Do you wipe the input interface (e.g. phone screen, computer keyboard, payment terminals pin pad) after you type in the pin/password? (In order to hide any fingerprints/residue on the keys)
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I mean like, after I type a password on a computer, I'd rub my fingers across the entire keyboard to make sure any fingerprints/oil-residues gets evenly distributed so its harder to know the password. Same with phone unlock codes, I just use my fingers to rub against the part of the screen where the virtual keyboard was displayed.
Am I being weird? I've had this habit since the first time I got my first digital electronics.
I check for card skimmers, but the things I would type into have so many people touching them in a day. I wipe my keyboard down at work to cut down on communicable sickness.
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I was just joking that OP (you) are trying to hide something, that I would hint the FBI to catch you.
It has been my anecdotal experience that people who are overly concerned about their privacy usually have next to nothing to hide. But the people who let their freak flag fly right there on main, those fuckers are trying to pull a Kansas City Shuffle.
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On your phone? Need an app for that?
It's a feature in GrapheneOS
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I check for card skimmers, but the things I would type into have so many people touching them in a day. I wipe my keyboard down at work to cut down on communicable sickness.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I've seen a lot of new what look like thick foam pads stuck to the right side of cc pin pads to prevent a new skimmer device from being overlayed on top without it being obvious.
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No don't wipe your keyboard, you'll ruin the seasoning.
Don't worry. Im sure they wipe it down with a neutral flavored oil.
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I’ve never heard of that being used to steal a password—for one thing, it wouldn’t reveal the order in which you pressed the keys, so it would still leave n! possibilities (24 possibilities for a 4-digit pin, or 40,320 for an 8-letter password). And in any case, if someone were to examine the keys afterward, it’s more likely they could see which keys you wiped if you just wiped the ones you used (and if you wiped all of them, it would make it easier to steal the password of the next user).
The bigger thing to worry about is a hidden camera recording your key presses—and to counter that, I position my fingers over all the keys I’ll use and then move all my fingers with each press, so it’s harder to see which key was key was actually pressed.
The only case I would imagine someone trying to guess/brute force the PIN using fingerprints is some sort of state level actor trying to gain access, e.g. during a search warrant
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I mean like, after I type a password on a computer, I'd rub my fingers across the entire keyboard to make sure any fingerprints/oil-residues gets evenly distributed so its harder to know the password. Same with phone unlock codes, I just use my fingers to rub against the part of the screen where the virtual keyboard was displayed.
Am I being weird? I've had this habit since the first time I got my first digital electronics.
Maybe a question for therapy.
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Maybe a question for therapy.
Therapy would say "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" while writing the notes on their WINDOWS Computer with Copilot Enabled. Btw my country is fascist, the more notes that get on their system is more tools to suppress dissent especially for a non-white person like me living in a white-majority country.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatry
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Maybe a question for therapy.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Eh, therapists are not cybersecurity experts. They have no way of knowing if this is reasonable or not. Just strategies for if it is emotional.
When people say shit like this, I wonder if they've ever been.
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If looking at finger prints worked, it would legit be a way lower risk, cleaner way of stealing people's information than kidnapping. It's not at all comparable to over-the-top key size.
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I mean like, after I type a password on a computer, I'd rub my fingers across the entire keyboard to make sure any fingerprints/oil-residues gets evenly distributed so its harder to know the password. Same with phone unlock codes, I just use my fingers to rub against the part of the screen where the virtual keyboard was displayed.
Am I being weird? I've had this habit since the first time I got my first digital electronics.
No, I lick the entire keypad/keyboard after entering my pass/pin to ensure my DNA is on all keys. This is the only true path to security.
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Yes you are being weird. Why do you think anyone will bother getting physical access to your device?
Money?
There's less of a risk with something hard to separate a person from like a phone, but a payment terminal is a massive target.
