? They were in my encrypted Cloud! Nobody could have accessed them! These photos are private!”

In that instant, she knew her career had come to an end and felt overwhelming shame. She wanted the ground to swallow her whole. She ran out of the office and went home, never to return.

Joanna had a virtual conference with the Board of Directors to announce her resignation. She handed in her written resignation the next day via postal mail. Although the Board opposed her resignation, Joanna could no longer work with her colleagues.

What happened to Joanna? Where does she live now? Does she still work?

Keep reading, the answers will be given.

Consequences

Have you ever faced a situation so overwhelming you felt like retreating from the world?

Maybe due to compromised photos like Joanna, or perhaps some confidential documents or patents are circulating on the Internet.

Gossip starts to mushroom everywhere, from your family to unknown people. You are trolled on social media. Many move away to unknown places, permanently or until the dust settles, as Joanna did. Some people lose jobs they cared about and receive no financial compensation. Though rare, some even commit suicide.

As a business owner or CEO, it is very difficult to hire someone who is or was trolled on social media or in gossip columns, even if the news is fake and they are innocent.

Others will say, “I have nothing to hide!“

Joanna was a respected professional and active member of her community, balancing family and career with dedication, but in an instant, she lost everything!

Maybe you are young and free-spirited. But one day, you might make mistakes, knowingly or unknowingly. That’s when you’ll wish the ground to swallow you whole!

One thing we should never forget:

“The Internet NEVER FORGETS anything!”

Once comments, photos, videos… are published, they remain somewhere in the world forever. Just search your favorite search engine, and you will see that some photos pop up even if they are no longer available on certain websites.

  • Are you in such a situation? Maybe, or maybe not yet!
  • Are you a celebrity?
    An actress or an actor, a social media magnate, a business leader,
    a politician …
  • Do you have innovations, patents… to secure and hide?
  • Do you have professional or private pictures or videos to secure and hide?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are certainly a candidate to secure and hide professional or private data or information, especially if it could be embarrassing to the public!

“I already have my data in a secure online cloud.”

Can you trust such online clouds? Joanna thought her data was secure in the Cloud. She paid a hefty fee for the provider to secure her phone and cloud.

If you ‘secure’ your data on the cloud, you become a perfect target for hackers, paparazzi, corporations, and rogue governments. With today’s circumstances, everyone is in need of money, and this could likely intensify over the next 5 to 10 years!

Despite their best efforts, clouds from Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others are serious hacking targets. Here is a simple example:

“iCloud hacker stole intimate photos from hundreds of Apple customers” (techradar.pro – https://www.techradar.com/news/icloud-hacker-stole-intimate-photos-from-hundreds-of-apple-customers)

How many accounts have been compromised (publicly known and undisclosed)?

You just need to look on Twitter, at hacker sites, and anonymous forums. Many brag about their exploits and sometimes post a nude picture of a celebrity or publish a few lines of a top-secret document as proof. They want to monetize these documents and photos or sell them back to you for a huge amount of money.

What is the guarantee that the malicious hackers will not retain a copy for future financial demands (again and again)? Many companies are in such a position and pay regularly – as an insurance policy – without being assured of the data’s destruction!

What can be done? What is the best option?

The best storage is a Secure Local Open Source Personal Cloud (SLOSPC). Think of SLOSPC as a personal vault in your home, fortified with cutting-edge security.

What is that?

Simply said, SLOSPC is a highly secure computer in your house or premises. Not any kind of security, but the highest form of security that exists for now – all the software opensource and free**.

How does it work? Simply said:

  • We install it with all the securities (Linux-based).
  • We test it.
  • We let it be tested by an independent ethical hacker.
  • We arrange for a non-published domain name (difficult to guess) if you need to access documents via the Internet.
  • We train the user(s) in security matters.
  • If you wish, we intervene only in urgent matters and perform annual maintenance (we never see your private documents since they are encrypted under your name).

I hope you understand the implications of ‘everyone has something to hide’ and the vulnerabilities of online cloud systems.

  • So, what happened to Joanna?
  • Where does she live now?
  • What does she do for a living?

Joanna and her new life

She relocated with her family to a quieter location to start afresh. After a year, she applied for a business permit and now does local marketing for small companies – keeping it local.

She asked me for a solution to her problem, and I proposed the above solution, a SLOSPC.

How to get the SLOSPC or more information?

If you wish for more information, send us a simple message through our website: https://digitaltran.eu/#contact.

Thereafter, we will contact you more privately.

