While both handle two factor authentication, Authy only assists with time based one time passwords (TOTP) which still leaves the end user open to phishing. These security keys are meant to be used with universal second factor (U2F) which prevents phishing entirely.
Similar use case (2FA), but different implementation.
Instead of typing in a code, you press a button. It also protects against phishing by validating the URL of the site you're authenticating on (with a code-based 2FA you can still enter your code on a phishing site, which then forwards it to the real one).
AIUI Krypton is basically doing the same thing as these FIDO2 Security Keys, but their software substitutes an app on your Phone for the Security Key. So a web site offering WebAuthn can't tell the difference (unless you allow it to interrogate the "Security Key" to ask who made it, which you probably shouldn't)
I personally would rather have Security Keys, but a solution like Krypton is definitely easier for a lot of users and obviously the price differential is hard to argue with.
An app has a much larger attack surface (for instance from malware on the phone).
TOTP has to use short easy to enter codes (six digit numbers), Titan is doing a full handshake using modern cryptography with sensable key lengths.
In many use cases pushing the button on the key is quicker/easier then using the app.
My first thought: Look, this is Cuba. Home of con artistry. They will stage a UFO landing to get more tourists spend convertible pesos. For me P(heard-in-havana-and-true) is around 0.1, max.
Funny, this could be extended to all sorts of investments. What if I spent 1000 USD on Apple in 1990? I'd have about 1000 Apple stock now, currently worth around 160k.
How about the return on PonziCoin everybody missed out on?
It's gone up about 10,000% in 2 months. Market cap should surpass global GDP mid-May next year.
Private browsing mode is your friend. (You can set it as your default, at least on iPhone.) Caveat: You will have to keep confirming cookie usage popups (EU only I guess).
Private browsing does not conceal what you visit from your ISP, and it only partially prevents trackers and beacons from tracking you (browser fingerprinting is an issue the private browsing won't solve).
It also won't safe you from nefarious extensions installed in good faith (as mentioned in the presentation).
Using private browsing keeps your local history clean, and prevents existing cookies from being used to track you. That's it. It is there mainly to prevent the letter 'p' typed in the address bar from auto-completing to the more colourful websites just when you want to show your mother-in-law a nice quilt you saw on Pinterest.
To prevent the level of tracking mentioned in the presentation, you should at a minimum use a VPN, private browsing, and trusted anti-tracking extensions such as uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger (which as far as I can tell seem to be in the clear and above board at the moment).
If your threat level warrants it (e.g., a judge in a morally conservative society) you would use Tor or a VPN with multiple exit points chosen at random for each session.
Private browsing mode is helpful in the sense that it disables all extensions by default (Google seems to have understood that they pose a privacy risk), but as others have pointed out it won't protect you from tracking by your ISP or IP-based tracking (if your address is stable over longer time periods).
I recommend using a VPN solution with rotating exit nodes, e.g. Zenmate. This will make it much harder to track you based on your IP address (as many people will share the same exit node address and as it will often even change randomly between requests), and it will keep your ISP from spying on you as well as the only thing they see is the VPN connection.
It might protect you in the sense that the evil browser extensions are disabled, but then why install them at all?
The fact that I visit `https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=qznc` more often than other user pages reveals something about my identity. That is one attack the researchers used. Browsing mode is not designed to protect you from URL snooping. Embedded ads can track those URLs as well and they can in private browsing mode.
Private browsing mode protects the client, it's so people with access to your browser can't see what you've been up to.
It doesn't do much in protecting you from servers that are tracking you - especially over time when there is a large number of individual pieces of information that might not reveal anything in isolation but when put together can be quite revealing.
Nassim Taleb reader/Twitter follower? In my (limited and mostly anecdotal) experience this sort of categorical seems to lead to more, perhaps different kinds of superstition. People read "The Black Swan" and start talking like statistics, probabilities etc. were suddenly completely meaningless. Humans seem to always have to live in extremes.. ;)
For me, there's still no alternative. And I also will not recommend anything but a Mac to friends and family. They just have the best personal computer on the market, period.
Out of all the devices I've ever owned, my Apple devices have had the most hardware failures. My iPhone 4S's headphone jack stopped working. I bought a replacement and installed it myself
(which was a nightmare) but it was still broken. Turns out the logic board had an issue and replacing that is hundreds of dollars. My Macbook Pro 2010's hard drive cable failed. New one was $50.
I've never had any hardware issues with my PCs or Android phones. Sure, they arguably have more software issues, but those are "free" for me to fix.
Apple may be a good fit for some people, but it's too expensive for my blood. I'm not paying $1500 for a laptop only to shell out another $50 a year later for a hard drive cable. That's bullcrap considering my $150 chromebook has been running for 4 years now with 0 issues.
This has been my experience also. It seems like Apple is delivering premium hardware and build quality -- they're certainly charging premium prices -- but in my family I can think of at least five show-stopping hardware failures with Apple products in the past few years, and zero such failures with a comparable number of Windows/Android devices. In addition, Apple's hardware specs no longer justify premium prices, in most cases.
With Apple these days (and especially for Macs) the simple fact is you're paying a high price for underwhelming hardware that's not especially reliable.
I still strongly prefer the Mac OS, so I can't see myself buying a Windows PC anytime soon, but I'm not a happy customer.
I do use a Hackintosh for my desktop, but that's not really a viable option for the general public, and even for myself I'd prefer to just have Apple start selling decent desktops again.
My Apple devices have problems, but so did my PCs and feature phones before them. It feels like the Apple devices have fewer problems, but that could just be a feeling or the fact that devices in general have become less problematic in the time since I've started using Apple's products.
