This is pretty fun. I wonder if they still hide them in plain sight.
From the reuters piece:
Another CIA officer in the meeting then showed Hosseini a covert communications system he could use to reach his handlers: a rudimentary Persian-language soccer news website called Iraniangoals.com. Entering a password into the search bar caused a secret messaging window to pop up, allowing Hosseini to send information and receive instructions from the CIA.
I'd love to find a list of these kind of secret doors. They are just so silly and neat.
I think many times we that care about privacy forget that standing out is a massive issue if your threat model is extreme. Using websites or apps that do not stand out is smart.
One reason I tell friends to use encrypted apps is even if they don't care that much about hiding what they communicate, normalizing these apps gives those that need them more cover.
Example would be in many places WhatsApp is not suspicious as everyone uses it. But Signal or SimpleX would be. So I hate doesn't mean use WhatsApp but it's a reason to normalize the best encrypted open source apps.
email
Indeed. GPG email is not used enough as well.
I bet this is a CIA site https://www.penisland.net/
What a more interesting and convoluted way to access secret messaging.
chech this one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_AG#:~:text=On%2011%20February%202020%2C%20The,used%20to%20send%20encrypted%20messages.
I just wonder if this was pre or post Kennedy Star Wars films. Were they pumping the last three films or not?