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It's not just about malware you might accidentally download, it's also about adversaries that may have physical access to your device and can provide that conse
by mixdup 2y ago
It's not just about malware you might accidentally download, it's also about adversaries that may have physical access to your device and can provide that consent
No matter how convoluted you make the rube goldberg machine to bypass the cryptography, if there's a way to bypass it it will be bypassed
- do_not_redeem 2y agoEvery device I've ever unlocked warns you on boot that it's unlocked. So if that's your threat model, just reboot the phone after the maid hands it back to you and see if you get a scary warning.
- iggldiggl 2y agoAt least historically, that wasn't always fool-proof :-) – I know at least some Motorolas from around ten years ago where the bootloader warning was simply an alternative boot animation, so you could suppress that message by overwriting the "bootloader unlocked" animation with the regular boot animation.
- stavros 2y agoPlease detail this attack vector where someone can compromise a phone with an unlockable bootloader but not one you can't unlock.
- mixdup 2y agoThat's not what I claimed?
- stavros 2y ago> it's also about adversaries that may have physical access to your device and can provide that consent. No matter how convoluted you make the rube goldberg machine to bypass the cryptography, if there's a way to bypass it it will be bypassed You claimed that an adversary with physical access to your device can compromise your unlockable phone, but presumably this won't happen with a phone that can't be unlocked. Is that not what you claim? If so, please detail how.
- mixdup 2y agoI was talking about a device with an unlockable bootloader, not one that cannot be unlocked Wanting an uncompromisable bootloader is about more than just protection against malware that might modify the software on the device, it's about protecting a phone that can be unlocked from having the software modified by someone with the ability to provide the consent that the end-user would normally give. For example when I hand my phone over in customs, or if it's seized by the police. If my bootloader is not unlockable, I haven't provided them with the keys to unlock the software, and those keys are reasonably strong, then I can be reasonably confident they haven't compromised by device But, if they can unlock the bootloader for whatever reason, I have no idea now what is running on the device or what was run on it even if they restore it back to a locked condition
- stavros 2y agoIf they unlock the bootloader, the phone will wipe itself, that's what most phones nowadays do.
- zzo38computer 2y agoThis is why I had mentioned in another comment, that it might make sense to require opening it with a screwdriver to enable/disable some features, and that you can add glitter or something like that if you want to detect physical tampering.
- cwalv 2y agoThere are ways to do it so that 'bypass' means you effectively wipe the device. If that's not good enough, how do you protect against them just replacing your device with a compromised one that looks similar?