A safe text editor // why??

[Landon Hurley]

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On 09/10/2012 03:37 PM, MFPA wrote:
> Hi
> 
> 
> On Monday 10 September 2012 at 6:45:29 PM, in
> <mid:20120910174530.3096CE6739 at smtp.hushmail.com>, vedaal at nym.hush.com
> wrote:
> 
> 
>> In any event, it is simply possible to avoid the entire
>> issue, by  booting from static media (i.e. ubuntu)
>> writing to usb only, using  any ubuntu editor, and then
>> rebooting when done.
> 
> What about TEMPEST as a potential eavesdropping vector?

> 
If van eck phreaking is a potential surveillance vector, I think that we
could categorically conclude that the person is screwed. This is
assuming that the person only has access to use the computer. If it's
his own computer the first thing I would recommend would be full disk
encryption, which should significantly mitigate the need for an
additional secure text editor, potentially combined with Tresor. Then,
in theory one could use low pass filtering fonts for text data, and as
our good friend wikipedia surmises, "randomising the least significant
bit of the video data information".

However, while it's been a while since I've been playing around with
this, I don't recall software security measures ever doing a whole hell
of a lot. Hardware solutions tended to be the only real mitigation, and
I would strongly recommend a Faraday cage. Maybe some sort of hood made
out of wire mesh to stop radiation leakage. Either way, it is both
conspicuous, and without controlling the computer, very difficult.

...Or was this just an example of an argumentum ad ridiculum?

//landon
- -- 
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
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