Non wireless laptops

Hi

Do you know if there is such thing as a laptop without bluetooth, radio and wifi wireless connectivity?

I have discovered that these parts on a laptop can be hacked without you even knowing it. I thought a removable wifi card would solve this.

I have been researching online and discovered that a company called Purism develop laptops that have a hardware button for switching off all wireless connectivity.

I was also thinking that organisations like the NSA must have laptops similar to this.

Any thoughts on this?

BailMeOut

You can usually disable bluetooth and Wifi in BIOS but would depend on laptop.

I didnt know that. Thanks

degsie

Plenty on ebay


Or get a newer one and turn on airplane mode

MarkR

Some laptops have a physical switch to disable WiFi. You can also go into airplane mode, if you want to. You could also disable the network cards in either the bios, or in the operating system.

Newer webcams may also have a sliding cover.

JoyPad

And for the tinfoil hat, you should use a premium-brand foil, that has not been used for wrapping food.
See instructions here.

aido79

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hi

Do you know if there is such thing as a laptop without bluetooth, radio and wifi wireless connectivity?

I have discovered that these parts on a laptop can be hacked without you even knowing it. I thought a removable wifi card would solve this.

I have been researching online and discovered that a company called Purism develop laptops that have a hardware button for switching off all wireless connectivity.

I was also thinking that organisations like the NSA must have laptops similar to this.

Any thoughts on this?

Would you like it to run on windows 3.1 as well?

source

Deleted User wrote: »

Hi

Do you know if there is such thing as a laptop without bluetooth, radio and wifi wireless connectivity?

I have discovered that these parts on a laptop can be hacked without you even knowing it. I thought a removable wifi card would solve this.

I have been researching online and discovered that a company called Purism develop laptops that have a hardware button for switching off all wireless connectivity.

I was also thinking that organisations like the NSA must have laptops similar to this.

Any thoughts on this?

The Purism laptops are good, I'm not sure how many other companies do hardware cut off switches. Some privacy and security advocates use sandboxed machines, either using an os like Kali Linux (used officially for Pen testing/white hat hacking) or Whonix which uses virtual machines to separate everything you do online from the file system of the machine you're working on. Or simply using 2 machines, 1 machine that has never been connected to the internet and another for using online.

You can also take the steps that Snowden has said he does with new machines and open it up to physically remove the connections to the wifi card, camera and mic, and use USB peripherals instead. But that seems a bit drastic for your standard everyday user.

It all depends on your threat level, someone like Snowden needs to take those steps as he is a serious target for intelligence services. Journalists and activists living in totalitarian regimes can get by with an os like Whonix or preferrably Tails (which can only be installed on a USB drive and easily removed). For everyone else, just be careful what you're sharing online, and if you're using windows keep everything updated and use a good antivirus. Otherwise use Linux, different passwords for everything (password managers are great for this) and just watch what you're sharing online.

For the average everyday person there really is no need to go full tinfoil hat on it. A lot of people will willingly give their information to Facebook, Google and Twitter but will worry about hackers stealing their information. You would be surprised just how easy it is to get a lot of information about someone from something as simple as a phone number, and a few basic command line tools.

There are some great videos online from accounts like The Hated One and Techlore on youtube on how to take steps to improve your privacy and security online. I would recommend starting there before going off and purchasing a laptop with kill switches.

Techlore does some very good guides like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1i-3xwcSGA

One very important point to remember is, the more secure you make it the less convenient it becomes.

I did some research and it looks as though no one specifically supplies these laptops. However, it has been suggested that you can physically disable these features yourself.

I have looked at some videos online and it looks like wificard and bluetooth can be physically removed without much effort. Im going to buy a laptop tool kit and see if i can do this.

i will let you know how i get on.

thanks for the tips

Hi guys

I bought a laptop screwdriver in the poundshop today and i dissembled my computer. I removed the wifi/bluetooth chip and put it back together. The laptop is working and now I no longer have to work about my laptop giving off any radio frequencies unknown to me.

