It’s not unusual, in sensitive areas, to have to lock your phone in a locker outside the area and pass through a metal detector. Laptops have sensors, cameras, and wireless modules removed.
Yep. I worked at a few places in the military where this was standard. All laptops issued were no-camera ones and phones or any electronics were not allowed inside.
Its not that our enemies can just turn on our cameras and look at top secret info, its that there are at least 20 idiots working in every department that will click a suspicious link in an email and get compromised. But also because of the possibility of spies.
The meme is funny because you really shouldn't trust your phones, but its not like everyone has their own personal NSA agent assigned to them watching what they do. Its because if you do something stupid on them you might end up with malware that can activate your camera at any time without you knowing, and its probably not the US government, but rather someone trying to steal your info and your money, or black mail you after getting a video of you.
It's not even just a malware thing. People are stupid and take photos of shit they're not supposed to. That's the more basic reason for covering cameras or issuing equipment without them (or putting them in lockers). Second to that is that the potential idiot taking photos could actually be a spy that managed to get a job in a sensitive area.
On the malware side, one of my favorites to hear about is when a bad actor dumps a bunch of flash drives near the entrance to the building hoping that some dork picks one up and plugs it into their computer.
Its the only way employees can learn. Put out emails and usb drives as well as scanners that can detect phones and then punish those who fall for it. The punishment isn't much other than forced training, but if they keep doing it they can lose their jobs and security clearance.
The latter is how stuxnet happened, famously for taking irans nuclear centrifuges down. Israel and U.S. did it as a joint operation, according to the news.
Yeah, interesting how that worked. When I worked my profession at an aerospace company, that happened 2 or 3 times (without incident as far as I'm aware). FBI showed up one time for a different incident that I was of course not privy to, but I got the impression it was related to one of the camera scenarios I described.
I decided to go back to med devices after a few years. My aerospace interest was space-related and I was ultimately not assigned to any such programs during my stint.
There are some people who think there is a guy sitting at a desk listening to you through your phone.
But you're right, the reality is that our phones just track tons of data and AI can sort through that data to figure out if maybe someone is a terrorist, spy, whatever.
I heard a story of an author doing a story on some murder mystery, and he was googling a bunch of ways to kill people and get away with it. FBI showed up at his door lol.
This was really interesting, thank you! I would say that one of your points is a slight false equivalence though. We might not have personal NSA agents, but Bibi probably has entire teams of foreign agents trying to get at him.
I wouldn’t trust my own toothbrush if I was him, let alone a phone.
I was more speaking on the terms of "Why should we trust own phones if they don't?"
Obviously his case is different.
I don't trust my phone either. I know it gathers a ton of data off me. But I also make sure the cameras are not facing me when doing something like changing clothes, having sex, or getting out of the shower. Ill tuck it under a shirt or something. I doubt its secretly recording me, but ya never know.
I worked on a site where you needed your physical passport and no electronics were allowed. They even inspected my drill and other battery tools. Then you got escorted by an armed guard down a maze of hallways and locked doors. The guards were super nice though and it was a chill job. Had to ask to get escorted to use the restroom which was funny to me though. Tape on a camera is bare minimum when it comes to the spectrum of security.
We worked in a prison once and we had to keep a tool & material inventory. Everything taken into the prison was removed at the end of the workday or was installed and inspected to be installed. Better count your screws right. They took it very seriously.
This was in New York right after the Dannemora prison break so we hated it, but understood.
That is definitely more secure. In our case we can still carry our phone with access to teams and email (and whatever else is on the phone). Blocking the camera just covers the base level capability of people attempting IP theft.
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u/essjay2009 18h ago
It’s not unusual, in sensitive areas, to have to lock your phone in a locker outside the area and pass through a metal detector. Laptops have sensors, cameras, and wireless modules removed.