Microsoft Confirms Windows Has a Global Device ID You Can't Turn Off

[SnoopZ]

This is not great for Windows users.

https://tech.yahoo.com/cybersecurity...130905358.html

[Jaymoss]

Just thinking about the logistics of this. I guess a system set up behind a VPN network never using your physical IP would negate as the system and therefore M$ never has your actual location

Reading down the second report it appears to me anyway that some of this hack was against M$ and that is why the data was shared

It says
"When Microsoft was able to spot patterns in behavior that matched those of a particular GDID it held on account,"

Struggling to get a handle on what this exactly means

This not even I who tends to get on with M$ can support this at all even though I am not in the slightest bit surprised

[Carth]

Microsoft, quite possibly the largest spy network in the World

[damien c]

I'm sorry but how did people not know about this, if they have been paying attention to what Microslop have been doing for years!

They introduced in 2013 the "Advertising ID" which you could turn off apparently, but with some respect for the more enlightened of us, we knew that was not fully off despite what they say and still can identify you from it because it's used to serve you adverts based of your browsing, computer use etc.

TPM Serial Number is another thing because it is linked to the motherboard in most instances, and is detected by the OS and reported back to Microsoft, again they might say it's not but you cannot trust them to be honest about it.

The whole "passed through a VPN" doesn't mean anything when multiple other forms of identifiable information is passed through as well.


This is after all the company that scan's your documents if you save them to OneDrive for what they consider "hate speech, child sexual abuse material, violent acts, and malicious software" and then if by "their" definition you have broken one of those rules they remove your ability to use Microsoft Office.

This is the company that introduced "Mandatory Telemetry" with Windows 8, no more opt in, you were forced to send data back until people found a way to turn it off, and then Microslop added a way to turn it off but not fully.


So I don't understand the whole outrage of it though when people quite happily hand over tons of personal information daily to companies like Meta via Fakebook, Instafake, X, YouTube and many other sites especially the ones that are asking for "we need your id to access this site" thank's to Labour forcing through a policy the Conservatives created and were not from what I can tell going to implement unless forced.

Any social media person who say's they did not see this "coming" is quite frankly lying especially when they are hardware reviewers etc because they know just looking at a motherboard how many identifiers there are on that 1 piece of equipment.

I am just amazed it has taken this long for people to pay attention enough it seems to figure out that Microslop has been tracking you for years!

---------- Post added at 20:50 ---------- Previous post was at 20:48 ----------

Originally Posted by Jaymoss

Just thinking about the logistics of this. I guess a system set up behind a VPN network never using your physical IP would negate as the system and therefore M$ never has your actual location

Reading down the second report it appears to me anyway that some of this hack was against M$ and that is why the data was shared

It says
"When Microsoft was able to spot patterns in behavior that matched those of a particular GDID it held on account,"

Struggling to get a handle on what this exactly means

This not even I who tends to get on with M$ can support this at all even though I am not in the slightest bit surprised

Doesn't matter, they know the locations of the VPN Servers and can do a man in the middle attack on packets to find the GDID on all packets then trace where there packets came from and presto they have your location and if people think it's impossible or doesn't happen, sorry but the likes of the 3 letter entities do it all the time!

What packets exactly have an MS GDID in them ?

[Dude111]

Its good the truth is being exposed!!

[Sirius]

For those who think Windows 11 is free think again as you pay Microsoft everyday with your telemetry data. They must be making a fortune from all that data they then sell on..

[mrmistoffelees]

So, this has been around for ages…. It’s mapped against the Microsoft account , not the local account and it’s easy enough to create one of those.

macOS and Linux have similar ish things

Linux /etc/machine-id

MacOS https://thehorizonexplorer.org/findi...s-bbac7652a2ca

[damien c]

Originally Posted by Paul

What packets exactly have an MS GDID in them ?

As it turns out it is typically not included in general traffic but as a part of the telemetry that you cannot turn off, and that apparently can still be obtained even with a VPN.

This is one explanation I have seen:

"Microsoft tracks users across VPN sessions by logging operating system-level telemetry that travels through the encrypted VPN tunnel and maps the device's unchanging identity to the changing VPN exit IP address"

So even with a VPN Microsoft can still track you!

[Dude111]

Yea its kinda scary how much power they have!!

[damien c]

Originally Posted by Dude111

Yea its kinda scary how much power they have!!

It's not just them though, let's not forget that the governments have cameras in space that can quite literally track anyone from door to door!

The real scary thing is not realising just how easy our lives can be predicted by companies because we have all allowed them to track so much by using their systems and platforms over the years.

Seems like another scaremongering story.

Mobile phones (Android & Apple) have unique IDs, always have, thats how you register them (to banks, for example).
Of course it passes through VPNs, or anything else - its passed from you to the end sevice, whatever route you take in the middle.

[Dude111]

Ya Paul very well could be right!!!

[Jaymoss]

Originally Posted by Paul

Seems like another scaremongering story.

Mobile phones (Android & Apple) have unique IDs, always have, thats how you register them (to banks, for example).
Of course it passes through VPNs, or anything else - its passed from you to the end sevice, whatever route you take in the middle.

IMEI numbers can be changed although it is illegal. Think a locked stolen phone is dead is not always the case (I do not know or want to know how to do this btw) But yes as you say and as Damien conceded this number is not broadcast so you will not find it in hidden cookies and websites do not have access to it.

One would assume it would be a very lengthy process with a lot of legal loopholes to jump through before the data is released.

I can only assume but I think the attack was on M$ so M$ used the data with the FBI to track them down. Your average cyber criminal I doubt has anything to worry about or they could just keep an OS on a removeable drive and just boot from that when they want to commit their crime and either wipe it and install a fresh one for next time or keep it safe and use it again. This done from behind a VPN Network from the start I believe will not give M$ an origin IP and therefore not your original location

If I was a cyber criminal it would be time to get my OPEN VPN router out and add a new cert and just keep a small network totally behind a wall

The very fact this is in the news gives the method away to the cyber criminals and now they will all be covering their tracks better. I think maybe the biggest shock here is a sophisticated cyber attack was launched from a windows computer