The DMZ

9:00 AM

If your son isn't a skilled sniper, able to take out a man-sized target at 500m by the age of 8, what are you even doing as a parent?

forest

hue

MechMK1

In the near future, I'm going to teach my gf how to shoot a handgun. Just in case

Nothing too big, just a .22 LR revolver

forest

I'm proud that my daughter trusts cops less than any other strangers. There's a good reason we keep a gun in the house. A warrant should never be an excuse for a home invasion.

After all, random strangers are unlikely to want to destroy your life for a raise.

MechMK1

I am really torn on the police

forest

The concept of police is not something I have a problem with. But what they actually do?

MechMK1

9:02 AM

On one hand, I know most of them are doing it because they want to do good

forest

Weeeeeell....

MechMK1

The brother of a friend of mine is a policeman

I know him somewhat fleetingly

And he doesn't seem like the kind of power-tripping c***bag

forest

"Want to do good" is how they sleep at night.

But most of them do it because they want the power. Not all, but most.

MechMK1

Many, for sure

forest

In Russia, they do it to take bribes, which is actually better than the US, UK, and Canada.

MechMK1

9:03 AM

I had my fair share of run-ins with the police

forest

I've been lucky enough to stay under the radar when it comes to cops.

MechMK1

Never did anything illegal, but I was always treaten like they had just caught me selling heroin to a little kid

I used to have long hair, so perhaps that's what tipped them off

forest

Oh they wish.

MechMK1

"Do you have an ID on you, sir?"

What for? Why are you asking me this?

"Just answer the question. Can you identify yourself?"

forest

:/

MechMK1

9:05 AM

Again, I am asking you what for? Is there a reason you ask me to identify myself?

"Why are you not cooperating with us? Do you have something to hide?"

And so on and so forth

forest

Yep, I know the song.

MechMK1

The funny thing is, we don't have any ID laws. You don't need to carry an ID with you at all times

forest

That's a good thing.

There should never be a need to identify yourself to a thug.

MechMK1

Then, when I told them that I am going to call my lawyer because they are harassing me (pure bluff, btw), they backed off, but tried to explain that I was acting suspiciously

I asked them how I was acting suspiciously, and they said because I refused to cooperate

forest

heh

MechMK1

9:07 AM

Which is such a strange argument to present

forest

They just lie their asses off. That's all their brains are capable of doing.

MechMK1

Because they can't openly say "You looked suspicious because of your long hair and we thought you may be a criminal"

forest

mhm

MechMK1

because that could get them in trouble

So they have to stick to the spiel and pretend that I was doing something wrong; that somehow I am to blame for this interaction

forest

And of course, they're allowed to lie about their reasons to you.

MechMK1

9:09 AM

Arguably, on the countryside, the police is much more friendly

forest

But on the street they're just a nuisance. It's when they want in your home that they're a danger.

MechMK1

I don't know if that's true here as well, but I wouldn't be surprized if it was

I still see no reason why a policeman would ever enter my home

If they want to know something from me, they can ask me at the door as well

forest

They'll try to find a reason.

And you'd better shoot them after they break in but before they identify themselves as cops.

If you manage to do that, you're in the clear (in most countries).

MechMK1

I'd rather not shoot at anyone unless I absolutely have to

forest

But what about pigs? :p

I for one am a huge fan of pigs in a blanket.

MechMK1

9:11 AM

I understand your reasoning, but I am still too worried about the concequences

forest

That's why it's important to teach your kid self defense. It's safer for both of you.

MechMK1

My default tactic is to bluff for my lawyer

Works wonders

"And what do you do when another kid bullies you? That's right, you punch him as hard as you can and let that guy remember not to mess with you"

forest

mhm

MechMK1

Worked for me in school too

A guy wanted to bully me, I punched him so hard in the stomach that he threw up

forest

I was more of a manipulator in school. I was never violent but I could usually get people to believe anything.

MechMK1

9:13 AM

Of course, his friends beat the living crap out of me

But never bothered me after that

My approach was to not be an easy target

Not the lowest hanging fruit, so to say

forest

Things are far more complex in the adult world.

Hit someone back and it's battery.

MechMK1

The only time someone ever threatened me with violence was a drunk guy

He was like "Eyy look at you you weak-ass fa***t, I'll beat you up"

forest

lol wow

I've been threatened with violence, but usually only on travels to other countries.

MechMK1

I agreed with him

I was like, yeah, I know I'd absolutely lose in a fight with you

And he was like "yeah, that's right" and then bothered someone else

forest

Yep that's usually a good way to diffuse the situation.

MechMK1

9:17 AM

worked fine

forest

The problem in 3rd world countries is that violence is usually goal-driven (money).

