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Thread: Opera's "LINK" feature security opinions

  1. #1
    Antionline's Security Dude instronics's Avatar
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    Opera's "LINK" feature security opinions

    FIRST OFF SORRY. I EDITED THIS POST. I MEANT OPERA LINK, NOT OPERA UNITE!!!!!

    Moderator's Note:

    I have changed the main title to match instronics' wishes. (nihil)

    Hello everyone.

    Not sure where to post it, so move it if its in the wrong section. My question is more about policies and privacy concerning the Opera Link feature.

    I need a solution to share my browser's 'everything' on multiple machines. Opera LINK seems to do exactly that, but for the people here on AO that know me, you know that i am extremely paranoid most of the time. My main concern is PRIVACY.

    For example, i have many bookmarks, that i really DON'T want other people seeing. So my questions are:

    1 - How secure is my data if i choose to use opera LINK (data as in bookmarks, history, saved passwords)?

    2 - Does opera filter out, or 'spy' or look at my settings/bookmarks/history etc....?

    3 - (again for the people that know me) Should "I" trust it and use it without breaking my head of these thoughts?

    4 - From a security point of view..... does anyone else use and 'TRUST" this feature?

    5 - Any alternative solutions (without having to carry stuff with me on USB sticks, etc...)?

    Any advice would be appreciated.

    Cheers.
    Last edited by nihil; July 15th, 2010 at 05:29 AM. Reason: Wrong subject.. i meant opera "LINK", not "UNITE"
    Ubuntu-: Means in African : "Im too dumb to use Slackware"

  2. #2
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    If you use browser sync functions, the synced data is usually stored on their servers. The server could be compromised and your login, or potentially sync data could be stolen.

    I generally use Hamachi with a secure password. The Hamachi servers only establish the handshake and have no access to the encrypted data stream. If you want to be doubly sure that the data is inaccessible, you might want to encrypt a data folder with TrueCrypt, access it through Hamachi and decrypt at the other end. In your case, you can keep the user profile data folder shared over Hamachi and have the remote browser use that profile instead of the local profile. Not sure how it works in Opera but it should work in Firefox. I have a friend who does this profile sharing with Dropbox and Firefox (which would of course be less secure than the above mentioned option).
    sandwich.

  3. #3
    Antionline's Security Dude instronics's Avatar
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    Thank you for your input cyberbob.

    However i have heard nothing good of hamachi in the past, and i have a personal grudge against firefox, my only browsers that i use are lynx and opera..... and in general i think thanks to my paranoia i will not use any forms of what my primary question was. I will export my bookmarks to html and let them reside on a secure shell. If i need them, i will ssh to the server and just read it or download it. (im sure i can come up with a shell script that will automatically move a copy of them (maybe even including settings) to a shell that is accessible from the outside for my needs every few hours).

    Cheers anyways
    Ubuntu-: Means in African : "Im too dumb to use Slackware"

  4. #4
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    Just wondering what issues you had heard of with using Hamachi.
    sandwich.

  5. #5
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    I think you'll be fine. Opera is probably the best cross platform browser out right now. I use it 99.999% of the time. It's installed on my BSD boxes, all my Linux boxes, and my Windows machine. I use it every day, and I've had 0 problems.

  6. #6
    Antionline's Security Dude instronics's Avatar
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    Im sorry guys, please reread my initial post. I meant OPERA LINK, and NOT OPERA UNITE.

    And my main concern was not opera's safety/security, as in their technological security. I meant about their policies.... as in what they do with the data and info. More of a privacy concern here, not a security concern.

    Cheers.

    //addon @ cyberbob: Will get back to you about the hamachi issue
    Ubuntu-: Means in African : "Im too dumb to use Slackware"

  7. #7
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by instronics View Post
    Im sorry guys, please reread my initial post. I meant OPERA LINK, and NOT OPERA UNITE.

    And my main concern was not opera's safety/security, as in their technological security. I meant about their policies.... as in what they do with the data and info. More of a privacy concern here, not a security concern.

    Cheers.

    //addon @ cyberbob: Will get back to you about the hamachi issue
    Ahh, OK, that makes a difference heh. Ummm, I'm no expert on this, because I, like 99.999% of the World, don't read EULA stuff ever. I mean I've tried, but generally it ends up being a sleeping pill in text form.

    I've literally heard of people who won money because they read the EULA of some product or something.... Like, the company had put in there somewhere that if you see this, contact us here, and we'll send you money, just to find out of anyone read it lol.

    Anyway, from what I can personally tell you, with my limited understanding, is that Opera is a decent company. They don't seem to be out to palm you off to spammers and other miscreants, and they do seem to be fairly ethical when it comes to things like that.

    I personally, as I pointed out, use Opera almost exclusively, and I like it a lot. I couldn't stand Firefox anymore, and even when I did use it, it wasn't very often. I did use Firefox for a while back when it wasn't so bloated it was like a PMSing Woman.

    And I think that's a great analogy of Firefox lol, a PMSing Woman... It's Bloated, it's unstable, and it just blows up on you when you ask it something it doesn't like lol.

    I also use Opera as an Email client too. I rarely do that because most of the Browser and Email Client packages, are bloated, or don't work to well, but I haven't had ANY problems with Opera other than the occasional Server issues from my ISP, which is hardly Opera's fault.

    I'd say you're fine. I don't think anyone else here would really disagree, or find anything about Opera abusing information.

  8. #8
    Senior Member SnugglesTheBear's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gore View Post
    I've literally heard of people who won money because they read the EULA of some product or something.... Like, the company had put in there somewhere that if you see this, contact us here, and we'll send you money, just to find out of anyone read it lol.
    You hear about the one EULA that made users sign away their souls?
    http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/...wn-your-soul/1

    it is kind of funny. You can get into a lot of trouble with not reading EULA, though I do agree with you they are a snore-fest Blizzards EULA and TOS pretty much make you agree to give them complete access to your computer while you are connected to their server, but that is for security purposes >.<

  9. #9
    HYBR|D
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    Quote Originally Posted by gore View Post
    I'd say you're fine. I don't think anyone else here would really disagree, or find anything about Opera abusing information.

    cough cough..

  10. #10
    HYBR|D
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    also here's a slashdot article about the EULA prize.

    http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/23/2315211
    "When Doug Heckman was installing a PC Pitstop program, he actually read the EULA. In it, he found a clause stating that he could get financial compensation if he e-mailed PC Pitstop. The result: a $1,000 check, and proof that people don't read EULAs (3,000 people before him didn't notice it). The goal of this was to prove that one should read all EULAs, so that one can see if an app is spyware if it is buried in the EULA."
    It pays to Read License Agreements
    OK, let's be honest. You didn't really read the EULA. How do I know? Because hardly anyone does. To prove that point, PC Pitstop included a clause in one of its own EULAs that promised anyone who read it, a "consideration" including money if they sent a note to an email address listed in the EULA. After four months and more than 3,000 downloads, one person finally wrote in. That person, by the way, got a check for $1,000 proving, at least for one person, that it really does pay to read EULAs.
    Last edited by HYBR|D; July 14th, 2010 at 04:11 PM.

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