>>493461
For those of you who are geeks but not super-geeks regarding building your own PC:
This is a message about computers and security.
Building your own PC with locally purchased parts does almost ZERO compared to a store-bought machine, except that the store-bought machine probably has malware installed already. But then, Windows and Mac OS are malware anyway, so does this matter?
If you think Linux is secure, you're misinformed. Look up compiler trojans and open source exploitation efforts. The bad guys have had an army of open source guys cleverly crafting 'fixes' to real problems with subtle exploits in them since the beginning of Linux. Fork all you want; they're attacking all of them in plain sight. You'll never keep up.
But even more sinister, ALL components and pretty much all complex parts (chips) you can buy are also compromised at the lowest levels. Intel ME is just one example, but I have good reason to believe that every Ethernet controller chip you can acquire, every WIFI interface chip, every hard drive controller chip, every USB interface, firewire, etc., etc., is compromised.
How, you might ask? Well, these chips all have direct access to system memory (DMA) without the permission or supervision of the CPU. This means software cannot stop those chips from fiddling with the memory of your machine or reporting it to the outside world. In the case of chips that communicate with the outside world (Ethernet, WIFI, USB, etc.), these chips can be talked to from the outside world and do things that your machine isn't aware of. This is how Stuxnet worked - it used USB exploits to install hidden shit in computers and gave the attackers a low speed network they could communicate with over the course of weeks and months.
If you want to understand all of this, I suggest researching the Multics work done at MIT in the 60's. Look for the USAF report on hacking it (1972 or 1974.) Then realize that the guy who wrote the TEMPEST specifications is the guy who wrote that report. Parts of it are still redacted. You'll also note that the guys who did UNIX for Bell Labs split off from the Multics project and a decade later, AT&T was giving UNIX away for free. Do you really think that's an accident? (Hint: NO.) They knew about compiler trojans, buffer overruns and everything since 1968 or so. The OS installer likely has a built-in compiler trojan. In other words, you're installing more than you think you are.
Then there's compromised BIOS's. I won't even go there.
There are ways to build computers that are secure, even with insecure CPUs and peripherals. The problem is nobody does it and I suspect that if you start doing it, you'll be immediately disappeared by the cabal. (This may have changed in the recent days thanks to our beautiful military.)
Problem is, in order to get "Real" security you can trust, you'll need to build your own computer from electronic components (not modules) very carefully with at least two CPUs and Faraday shields to keep the external CPU(s) from compromising the internal CPUs through EMI. Then you'll need to write your own software for all of it because you can't trust SHIT. Then you'll need to write your own applications because every complex program out there in the open source world likely has exploits that could be an attack vector.
How do I know all of this? I've researched it heavily and I lack the disadvantage of a classical education. I can do everything I just described above. By myself. Have a nice day.
By the way, I don't use my own computer. At this point, you're pretty much fucked unless Q & Co. rip the guts out of the bad guys and disable them. Then we can all have some serious conversations about security and how it can be done perfectly. (It CAN be done perfectly.)