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More from @ProtonPrivacy

Proton

@ProtonPrivacy

Jul 16

Ever wondered why televisions all of a sudden became "smart?"

The advent of the TV-as-a-computer has enabled all kinds of functionality; but with this, our content delivery systems have become real-deal black mirrors.

Let's take a look at how your TV watches YOU...

1/15

Devices like Pi-Holes allow you to more-closely monitor the calls which different devices on your network are making.

One such setup, resident in a Proton employee's house, discovered their TV was making thousands of calls home per hour, to all manner of places.

2/15

Here is the part that stings.

They don't use a single smart feature on it. Never signed into its app store. Everything they watch comes off their own home media server.

The TV was doing no work they asked for, and a second job nobody agreed to, 1000s of times an hour.

3/15

Read 15 tweets

Proton

@ProtonPrivacy

Jul 9

Concerned about malware on your Android device?

Don't worry, we've put together a practical guide that walks you through how to root it out and remove it.

Your first instinct might be to download some kind of software. Don't.

Follow our steps instead...

1/21

We're going to give these instructions as if you had a Pixel running Android 16.

Steps are the same on other Android devices (10-15) but there may be small differences in how things are labelled.

In particular, Samsung devices will have sizeable changes to path labels.

2/21

Step 1: Run a Play Protect scan

Play Protect automatically runs malware scans, but some disable it accidentally.

- Open Play Store
- tap profile icon
- tap Play Protect
- tap Settings
- turn Scan apps with Play Protect ON

Then repeat the first three steps and press Scan.

3/21

Read 21 tweets

Proton

@ProtonPrivacy

Jun 29

Most privacy advice tells you to add things. A VPN, a blocker, another extension, another subscription.

Here's one that works the other way: delete the surveillance machine entirely.

It's 29 years old, free, and many people think it died in 2013.

It's RSS.

1/9

To see why RSS is private, you first have to see why everything else isn't.

Your timeline, your For You page, Google Discover: push systems. The platform picks what you see, and to do that well it has to model you.

The surveillance isn't a side effect here. It's the point.

2/9

RSS is the opposite: pull, not push.

A site publishes a plain list of its recent posts. Your reader checks it and shows you what's new... in chronological order and from sources YOU chose.

Nothing decides what's "relevant." You're the algorithm.

3/9

Read 9 tweets

Proton

@ProtonPrivacy

Jun 25

A defence contractor has figured out how to track you without ever needing your name, face, or numberplate.

The product, SignalTrace, instead listens to the devices you're carrying, and their sensor clips onto existing cameras your city has likely already got mounted.

1/12

Its full name is ELSAG SignalTrace, made by Leonardo.

The product page subheading is, verbatim: "Identify Suspects by the Electronic Devices They Use."

In surveillance tech this is actually refreshingly honest.

They aren't even trying to hide it.

2/12

The honest truth is that you don't need to know who someone is to track them.

You just need a combination of things they always carry that nobody else does.

70 cars might have an iPhone; only 1 has this iPhone + an Audi head unit + specific Bose headphones + a Garmin.

3/12

Read 12 tweets

Proton

@ProtonPrivacy

Jun 10

Researchers just unveiled FROST (fingerprinting remotely using OPFS-based SSD timing), a technique that exploits your SSD's timing to silently detect every site and app you have open.

No clicks.
No interaction.
Just visit a page.

Let's have a look at how it works...

1/7

FROST uses a contention side channel, looking at the interaction of various processes which are using/competing for a given resource.

Measuring input/output operation timings of an SSD, researchers determined the websites which were open in other tabs, even other browsers.

2/7

They could also sus out the open apps on visitors' devices.

Many companies have developed sophisticated applications which run in browsers.

This level of convenience for the user also creates new attack vectors, as browsers become way more than tools for viewing pages.

3/7

Read 7 tweets

Proton

@ProtonPrivacy

Jun 2

Pretty much everyone wants to track you.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center just dropped a report on the 8 Manipulative Design Patterns in Opt-Out Processes.

It analyzes how 38 platforms make it difficult for you to exercise your rights.

How many do you know?

1/10

1. Failing to provide a clear mechanism to opt out of sale and sharing of personal information.

Six companies had a privacy form on their websites, but it didn't contain a choice to opt out of these processes.

This was particularly pronounced with "people search" sites.

2/10

2. Not clearly linking opt-out forms from the homepage and/or the privacy policy.

At least 15 companies (including Google, Meta, OpenAI, & Anthropic) did not clearly link opt-out forms from these pages.

Holding onto data by making things difficult to find or understand.

3/10

Read 10 tweets

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