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The most bizarre part is that Samsung retains this much control over phones after sale, that this kind of remote disabling is at all possible and that there exi
by grishka 3y ago
The most bizarre part is that Samsung retains this much control over phones after sale, that this kind of remote disabling is at all possible and that there exists code, built into the stock system image, that performs it. It can be said that they sell backdoored devices yet no one is even alarmed by this fact, only by how the backdoor is used.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- matheusmoreira 3y agoAgreed. It's seriously disturbing that they have any access at all. I gotta wonder if other products are similarly compromised. ISP equiment comes to mind.
- inemesitaffia 3y agoEspecially in cable networks, the ISP almost always fully controls the CPE
- grishka 3y agoThat's at least expected because often you don't even own the modem, you lease it from the ISP.
- inemesitaffia 3y agoEven when you buy your own at retail, the network sends configuration details to you. And it's not just DHCP
- grishka 3y agoI don't know how it works in other parts of the world, but my experience with access technologies that require a modem, like DOCSIS, is that you're supposed to buy your own router to plug into the ISP-provided modem and configure PPPoE on it. It would make sense for there to exist two-in-one devices but so far I've only seen them for fiber. The settings on them are as advanced as they are on any router. The default admin password is printed on the sticker too.
- saltcured 3y agoIn both the US and Asia in the past 20 years or so, I've been able to buy my own ADSL and cable modems from third-party sellers and have that as my only CPE. This avoids the rental fee and is often a win if you're going to use it for more than a year or so. I managed to get almost ten years of service out of one DOCSIS modem before I started having reliability problems and replaced it. I don't really know if it was failing electronically or was just too far behind network upgrades that demanded newer DOCSIS features. Generally, I've shopped carefully and looked for compatibility listings to decide whether my chosen model would work with that particular ISP. You are right, with cable modems I've had to put my customized router behind it. But I purchased both the router and modem from independent sellers, not from the ISP. I even took one modem from one ISP to another with a house move. I struggled until I factory-reset it once. It seems the first ISP had pushed some kind of update for their network that made it incompatible with the second ISP, but after a full reset the second ISP was able to configure service. They never came on site, I just called them and provided the DOCSIS equivalent of a MAC address so they could remotely provision it.
- matheusmoreira 3y agoNo problem with them sending configuration data. As long as they don't control the router, can't disable it, can't remotely log into it.
- matheusmoreira 3y agoBack then with DSL networks we had the option to buy our own routers. With fiber optics that's gotten harder for some reason. I should probably buy a router and put it between the ISP equipment and my stuff.
- inemesitaffia 3y agoThere's likely an online guide to replace your router.
- out_of_protocol 3y agoEveryone doing that these days so "its okay". Sigh I mean really almost everyone, starting from apple and to gods-forgotten B-brands. Maybe some really really small ones are excluded since they don't have much resources, and pure AOSP which is rare thing to have preinstalled
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> starting from apple Apple hasn't, to my knowledge, remotely disabled a phone like this. They do make it difficult to wipe a device locked by its user. But that's quite different from the mothership smoking it.
- morbicer 3y agoyou can (that means apple can too) wipe the device remotely https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210515 https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210515 they can also brick stolen phones https://www.ubergizmo.com/2020/06/apple-brick-track-looted-iphones/ https://www.ubergizmo.com/2020/06/apple-brick-track-looted-i...
- out_of_protocol 3y agoThey (almost any device maker) have ability to do that, that's the important part. Wiping, remotely installing apps etc - everything included
- saati 3y agoAnyone who can push updates to your phone can get full control of it any time they want, this should be fairly obvious.
- grishka 3y agoUpdates should require user consent before they are installed. Otherwise it does indeed qualify as a backdoor.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- antifa 3y agoCurrently, Samsung will force update your device if you do not accept the first few nag pop-ups.
- grishka 3y agoThat's new to me. I own several Samsung phones of different generations (Android app development does that to people) and while the update pop-ups are annoying, I could always put off the installation indefinitely.
- mdrzn 3y agoI have an S21 Ultra 5G and I can skip the update for months if I want to. They don't force any updates at all, not even the security ones.
- dotnet00 3y agoThey don't really hide it. For example, when buying from Samsung directly with the trade-in feature, when buying a new device they state that if the promised trade-in is not sent or is not as described, they can disable your new device remotely until you resolve the problem (by paying the discounted difference or I guess contacting support if the issue is on their end).
- SenAnder 3y agoWouldn't it be interesting if the consumer could remotely disable the phone they gave Samsung, if the phone Samsung gave them in return was not up to spec? Shows you who holds the power. As if their legions of lawyers and coffers of gold weren't enough, they use technology on "your" devices to further their reach.
- AniseAbyss 3y ago[dead]