Is the BBS the answer to secure communications?
reddit / bbs

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Halseeker · 2017-03-30 01:25

Would a BBS be a good solution to secure communication? With the use
of a VPN, SSH and PGP what are the thoughts on using a BBS as a secure
and leave no trace mailbox?

Connecting to a BBS via an SSH connection while using PGP to create
message in an encrypted text block and posting that to the BBS message
board.

Realizing that the largest vulnerability will be undisciplined users.

Thoughts????

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torSecret · 2017-03-30 04:36

Utilizing all these practices can make almost any form of
communication on the internet more secure. Adding another layer via
tor or i2p helps as well.

You always have to keep in mind what it is you are trying to protect
and from whom. You are correct that the weakest link is people. Opsec
(operational security) takes a level of discipline that many people
lack.

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ScootyPuff-Sr · 2017-03-30 04:45

If your goal is to access a BBS securely, I think you're on the right
track.

If your goal is secure communications, I'm not clear on what makes a
BBS a better choice for your secure communications than, say, a
webmail account accessed through similar methods.

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Awesome_Jenkins · 2017-03-30 11:47

It's a bit of security through obscurity for sure. That said, bbs'
weren't coded inherently all that securely, so you would have a
challenge ahead for sure. I've also been tempted to stick a bbs up on
tor using ssh, that would be relatively secure. Using pgp would be a
while lotta coding.

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Halseeker · 2017-03-30 12:39

I guess i was thinking that with a connection to the BBS to handle the
messages is the fact that the message itself would never leave the
BBS. Not like email that can find itself on multiple servers,
downloaded PST files (shutter) backups etc. If the message itself was
posted to the BBS as a block of encrypted PGP even if the server
itself was compromised. the messages would still be stored only as PGP
blocks.

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nonex · 2017-03-30 17:41

Also, air gap your BBS and only use an analog land line with an old
fashioned modem.

I think I remember the old Hayes modem codes...  ATDT +++ATH0

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Halseeker · 2017-03-30 18:10

that makes it hard to connect form a cell phone and pass a message.

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the_rednight · 2017-03-30 22:41

Also BBSs are inherently small decentralized systems which makes
tracking individuals many many times more difficult.

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mro_1337 · 2017-04-02 15:04

there are probably opensource softwares out there that will do this
better than something you can rig up this way.

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codeaholic · 2017-04-20 16:01

..or any VOIP lines for that matter.  Oh, how I miss the days of the
land line.  BBSing and phreaking; some great past-times basically laid
to rest by the internet.

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DaiTengu · 2017-04-23 15:51

Dare I tell you that most older BBS packages store passwords in
cleartext?  Hell, Synchronet still does.

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mro_1337 · 2017-04-24 01:13

yeah i have brought that up years ago and he still wont change it.
the data files also store the system pw in clear text

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pnpbios · 2017-04-26 15:23

My take on this is you operate a secured Linux server, and you simply
log in over SSH. Instead of a bash shell, you are presented with a
text based user interface, where you can access chat, forums, user to
user, etc. The back-end can be MySQL, and you can use ncurses or some
other terminal library to generate the UI. Set the user homedir to
null or somewhere to prevent them from transferring files. This could
be customized on a per-org basis.

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lazer_aio · 2022-01-17 14:32

I may be 4 years late but you should take a look at npstn.us