Following on from my recent article How To Dumb Down Your Tech Devices, in which I somehow omitted to mention the privacy issue, the other day I came across a BBC article, Security by Antiquity, which explores why older tech is sometimes safer from hackers. Not surprisingly, many groups of concerned technophiles still use outdated and obsolete systems – both hardware and software.
How Obsolete Would You Go?
Back in the dark ages, I owned a Nokia 9210 Communicator as pictured above, and it attracted a lot of interest in the pub, being way ahead of its time. Apparently some people still use them, refusing to buy a smartphone, even though the Symbian OS hasn’t been updated for decades. There also exist communities that were so enamoured with Eudora email that, even though it’s not been supported for many years, they continue to play with it through Hermes, described as ‘a worthy successor to the cult-classic Eudora 7 mail client developed by QUALCOMM.’
To be honest, I’m not that paranoid to revert to an ancient email system or a 25-year-old Nokia. However, there are many good reasons why individuals and even governments choose analogue over digital and real paper over a touch-screen.
Funny moment – a while ago I was examining a paper map and caught myself pinching my fingers on the paper to magnify the area. I then slapped myself furiously!
Some examples Of Security By Obsolescence
The general opinion of experts is that hackers go for the big numbers, not the 50 or 100 users who are stuck in a time warp, and recent examples prove that point – GTA6 anyone? Anyway, one good example is the Irish Aviation Authority recently deciding to keep ground-based radio navigation beacons because GPS is susceptible to jamming. In Ukraine, paper/laminated maps (how I miss those!) and compasses are often used by the military because you can’t hack or jam paper. Companies and institutions still use magnetic tape, and eLoran, a radio-based alternative to GPS, is becoming ever more popular.
Even some older commercial aircraft such as the 747 still use floppy disks for loading navigation databases and software updates because the disks are always offline, and many air traffic control infrastructures use legacy hardware because it’s more trusted. And at the other, more extreme end, I’ve witnessed traffic light control systems in Buenos Aires relying on ancient Pentium III PCs and a local Chinese mini-market still using a 20-year-old PC running Windows 98 – which I had to reinstall some ten years ago! Oh, those were the days!
Mind you, I still have some legacy hardware and PCs which I fire up from time to time for my own personal kicks, and my 25-year-old Creative Cambridge SoundWorks 4.1 desktop speakers still perform superbly!
Any thoughts on ancient systems? Please comment below.
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