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Aurornislast Tuesday at 10:01 PM4 repliesview on HN

> State actor? Gets into data centre, or has to break into a privately owned apartment.

I don’t think a state actor would actually break in to either in this case, but if they did then breaking into the private apartment would be a dream come true. Breaking into a data center requires coordination and ensuring a lot of people with access and visibility stay quiet. Breaking into someone’s apartment means waiting until they’re away from the premises for a while and then going in.

Getting a warrant for a private residence also would likely give them access to all electronic devices there as no 3rd party is keeping billing records of which hardware is used for the service.

> Dumb accidents? Well, all buildings can burn or have an power outage.

Data centers are built with redundant network connectivity, backup power, and fire suppression. Accidents can happen at both, but that’s not the question. The question is their relative frequency, which is where the data center is far superior.


Replies

pbhjpbhjlast Wednesday at 12:27 AM

>Breaking into a data center requires coordination and ensuring a lot of people with access and visibility stay quiet

Or just a warrant and a phone call to set up remote access? In the UK under RIPA you might not even need a warrant. In USA you can probably bribe someone to get a National Security Letter issued.

Depending on the sympathies of the hosting company's management you might be able to get access with promises.

I dare say F-Droid trust their friends/colleagues more than they trust randos at a hosting company.

As an F-Droid user, I think I might too? It's a tough call.

Calziferlast Wednesday at 12:10 AM

> Data centers are built with redundant network connectivity, backup power, and fire suppression. [...] The question is their relative frequency, which is where the data center is far superior.

Well, I remember one incident were a 'professional' data center burned down including the backups.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OVHcloud#Incidents

I know no such incident for some basement hosting.

Doesn't mean much. I'm just a bit surprised so many people are worried because of the server location and no one had mentioned yet the quite outstanding OVH incident.

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u8080last Wednesday at 9:30 AM

>I don’t think a state actor would actually break in to either in this case

Read Jabber.ru Hetzner accident: https://notes.valdikss.org.ru/jabber.ru-mitm/

tcfhgjlast Tuesday at 10:44 PM

> The question is their relative frequency, which is where the data center is far superior.

as a year long f-droid user I can't complain