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0 pointsfullspectrumdev2y ago0 comments

For some absurd reason fax is often seen by bureaucracies in some countries as “more secure” than email.

0 comments

Isn’t it though? You can attack email systems, network operators, and end users in a myriad of ways remotely from anywhere in the world. How can you compromise a traditional fax? Eavesdropping the PSTN itself? Physical access to one of the machines? Stealing the printed document?

Network fax systems are more convenient to use than traditional, but still more secure than email because they’ve been designed to be so.

omniglottal2y ago

Analog. Unencrypted. Your intent to misinform appears evident.

dahdum2y ago

Where’s the attack surface to exploit this analog and unencrypted data? A government can order their telecoms (and they do), but the same happens with emails providers. Neither is secure from government intrusion, but email is easier to compromise than traditional fax systems because their exposure is so limited.

MichaelZuo2y ago

How's that absurd? If you have 0 experienced security folks on staff/consulting, and no one willing to listen to them, then a fax is almost certainly more secure in practice.

omniglottal2y ago

One of those countries is the US. Fax is unencrypted analog. If practice, tgis is ver certainly not secure. It's only "more secure" in the sense that unauthorized access to it counts as wiretapping, whereas the feds carved a loophole allowing them to read private emails without going afoul our anti-wiretapping laws. That you don't see the absurdity means our educational system is also doing what feds built it to do.

vkou2y ago

> It's only "more secure" in the sense that unauthorized access to it counts as wiretapping, whereas the feds carved a loophole allowing them to read private emails without going afoul our anti-wiretapping laws.

How is that different from techbros trying to claim a loophole for their illegal business, because it's on the internet/through an app/'is a gig job'/on a blockchain?

When legislature hasn't kept up with technology, the only way to fight that behaviour is through lawsuits. Lawsuits have made some headway in dealing with both private, and government malfeasance, here.

wmf2y ago

In the 1990s the phone network probably was more secure than the Internet but it's not today.

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dahdum2y ago

Network fax systems are more convenient to use than traditional, but still more secure than email because they’ve been designed to be so.

omniglottal2y ago

Analog. Unencrypted. Your intent to misinform appears evident.

dahdum2y ago

MichaelZuo2y ago

How's that absurd? If you have 0 experienced security folks on staff/consulting, and no one willing to listen to them, then a fax is almost certainly more secure in practice.

omniglottal2y ago

vkou2y ago

How is that different from techbros trying to claim a loophole for their illegal business, because it's on the internet/through an app/'is a gig job'/on a blockchain?

wmf2y ago

In the 1990s the phone network probably was more secure than the Internet but it's not today.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse