Schneier on Security

Curious • January 11, 2016 1:45 AM

If I remember correctly, Bruce got a question about operational security. My impression of Bruce’s response was that this idea of op-sec seem to be futile against a state adversary, however I can’t help but think of something that would help, in the short run:

• In games I play, it has been said, that you ought to behave as if being watched by the enemy team player, players which will shoot you compulsively if you sit still, or isn’t hiding behind a rock or something. It is a historical fact in my country, that the state will put cameras in your apartment if you are interesting enough. I remember it was commentated by someone said to have been involved in the surveillance, that watching someone masturbate was “though”, whatever was meant by that. The simple trick of putting a blanket over ones head, something Snowden did iirc, seems like a very simple but effective way to counter hypothetical problems that has to do with people literally looking over your shoulder.

• It is always best to have options, then at the very least, you have some initiative to act on whatever you want to do, not having to be forced to do one common thing. And so having the initiative implies the means, and the time, both equally important as they complement each other.

Ofc, these are very generalized ideas, and because of that probably making it difficult to evaluate their value for anything op-sec given the lack of details, but I like to think it is refreshing. I guess I like to think of such arbitrary ideas as “expanding the concept”, looking at the details to try see if something obvious is dulling my imagination. Though, I am too lazy to do this consistently, otherwise perhaps I could become a great designer/artist/engineer one day or something I liked to think. 🙂

Curious • January 11, 2016 2:47 AM

Another thing that I would like to add to what I wrote above about my thoughts about op-sec:

With initiative and time being complementary, or so I would like to think, so is having both a tactic and a strategy. One being the means and the other the knowledge of what you hope to achieve as a specific goal.

Though, I can see how focusing too much on one aspect (like strategy) can turn out to be a bad thing, especially if this was not about computer security, but instead relating to anything deemed threatening to you, in which the mere idea of defending oneself will probably turn really ugly if acting on the most effective means available to try defend oneself.