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by mbreese 749 days ago
In some industries, anything that “computes” or has a data connection is strictly regulated. If data can move in or out, it needs to be verified.

So, if you want to avoid those validation steps, it would need to be a dumb device without an OS. Like the parent said - just a monitor.
1 comments
ngneer 749 days ago
I agree with the sentiment, but it is harder and harder to find truly "dumb" devices anymore. USB has a complicated (and vulnerable) firmware stack. Monitors have hackable on screen display controllers. Unless you want to go back to VGA... Just saying...

https://github.com/redballoonshenanigans/monitordarkly

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mbreese 749 days ago
In this context, I think of two things: hackable spying and data exfiltration.

If a device runs processes that can be hacked so that it can report on your activities. Capturing the display or keyboard input would be examples. This generally requires an active network connection, but not always. Because this device runs a version of Android, it’s potentially hackable (I’m not saying it isn’t secure, just that it would have to be validated).

Second, if a device can store or transfer data, it would be possible to send confidential documents out the door without knowing about it. Because this has on-board storage (and is small), it has this issue too.

A monitor, even if its OSD/firmware was hacked, is much less likely to be able to do either of these things.

There are industries that have real concerns about data privacy and security. In these cases, the dumber a device, generally the better.

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stubish 748 days ago
Dumb devices can have smarts; they just need to be incapable of shenanigans. Maybe a monitor can be reprogrammed to capture screen shots, but without storage or a network connection, that isn't useful.
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