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Create an anonymous Signal phone number with Android

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Re: Create an anonymous Signal phone number with Android

#31

Post by dayon »

blubb-fish wrote: post #13

I don't see the problem to begin with. The question with anonymity and data securing always is - " who do you want to protect against?" No matter how you set up Signal it's not going to help you against intelligence agencies - they'll just hack into your Android or use the available backdoors in your I- or Windows Phone. Signal is very good (the best?) to encrypt your messages and to sabotage mass surveillance which…

Just to clarify, if you use Signal, there is no meta-data. Who you called, who called you, the call times, and so on are hidden. It's like with Tor and how your browsing history isn't saved. All the WIFI network operator can know is that you accessed Signal to make a call / text.

Re: Create an anonymous Signal phone number with Android

#32

Post by LeoPanthera »

retromario wrote: post #11
LeoPanthera wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Telegram already allows this. No it doesn't. You can have a handle, but only after verifying a number first.

And Telegram is not secure anyways: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/49782/is-telegr... Check out Threema for a secure alternative that doesn't require a phone number: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threema

That's all very well, but no good if everyone you want to talk to already uses Telegram, which is proving to be quite popular.

Re: Create an anonymous Signal phone number with Android

#33

Post by therein »

ikeboy wrote: post #22

Is there a secure way to make phone calls from a computer over tor? If you get an anonymous Google voice number, would it work over tor to make calls?

Google requires you to verify with a phone number if your IP address matches a Tor exit node.

Re: Create an anonymous Signal phone number with Android

#34

Post by kobayashi »

anon4 wrote: post #8
yuvadam wrote: post #5

I'm curious why Whisper Systems aren't allowing registration with just a handle instead of tying accounts to a PSTN number. Telegram already allows this.

IIRC, the last time the question was raised, the answer was "because that's what the average person expects".

Yeah, that's their answer, and it's a ridiculously shallow answer. I don't understand how people who are so dedicated to communications security won't add such a seemingly simple feature. Even Wickr allows it.

Re: Create an anonymous Signal phone number with Android

#35

Post by kobayashi »

dayon wrote: post #31
blubb-fish wrote: post #13

I don't see the problem to begin with. The question with anonymity and data securing always is - " who do you want to protect against?" No matter how you set up Signal it's not going to help you against intelligence agencies - they'll just hack into your Android or use the available backdoors in your I- or Windows Phone. Signal is very good (the best?) to encrypt your messages and to sabotage mass surveillance which…

Just to clarify, if you use Signal, there is no meta-data. Who you called, who called you, the call times, and so on are hidden. It's like with Tor and how your browsing history isn't saved. All the WIFI network operator can know is that you accessed Signal to make a call / text.

Uh, I'm not sure about that. TOR uses many layers of obfuscation in its attempt to hide where your traffic is going. I think Signal does no such thing, and this metadata is insecure. Also, I think your mention of browsing history is a non sequitur.

Re: Create an anonymous Signal phone number with Android

#36

Post by ikeboy »

therein wrote: post #33
ikeboy wrote: post #22

Is there a secure way to make phone calls from a computer over tor? If you get an anonymous Google voice number, would it work over tor to make calls?

Google requires you to verify with a phone number if your IP address matches a Tor exit node.

Yes, but the article says you can use a temporary number to verify. If you can get a temp number on a computer for sms, then switch to the gv one for use, would calling over tor work?

Re: Create an anonymous Signal phone number with Android

#37

Post by chadzawistowski »

dayon wrote: post #30
ynezz wrote: post #10

I think, that it's not that anonymous. Weak spots: 1. I wouldn't recommend buying used devices, you don't know what has been done with the device, what's running there, even if you reflash it from scratch. Try to buy somehow (anonymously) device in still original and sealed packaging. 2. One would need to first install modified AOSP/CyanogenMod with patched core libraries/apps/services to return fake/random values fo…

Regarding #3, what about putting the phone into airplane mode and keeping WIFI on? Wouldn't airplane mode disable the baseband?

Possibly... but you have to trust that the software is doing what you told it to. A hardware killswitch would be far more trustable.

Re: Create an anonymous Signal phone number with Android

#38

Post by Arnt »

mindslight wrote: post #29
Arnt wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try harder. Pretend there's a phone on my desk now that was bought by someone else via ebay and reflashed to cyanogenmod. There actually was, its owner forgot it while visiting, but you can pretend that you're a powerful snooping government and that's my secret phone that you want to hack. Not registered in my name, not purchased by me, maybe there's not even a SIM card in the phone. How do you go about "just hacking…

The phone still contacts the network for E911 service. Locate the phone on your desk based on signal strength to towers. If the phone moved every day it would be easy to uniquely identify, but even if there's some false positives who cares? Then simply access the application processor through the baseband processor which is likely the same chip and pwnt-by-design given its secretive nature and the stakes. The only re…

Good point, very good point, but you too are skipping the first hurdle: Learning the name of the phone's user, or even narrowing the number of candidates down from millions to thousands.
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