I have a backup usb wifi card (TP Link). I tried this today and it works. I can remove this card when not using wifi so gives me peace of mind.

sasta le

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hi guys

I bought a laptop screwdriver in the poundshop today and i dissembled my computer. I removed the wifi/bluetooth chip and put it back together. The laptop is working and now I no longer have to work about my laptop giving off any radio frequencies unknown to me.

I have a backup usb wifi card (TP Link). I tried this today and it works. I can remove this card when not using wifi so gives me peace of mind.

Interesting...what got you to go about doing this?I'm not very techie but I have to improve

con747

Don't forget about your mobile phone now.

sasta le

sasta le wrote: »

Interesting...what got you to go about doing this?I'm not very techie but I have to improve

I got into debt a couple of years ago and I had problems with debt collectors and still do!

I discovered that your phone and laptop can give off various radio signals without you not knowing it even when its in airplane mode!

I researched some of this and Edward Snowden says things such as bluetooth and wifi on your laptop and phone can get hacked by people who know how to do it. They also give off a radio signal which can be picked up by other modems in the area. He recommends using ethernet because of this.

They only thing they need to know are simple things like your telephone number, mac address, ip etc.

This lead me switching over to a basic burner phone which has no wifi or bluetooth.

JoyPad

Deleted User wrote: »

I got into debt a couple of years ago and I had problems with debt collectors and still do!

Maybe you should pay your debts, instead of buying a laptop.

degsie

So OP, you are using a device to post here. How come this doesn't worry you? You are sharing your IP and I'd presume a mobile number with boards.ie

MarkR

MarkR wrote: »

Some laptops have a physical switch to disable WiFi. You can also go into airplane mode, if you want to. You could also disable the network cards in either the bios, or in the operating system.

Newer webcams may also have a sliding cover.

Old SONY Vaisos incorporated such a WiFi switch on the left beneath the keyboard

tobeme2020

Deleted User wrote: »

I got into debt a couple of years ago and I had problems with debt collectors and still do!

I discovered that your phone and laptop can give off various radio signals without you not knowing it even when its in airplane mode!

I researched some of this and Edward Snowden says things such as bluetooth and wifi on your laptop and phone can get hacked by people who know how to do it. They also give off a radio signal which can be picked up by other modems in the area. He recommends using ethernet because of this.

They only thing they need to know are simple things like your telephone number, mac address, ip etc.

This lead me switching over to a basic burner phone which has no wifi or bluetooth.

Hacking isn't as easy as you believe it is or I could be wrong. Why worry about it to the extent your taking laptops apart.

biko

I have worked with air-gapped computers (google it) for banks and such.
Not sure air-gapped laptops exist though.

pah

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I got into debt a couple of years ago and I had problems with debt collectors and still do!

I discovered that your phone and laptop can give off various radio signals without you not knowing it even when its in airplane mode!

I researched some of this and Edward Snowden says things such as bluetooth and wifi on your laptop and phone can get hacked by people who know how to do it. They also give off a radio signal which can be picked up by other modems in the area. He recommends using ethernet because of this.

They only thing they need to know are simple things like your telephone number, mac address, ip etc.

This lead me switching over to a basic burner phone which has no wifi or bluetooth.

Debt collectors can't track you through your laptops wifi or bluetooth. You are being overly paranoid.

tobeme2020

pah wrote: »

Debt collectors can't track you through your laptops wifi or bluetooth. You are being overly paranoid.

How easy is hacking though

^^^^^^^ Just forget it at your level.

degsie

tobeme2020 wrote: »

How easy is hacking though

You've heard of the Streisand Effect?

tobeme2020

degsie wrote: »

You've heard of the Streisand Effect?

I don't understand

GarIT

tobeme2020 wrote: »

How easy is hacking though

If you can do it you'd be a millionaire, wouldn't have to worry about being a debt collector.

Most programmers on 100k or more aren't even capable.

tobeme2020

tobeme2020 wrote: »

I don't understand

you've answered your own question.

/thread

pah

tobeme2020 wrote: »

How easy is hacking though

How easy is football?

There are different levels of hacking.

GarIT

pah wrote: »

How easy is football?

