Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

Updated: 26 May 2025 • 430 episodes
podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com

A Podcast on Computer Security & Privacy for Non-Techies

Categories:

Show episodes

26 May 2025 • EN

Dividing Trust

VPNs were not invented for privacy, despite the name - they were invented for security. Nevertheless, in recent years, they have been touted as privacy tools to thwart rampant and fanatical data gathering. With a regular VPN, this really just means you're shifting your trust from your internet service provider to your

70 min
00:00
01:10:19
No file found
19 May 2025 • EN

Slay Message Snoopers

There are way too many messenger apps today. It's a sad state of affairs and I don't see it getting better anytime soon. But the real problem (for me) is that almost all of the popular messenger apps aren't really that secure and private. Most do not have end-to-end encryption (E2EE) at all or it's not turned on by def

45 min
00:00
45:24
No file found
12 May 2025 • EN

Shelter from the Storm

Almost exactly two years ago, "Five Eyes" intelligence agencies discovered a successful and ongoing cyber attack on critical US infrastructure by a state-sponsored actor based in China. This group, associated with the People's Liberation Army and known as Volt Typhoon, was tasked with quietly gaining persistent remote

76 min
00:00
01:16:42
No file found
05 May 2025 • EN

Disable Your MAID

As we learned last week from Zach Edwards, our smartphones have a globally unique mobile ad ID, or MAID, that is automatically associated with everything we do on our phones... unless we take explicit steps to turn this off. Today I'll tell you how this works and why you should disable this insidious form of tracking.

66 min
00:00
01:06:23
No file found

Data brokers are out of control. While we think of them gathering data in order to target us with ads, they can actually use the targeted ad system (real-time bidding) to collect vast quantities of personal information. It's a very shady business and the primary players are trying hard to obfuscate what they're doing.

74 min
00:00
01:14:22
No file found
21 Apr 2025 • EN

Travel Insecurity

Going through border security today - even just returning to your own country - is not at simple and stress-free as it should be. The likelihood of our digital devices being searched by a border agent has increased in recent years and political sensitivities today can be high. Our devices have access to a ridiculous am

65 min
00:00
01:05:30
No file found

Show participants