Spies

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GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

You know how since forever spies have used blind dead-drops to deliver secret information.... like when your contact sees the chalk X on the mailbox, then look under the loose flagstone under the bridge in the park for the microfilm?

Do you think that happens any more with the internet? Just way too easy to transmit an encrypted file from almost any device, anywhere.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

Maybe. You could subvert a geocaching theme pretty easily. But why not upload anonymously and surreptitiously instead? Way more mobility and certainty.
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Vince
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Post by Vince »

I'm sure it still happens. Taliban were still using them because they knew they were being monitored. And you can encrypt the file from your PC and send it, but that doesn't ensure that your PC itself is secure. Doesn't help much if the enemy has a back door into your PC and original unencrypted files.

Read inside Delta Force and the author said he was shocked to see all the chalk markings in DC once he knew what he was looking for.
"... and then I was forced to walk the Trail of Tears." - Elizabeth Warren
GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

Everyone carries a ubiquitous imaging and transmission device that can easily be encrypted, and no one thinks twice about it.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Vince
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Post by Vince »

Again, the files to and from the phone can be encrypted, but remember all the crap the NSA had to go through in order to get Obama his encrypted Blackberry?
"... and then I was forced to walk the Trail of Tears." - Elizabeth Warren
GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

There isn't a phone app out there that'll encrypt shit on the fly? PGP never made an app? You dont need to encrypt the whole phone, the field agent only needs to send the data out to his/her handler.

Know what? Not even encrypted. Data just has to get to home base.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Vince
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Post by Vince »

GORDON wrote: There isn't a phone app out there that'll encrypt shit on the fly? PGP never made an app? You dont need to encrypt the whole phone, the field agent only needs to send the data out to his/her handler.

Know what? Not even encrypted. Data just has to get to home base.
That's what I'm saying. You don't have break encryption if they hack the phone (or PC) and put code on there that grabs a key log.
"... and then I was forced to walk the Trail of Tears." - Elizabeth Warren
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

You'd have to root the phone, clean it, and gear it up specifically for secured messaging. Then you'd have to make sure your encrypted transmission was sent over an anonymous network. You can get very, very solid protection with customized crypto and relatively (maybe 1 mb) randomly generated keys. Unless someone cracks quantum computing, no one will crack that protection ... if implemented correctly. The real fun is getting the keys. But you can hide those using the equivalent of digital steganography in an innocent-looking image sent over a one-time use webmail account.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

Burner phone.

Picture of classified document.

A text message to the burner phone of your handler with the secret picture either through a cell signal or the hundred different open wifi hotspots in your city block.

Burner phone in trash.

No chalk messages/deaddrops/encryption needed.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Vince
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Post by Vince »

GORDON wrote: Burner phone.

Picture of classified document.

A text message to the burner phone of your handler with the secret picture either through a cell signal or the hundred different open wifi hotspots in your city block.

Burner phone in trash.

No chalk messages/deaddrops/encryption needed.
Sometimes knowing what they stole is as important if not more so than who stole it. Knowing the enemy's secret plans does you no good if they change them. So sending anything via cell phone isn't ideal. Also, that picture file you sent will end up on some device that also may be compromised.
"... and then I was forced to walk the Trail of Tears." - Elizabeth Warren
thibodeaux
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Post by thibodeaux »

Encode the data in an image with steganography, upload to imgur
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