And that's where I've gotten in trouble. It's a good idea to carry some cash, and not too little.

MechMK1

Luckily, I didn't have the displeasure to visit such countries yet, except France

forest

But the most important thing is to never tell anyone, not even the government, where you stay.

Otherwise someone will "slip" and four guys with guns will break into your place and rob you.

MechMK1

Jesus...

forest

And yes, they do tie you up and take everything, valuable or not.

It's like the fucking movies. But it happens.

MechMK1

9:19 AM

Good thing we import the people from these countries by the thousands. Such enrichment

forest

Well it wasn't the Middle East I was talking about. I don't know how bad it is there.

MechMK1

There was a case not too far from here, where a 15-year-old syrian boy assaulted a 64 year old woman in a refugee center, because she told him to clean his room

forest

It's particularly bad in some South American countries. Not many immigrants from there.

MechMK1

You know what he did? When she did the dishes for them, he dropkicked her in the back

forest

damn

MechMK1

9:21 AM

15 years old

kicks a woman in the back, because she told him to clean his room

forest

Sexual assault is not uncommon in those cases, either.

MechMK1

None that I am aware of in this case

forest

Thank god.

MechMK1

Of course, the media described it as "Einzelfall", as always

forest

The problem is when that causes people to not take measures to prevent it.

I mean yeah, I get that there are bad apples in all groups, but it shouldn't be ignored.

MechMK1

9:23 AM

It's always the same story

First it happens

Then the right-wingers get upset about it

Then the left-wingers get upset about the right-wingers getting upset

Then nothing happens

forest

yup

MechMK1

I just find the whole situation so bizarre

Imagine there was a civil war where I lived and I would flee to, say, China

And 15-year-old me has to stay in a center, run by some chinese people to support us.

And an old chinese woman would tell me to clean my room

forest

I imagine you'd say yes and be thankful that they're giving you a room.

MechMK1

Do you think I would a.) clean my room and apologize for the mess I made, b.) not do anything, or c.) dropkick her in the back?

It's just so bizarre how anybody could not choose a.)

Or at least b.), for some of the lazy "too-cool-for-everything" kind of people

forest

15 year old me would probably do b, to be honest. But c? No freaking way.

MechMK1

9:26 AM

I would probably do a.), but not very well

forest

I'm lucky enough that I have a friend in Vietnam who can take me in if I need to leave the country.

So I won't have to be stuck in some refugee camp.

MechMK1

Lucky you

I'd probably prefer to die in battle than to leave my country

forest

I'd only be willing to die in battle for a cause I believe in.

I'm not at all attached to any particular geographic coordinates.

MechMK1

I am, but that's probably somehow related to my political convictions

forest

I mean, it's not like I'd like to live in Vietnam, but it'd be better than death or prison.

MechMK1

9:28 AM

Blut und Boden, you understand?

forest

yep

I'm not a nationalist or any kind of patriotic, myself.

MechMK1

I understand you, but a man needs to have a hill to die on

forest

My hill is metaphorical.

MechMK1

And for me, that hill is quite literally the one I live on

forest

I care only about my family and my freedom, and I'll fight for both.

MechMK1

9:29 AM

The american dream :D

forest

The American dream is nothing more than a dream. :P

American "freedom" is not freedom.

MechMK1

Freedom itself is a dream

We're not free, we just like to think that we are

forest

mhm

That's what got me into information security.

MechMK1

Held in place by what? an apartment, a car and a pet?

forest

I wanted to protect my own mental sovereignty, which required that I know how to stay secure.

@MechMK1 All of which are supported by wage slavery. :P

MechMK1

9:31 AM

In all honesty, if a civil war would break out, I wouldn't hesitate to fight. At least dying in combat is a honourable way to go

forest

I'd fight if it was something I cared deeply about. If it was just some nonsense? Then no way.

MechMK1

Can't be nonsense if men die for it, can it?

forest

People die for nonsense all the time.

Wars are waged for profit or over misunderstandings.

MechMK1

And look, some serb shot the prince of austria! That's why the UK now has to fight the germans

Wars are waged for profit, and nothing else

At least these days

forest

Indeed.

Wars can be intended to destabilize regions.

MechMK1

9:33 AM

Driving people away from it

forest

That's especially true if that ensures that trade deals with another region remain profitable.

MechMK1

And towards nearby richer regions

Which have been propaganda'd into accepting them

in turn making those regions more unstable

All, purely hypothetical of course

Shame on you for thinking otherwise

forest

When in reality, the best thing to do would be, I dunno, not bombing the Middle East!?