* Some news about photoshoots, new collection designs, innovations, officially non-published patents, private photos, private documents, accounts and passwords (sensitive people may abstain from viewing some websites):

https://firewalltimes.com/amazon-web-services-data-breach-timeline/

https://thehackernews.com/2022/04/github-says-hackers-breach-dozens-of.html?m=1

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/23/tech/microsoft-lapsus/index.html

https://nypost.com/2021/12/08/google-warns-over-1m-devices-have-been-infected-in-russian-hack/

https://thehackernews.com/2021/11/hackers-using-compromised-google-cloud.html

https://abc7.com/jennifer-lawrence-nude-photos-hacker-ariana-grande-victoria-justice/288987/

http://myunique.info/vintage/icloud-hacked-celebrity-photos.php

https://celebrityrevealer.com/

** You may contribute financially to the opensource community so they can continue to perfect their free products, which we can enjoy. More and more companies and private individuals are turning to open-source and contributing heavily so developers can continue developing and controlling any code available full-time.

Disclaimer

The story presented in this article, while inspired by real events, includes fictional elements and altered facts to protect the privacy and safety of individuals involved. The individual referred to as “Joanna” is not based on any one person, and details have been intentionally modified to prevent identification.

As the author, I acknowledge being an acquaintance of a family whose experiences loosely inspired this narrative. However, the fictionalization ensures that no harm or harassment can be traced back to anyone connected to the events. This article aims to educate readers about digital security and privacy, not to disclose or speculate on any individual’s personal life.

Cyberattacks on Linux? Can it be prevented?

How common are cyberattacks on Linux?
Can we do something about it?

More common than you think. Do not get fooled by the hype:

“Linux is secure, stable, and flexible. It’s the most secure OS in the world!”

Sadly, nowadays it became a marketing tool and does not correspond to the reality. It is still true that is better than Microsoft Windows regarding stability and flexibility, but Linux has more or less the same security issues as a Windows system.

An Operating System is as secure as the developer and user take care about their own clean security habits.

Let’s dive in and see how to counteract cyberattacks, just by taking some steps.

By doing some simple actions you may avert a serious disaster – public shame, getting fired, even go to court to explain ‘Why was I careless?’ where thereafter it is very difficult to get a new job.

First some small simple stats*. Areas used:

  • Web services: 96% of the top 1 million servers are run by a Linux system
  • Smartwatches
  • Aerospace industry
  • More and more workstations and file servers
  • Cloud services are run mostly by a Linux system

Major countries which are exposed to attacks are*:

  • USA
  • Germany
  • China
  • France
  • Hong Kong (not a country as per decree, belongs to China)

Now with the war, these stats could have changed. It was noticed an active increase in attacks.

It seems that non-ethical hackers have the upper-hand and get rich. Did I miss my vocation? Just kidding!

NEVER go that route because either you land in a grave, 6-feet under, or land in jail for a very long time!

What can be done?

1.During the installation process use strong passwords.
Many users, privately or at work, still use weak passwords as (cracked in less than a second):

“ I love you ”
“ 123456 ”
“ qwerty ”

Use a password manager (very easy to use). Personally I use one where in most web subscriptions I use over 700-bits passwords (an overkill but easy to setup and to use) – copy and paste!

Or use a long passphrase:
“Yesterday, I went in the evening @19:15 for a swim!”
Almost 190-bit password (takes decades to decode it). Of course do not use this passphrase. Use something that happened in your life, secret to you – easy to use and you will never forget.

A password or passphrase is a PERSONAL item and not to be given to anyone, including your boss!!! She/He wants it, ask for a Liability Release Form!**

In case you give it freely to your boss, it is the same you sign your resignation or she/he will put the blame on you for any mishap. Do not be afraid, she/he has access to your files you working on but with her/his own password. So it is traceable.

2. When you install a Linux or a Windows system the first thing to be done is ALWAYS – update your system:

– Graphical way:

     ‘Software’ → click Updates

– Through the ‘Terminal’:

Debian and Debian-based systems, for instance Ubuntu:

      sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Fedora system:

      sudo dnf update -y

openSuse system:

      sudo zypper update -y

DO NOT FORGET to restart your system! Sometimes it is not required, but I always do it even for minor updates.

3. NEVER open an e-mail attachment if you do not know its origin!

By taking these three steps, you are protected about 95% of the time.

Still want to increase your chances of not getting hacked?

In most Linux systems, by default, the root account is locked. If someone has access to root, she/he can do everything in your system – the ‘god’ of all users!

During the installation create a normal account with administration privileges, hence the command word ‘sudo …’ + password to give access to root privileges – no activity, logged out automatically after a few minutes.

Generally every Linux system has an active firewall – that’s fine.

Another way to trap hackers, install ‘fail2ban’:

      sudo apt install fail2ban -y

      sudo dnf install fail2ban -y

On openSuse, just click https://software.opensuse.org/package/fail2ban, download and install it.

Restart your system!!!

Voilà, your got a protection of 99%. If hacked it has nothing to do with you but with the vendor.

In case you need more information or need some help in doing all these steps or even to further secure your server or workstation, do not hesitate in taking contact:

https://digitaltran.eu/#contact

* You may read in detail this article – very informative.

** More info, read this article.