SAINTCON 2024 - Day 3 - Livestream

Privacy has become stigmatized in society, with many dismissing its importance using the “nothing to hide” argument, despite privacy being crucial for vulnerable groups like activists, journalists, and human rights workers

The erosion of privacy is happening through increased surveillance, data collection by corporations, and legislation attempting to ban encryption and mandate backdoors in communication apps

Historical examples like the Clipper Chip initiative show how the hacker community successfully pushed back against government overreach in privacy and encryption regulation

Key privacy tools and alternatives exist but need more support:

• End-to-end encrypted messaging (Signal)
• Private email providers (Proton)
• VPNs (Mulvad)
• Private browsers (Brave)
• Cryptocurrency for private transactions

Voice cloning and AI technologies present new privacy threats, with scammers using cloned voices for fraud and impersonation attacks

The hacker community can help by:

• Contributing to open source privacy tools
• Auditing code and maintaining projects
• Creating better documentation and guides
• Supporting privacy-focused companies
• Advocating against anti-privacy legislation
• Educating others about privacy tools

Companies need proper bug bounty programs and vulnerability disclosure processes to help researchers identify and fix security issues

Small/medium businesses (SMBs) often lack resources for proper security implementation and need simplified, accessible security tools and guidance

Modern AI tools can be leveraged both to enhance security testing and potentially to help preserve privacy through obfuscation

Privacy is not just about “having something to hide” - it’s about maintaining autonomy, enabling free speech, and protecting vulnerable populations from surveillance and control