1 karma · joined November 30, 2025
this was the precursor to lowlife.network but I just hadn't gotten round to publishing
the nuanced advice is for unsolved problems, so ... if you ask a nuanced question, you'll be ... directed back to foundational security advice ?
I don't think they've thought about it, perhaps Signatories shouldn't play risk-advice cosplay at population levels.
I'd be annoyed if this influenced policy because of who they are and not how dumb the logic is.
Bonus Intelligence Typosquatting Discovery: DNS enumeration naturally uncovers typosquatted domains that resolve but weren't registered by the target Identifies potential phishing domains Reveals trademark infringement Discovers forgotten test/staging domains Exposes defensive registrations that need monitoring
Using AWS availability checker has some limitations (not full tld support) but it's 100% cheaper than performing a whois lookup
Supporting article (badly formatted) https://thecontractor.io/ghosted/
that's a good edge case for not using a hotspot, but at the same time, i've never been on a flight with 'good' internet, but the main question, what to tell the general population about joining untrusted networks, now, you get thousands of feet in the air, you might think it's a tolerable risk to join sleazyJetFreeWiFi, and I would agree, it's unlikely that it's an evil-twin attack, but coming back to giving population level advice, is this kind of nuance useful ? or just fun
gg
- TLS only protects application-layer data (Q1) - doesn't cover layers 2-6
- Client isolation cannot be verified before joining (Q2)
- ARP spoofing, DNS manipulation, port scanning, certificate solicitation, MAC collection, and traffic analysis are all possible attacks (Q6)
- Personal computers lack defense-in-depth (Q8)
But then concluded: "Public WiFi is safe for everyone" (Q10).
Your HN comment says "there's nothing preventing me from securely using public wifi" - but you haven't explained how. This is the
issue: vague, hand-wavey claims without materialistic explanation(s).
What specific protections are you using?
You acknowledged these malicious behaviours in Q6:
- ARP spoofing
- DNS manipulation
- Port scanning
- Certificate solicitation
- MAC collection
- Traffic analysis
You claim HTTPS makes it safe, but you didn't explain:
- How HTTPS prevents ARP poisoning (it doesn't - this happens at Layer 2)
- How HTTPS prevents port scanning of your device (it doesn't - attackers scan your listening services directly)
- How HTTPS prevents DNS manipulation when 80% of users don't use DoH/DoT
- How HTTPS prevents SNI leakage when ECH adoption is <5%
- What specific mitigations you've deployed against the network service exploitation you acknowledged
TLS operates at layers 5-7. The attacks you listed in Q6 happen at layers 2-4. Your HTTPS traffic is irrelevant to these attacks.
The quiz asked about everyone, not just you:
This isn't about how well you've personally secured your device. It's about whether the general public should be told "public WiFi is safe because HTTPS."
Most people:
- Don't know what services are listening on their network interfaces
- Are running unpatched software (Q8: personal computers lack defense-in-depth)
- Aren't using DoH/DoT
- Aren't aware SNI is unencrypted
- and the rest
If you're going to have a good conversation about this you need to provide better, more specific explanations - not just "HTTPS makes it safe." What exact technical controls are you deploying? What does the average person need to configure to achieve your level of protection?
Without specifics,it's all a bit hand-wavey. The /quiz version tracks contradictions in responses (surprisingly common, even among technical users). The /conversation format
is for people who just want the technical explanation without the assessment.
Happy to discuss specific scenarios or threat models, but there are some principles that just wont change, do you know what they are ?