MechMK1

I should not talk about the middle east

Because I know I can't keep my mouth shut

forest

Less people will resort to "terrorism" if they don't need to avenge their children who were killed in a US-lead drone strike. Less "terrorism" means less civil war, and less people flee as refugees.

And remember, it's only called terrorism when it's profitable to do so.

MechMK1

9:35 AM

Good thing these people then kill people in europe, which had nothing to do with any of it

forest

When the violent group is established and makes you money, you call them allies.

MechMK1

"Allied rebels"

forest

From skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/37649/….

Which one is vilified, and which one is traded with?

MechMK1

I despise both

The entire middle east only has two powers, and they both fight for influence

forest

I'm not a fan of either, though I'm particularly anti-Israel (the government, not the people).

MechMK1

9:37 AM

Every war waged in the middle east is because of either or both of those powers

Oy vey :D

But seriously, I need to stop or I'll be banned from Chat.SE for a lifetime

forest

If we were on IRC, you'd have seen me respond in a way that would have gotten me banned here. :P

MechMK1

Give me a second :D

Man, entering a 45 character password is not easy

forest

Password managers are useful.

MechMK1

Not if it's your windows password

forest

>using Windows

MechMK1

9:41 AM

Have to, company guideline

Also, nice greentext

forest

Shit, I think my channer personality is trying to come out.

brb phone call

Journeyman Geek

......

45?

MechMK1

45?

Journeyman Geek

thats a litle on the long side

and at some point maaaan

MechMK1

I am a bit out of the loop

Feel free ;)

A. Hersean

9:49 AM

Unless you are worried about post-quantum cryptography, 128 bits of entropy is enough for your master password. Methods exist to convert a long phrase into a shorter one and keeping most of its entropy, while having fewer keys to type.

MechMK1

My password is something akin to "WalkingAmongTheOrchards,TheFacelessOneBringsTheColdToThoseNotIlluminated"

of course, with a ! at the end :D

You could say that a dictionary is more effective than brute force, but who in their right mind would check passwords with 15 dictionary phrases in it?

The english language has around 170000 words, so trying a combination of 15 random words gives about an entropy of 260 bit, excluding any and all permutations

A. Hersean

@MechMK1 "WkAmgTOcd,TFlOBgTCTTNIlmnt!" keeps most of the entropy of your phrase. English (and human languages in general) has a lot of redundance.

MechMK1

Yes, but I prefer mine. If anyone ever cracks that hash, they're like "What the fuck is that password?"

A. Hersean

Anyone looking over your shoulder will not remember mine ^^

MechMK1

It's easy to find abstract passwords if your nightmares are absolutely surreal

A. Hersean

9:57 AM

Even though it's the same mnemonics

MechMK1

That's why I never enter my password with anyone looking over my shoulder

A. Hersean

(Just use the 1st letter of syllables)

And I hope your phrase does not come from a book

MechMK1

No, straight from my nightmares

A. Hersean

I got to go

MechMK1

See ya around!

And for all practical purposes, nobody is going to crack a 45 character password if it's not from a book or a movie quote. The passwords that get cracked easily are "Winter_2019"

forest

10:02 AM

:^)

I used to do that kind of thing all the time on IRC. I lost count of all the channel bans.

MechMK1

one sec, let me decryprt

I understand why you would say that

The memes are strong in this one

forest

I used to be better at it. It doesn't roll off the tongue now like it used to.

But at least it's still offensive!

MechMK1

Offensiveness is in the eye of the beholder

I don't know if Mi_Hi rings a bell, but I am not offended that quickly

If it doesn't, don't worry about it

forest

Well now you've got me curious lol

MechMK1

Give me a public key and I'll explain

forest

10:11 AM

(Taking an entire 3072 * 2 bits from /dev/random is the stupidest thing ever)

MechMK1

/dev/urandom master race!!!

forest

I mean, even if it wanted to use /dev/random, why not just extract 128 bits and use a CSPRNG?

It's not like GnuPG needs 3072 bits of entropy to create a 3072-bit key...

MechMK1

It would need much more than that

forest

MechMK1

Because not every resulting number would be prime

forest

10:13 AM

RSA generation starts with a non-prime number then generates a prime from it.

All it takes is a 128-bit seed to test 3072-bit numbers for primality.

