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Why aren't political exposed persons leaving iphones? It has been known for a while that it is not secure for them. An android tablet connecting to wifi hotspo

Why aren't political exposed persons leaving iphones? It has been known for a while that it is not secure for them. An android tablet connecting to wifi hotspots only, or even lan only, with minimal software, and a dumb phone are more secure than iphone.

seniorivn 5y ago
no they are not, targeted attack of someone who is capable of using Pegasus is going to be successful regardless a consumer device u choose to use.
- catlikesshrimp 5y ago
  "No they are not?" I deserved more than that. Iphones are a standardized attack surface. Apple prefers vulnerabilities not to be found than to be discovered and patched, leading to NSO holding on their discovered vulnerabilities for longer. An android device with no modem (baseband) is definitely more secure. Throw in a hardware switch for camera, mics, and wifi, which iphones will never have.
  - judge2020 5y ago
    Android is an even larger attack surface when political people don't take any of the precautions you mention, which they most likely won't. The President of the United States does indeed have a specialized phone that is modified by WH staff to either be only for phone calls or only for twitter/news (which means 2 phones)[0], but they're still iPhones. As long as there's not some 0-authorization 0-click vulnerability in the things used (as in, reportedly, neither iphone did texts), it'll be secure enough, but that's still limiting its usage and isn't want any politician is going to do. Just stick to a desk phone for secure comms. 0: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/21/trump-phone-security-risk-hackers-601903 https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/21/trump-phone-securi...
    - dx034 5y ago
      Could anyone deactivate texts on an iphone or did they get a special iOS version from Apple?
      - vanchor3 5y ago
        Texts or iMessage? Texts shouldn't be difficult, just disable on the carrier end. MDM might be able to restrict it further just in case. With iMessage you can just not sign in to an Apple ID. Or use MDM.
amerine 5y ago
What!? You’re statement is really wrong. Android tablets on hotspots only??? What?
- saagarjha 5y ago
  When disagreeing with someone, it's usually courteous to explain why you think they are wrong.
estaseuropano 5y ago
they need an actual functional phone. You can't be a journalist and not have a fully functional phone that access the internet whenever needed. I'm sure they use burners for sensitive stuff, but what are they supposed to use for their regular work, calls with the school, car navigation, ...
- catlikesshrimp 5y ago
  There are portable hotspots, you know.... I am assuming you use a killswitch VPN to your trusted network. NYT for this journalist. My proposed setup is 3 devices: hotspot, android device without baseband, dumbphone. Hotspot would be the weak link here, security wise, but is easier and cheaper to replace. Nothing on dumbphone would be encrypted. If I were a journalist, I would consider this alternative to being hacked. Remember he even knew there were at least attempts to hack his devices, years in advance. They are just biting the "apple is the most secure alternative" propaganda.
  - KatrKat 5y ago
    iMessage can run over data, right? It sounds like the bugs exploited here were iMessage and WhatsApp holes, not weird mystery-baseband flaws (which are harder to patch but only ever affect a fraction of the phones you want to sell the ability to compromise). So similar Android exploits would just go right through the hotspot and compromise the Android device that does everything. The only way out of this mess is actually correct code on actually correct hardware. Maybe you have to run Linux and Android at the top to run existing apps, but somewhere below there you need a supervisor that makes security guarantees that are actually true. You can't just port a monolithic C kernel onto hardware that's struggling to be faster than the competition and call it good. Journalists need to buy communications equipment that doesn't come with that "NO WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE" line in the EULA. Sadly, it is not for sale.
- asdff 5y ago
  Just use a dumb phone and a garmin like journalists did in the early 2000s?

seniorivn 5y ago

no they are not, targeted attack of someone who is capable of using Pegasus is going to be successful regardless a consumer device u choose to use.

catlikesshrimp 5y ago
"No they are not?" I deserved more than that. Iphones are a standardized attack surface. Apple prefers vulnerabilities not to be found than to be discovered and patched, leading to NSO holding on their discovered vulnerabilities for longer. An android device with no modem (baseband) is definitely more secure. Throw in a hardware switch for camera, mics, and wifi, which iphones will never have.
- judge2020 5y ago
  Android is an even larger attack surface when political people don't take any of the precautions you mention, which they most likely won't. The President of the United States does indeed have a specialized phone that is modified by WH staff to either be only for phone calls or only for twitter/news (which means 2 phones)[0], but they're still iPhones. As long as there's not some 0-authorization 0-click vulnerability in the things used (as in, reportedly, neither iphone did texts), it'll be secure enough, but that's still limiting its usage and isn't want any politician is going to do. Just stick to a desk phone for secure comms. 0: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/21/trump-phone-security-risk-hackers-601903 https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/21/trump-phone-securi...
  - dx034 5y ago
    Could anyone deactivate texts on an iphone or did they get a special iOS version from Apple?
    - vanchor3 5y ago
      Texts or iMessage? Texts shouldn't be difficult, just disable on the carrier end. MDM might be able to restrict it further just in case. With iMessage you can just not sign in to an Apple ID. Or use MDM.

amerine 5y ago

What!? You’re statement is really wrong. Android tablets on hotspots only??? What?

saagarjha 5y ago
When disagreeing with someone, it's usually courteous to explain why you think they are wrong.

estaseuropano 5y ago

they need an actual functional phone. You can't be a journalist and not have a fully functional phone that access the internet whenever needed. I'm sure they use burners for sensitive stuff, but what are they supposed to use for their regular work, calls with the school, car navigation, ...

catlikesshrimp 5y ago
There are portable hotspots, you know.... I am assuming you use a killswitch VPN to your trusted network. NYT for this journalist. My proposed setup is 3 devices: hotspot, android device without baseband, dumbphone. Hotspot would be the weak link here, security wise, but is easier and cheaper to replace. Nothing on dumbphone would be encrypted. If I were a journalist, I would consider this alternative to being hacked. Remember he even knew there were at least attempts to hack his devices, years in advance. They are just biting the "apple is the most secure alternative" propaganda.
- KatrKat 5y ago
  iMessage can run over data, right? It sounds like the bugs exploited here were iMessage and WhatsApp holes, not weird mystery-baseband flaws (which are harder to patch but only ever affect a fraction of the phones you want to sell the ability to compromise). So similar Android exploits would just go right through the hotspot and compromise the Android device that does everything. The only way out of this mess is actually correct code on actually correct hardware. Maybe you have to run Linux and Android at the top to run existing apps, but somewhere below there you need a supervisor that makes security guarantees that are actually true. You can't just port a monolithic C kernel onto hardware that's struggling to be faster than the competition and call it good. Journalists need to buy communications equipment that doesn't come with that "NO WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE" line in the EULA. Sadly, it is not for sale.
asdff 5y ago
Just use a dumb phone and a garmin like journalists did in the early 2000s?