There are different levels of hacking.

The difference is anything that is easy or can just be downloaded and run has usually been patched by now, so having your updates installed would stop someone doing it on you.
For the type of stuff OP mentioned, the people would have to be standing outside his house, while OPs device is currently in use, and had not gotten any updates in the last year. If OP really is concerned installing Linux would be much more effective than taking out parts to disable wifi and Bluetooth. OR just setting up his router to only allow devices to connect if they are on a MAC address whitelist.

Zero Days can sell for millions if they are useful. Saudi Arabia bought an Android hack for £4m last year. Once they become public updates stop them from working. So unless the debt collectors are investing as much as whole countries they can't do anything remotely like what OP is worrying about.

pah

GarIT wrote: »

The difference is anything that is easy or can just be downloaded and run has usually been patched by now, so having your updates installed would stop someone doing it on you.
For the type of stuff OP mentioned, the people would have to be standing outside his house, while OPs device is currently in use, and had not gotten any updates in the last year. If OP really is concerned installing Linux would be much more effective than taking out parts to disable wifi and Bluetooth. OR just setting up his router to only allow devices to connect if they are on a MAC address whitelist.

Zero Days can sell for millions if they are useful. Saudi Arabia bought an Android hack for £4m last year. Once they become public updates stop them from working. So unless the debt collectors are investing as much as whole countries they can't do anything remotely like what OP is worrying about.

So..... Standing in front of an open goal versus chipping the keeper from the half way line?

We are saying the same thing.

GarIT

GarIT wrote: »

The difference is anything that is easy or can just be downloaded and run has usually been patched by now, so having your updates installed would stop someone doing it on you.
For the type of stuff OP mentioned, the people would have to be standing outside his house, while OPs device is currently in use, and had not gotten any updates in the last year. If OP really is concerned installing Linux would be much more effective than taking out parts to disable wifi and Bluetooth. OR just setting up his router to only allow devices to connect if they are on a MAC address whitelist.

Zero Days can sell for millions if they are useful. Saudi Arabia bought an Android hack for £4m last year. Once they become public updates stop them from working. So unless the debt collectors are investing as much as whole countries they can't do anything remotely like what OP is worrying about.

Which Linux OS do you mean?

ozmo

Deleted User wrote: »

.. Edward Snowden says things such as bluetooth and wifi on your laptop and phone can get hacked by people who know how to do it. They also give off a radio signal which can be picked up by other modems in the area. He recommends using ethernet because of this.

Ive read he also disassembles phones and removes the microphone - and uses a removable usb microphone - that way his phone is only recording exactly when he allows it to (when he has inserted the microphone). But he has a lot to be protecting himself against.

Every laptop I've owned had some way of disabling the wifi/bt - either through bios, a physical switch - or a shortcut on the keyboard...

Most people are fine with these left on - but I cannot say there is no merit at all in disabling the radio comms if you need a very secure machine... there is even a new bluetooth and wifi exploit out too right now in the past few months that many devices are affected...
Ethernet will give a much faster connection as well.

Many decent laptops come with no ethernet ports now - but you can get a very good usb3 to ethernet dongle cheap.

ozmo

ozmo wrote: »

Ive read he also disassembles phones and removes the microphone - and uses a removable usb microphone - that way his phone is only recording exactly when he allows it to (when he has inserted the microphone). But he has a lot to be protecting himself against.

Every laptop I've owned had some way of disabling the wifi/bt - either through bios, a physical switch - or a shortcut on the keyboard...

Most people are fine with these left on - but I cannot say there is no merit at all in disabling the radio comms if you need a very secure machine... there is even a new bluetooth and wifi exploit out too right now in the past few months that many devices are affected...
Ethernet will give a much faster connection as well.

Many decent laptops come with no ethernet ports now - but you can get a very good usb3 to ethernet dongle cheap.

I've completed modified my laptop- I've physocally disabled my microphone, my camera and also removed my wifi card. I also installed ubuntu recently. The only problem is that I still use my smart phone as a modem. That can;t be helped since I don't have a home router at the moment