Comment by __turbobrew__
3 days ago
You can change the system defaults on sane OS.
Thats like saying every application should come up with its own bespoke encryption framework because the OS doesn’t utilize full disk encryption by default. The solution is not to implement encryption in all your programs, the solution is to configure full disk encryption in the OS.
> You can change the system defaults on sane OS.
You can, but most people won't.
> Thats like saying every application should come up with its own bespoke encryption framework because the OS doesn’t utilize full disk encryption by default. The solution is not to implement encryption in all your programs, the solution is to configure full disk encryption in the OS.
Should password managers just store all of your passwords in cleartext instead of encrypting them, since you should be using FDE?
> Should password managers just store all of your passwords in cleartext instead of encrypting them, since you should be using FDE?
Better analogy, should every random app bundle own custom crypto and encrypt all files and ask user for password just in case some user does not set login password?
An app should do what it does, if secure storage is not its task then it probably should leave it to the os and if it's not DNS resolving then it shouldn't DNS resolve. Is very annoying
> You can, but most people won't.
Who is to say that insecure defaults is less good for most people? The reason why things like FDE and other enhanced security mechanisms aren’t enabled by default is because it increases the risk of things breaking for non tech savvy people. I have had to recover installs from peoples hard drives where the messed things up and if they used FDE they would have been screwed. The reality is that it is much more likely grandma forgets her password over somebody stealing her desktop and scraping her data. It would be nice for OS vendors to create profiles for OS installs, and then people who know what they are doing can opt for the “secure” profile, but I don’t think FDE can ever be the default on mass consumer devices.
> Should password managers just store all of your passwords in cleartext instead of encrypting them, since you should be using FDE?
Those are different threat vectors. FDE stops intruders from accessing your system when it is locked/off. Password manager encryption is to prevent rogue processes on an UNLOCKED system. The system can solve the second problem either by having a more granular permissions system (like iOS) so that process A cannot read data of process B, or the OS can have a secure enclave which can store your secrets behind biometrics.
Notably, both of these solutions are implemented in Apple world and I would argue that applications should consider using those system mechanisms instead of rolling their own encryption.
If you are actually serious about security you aren’t using passwords, you are using webauthn and u2f where possible.