On Tue, 10 Sep 2019 at 17:28, James Knott via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On 2019-09-10 05:09 PM, Giles Orr via talk wrote:
Decrypting and re-encrypting network traffic is becoming more and more popular. I think it's an appalling violation of both trust and privacy, but corporations seem to feel justified to "protect their network" (it's not necessary to explain the logic to me, I get it ... I'm just more about individual rights). Or maybe they're just doing it to mine your data, depending on the context.
There seem to be two circumstances (this is just about web traffic): - a private computer on a shared network, ex. you take your personal computer to a coffeeshop - a company computer on a company network, ex. you sit down at your work computer
I think I understand the latter: with a company computer on a company network, all that's necessary is to push a trusted certificate and all future communications will be done with that newly trusted cert and, well, you're hosed. Everything you send is examined and re-encrypted with the receiving site's certificate at the company firewall. Can this be detected? Can this be prevented?
It seems that some shared networks (ie. the coffeeshop in the above examples) manage to do this to people: is this only possible if they convince you to install something, and presumably that install package includes a certificate? Or is there another way?
I'm not sure where you're going with this. For example the coffee shop,
"Where I'm going" is to attempt to defend against what I perceive as a violation of my privacy.
it's long been recommended people use a VPN to prevent eavesdropping and hacking. Is this what you're referring to? Why is that a problem?
Well, because we shouldn't have to do it (although I understand that's a lost cause). But yes, this is one solution. I've never heard of a coffee shop forcing you to install something. I
have, however, come across some restaurants, where you have to register and then get hit with ads etc. I won't use those ones. As for company equipment on a company network, well that's entirely the company's business.
And, I would say, all the employee's business as well. Particularly if the employer hasn't made it explicitly clear that they're doing such a thing. -- Giles https://www.gilesorr.com/ gilesorr@gmail.com