What do computers and humans have in common?

A specially crafted iMessage can convince your phone’s CPU to copy your messages, emails—a full backup, if you will—to a remote server, where your information will be analyzed and used against you. Similarly, a Telegram group can convince your anti-vax uncle to join the revolution.

In a way, both of them can be exploited with the right message.

🔥 This is fine 🔥

I don’t know how to help your uncle.

But I know something about computers. We’re constantly patching holes and building sandboxes around things. I mean, read the CVEs of iOS or macOS after any update: There’s always something terrible, and that’s just the stuff we know.

If only we’d stop making new holes.

🔥 Oh god, it’s not fine 🔥

While there’s an entire industry making computers more secure, we’re also constantly adding features and building faster hardware. These new features mean new code, and any code we write today, regardless of which language you use, can be exploited. Likewise, performance tricks in modern CPUs have lead to some of the spiciest vulnerabilities to date: Suddenly, any website can read the contents of your memory and gain control of your system.

You do understand this is never going to end, do you?

🔥 Fixes 🔥

I only see a couple of ways out of this endless fun spiral:

• Burn all computers and start from scratch. Not going to happen, unless we’re going to have a global CPU pandemic. Don’t think it’s possible? I’ll send you this post if it still exists.

• Strictly consensual networking where sending an RCE is the equivalent of someone you have trusted walking up to you and stealing your stuff. Still sucks, but at least you had a choice.

I don’t have any clear answers, but I know we have to change something fundamental before it gets really bad.