MechMK1

@forest -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----

hQGMA77vPEGT4T7iAQwAi5T7c+yE7FZmzBoisx6VNvDXq9eaMgix0jhOk4rUdA7C
2Nn3ragPx1mgYsFRSMuTXrEU8WQ5rXunET2WoFdxVZvM5Y+wTRrlfIUvdmFSIhO6
I9PqckTUSWFeZWLH//+sj2z3Y1SVoJA7csl1sJ02U+epVzYJaYOQRgysb3ruXHzb
kvAEqelQigLOSC1HPebWu45+CbDFxkrqPk7E1490YpV8j0icLldSP+fviFoZQLbB
EIOluf6idGzAHam4zpEmKYlVbK5tFQOupSxZ9rEfsbImJzJc2lY51nJFHO/9tSE5
U87seM/pJsaLQ1/G9ABohePtgtcC6w/OBlJq7tCkiMvfQkTm2j/q+/gxac3AVgRE
Bf5xv3bJl7ponNUPm1KK9X4WdQ+Fdp5wTQ4yYZ9GRPQX3j25PgyEHFcHUc1YNmuL
E91n4mFet1aISKfIP905Vquahc8gnQjOOYpVwx6X4MhLzNm2SckcEmj5Pja1naXo

I don't know how it works under the hood. We just did the abstract math

forest

I recognize the name though.

MechMK1

10:33 AM

forest

But maybe we shouldn't keep clogging up the chat with PGP messages. :P

MechMK1

It's better to not discuss this topic in too much detail. Some things are best left unspoken

also s/6/20/g

Anyways, have I asked you about lockpicking yet?

I assume those questions are off-topic here. Do you know if there is any SE site where it's on-topic?

forest

I'd be surprised if they were off-topic.

It's a very common hacking hobby and, well, it is security.

Though I guess not information security... But there are tons of resources.

MechMK1

Yes, but not Information Security ;)

As schroeder once said: "Wrong kind of security"

Because I'd like to get into locksport, but I have no clue where to start

hence why I would like to see if someone has some good guides like "Here is this video series that will get you started on the basics"

forest

Get a transparent lock-pick practice set, starting with one tumbler.

It's actually kind of self-explanatory when you do that.

MechMK1

10:41 AM

Yes, I figured so. Do you know any reputable shops? I don't mind investing some money into it, so I would rather not buy a 2€ pick set that bends in a week

forest

Toool

toool.us/equipment.html

MechMK1

I'd like to make a joke about lost keys, but it'd probably butcher it

Thank you a lot though, I'm looking through it now and I guess I'll get some

MechMK1

11:04 AM

Hello there

I'm still sad nobody replies with "General Kenobi"

A. Hersean

11:16 AM

@MechMK1 learnlockpicking.com/product-category/practice-locks

MechMK1

Thank you!

A. Hersean

And the related video: youtube.com/watch?v=Gv5qJB4ETJ8

MechMK1

Thank you again

A. Hersean

By the way I recommend Bosnianbill's videos on youtube

MechMK1

I watch both Bosnianbill and LPL a lot

MechMK1

11:37 AM

It has become so quiet

A. Hersean

11:53 AM

Close your eyes and listen to the voices.

MechMK1

I better not

That's not a joke, by the way

Vipul Nair

12:16 PM

btw kind of a stupid question.

Why learn to pick locks and not just learn to make keys by looking at the lock?

MechMK1

@VipulNair Because picking is easier than impressioning

Journeyman Geek

and you don't impression by looking at the lock iirc

looking at the key? I guess. Using a special tool... sure...

Vipul Nair

Gotcha

Journeyman Geek

but if you didn't want to pick locks properly, there's lock picking guns, and one of the tools on my to buy list....

hydraulic rebar cutters.

MechMK1

"How do you pick a lock?"

I would recommend a breaching charge. It's quite fast and has a high rate of success.

Journeyman Geek

12:21 PM

I think LPL uses it in one of his videos

@MechMK1 there's supposed to be explosive formed cutting charges

MechMK1

Yes, for specific attacks

Vipul Nair

How to Open Locks with a Lockpick Gun

►

is that it?

MechMK1

Cutters are most applicable in bike locks or, to a lesser degree, on padlocks

Other locks, such as doors, etc, don't have such an attack surface

Vipul Nair

so lock picking is easier huh?I always saw making keys equivalent of a brute force attack.

MechMK1

Depends on the keyspace

[940] Ovio “Pairlock” Padlock Picked and Gutted

►

This lock has a vulnerability that limits the keyspace down to just 81 different keys

Per lock, not in general

Furthermore, the keys are user-configurable, so if I had regular access to a lock like this and a user-configurable key, then I could just "guess" the correct key in a matter of weeks

Vipul Nair

12:31 PM

amazon.in/Practical-Lock-Picking-Physical-Penetration/dp/…

is this book good?

i can see its good

just asking anyone read it here?

MechMK1

What's the price in USD or EUR?

Vipul Nair

divide 2000 by 70

or change .in to .us

MechMK1