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Short Explanations
By Short ExplanationsTechnology
Short Explanations episodes
- 13 - Privacy
We bring back Yael Grauer onto the show to talk about privacy. We have discussed privacy in parts before, but specifically, Yael, did a huge opt out list that we want details on. Did you know your info is on these data broker sites. Yael tells out how to get rid of the info, or if it is even worth it.
- Big Ass Data Broker Opt Out List
- Yael Writes
- Twitter
- Mastodon
- SecurityPlanner
- TallPoppy
Want to join our signal group? It is free, just email the show
email the show: hosts (at) shortexplanations (dot) com
38 min - 12 - Is oAuth the Best Solution?
On this show, we have Tom explain to us what oAuth is, and should we really care about it.
Pros:
- Easy
- Less accounts to track/manage
Cons:
- Account linking (kinda)
- [DEPENDING ON IMPLEMENTATION] Your login to a third-party website is controlled by your oauth provider (who you sign in with)
- Oauth provider bans will affect more than just your primary account
Join our signal group.
As always, Like, Comment, and Subscribe
email the show: hosts (at) shortexplanations (dot) com
29 min - 11 - Security that Doesn't Work
On this episode we talk about un-needed security. These are the things that you shouldn’t buy/install/use.
- Virus Scanning
- Phone Scanning Apps
- Identity Protection
- Military Grade Encryption
- VPNs that claim to stop hackers
- Any tech product on an informercial
email the show: hosts (at) shortexplanations (dot) com
36 min - 10 - The Most Secure Messengers To Keep You Safe
On this show we discuss the big players in secure messengers. Not to spoil the fun, but we both highly recommend Signal.
- Threat Model discussion
- What is our “definition of secure messenger”
- WhatsApp
- Group and individual messages are encrypted
- Uses the Signal Protocol
- Can see metadata
- Meta harvests the data as much as possible
- Facebook Messenger
- Only in secret mode
- Secret mode is one device only
- Developed the same way as WhatsApp
- Threema
- Audited, recently had an issue
- Paid
- Uses usernames, not phone numbers
- iMessage
- Really good if you have Advanced data protection and/or icloud disabled
- iCloud data security overview
- Advanced Data Protection for iCloud
- RCS
- Google is the majority partner
- SMS fallback mode
- How it works
- Signal
- Telegram is BAD
email the show: hosts (at) shortexplanations (dot) com
33 min - 009 - VPNs with Yael Grauer
Editor’s Note: Sorry the first few seconds of the audio was bad.
We bring Yael Grauer onto the show discuss her research:
Turns out Yael liked our VPN show. Go check it out. Go follow her:
- Yael Writes
- Twitter
- Mastodon
- SecurityPlanner
- Consumer Reports Digital Lab White Paper PDF
- Consumer Reports - VPN Testing
- Consumer Reports - Top VPNS
- Consumer Reports - Should You Use A VPN
Want to join our signal group? It is free, just email the show
email the show: hosts (at) shortexplanations (dot) com
34 min - 008 - Are All Web Browsers the Same?
Browsers:
- Use Firefox or Chrome (Tom prefers Firefox)
- Edge is fine
- Safari is fine (Haim uses iOS and Mac)
- Stay away from alternative / non-mainstream browsers
- Addons
- uBlock Origin
- Your favorite password manager
- Extension Security
- History of browsers
- iOS browers
- Android browsers
email the show: hosts (at) shortexplanations (dot) com
36 min - 007 - VPNs
VPNs:
(we are not making a recommendation)- What is a VPN
- What isn’t a VPN
- Should you use a VPN
- anonymous vs obfuscation
- VPN vs Tor
- Are VPNs safe
- pivpn.io
- tailscale
- Private Relay
- next show is from the consumer reports who tried all the VPNs
Join the signal group by emailing us.
email the show: hosts (at) shortexplanations (dot) com
34 min - 006 - InfoSecSherpa: The Need For Certs?
We speak to InfoSecSherpa about what is bothering her in infosec. Turns out there is a lot of problems with companies and employers requiring a whole bunch of certificates and degrees for entry level jobs. Are certificates necessary (They are not), or are we just making life harder for everyone?
InfoSecSherpa Linktree.
InfoSecSherpa Twitter
Join the signal group by emailing us.
email the show: hosts (at) shortexplanations (dot) com
41 min - 005 - Multi Factor Authentication
2FA:
- What are Factors (Knowledge, Have, Are, Location)
- Email
- SMS
- Dongle-based Code (RSA Tokens, etc)
- Push-Based Auth (Duo)
- TOTP (Google Authenticator, Authy, etc)
- Yubico OTP
- U2F, FIDO2, WebAuthn
- Fall Back Safety
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email the show: hosts (at) shortexplanations (dot) com
45 min - 004 - Passwords: What are They Good For?
[If you are not subscribed to short explanations, please sign up. We forwarded the feed from the other podcast for a month.]
Show Notes:
- Don’t re-use passwords across sites
- How do you even remember each password?
- Using a password scheme (MyPassw0rd-facebook.com) - This is a bad idea because password cracking software knows this trick and will compromise all of your accounts
- First: Use your password manager generator
- Chrome Built in / Firefox built in
- Cred Stuffing
- Password Rules
- WEIRD password rules (8 chars, what?!)
- Longer is Better
*Sharing passwordsJoin our signal group. Find us for an invitation
Email the show: hosts (at) shortexplanations (dot) com
33 min
About Short Explanations
From the publisher's feed
A podcast network where we explain stuff without the fluff!