10.15.20

Gemini version available ♊︎

A FIDO/FIDO2 False Sense of Security for Premium Prices

Posted in Deception, Free/Libre Software, Google, Microsoft, Security at 10:09 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Military-grade nonsense that is proprietary and untrustworthy (monopolised by the likes of Google and Microsoft)

Manifestation against missileSummary: From the attack on software freedom (including Richard Stallman and other leaders/luminaries) we’ve seen a shift to attacks on privacy itself, e.g. auditable encryption; today we discuss the troubling developments in the FIDO/FIDO2 space

THE ESSENCE of Free/libre software is control, liberty, autonomy, independence, security, decentralisation and sometimes privacy too. Those are all just words that convey concepts in English. It’s better understood in the absence of those things (when one lacks or loses freedom). As RMS puts it, to paraphrase a bit, either the user controls the program or the program is an instrument by which some corporation (or government) controls the user. It’s really that simple. To alleviate that unjust leverage of power (developers or developers’ employer) over computer users we need freedom-respecting software that is audited by many and forked if mischief occurs. This helps ensure that the public interest is prioritised, not the bottom line of some business/es. That does not mean that no business can exist; many businesses are based around distributing and supporting Free software. Perfectly moral and ethical business practices are compatible with the Four Freedoms.

“Earlier this year there was a major incident, which saw millions of rogue certificates being issued by Let’s Encrypt…”With all that in mind, we’ve grown cynical if not deeply concerned about the Linux Foundation. The institution itself is a misnomer (it promotes operating systems other than Linux), its biggest players (leadership) are monopolistic proprietary software companies, it advocates mass surveillance, and it works for Microsoft (which in turn works to undermine Linux).

Earlier this year there was a major incident, which saw millions of rogue certificates being issued by Let’s Encrypt, which is connected to the Linux Foundation and hosted/coded on Microsoft servers. These certificates were later revoked, but there was no transparency about what had happened. Can we trust one CA to manage so many certificates? Look at its backers and sponsors. These certificates aren’t free; if they seem to be free, it’s because someone foots the bill to gain something, such as the US government receiving back door access to undermine encryption (by access to private keys or similar). They’re already done that even inside Switzerland, covertly of course! So do we trust Let’s Encrypt? Not really, even less so after that incident. There was never clarity and now even an explanation of what was done, who the culprit was and so on.

But this article isn’t about Let’s Encrypt. It’s about FIDO2. The patterns may be similar, at least some salient points. “I don’t know if you’ve been keeping up with the developments in hardware security tokens,” one reader told us this week, “but I have been very alarmed with the developments that are happening with regards to FIDO2. I feel like this is another attempt to stomp out competition just like TLS CAs did before Let’s Encrypt was a thing.”

“We use GnuPG a great deal here in Techrights. Most of our messages are encrypted.”The reader is a bit of an expert in that domain. Also remember how the founder of Ubuntu originally amassed his wealth. “Right now,” the reader noted, “companies that make products like Yubikey and Titan Security Key are selling obscenely overpriced hardware just because it has a “FIDO2 Certified” logo on it. I feel like hardware security tokens are going to end up in the same situation that happened with TLS CAs where a few bodies monopolise the system and dictate who gets to be a “trusted provider”. A FIDO2 certification costs about $6500 USD, last time I checked. As someone that uses GnuPG and its open ecosystem of hardware, it pains me to see the monopolisation and profiteering that’s happening around the security space.”

We use GnuPG a great deal here in Techrights. Most of our messages are encrypted.

“I hope you can share this message with the right people,” our reader appealed, “to combat the monopolisation and anti-competitive attempts by organisations like FIDO Alliance. There’s nothing open about the FIDO Alliance. The firmware for most of those devices are closed-source and the only reason people are duped into buying them is because of the “FIDO2 Certified” seal on those products. I feel like this is a turning point in cybersecurity history and we need to kill this attempt at monopolisation before we end up with the tragedy that happened with TLS CAs.”

