Received request from a friend in Minneapolis.
I suggested FairPhone/Murena and they found this Cape.co. The finding a compatible wireless carrier and managing a VPN piece thru them off. They need an easy solution that gives them peace of mind, but they are not techy at all. "Being able to research and pick a carrier, phone and OS was overwhelming."
This person is not nefarious, but they rightly believe the government is being nefarious in their town and they want to resist while being safe. The marketing from Cape hit the nail, but it's marketing.
I'm not there to help, so looking for experienced condensed advice on the device.
I should add - this will be a daily driver and I've already advised to leave the device home for protests, etc. due to tower tracking. We're at the next layer.
22 Comments
floofloof@lemmy.ca · 25 pts · 186d
GrapheneOS is good and surprisingly simple to install.
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 186d
You mentioned Graphene in the subject and then didn't mention it again. Why not Graphene?
ProperlyProperTea@lemmy.ml · 19 pts · 186d
I would agree a used Pixel with Graphene OS would be the simplest solution.
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 186d
Most secure option too. I'd never done any kind of custom OS on a phone before Graphene and the web installer made it super easy. Just make sure you have a cable meant for data in addition to charging. I didn't realize most of the USB-C cables I owned were charging only until I tried to set it up, and I got extremely frustrated why I couldn't get my computer to recognize anything for an embarrassing amount of time.
ztpq@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 185d
I guess this comes too late in your case, but you can tell the difference on the phone by checking if the notification "Charging this device via USB" pops up, which you can tap to enable USB data transfer.
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 185d
I've learned a lot since starting my FOSS journey. đ Good advice for novices though.
DieserTypMatthias@lemmy.ml · 12 pts · 185d
Just buy a Pixel 9a for him and install GrapheneOS on it.
juspie@piefed.ca · 11 pts · 185d
I think you can only simplify things so much without making the entire thing pointless. As others have already said, install GrapheneOS yourself â it's almost as easy as making an online purchase. And remember the phone is inherently a tracking device no matter what â especially if the cellular/radio stack is active.
I don't think there's any more shortcuts that can be taken if security and protection from surveillance are actually important.
doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 186d
What this person is describing is a recent ios device with lockdown on, biometrics off, adp on and an understanding that no us carrier can offer cell service with security or privacy from the us government because of the lawful intercept backdoor.
They need to change their behavior to include turning their phone off frequently and incorporate practice using their phones duress inputs. They need to recognize that the phone is always a tracking device and cannot function in the way they want without being a tracking device. Because of that last part, and because the metadata delivered to phones is now used to direct police action, they need to understand that phones canât come with them to organizing or protest and they canât communicate about those things using the phone no matter what app or encryption is employed.
Itâs also important to recognize that if the people theyâre around donât take these same precautions then it may be best to simply stop associating with those people in that way. Some friends are a lot of fun at parties but canât be trusted.
Once all that is handled then a nice cherry on top is mullvad. Easy to understand and handle for even the most tech averse.
People will say that they donât trust iphones because theyâre not open source, but every leak from cop and intelligence tech companies like celebrite indicates that they are incapable of compromising an up to date ios device especially in bfu (not unlocked after being powered on) state. These leaks could be dismissed as limited hang outs, but the fact that we also see action based on metadata from the lawful intercept backdoor instead of direct compromise of devices seems to corroborate it.
Tldr: switch to apple and go prodromal
E: another benefit I forgot to mention is looking normal. The context of the request is one where the users fellow citizens may be snitching on them to law enforcement. Being able to blend in is absolutely worthwhile because every nosy neighbor or coworker is gonna be looking for signs of a user being a weirdo. Having a âhardenedâ ios phone and changing your behavior lets you blend right in.
ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 183d
There is a meshtastic Lemmy community. I think it has limited functionality. Like text only. IIRC it is low frequency, like 900 MHz or something, and is reliable. You have these walkie talkie looking devices, but they don't do voice that I'm aware of. Also, no issues with needing ham license or any of that. I'd be hard pressed to think there was not a community there that didn't have nodes set up. I don't know about security, but it might be under the radar.
There is a meshtastic map, but smaller networks in your community might not register, which is good.
doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 183d
Again, speaking as a radio operator, for this users needs its tough to recommend a radio solution to the non-technical especially when itâs a mesh based hobbyist one the user will be relying on to communicate securely.
Radio also sticks out like sore thumb and itâs important to be able to look normal.
ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 182d
Good points there.
ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 183d
What does turning the phone off frequently do? Also, by duress, do you mean anti-tamper destructive functionality? Like wipe info if unapproved authentication methods are used or something?
doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 183d
Cell phones have three states: unlocked, locked afu (after first unlock) and locked bfu (before first unlock). When in bfu the phone is much more difficult to attack because it wonât allow access to the pairing or anything really. It becomes even more restrictive with lockdown on.
Turning the phone off frequently accomplishes two things, it keeps the user from messing with it and makes sure if someone grabs you up in your home while youâre reading your newspaper smoking your pipe then they grab your phone while itâs turned off, in bfu lock when itâs powered up.
The duress inputs can do a lot with a little. You can lock the phone, turn it off, dial 911 etc.
iOS devices already have wipe after a number of failed pin attempts. Iâm dubious of much more than that for this user. The threat model here is police picking you up and using a far reaching warrant and off the shelf technology to peer into your devices, not someone dead bugging your devicesâ security chip. Itâs only got to last as long as the cops are allowed to hold your shit, so the four or five years lead that leaks from various cybersecurity companies indicate that devices in bfu have over their opponents in intelligence seems perfect.
Itâs common practice for law enforcement to go ahead and do the ten tries or whatever makes the device wipe itself before they give it back to you anyway, so itâs a double edged sword.
ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 182d
I wonder if all models don't pair and whatnot bfu. If so, that's good to know for sure.
doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 181d
If youâre interested, look up the celebrite leak images. They require a little googling of jargon but you might get a couple years on an android device with a locked bootloader and at least four or so on an up to date ios device.
In my experience all the ios stuff wonât pair bfu but some android stuff will. Thereâs just too much out there to say for sure about everything.
T3CHT@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 186d
Thanks for the feedback. For clarity, Cape is offering a GrapheneOS installed out of box to the user for a surcharge. This is what connected the title: https://www.cape.co/blog/cape-supports-grapheneos
AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today · 15 pts · 185d
I would never trust a phone with Graphene pre installed. I suppose you can check the hash on boot, but to be completely sure that you're secure, you should install it yourself.
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 185d
Also, the dude who started that company used to work for Palantir. Its not out of the realm of possibility that someone who worked for them saw how horrible they were and decided to fight against that, but they're a new company and I would be extremely hesitant to trust someone with that track record until they've been heavily audited and proven themselves trustworthy.
T3CHT@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 184d
Good point. Can only trust the device and service as far as the company. And nobody is giving good reason to trust Cape.
ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 183d
Hey OP, if you ever get around to checking the hash on boot (if possible), it would be worth it to update the post and let everyone know if you were able to validate or not. That would be an interesting tidbit.
ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 183d
Meshtastic. There is actually a meshtastic Lemmy community. It can do texts.
Mureno will provide service for FairPhone 6. It has microphone and video kill switch, fakes geolocation, spoofs IP, uses app trackers detection, and doesn't really have bloatware. The ecosystem is carefully curated and managed. I like it better than Fossify but still diversify a few things just because.
I use NextDNS and tight domain filters. Got rid of MicroG. Love it.