Re:Progress update from the Librem 5 hardware department
by tptacek on Tuesday September 04, 2018 @09:48PM
(#17914498)
Your PC is much, much less secure than your iPhone is.
Re:Progress update from the Librem 5 hardware department
by lmm on Wednesday September 05, 2018 @02:41AM
(#17915557)
All modern cryptography relies on random key generation. But the current state of the art is that there is no way to distinguish between truly random numbers and pseudorandom numbers generated deterministically from a key. So how can we even begin to talk about security without openness? Maybe the key generated in the secure enclave of your iPhone never left that enclave - but maybe the NSA has a copy of it all the same.
Re:Progress update from the Librem 5 hardware department
by madez on Wednesday September 05, 2018 @01:49AM
(#17915322)
Nor Google nor Apple can – to the best of my knowledge – decide what code is run or not run on my PC. That is evidently a plus point for security, if one doesn't blindly trusts these companies.
Re:Progress update from the Librem 5 hardware department
by pjmlp on Wednesday September 05, 2018 @03:42AM
(#17915851)
Thing is, I doubt very much you ensure that your $HOME is safe when that code is run.
And as proven by the set of Linux Security Summit 2018 talks, there is still lots of work to be done regarding security on Linux distributions.
Re:Progress update from the Librem 5 hardware department
by madez on Wednesday September 05, 2018 @10:14AM
(#17918135)
Well, I sandbox closed source apps by running them as a different user that doesn't have access to my $HOME.
Re:Progress update from the Librem 5 hardware department
by pjmlp on Wednesday September 05, 2018 @10:33AM
(#17918306)
That isn't enough to protect from kernel bugs, as discussed at Linux Security Summit, hence kernel self protection project and related initiatives, mostly driven by Google regarding Android security.
If you use Qubes OS then it is another matter.
Re:Progress update from the Librem 5 hardware department
by madez on Saturday September 08, 2018 @02:34PM
(#17942105)
You are being unreasonable because you equate the hypothetic possibility of malicious code execution by Apple or Google due to bugs with running an OS from either on hardware from them.
Re:Progress update from the Librem 5 hardware department
by anticensor on Wednesday September 05, 2018 @04:06AM
(#17915975)
You have a completely different security model on PC, though. PC is designed as a minified version of multi-user workstation, where system administrator itself is responsible for securing the system. iPhone, on the other hand, is designed for novice single-user use case, where manufacturer is responsible for securing the system.
(and some other points that, I think, miss the point)
Once the baseband is isolated as a USB peripheral and the radio modules are physically pluggable modules ... and have kill switches ... the appropriate comparison is no longer to other phones. The appropriate comparison is to a PC, like a laptop.
This:
https://puri.sm/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/2018-07-26-dev-ki...
... has the shape of a phone, but that sure looks like a PC to me.
I am happy running a PC without a secure enclave, with a USB cellular modem attached, and with only hazy knowledge of the baseband running on that (in my case) USB stick.