“A mechanism for trust among parties, e.g. encryption, is crucial in a free and democratic society.”How many billions of dollars were washed down the drain because of these? And we ended up with “trusted” CAs that are mostly in bed with the world’s biggest spying operation. Which means they might be worse than useless…

“We decide who to trust with our OpenPGP certificates,” our reader noted. “We don’t let other bodies make that decision for us. Let’s work together to make sure we nip this FIDO nonsense in the bud. We’ve got the platforms and people. The WebAuthn W3C steering members are stuffed with Google, Microsoft, and (surprise) Yubico people. I’m almost certain that they’re using embedded cryptography MCUs in their closed proprietary products and then making a eye-watering profit margin.”

Notice that their stuff is controlled partly by Microsoft and the NSA (in GitHub). So they clearly do not value or grasp basic security.

Our reader noted: “The OpenSK project on GitHub (by Google, I believe) uses an overpriced board and there’s a nice disclaimer at the bottom that OpenSK is not FIDO certified (this is blatant FUD). They aren’t even using the embedded crypto MCUs on the Nordic chip. They have gone with the excuse that their software-driven crypto is “research quality” code. OpenSK is a blatant attempt to spread FUD about uncertified FIDO hardware. Yubico are in on it as well.

“We might be the first site to touch this subject, but there’s more on the way for sure.”“Nitrokey has a FIDO2 product and I think it’s uncertified by the looks of things. I know Nitrokey people are very closely linked to GnuPG devs because I’ve been around GnuPG dev a lot recently. I’m pretty sure the folks at Nitrokey see the dangers of monopolisation but they’re keeping it quiet (probably in fear of the media pull Google et al have). I would also prefer remaining anonymous, thanks for allowing that…”

A mechanism for trust among parties, e.g. encryption, is crucial in a free and democratic society. Those who undermine the encryption basically maintain keys to the castle. They’ve long attempted to put back doors (or back door access, e.g. via third parties) to everything. Sometimes the media describes that as “weakening” encryption, but that actually means breaking; weak means broken.

We might be the first site to touch this subject, but there’s more on the way for sure. “Wanted you to be the first to throw a punch though,” our reader noted, “because people in the community trust you on these things.”

But there’s lots more on the way. Stay tuned.

Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Reddit
  • email

Decor ᶃ Gemini Space

Below is a Web proxy. We recommend getting a Gemini client/browser.

Black/white/grey bullet button This post is also available in Gemini over at this address (requires a Gemini client/browser to open).

Decor ✐ Cross-references

Black/white/grey bullet button Pages that cross-reference this one, if any exist, are listed below or will be listed below over time.

Decor ▢ Respond and Discuss

Black/white/grey bullet button If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

DecorWhat Else is New


  1. Links 28/05/2023: New Wine and More

    Links for the day



  2. Links 27/05/2023: Plans Made for GNU's 40th Anniversary

    Links for the day



  3. Social Control Media Needs to be Purged and We Need to Convince Others to Quit It Too (to Protect Ourselves as Individuals and as a Society)

    With the Tux Machines anniversary (19 years) just days away we seriously consider abandoning all social control media accounts of that site, including Mastodon and Diaspora; social control networks do far more harm than good and they’ve gotten a lot worse over time



  4. Anonymously Travelling: Still Feasible?

    The short story is that in the UK it's still possible to travel anonymously by bus, tram, and train (even with shades, hat and mask/s on), but how long for? Or how much longer have we got before this too gets banned under the false guise of "protecting us" (or "smart"/"modern")?



  5. With EUIPO in Focus, and Even an EU Kangaroo Tribunal, EPO Corruption (and Cross-Pollination With This EU Agency) Becomes a Major Liability/Risk to the EU

    With the UPC days away (an illegal and unconstitutional kangaroo court system, tied to the European Union in spite of critical deficiencies) it’s curious to see EPO scandals of corruption spilling over to the European Union already



  6. European Patent Office (EPO) Management Not Supported by the EPO's Applicants, So Why Is It Still There?

    This third translation in the batch is an article similar to the prior one, but the text is a bit different (“Patente ohne Wert”)



  7. EPO Applicants Complain That Patent Quality Sank and EPO Management Isn't Listening (Nor Caring)

    SUEPO has just released 3 translations of new articles in German (here is the first of the batch); the following is the second of the three (“Kritik am Europäischen Patentamt – Patente ohne Wert?”)



