Purism 13 version 4 wifi and bluetooth kill switches off (or on, so physical link is severed). Libre office word doc only. Can this app be remote screen shared in any conceivable way? I think not physically possible…but is it possible?
Sounds crazy paranoid I know but have had some horrendous experiences with Mac this year that have placed serious doubts about this stuff. Physically not possible, yes? Perhaps a silly question, but crazy things have happened as said
So, it depends, this is one of those things where with enough dedication and unlimited budget nearly anything is possible.
I am making a few assumptions with this such as: there’s no wired Ethernet connection, your intent is to prevent what you’re seeing on the screen from getting to anyone else,
With that said, the probability of you being targeted in that way is extremely unlikely.
Also it depends on what you mean by screen shared. The easiest way would be for someone to use another device to record/share the screen via that other devices camera pointed at the screen, though this is not like an app on the laptop sharing the screen over the laptops internet connection it is a sharing of the screen.
Lastly would be using much more specialized equipment to view the screen or EMI from the laptop to gather the information about the screen. This could be as simple as a telescope to as complicated as the equipment required to monitor the EMI from the laptop.
The point I’m making is, turning off these kill switches is one piece of the security. If you are turning this off but working on a park bench in public and someone sitting next to you can see the screen they may be able to record and/or stream what they see. Conversely if you’re in a faraday cage in a concrete bunker with secure access requirements and only running on battery so that even the power connection cannot be monitored to try and gather some amount of information on how hard the laptop is working…
If your only concern is something running on the laptop connecting over the internet to share your screen, then no with those switches off and wired internet connection this is not feasible. If your concern is someone puting forth effort to actively spy on you, then whomever has more time and money will likely “win”.
if you’re on a Purism laptop then this is quite unlikely to happen.
the most vulnerable to screen capture would be if you are using a heavily blobed machine with lots of proprietary drivers at the low level (vBios, CPU>RAM access that sort of thing).
Binoculars
Or an offline screen recording Software that transmits data later when you are online again. kill switches are no substitute for general caution.
You should have the mic / cam kill switch in the “kill” position too.
Also, there is active research being undertaken where data is exfiltrated using speakers.
However many such attacks will require one or both of the following.
running malware on your computer
having another device in proximity to your computer (to receive information from it)
Therefore, first and foremost (relating to the first bullet point), you must exercise good computer security practice - and (relating to the second bullet point), you must maintain good security on all devices.
