Privately flaccid

Do we act differently when we are aware someone is watching? Probably yes, but eventually we ignore it to take advantage of “free” services.

The next chapter in the Life is Strange Universe was touted as “a free game” but today it seems it’s just a free demo that leads into Life is Strange 2 ($39.99).  Fine, I can accept that but more and more the privacy notices have become so upfront that I swear it has an impact on my experience.

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit
After accepting the privacy notice and actual choice, 
I proceeded to the game wondered around my character’s 
bedroom then kitchen, interacted with a few items 
wondered outside the house in the snow and then 
deleted the game.

It would be curious as to the analytics the publishers get from my underwhelmed one-time gaming experience.

Re-calculating

Every time I jump onto a plane it’s a chance to re-calculate my life choices and look at things from a different angle.  This time around, I’ll be testing out the Google DNS alternative 1.1.1.1 from a technical and personal perspective.

1.1.1.1 for consumers should speed things up a bit and sidestep the monitoring and logging from Internet Service Providers.  Naturally, I’ll start with my PS4 and later on selected routers and servers.

Breaking up is hard to do

Leaving the default settings active is the easier thing to do and creates a nice comfort factor as things just work as expected.  Messing with your settings and configuration can cause you a world of headaches.  As usual, the best practice is backup, backup and then test your backup.  Warning: You can “BREAK” your internet connection by messing with DNS.

In the meantime, check 1.1.1.1 for a non-technical guide to a brand new cleaner Internet experience.

Excuses to stealth

At age 14, I strategically used Valentines Day to anonymously share my feelings with girls I fancied or admired in class and watch from a safe distant never revealing myself in person.

Today it’s almost impossible to be truly anonymous and successful hiding is actually frowned upon as freakish and creepy.  The same techniques to surprise a Loved One can be used to destroy, mislead or corrupt without trace but It comes down to moral intentions and belief systems. Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to bring out the undetected schemer in you.

Stealth: The ability to reach and/or kill your target without detection.

Stealth mood is one of the most satisfying gaming strategies built into a wide genre of titles, in fact, many games award or punish you based on your stealth skills.  I’m rather addicted to stealth IRL and in my digital playgrounds, the best penetration testers often adopt this mindset to their core.

“The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.”  Kali OS

Day 3 of 5 | PS4 Offline…Talent management

A top-down look at Game Streaming is fascinating.

Why watch streamers anyway?  Well, as a veteran gamer it’s always good to watch gamers do things I don’t have the time or talent to do.  Right now, my PS4 is off-line and boxed up so naturally, I’ll just watch my favourite streamers.

Gamers voice and talent

The layer of talent management is a brilliant niche offering streamers services like event management, sponsorship negations, channel staffing, PR, career management, legal and finance.

This is a true recognition of the massive variety of streamers representing an actual legitimate career path and free channel of expression.  An interesting detailed article appeared in The New Yorker this week featuring Online Performers Group…….Read the full article here

According to Twitch.TV FAQs there are 17,000 Partners globally, so this is still very much something the Marketing people have not figured out how to truly monetise.

I’m guessing Streamer fall into 
these broad categories

Skill-based
Variety
Casual
Full-time
Sponsored
Fan-based
Broadcaster
Journalist 
...the list goes on

Seems to me the market is still trying to figure out the ‘Path of a Streamer’ but when a free-flowing arena gets formalised the community just morphs into something else.

Remember when you could say anything on mainstream social media channels?

Not down wid OPP

My professional life involves constant deep dives into Other Peoples’ Problems (OPP)….taking on the same ethos in my private life is truly a different matter.

Today, getting intimate with peoples’ digital life is way too risky and a very Thankless endeavour.  Taking on any private system admin task means exposing yourself as a technician to unwarranted criticism and abuse; get it a wrong and you’re a snooping idiot IT guy, get it right and nothing is said.

Not my Problem

It’s a constant catch 22 scenario especially when you can see friends and family making familiar tactical and operation errors i.e. never ever backing up their data, never encrypting their data and never changing their passwords.

Here are 10 things that people don’t change often.

Change bank account or card
Change email address
Change passwords
Change phone device
Erase or reset phone device
Change phone number
Change social media accounts
Change inner friend circles
Change ISP or Geolocations
Change public IP address

Tactical Reconnaissance: Basics for profiling, tracking or snooping.

No, No, No Way

Outside the InfoSec community and Paranoid conspiracy addicts, I seldom come across individuals who routinely check themselves to see how open they are to attacks.

Handy Hacker toolkits always include

Ransomware
Phishing Vulnerability
“New to YouTube" Vulnerability
Bot Infection
Browser Attack
Anonymizer Usage (hide yourself tools)
Data leakage 
(on purpose or by sheer end-user stupidity)

In the meantime, while everyone is debating the impact of leaving Europe, the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 is filtering down to individuals as it’s now a  tool for lawful interception of data.

So now you gotta look out for the bad guys, the marketing people AND Big Brother.

Solution: Encrypt EVERYTHING

Things just got Real…gonna go take my some Diphenhydramine so I can catch at least 6 hours deep sleep tonight.