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Therapy would say "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" while writing the notes on their WINDOWS Computer with Copilot Enabled. Btw my country is fascist, the more notes that get on their system is more tools to suppress dissent especially for a non-white person like me living in a white-majority country.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatry
I think you're quite paranoid. You asked the community's opinion so I gave mine
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I mean like, after I type a password on a computer, I'd rub my fingers across the entire keyboard to make sure any fingerprints/oil-residues gets evenly distributed so its harder to know the password. Same with phone unlock codes, I just use my fingers to rub against the part of the screen where the virtual keyboard was displayed.
Am I being weird? I've had this habit since the first time I got my first digital electronics.
I saw a video once about how people could use thermal imaging to see what (metal) keys you pressed on an ATM, so usually I'll rest my entire hand on the keypad for a second when I'm done
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I mean like, after I type a password on a computer, I'd rub my fingers across the entire keyboard to make sure any fingerprints/oil-residues gets evenly distributed so its harder to know the password. Same with phone unlock codes, I just use my fingers to rub against the part of the screen where the virtual keyboard was displayed.
Am I being weird? I've had this habit since the first time I got my first digital electronics.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I use my phone or something else I am holding to press the buttons so my fingers never actually come into contact with the surface; or use tap to pay which also bypasses the PIN entry on most POS systems. I also use my feet to open doors that are push to open. Thank COVID for this quirk; It has nothing to do with worrying about security lol
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I mean like, after I type a password on a computer, I'd rub my fingers across the entire keyboard to make sure any fingerprints/oil-residues gets evenly distributed so its harder to know the password. Same with phone unlock codes, I just use my fingers to rub against the part of the screen where the virtual keyboard was displayed.
Am I being weird? I've had this habit since the first time I got my first digital electronics.
Nope. Don't you type on your keyboard anyway. Like right now I just worte a whole bunch of different letters. I don't think I put in my password so often it stands out. Same with the phone. My fingers already go all over it. I mean icons are way over one screens worth. Its not like the movied door code thing where the only input it ever gets is the code.
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Eh, therapists are not cybersecurity experts. They have no way of knowing if this is reasonable or not. Just strategies for if it is emotional.
When people say shit like this, I wonder if they've ever been.
If you are a regular-ass person using their normal phone/computer, and have no reason to suspect someone is trying to hack you, then this is some extremely paranoid behavior.
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I don’t wipe the keypad off but I do pull on the card slot just in case there’s a card reader, especially in bigger or new cities.
I'm a big city boi so that tracks.
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I mean like, after I type a password on a computer, I'd rub my fingers across the entire keyboard to make sure any fingerprints/oil-residues gets evenly distributed so its harder to know the password. Same with phone unlock codes, I just use my fingers to rub against the part of the screen where the virtual keyboard was displayed.
Am I being weird? I've had this habit since the first time I got my first digital electronics.
IT guy here.
Nope, my phone uses facial recognition to unlock, and my computer passwords are wither random letters and numbers or a full passphrase, both of which use multiples of the same letter and different capitalizations.
Example:
Random string, similar to passwords I have used in the past:
"r82ZwQqDW"
Looking at a keyboard where you could see all characters used it would look like this:
dqrwz28 + shift
Figuring out the password above from these letter by logic is basically impossible, so they have to brute force it, only they don't know the length of the password, which uses more time.
Passphrases are even better, using something like:
CreepySmilingHorseSnortsLead2016!
Just look at all of the reused letters!
No way someone would guess that the characters acedghilmnoprsty0126 + shift would spell the password above.
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I mean like, after I type a password on a computer, I'd rub my fingers across the entire keyboard to make sure any fingerprints/oil-residues gets evenly distributed so its harder to know the password. Same with phone unlock codes, I just use my fingers to rub against the part of the screen where the virtual keyboard was displayed.
Am I being weird? I've had this habit since the first time I got my first digital electronics.
My screen has a matte foil on it.
Hard enough to see any fingerprint.