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mission:log:2014:11:04:howto-setup-use-and-secure-a-local-spark-cloud-server [2014-11-13 19:54] – [OTA firmware update] chronomission:log:2014:11:04:howto-setup-use-and-secure-a-local-spark-cloud-server [2016-09-02 19:19] (current) – [HOWTO: Set up and secure a local Spark-Core Cloud] chrono
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 //Do we really want to give out our complete sensory data (sys/env/biometrics) over all time and possibly full remote control over all the actors, built into everything, at all time, at the place we like to call our home?// //Do we really want to give out our complete sensory data (sys/env/biometrics) over all time and possibly full remote control over all the actors, built into everything, at all time, at the place we like to call our home?//
  
-Some people may haven't yet realized that we've got plenty of open-source tools to store, analyze, link and visualize billions of data rows quickly and with much ease. Image what people with a multi-billion budget are able to employ. To give you a small scale example, how transparent anyone's little life and habits become, I've created a [[https://apollo.open-resource.org/flight-control/vfcc/#/dashboard/db/aquarius-hab-environment-indoor|dashboard]] which doesn't show many metrics yet (more are in the process) but it's more than enough, if you learn how to interpret the graphs. The data you see there is mostly generated by two sparc-cores I've deployed here. Big/Open-Data/Cloud technology is not the problem itself, it's our culture/society, which obviously isn't ready for it.+Some people may haven't yet realized that we've got plenty of open-source tools to store, analyze, link and visualize billions of data rows quickly and with much ease. Imagine what people with a multi-billion budget are able to employ. To give you a small scale example, how transparent anyone's little life and habits become, I've created a [[https://apollo.open-resource.org/flight-control/vfcc/#/dashboard/db/aquarius-hab-environment-indoor|dashboard]] which doesn't show many metrics yet (more are in the process) but it's more than enough, if you learn how to interpret the graphs. The data you see there is mostly generated by two spark-cores which are deployed here. Big/Open-Data/Cloud technology is not the problem itself, it's our culture/society, which obviously isn't ready for it.
  
-In the year 2014, in a post [[http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/security/the-real-story-of-stuxnet|Stuxnet]], [[http://www.heise.de/extras/timeline/|Snowden]] & [[http://www.zdnet.com/unsealed-docs-show-what-really-happened-with-lavabit-7000021489/|Lavabit]] era, we have no other choice but to come out of our state of denial and simply accept the fact, that every commercial entity can be compromised through multiple legal, administrative, monetary, social/personal or technological levers. Access- and Cloud-Provider are no exception. All of them can be tricked, coerced or forced to "assist" in one way or another. No matter what anyone promises, from this point on, they all have to be considered compromised.+In the year 2014, in a post [[http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/security/the-real-story-of-stuxnet|Olympic Games (Stuxnet) & Nitro Zeus]], [[http://www.heise.de/extras/timeline/|Snowden]] & [[http://www.zdnet.com/unsealed-docs-show-what-really-happened-with-lavabit-7000021489/|Lavabit]] era, we have no other choice but to come out of our state of denial and simply accept the fact, that every commercial entity can be compromised through multiple legal, administrative, monetary, social/personal or technological levers. Access- and Cloud-Provider are no exception. As repeatedly shown, all of them can be tricked, coerced or forced to "assist" in one way or another. No matter what anyone promises, from this point on, they all have to be considered compromised.
  
 The current software implementation (firmware- and server-side) has no concept of mesh/p2p or direct networking/communication. All Spark-Cores need a centralized spark-server for Control & Communication. Also, the Spark.connect() routine unfortunately has no timeout (yet?), the Core might hang indefinitely, which could be a big problem, even if your particular code doesn't require to connect to the cloud because after you call Spark.connect(), **your loop will not be called again until the Core finishes connecting to the Cloud**. This might happen if your WiFI or internet access is offline. The current software implementation (firmware- and server-side) has no concept of mesh/p2p or direct networking/communication. All Spark-Cores need a centralized spark-server for Control & Communication. Also, the Spark.connect() routine unfortunately has no timeout (yet?), the Core might hang indefinitely, which could be a big problem, even if your particular code doesn't require to connect to the cloud because after you call Spark.connect(), **your loop will not be called again until the Core finishes connecting to the Cloud**. This might happen if your WiFI or internet access is offline.
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 {{:mission:log:2014:10:local-spark-core-cloud-overview.png}} {{:mission:log:2014:10:local-spark-core-cloud-overview.png}}
  
