| ▲ | Full Writeup of the Windows GDID(github.com) |
| 36 points by typeofhuman 4 hours ago | 19 comments |
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| ▲ | nullbio 19 minutes ago | parent | next [-] |
| Can promise you a re-install does nothing for your privacy. Plenty of IDs are embedded in the hardware. |
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| ▲ | hyperrail 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| How a Windows device's global ID is generated may be new info in the public sphere, but the fact that the global ID exists is not a secret. This format of device ID has been in Windows since the initial release of Windows 10 in 2015, when it was introduced as part of Windows' current telemetry subsystem. To see your device's global ID, open Windows Feedback Hub, then go to Feedback Hub Settings and look under Device Information. |
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| ▲ | ranger_danger an hour ago | parent [-] | | What I'm more interested in is how/where the GDID is used. Imagine if e.g. Edge started sending your GDID as a header in every single web request. | | |
| ▲ | hyperrail 6 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | In a sense it doesn't matter how the global ID is used now. The fact that it exists allows it to be used in ways like what you describe, either by a malicious (?) Microsoft itself or by a malicious third-party attacker. I'm familiar with these global IDs because I routinely used the Windows telemetry system as part of my work on the Windows core at Microsoft. We had strong policies on how and when we could access or use data for a single device as identified by global ID. But ultimately, these policies will have a "government or court order" exception in reality even if not in theory, just like in most other consumer software observability systems. If words don't reassure you, then Windows is no different from any other app in that respect. | |
| ▲ | naturalmovement an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | I always assumed Chrome and Edge already did this — but sent the data to their respective masters. Isn't every Chrome download unique? It used to be even though the package contained an Authenticode signature, each installer stub download had a unique hash, because Windows' digital signatures allow a non-executable data area in the trailer which is not computed as part of the signed data. There is zero technical reason to do this (generating unique binaries) aside from tracking purposes. |
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| ▲ | rrix2 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| one thing this doesn't touch on that I am curious about is how was browsing history, etc, correlated to the GDID? |
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| ▲ | typeofhuman 28 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | Ya. The FBI report to the court said that Microsoft showed the GDID visited the ngrok.com/signip page while using a VPN. I would have figured at that level the OS would not know domains but likely IP addresses. So it must be browser telemetry right? | |
| ▲ | murderfs 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Edge history syncing, presumably. |
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| ▲ | ggerules 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Wasn't this the GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) of early 00s Windows?
When did it change to GDID?
Are they the same? |
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| ▲ | wrs 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | No relation. GUID is just a format for a 128-bit unique number, used throughout the software industry. This is a specific 64-bit number assigned to your Windows device. | |
| ▲ | miffy900 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Maybe try reading the writeup? GDID's are 64 bit for one thing, not 128 like GUIDs. |
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| ▲ | gigel82 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > The court record itself says a reinstall produces a new GDID That's a half truth if I ever saw one. Telemetry also includes the hardware hash (which does use SMBIOS serial number, CPUID, TPM identifiers, etc.) and that one survives OS reinstalls and even hardware swaps. It is the underlying id used for things like Autopilot (the equivalent to Apple's remote MDM lock). |
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| ▲ | stackghost 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| For those like me who were not abreast of this issue: the FBI was able to arrest some kid who hacked/is alleged to have hacked a jewellery retailer through a VPN. They were able to track the hacker via the user's GDID, which is a stable identifier unaffected by VPN usage. This surveillance is certainly going to expand in scope as age verification comes into widespread usage. Personally I see little legitimate use case for this telemetry. It seems only useful for the purposes of tracking users for law enforcement or targeted advertising purposes. |
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| ▲ | Joker_vD an hour ago | parent [-] | | Well, it's a darn good thing there is nothing like that over here on the Linux side. I'm pretty sure that if e.g. systemd attempted to generate a unique, persistent machine identifier during the installation process, it'd be shot down and patched off extremely quickly. | | |
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| ▲ | xyst 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| this is why Microsoft is pushing so hard for Microsoft accounts at install |
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