But where I think Apple distinguishes itself is the user experience when there is a problem. It's the main reason why I recommend Apple to my non-tech friends and family. When a PC fails, you have to call the manufacturer and run the gauntlet of phone support. If there's something amiss in the hardware, you'll likely have to send it in to be fixed/replaced. With Apple, it's a Genius Bar appointment. I've always thought that the "Genius" in "Genius Bar" didn't refer to the slightly-above-minimum-wage tech support person helping you but, instead, to the person who realized that giving users friendly and non-scary tech support was crucial to the user experience. My mother, who is from a generation that will never be comfortable using computers, doesn't fear to make an appointment and resolve issues when I'm not available. Back when she had a Dell, she was too afraid to call their support line without me being present.
For every "<brand-x> has given me most trouble whereas <brand-y> has been reliable" example, there will be a "<brand-y> has given me most trouble whereas <brand-x> has been reliable" example.
I have a Black MacBook from 2009. Still working. The shell has developed a slight flex and the fan gets as loud as a blender but still perfectly serviceable.
The iPhone I bought in 2009 kept going until end of 2012, at which point I decided getting a new iPhone would be too expensive. After shying away from not buying an iPhone due to it being expensive and having tried everything from HTC devices, Nexus devices and even Lumia Windows Phones, finally back to iPhone. (Lumia was very nice though and quite like the Windows Phone experience)
The iPad 2 from 2012 is still not willing to give up. Keeps a good battery charge.
Recently I got a MacBook. It gets a lot of hate from a lot of people. But I will say it here... I LOVE that keyboard ! Works for me and I find it better than the MacBook Air. (This is again subjective)
It is not hard to see that I am an Apple Fan Boi and consume the Apple Kool Aid BUT I have had Lenovo, Thinkpad and HP Windows laptops from work. Lenovo with Windows Vista kept spinning it's fans even in Sleep Mode when I had left nothing running on it. HP blew it's mainboard. Thinkpad was the only one which kept going and I quite liked the tracking nipple on it.
I got a MacBook Pro (2014). Have not experienced any major hiccups. It runs pretty much everything that a developer needs.
I think Apple are going through the change and everybody is feeling the pain of change.
Things will be OK in a couple of years. I hope...
BUT Apple need to sort out issues with some of it's iOS apps. The Music app is Wonky. ! WhatsApp leaves the message text box hanging on screen if I force touch into WhatsApp from lock screen !!! And this is happening on a 6s.
Portable devices go through a heck of a lot more stresses than desktops. I've gone through my share if issues. At least half the time Apple takes care of it without issue. I have a 2011 MBP and a month or two ago my hard drive cable went bad. It was $20 on Amazon[1] and easy to replace. Apple products are so ubiquitous I feel like spare parts are easier to find. Maybe there are PC equivalents, but I can't imagine ordering a hard drive cable for a 5yo laptop off Amazon Prime.
I also avoid 1st gen models and usually wait a few weeks/months under the suspicion production issues are fixed.
You may be an outlier. I may be an outlier too. It's anecdote v anecdote.
But the only Apple hardware I or my family ever had an issue with (out of 8 iPhones, 4 MacBooks, 2 iMacs, a PowerMac, an Apple TV, and various accessories) was a MacBook Pro that failed after 6 years' heavy use. I'm pretty happy with that.
This response would've been exactly what I'd say like a year ago. The thing is that while a mac has in history delivered a better experience I'm not quite sure that's still the case. If you're buying premium hardware for a windows machine you'll still get a very stabile workstation.
I think it's just a tool in a toolbox and that your personal choice should depends on what you're using it for. Actually, hadn't it been for xcode being macOS only, i'd probably be on a linux machine right now, and if I worked more with 3D modelling I'd be on a windows machine due to the better availability of hardware/software.
Yeah, I don't want to switch for the same reasons, but this will be the first time I've actively resented buying a Mac. I've always understood that I'd pay premium prices for premium quality, but with the new MacBook Pro, I feel like my allegiance to MacOS is being exploited. They're simply too expensive, especially if, like me, you like in the U.K. or Europe.
Not to mention the benefit of taking your own to the Apple store when needed. And the insane degree to which they bend over backwards to fix things free, even more so if you bought direct from Apple and have AppleCare.
I agree, and for me it all comes down to the OS. I've tried using other computers and operating systems, but as a software developer, my income and livelihood depend on me being able to produce code and do so efficiently. I'm more than willing to spend $2500 on a computer, one that I will one day be able to sell for ~$1000 if my past experiences hold true in the future, that works smoothly without hiccups and has a pristine top of the line OS that works seamlessly with all of the programs I run.
I've tried Linux and like it, but some things just do not run the same as on my Mac.
I've also tried Windows recently and the OS just feels gross, slow, and buggy after working with macOS and Linux.
>> And I also will not recommend anything but a Mac to friends and family. They just have the best personal computer on the market, period.
Shouldn't you at least ask what your friends and family intend to do with their computer?
Macs are great in general, but they're not great at everything, so you shouldn't just give a blanket recommendation for a Mac without considering how it's going to be used.
And that's the problem. I do want to move away from MacOS but I don't see anything better yet. And there are a lot of useful apps unique to Apple's ecosystem and iCloud. Well, looks like I'm knee-deep in a vendor lock-in.
Not really, Microsoft has build some good and affordable machines. Had it been only to Mac, computers would wouldn't have reached the mass market. Same with iPhones.