  8. German Media About Industry Patent Quality Charter (IPQC) and the European Patent Office (EPO)

    SUEPO has just released 3 translations of new articles in German; this is the first of the three (“Industrie kritisiert Europäisches Patentamt”)



  9. Geminispace Continues to Grow Even If (or When) Stéphane Bortzmeyer Stops Measuring Its Growth

    A Gemini crawler called Lupa (Free/libre software) has been used for years by Stéphane Bortzmeyer to study Gemini and report on how the community was evolving, especially from a technical perspective; but his own instance of Lupa has produced no up-to-date results for several weeks



  10. Links 27/05/2023: Goodbyes to Tina Turner

    Links for the day



  11. HMRC: You Can Click and Type to Report Crime, But No Feedback or Reference Number Given

    The crimes of Sirius ‘Open Source’ were reported 7 days ago to HMRC (equivalent to the IRS in the US, more or less); but there has been no visible progress and no tracking reference is given to identify the report



  12. IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 26, 2023

    IRC logs for Friday, May 26, 2023



  13. One Week After Sirius Open Source Was Reported to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for Tax Fraud: No Response, No Action, Nothing...

    One week ago we reported tax abuses of Sirius ‘Open Source’ to HMRC; we still wait for any actual signs that HMRC is doing anything at all about the matter (Sirius has British government clients, so maybe they’d rather not look into that, in which case HMRC might be reported to the Ombudsman for malpractice)



  14. Links 26/05/2023: Weston 12.0 Highlights and US Debt Limit Panic

    Links for the day



  15. Gemini Links 26/05/2023: New People in Gemini

    Links for the day



  16. IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 25, 2023

    IRC logs for Thursday, May 25, 2023



  17. Links 26/05/2023: Qt 6.5.1 and Subsystems in GNUnet

    Links for the day



  18. Links 25/05/2023: Mesa 23.1.1 and Debian Reunion

    Links for the day



  19. Links 25/05/2023: IBM as Leading Wayland Pusher

    Links for the day



  20. IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 24, 2023

    IRC logs for Wednesday, May 24, 2023



  21. Links 25/05/2023: Istio 1.16.5 and Curl 8.1.1

    Links for the day



  22. Gemini Links 25/05/2023: On Profit and Desire for Gemini

    Links for the day



  23. SiliconANGLE: Sponsored by Microsoft and Red Hat to Conduct the Marriage Ceremony

    SiliconANGLE insists that paying SiliconANGLE money for coverage does not lead to bias, but every sane person who keeps abreast of SiliconANGLE — and I read their entire feed every day — knows that it’s a ludicrous lie (Red Hat/IBM and the Linux Foundation also buy puff pieces and “event coverage” from SiliconANGLE, so it’s marketing disguised as “journalism”



  24. Links 24/05/2023: Podman Desktop 1.0, BSDCan 2024, and More

    Links for the day



  25. Gemini Links 24/05/2023: Razors, Profit, and More

    Links for the day



  26. [Meme] When the Patent Office Controls Kangaroo Patent Courts and Judges

    The EPO has been hijacked by industry and its lobbyists; now the same is happening to EU patent courts, even though it is illegal and unconstitutional



  27. The Illegally 'Revised' Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) is Disgracing the Perception of Law and Order in the European Union

    The Unified Patent Court (UPC) isn’t legal, the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) is being altered on the fly (by a person patently ineligible to do so), and so it generally looks like even patent courts across Europe might soon become as corrupt as the European Patent Office, which has no basis in the Rule of the Law and is basically just a front for large corporations (most of them aren’t even European)



  28. Sirius 'Open Source', With High-Level Political Clients, Reported to Politicians

    The crimes of Sirius ‘Open Source’ are of interest to the British public sector; we’ve begun contacting relevant people



  29. IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 23, 2023

    IRC logs for Tuesday, May 23, 2023



  30. RSS Feeds (or XML/Atom) Are Far Better Than Social Control Media, Doing It With CLI and Text Editors Works Best for Us

    Consumption (marketing term) of content (another misnomer) on the World Wide Web has been geared towards engagement (fancy term for time-wasting), so we’re trying to correct this with RSS feeds and processing of news (to Separate the Wheat From the Chaff)


RSS 64x64RSS Feed: subscribe to the RSS feed for regular updates

Home iconSite Wiki: You can improve this site by helping the extension of the site's content

Home iconSite Home: Background about the site and some key features in the front page

Chat iconIRC Channel: Come and chat with us in real time

Recent Posts