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Sat, 09 Oct 2021 01:36:13 +0200

adminsforum@hubzilla.org

pkill9 wrote the following post Sat, 09 Oct 2021 01:36:12 +0200

Can a rogue hubzilla instance take control of your identity?

Woudl arogue hubzilla instance be able to destroy all your channel clones? And tell all your connections to receive posts from that rogue instance?

Could you recover your channel/identity in this situation?

show all 5 comments

Sat, 09 Oct 2021 04:18:54 +0200

hEARt PhoniX

tobias@hubzilla.rocks

Good and important question, though I do not really see that scenario, only very (!) theoretically. But there are indeed some steps you can take.
As for example if an instance goes down you can still remove that clone via /locs from another instance and if you need to promote another clone to primary.
What can be a problem is when one clone's hub does not get updated when important protocol changes happen. Then I would recommend removing that clone from that hub.

The thing is, the clone communication happens encrypted and signed, i.e, only the clones are able to communicate that way.

I regard the scenario you draw as extremely very unlikely.

Cloning has been invented just to save you from being tied to bad hubs.

A counter measure though could be a good old backup.via the Channel Export app.
/uexport
You may need to install it, if it is not there.
/apps/available
That way you could reopen your channel using a channel backup that you know was not yet affected.I do recommend saving your basic channel data on a regular basis.

Export Channel

Export your basic channel information to a file. This acts as a backup of your connections, permissions, profile and basic data, which can be used to import your data to a new server hub, but does not contain your content

This step gives you a json file with all your basic channel settings and connections. It is the raw but most valuable barebone of your channel. That way you can even 100% delete your channel from all hubs and one year later register on a new hub and upon chanel creation reupload your channel json file and it still has got your config, settings and connection information.

Sat, 09 Oct 2021 06:38:24 +0200

neue medienordnung plus

nmoplus@realtime.fyi

@mike

We just need to make that the default for clone sync of deletes

You write:

All delivery reports expire after a period of time (by default this is a week) as they consume a huge amount of space in the DB.

#^https://framagit.org/hubzilla/core/-/issues/1625

If the delivery reports are already causing trouble for the database, then it is likely that the deleted files, which can be of any size and are stored for 30 days, will do so even more.

Would identity data stored for eternity in the form of a blockchain be a target-oriented solution? Just a spontaneous thought. If one finds that one's identity is corrupted, then one reverts to an earlier, uncorrupted version of the ID in the blockchain and the "true ID" continues its life starting from that earlier point in time.

@hEARt PhoniX

A counter measure though could be a good old backup.via the Channel Export app.

As a user, I would like to have a way to assign the status "backup from dd.mm.yyyy" to a clone. Unlike an ordinary clone, such a backup clone would be excluded from synchronisation. I see such a clone as a time-saving backup compared to a local copy.

#blockchainId #blockchainIdentity #backupClone

Sat, 09 Oct 2021 10:57:17 +0200

pkill9

pkill9@zotum.net

@mike

the bottom line is that the situation is recoverable and there are mechanisms to fork your identity from that of the rogue and carry on.

Ah nice, how would you do this? My concern wouldn't just be possibility of rogue admin deleting your channel, but impersonating it, I don't understand how you could determine yourself to be the real author of the channel if the rogue admin also has your channel's private keys (which from my basic understanding they would have, as all hubzilla servers hosting your channel do).

Sun, 10 Oct 2021 10:25:06 +0200

oRx-Qx pirateradio

michal@node9.org

I do not think that Blockchain solves any issue. It would just make things overcomplicated and is well known that blockchain cannot replace real trust.
Such instances would have to contribute to the same chain so from fully decentralized would become pyramid trust structure and you can make it by trusting admins the same way if you like.

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 06:08:03 +0200

neue medienordnung plus

nmoplus@realtime.fyi

@RockyIII

There was someone here in the forum who made up this scenario once: The Admin of the hub where you have your clone changes the e-mail address connected to your channel by editing the db.
[...] Once someone is logged in to your clone channel it is possible to take over the channel at all and delete also the primary hub - so this is indeed a very bad scenario.

Just these days I read somewhere in Fediverse-bubble these considerations - meaning Everything that can be done, will be done. With regard to the Fediverse feel-good bubbles, places of refuge, my consideration: as soon as a bubble, a community, a hub, a channel - for whatever reason - becomes interesting and attractive for the attacker: hacker, family member, criminal, the state, the advertising industry, targeted attempts, possibly driven by tangible financial interests, are made to penetrate the bubble or even to hijack a community. See, for example, the author's comments in [3] in the sections "EUnomia" and "Sponsorships". I also find the author's outlook into the dark future in the section "In closing" in [3] exciting.

= Source list =
[1] Positioning and purpose of Fediverse Town community forum. Community-driven Mastodon fork? 03.08.2021 - #^https://fediverse.town/t/positioning-and-purpose-of-fediverse-town-community-forum/58
[2] Discussion: Mastodon and the Fediverse (Open Letter for Eugen to resign), 01.08.-2021 - #^https://lemmy.ml/post/75944
[3] An Open Letter Calling for the Resignation of Eugen Rochko (Gargron) from Mastodon Development, 31.07.2021 - #^https://seedy.xyz/posts/0005-open-letter/

#EUnomia #EugenRochko #Mastodon #EugenRochkoResignation #Resignation #DarkFuture #Sponsorships #SponsorshipsMastodon #Fediversebubble #hijack #communityHijack #OpenLetter #OpenLetterCalling #Gargron #MastodonDevelopment