Police arrest #SMSBlaster crew that sent malicious messages to thousands across #Toronto

https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/07/police-arrest-sms-blaster-crew-that-sent-malicious-messages-to-thousands-across-toronto/

#SMS #scam #cybersecurity

#CloudZ #malware abuses #Microsoft #PhoneLink to steal #SMS and OTPs

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cloudz-malware-abuses-microsoft-phone-link-to-steal-sms-and-otps/

#cybersecurity #OTP #Windows

#Canada arrests three for operating “#SMSBlaster” device in #Toronto

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/canada-arrests-three-for-operating-sms-blaster-device-in-toronto/

#phishing #privacy #cybersecurity #SMS

New #blog #post: Mocking-up Photo Sharing over SMS

https://rldane.space/mocking-up-photo-sharing-over-sms.html

This was inspired by #TuxJam 120: "Tunnels & Texts"

1607 words, my ninth-longest article (I think it merits the name ;) so far!

Whoo, that was a 3-hour writing/hacking session!

cc: my wonderful #chorus: @joel @dm @sotolf @thedoctor @pixx @orbitalmartian @adamsdesk @krafter @roguefoam @clayton @giantspacesquid @Twizzay @stfn @ay

(I will happily add/remove you from the chorus upon request! :)

#rlDaneWriting #blost #SMS #Imaging #Photos #AVIF

Great /s #privacy #sms #cybersecurity #android

Alt...

Android phone saying Samsung Messages being discontinued, must use Google messages

Ars Technica: Millions of people imperiled through sign-in links sent by SMS. “Websites that authenticate users through links and codes sent in text messages are imperiling the privacy of millions of people, leaving them vulnerable to scams, identity theft, and other crimes, recently published research has found.”

This week in #FDroid (TWIF) is live since yesterday:

* #EU #DMA for you and me
* @mimi89999 gives us a reason to activate #NFC #Passkeys #FIDO2
* get the app phone manufacturers hate: #CircleToSearch
* #PeerTube is ready for creators
* #QUIK #SMS got a new appid, did you switch yet?
+ 19 new apps
& 160 updates
- 2 app archived

Touch that special place: https://f-droid.org/2025/12/18/twif.html

For the #Emulsion #GUI I drew *every* #Game platform / console / machine #gamecontroller in #inkscape ; Today, the #SMS (#Sega Master System) @dailysms 🙂 #game #IndieDev #gamedev #retrogaming #emulation #gaming #linux #floss

🌐 https://yphil.gitlab.io/emulsion/
https://gitlab.com/yphil/emulsion

My reservations and criticism re: #Signal are not just valid, but the reality is even worse than I thought:

• The fact that @signalapp requires not only their shitty #Android #App, and a #PhoneNumber but literally won't allow people to use their shitty #Desktop-App unless they have an Android device with a camera pointed at it makes it utterly unuseable for certain users who don't have a fucking #camera in their Android…

Seriously, do they expect folks to deal with that shit?

• It's already worse in terms of #UX than #telegram and #discord and that too makes #XMPP+#OMEMO clients like @monocles / #monoclesChat & @gajim / #gajim easier and faster to onboard #TechIlliterates onto.

• Whichever asshole decided that a replacement for #SMS should mandate #PII like a #PhoneNumber & not be natively cross-platform should be banned from doing any #tech in their life. Trying to circumvent this shit and helping folks with it makes me so fucking angry that I'm now explicitly refusing to support it!

FIX THAT SHIT, @Mer__edith, and if it means you need to kick some devs in their crouch then consider this a necessary "investment"…

#sarcasm #TechSupport #TapesFromTechSupport #Enshittifucation #SignalSucks #TelegramSucks #Messengers

$INSTANCE defederating infosec.space cuz 'Feds are there' is like the most dense idea I've heard.

• Sorry to break it to you, but @snowden and the whole #PRISM affair seems to have gone over your head...

We live in the age of #33ThomasStreet & #Room641A, so unless you put your stuff behind a #VPN that endpoints in #Tor, they'll #BULLRUN you for the lulz.

• If you are genuinely frightened about the #NSA aka. #AmericanStasi - (and you should) - then you need to realize that your threat assessment either accepts that and treats all comms in the #Fediverse as public and insecure (Which #Mastodon explicitly warns you about in it's DMs: They are not secure!) or you stop using #Fedi entirely.

Like you guys honestly believe that using #Signal will be more secure than #XMPP+#OMEMO when the confirmation-#SMS sent by @signalapp will earmark you as 'Person of Interest'… and it's very centralized nature among many problems makes it a #HoneyPot run by #UsefulIdiots from my POV!

• Look up #CloudAct and tell me I'm wrong…

Look, I hate to be the one poppin' bubbles and you with your instance have your right to choose to (de-)federate with whomever you want.

• Which is why I don't callout said instance. Dogpiling wouldn't fix people that densely wrapped in tinfoil.

• You have the right to block me.

But just like looking away doesn't make problems go away, neither will ignoring the truth.

• That may discomfort you, but that is the #InconvenientTruth.

I'm sorry if this #venting seems bitter, but some folks really need to get the fuck outside and #TouchGrass since there are folks on said instance working in that whole MIL/INTEL complex they so despise.

@KirbySSM #Texts (as in #SMS messages) never were private!

• The only #pdivate and #secure #messaging solutions are those with real #E2EE incl. #SelfCustody of all the keys...

And thus #XMPP+#OMEMO & #PGP/MIME are the only.option, because unlike #Signal and others they can be setup and run in away they can't snitch on users!

I also have a paid, parked, Internet SMS number. The entire industry got together, decided that we are not allowed to send SMS messages anymore, and offered plans to pay $20 a month to use a SMS TEXT number that we're ALREADY PAYING FOR.

They are literally converting a free service that has been free since forever, and arbitrarily adding mail servers to their blocklist for no reason. Then they are taking the paid service, and saying, pay us $20 more per month for your SMS, and we'll let you actually use it. Thieves, all of them.

#SMS #Cellular #Phones #Telephone #PhoneParking #Grifts #Ripoffs