-When you follow this howto and secure your network access with a strong VPN you'll end up with something that looks like this image, where we effectively mitigate all these issues and take back control of our privacy & autonomy. At least we now can decide if and which data we want to share and publish.+When you follow this howto and secure your network access with a strong VPN ([[https://airvpn.org/|AirVPN]] used here) you'll end up with something that looks like this image, where we effectively mitigate all these issues and take back control of our privacy & autonomy. At least we now can decide if and which data we want to share and publish.
  
 ==== Key Features/Aspect Comparison ==== ==== Key Features/Aspect Comparison ====
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 Depending on your state of mind, you might perceive this as paranoid but I can guarantee you, this has nothing to do with paranoia in any way, neither should this be perceived as a rant against spark-core or Amazon Web Services for that matter. Amazon Web Services is just the cloud provider used by spark.io and therefore got mentioned because it is so. What applies here applies to any other cloud platform one could choose, in general. From a business standpoint of view the decision to put things into a AWS seems absolutely valid to me. Of course, it's a little more expensive when you crunch the numbers but in return you get the full orchestra of AWS products, which in my experience do a good job working together, route53, elb, multiple geolocations and the whole shabang. And you can react very quickly to changes in demand of requests. In a perfect world, I would just use it as it is, because the setup isn't bad when we consider bandwidth not a problem. But when government agencies run haywire and military/intelligence/media war- and fearmongering go completely out of hand, as it obviously has during the last 12 years and no one really does a thing about it, the only logical place left to seek change is in oneself. Do it yourself then :) I am happy, grateful and amazed that now everybody can get these devices to tinker, create and learn. Hopefully, some of these experiments and examples will help someone else to save some time, to get their brains wrapped around the concepts of this one more quickly. Depending on your state of mind, you might perceive this as paranoid but I can guarantee you, this has nothing to do with paranoia in any way, neither should this be perceived as a rant against spark-core or Amazon Web Services for that matter. Amazon Web Services is just the cloud provider used by spark.io and therefore got mentioned because it is so. What applies here applies to any other cloud platform one could choose, in general. From a business standpoint of view the decision to put things into a AWS seems absolutely valid to me. Of course, it's a little more expensive when you crunch the numbers but in return you get the full orchestra of AWS products, which in my experience do a good job working together, route53, elb, multiple geolocations and the whole shabang. And you can react very quickly to changes in demand of requests. In a perfect world, I would just use it as it is, because the setup isn't bad when we consider bandwidth not a problem. But when government agencies run haywire and military/intelligence/media war- and fearmongering go completely out of hand, as it obviously has during the last 12 years and no one really does a thing about it, the only logical place left to seek change is in oneself. Do it yourself then :) I am happy, grateful and amazed that now everybody can get these devices to tinker, create and learn. Hopefully, some of these experiments and examples will help someone else to save some time, to get their brains wrapped around the concepts of this one more quickly.
  
-{{tag>spark-core embedded arduino security software hardware IoT crypto}}+{{tag>spark-core embedded arduino security software hardware IoT crypto vpn}}
  
-{{keywords>Apollo-NG apollo next generation hackerspace hacker space research development makerspace fablab diy community open-resource open resource mobile hackbus spark-core embedded arduino security software hardware IoT crypto}}+{{keywords>Apollo-NG apollo next generation hackerspace hacker space research development makerspace fablab diy community open-resource open resource mobile hackbus spark-core embedded arduino security software hardware IoT crypto vpn}}
  
 ~~DISCUSSION~~ ~~DISCUSSION~~
  
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