121–130 of 178 posts
Four things of note: 1. I've not seen anyone explain whether this could be exploited by anyone with access to phone lines (i.e. Twilio users) or not and if it would be trivial to try the vuln with every phone number you could find in any DB. If those things are the case, it seems like the chances would be very high that this would be or has already been exploited and affecting every unpatched phone. 2. It seems like…
Four things of note: 1. I've not seen anyone explain whether this could be exploited by anyone with access to phone lines (i.e. Twilio users) or not and if it would be trivial to try the vuln with every phone number you could find in any DB. If those things are the case, it seems like the chances would be very high that this would be or has already been exploited and affecting every unpatched phone. 2. It seems like…
I hate CS reps. I used to work as one but I never lied. If I didn’t know something and I couldn’t find it in my knowledge base I contacted the on-site staff to relay the caller’s question/concern.
This is extremely unhelpful headlinese 1) not all phones 2) chipsets in phones vary by where they are sold. 3) only exynos chipset phones are affected. in some economies. sold by some vendors. Not all models with a given name and code number (pixel 7, samsung 22) will be affected. "it depends" 4) not all manufacturers declare their chipset so 5) it is almost impossible for anyone but the cogniscenti to know if they a…
Given 5, it sounds pretty reasonable to recommend everyone to turn it off. Given 6, it sounds difficult to follow that advice.
If you click through to the Project Zero blogspot it says the Mar 2023 security update fixes the issue for the Pixel devices. My Pixel 7 didn't show an update was available (last checked 30 minutes ago) but when I manually checked it found it and downloaded it.
They only released the March update for my Pixel 6a this morning, I did breathe a sigh of relief once it was installed.
Well, this was an awkward way to realise my phone hasn't been receiving security updates for years. Apparently Google quietly dropped support for it? The phone is otherwise in excellent condition. Any recommendations for a good third party OS that still supports Pixel 2?
I've been a (happy) Lineage OS user since 2013, and Pixel 2 is still supported by them, so you can check them out. But note that the security updates provided by Lineage OS only pertain to the Android part, not the modem part. This isn't something that a third party OS vendor can fix, as the modem/firmware updates are supplied by the device vendor. And even those are reliant on their suppliers, so ultimately unless t…
Good security when you cannot turn WiFi and mobile data off because it has to talk to mothership ?
Four things of note: 1. I've not seen anyone explain whether this could be exploited by anyone with access to phone lines (i.e. Twilio users) or not and if it would be trivial to try the vuln with every phone number you could find in any DB. If those things are the case, it seems like the chances would be very high that this would be or has already been exploited and affecting every unpatched phone. 2. It seems like…
I will still purchase Pixels because they isolate the modem.
Four things of note: 1. I've not seen anyone explain whether this could be exploited by anyone with access to phone lines (i.e. Twilio users) or not and if it would be trivial to try the vuln with every phone number you could find in any DB. If those things are the case, it seems like the chances would be very high that this would be or has already been exploited and affecting every unpatched phone. 2. It seems like…
They did that when they waited more than a month to patch the phone call bug in Pixel 6 series. What if someone has an emergency? Nope, Google thought that can wait.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's also not crystal clear which Exynos chipsets are affected. I have a Samsung Galaxy S10e and a Samsung Galaxy S2 which both have Exynos chipsets, but I can't tell if there's simply no mention of these being affected because they're older models, or if it's explicitly only the newer models that are affected.
Just to be sure. A Samsung Galaxy S2? This phone is like 15? years old and still in use?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe, but they were looking for a phone that'll last a long time, and I hope my answer makes them reconsider. The Android OS-updates situation is seriously dire, and it seems very difficult for Google to fix.
Thanks. I don't mind that you didn't address my question directly, because this is all relevant food for thought. Every year I'm more disappointed by Google on pretty much every front. They really do seem to have jumped the shark. If I do decide to upgrade... Unfortunately I can't stand iOS. No kidding, I'd rather have a Nokia 5110. I've tried repeatedly, thinking "I'm just not used to it", but there's too much about…
That's how i feel with iOS and macOS, the whole design philosophy and UX feel alien to me, and makes me hate every actual issue I encounter even more.
> I'm getting a bit sick of this treadmill. I don't buy the defence some people offer that it's too much work to support the older devices. Having a security-only backports release series for old devices would be _trivial_ compared to the enormous piles of money Google sets on fire for shits and giggles on a daily basis. It's planned obsolescence, plain and simple.
From what I've understood, it's mostly the hardware components' vendors' fault - Qualcomm and co that provide the SoC and modem. It's their firmware which isn't kept up to date by the manufacturer (because it isn't easy to do so), thus phone lifecycle is inherently limites. There have been massive recent advances in that area though, with on one hand more vendors (MediaTek, Samsung) that could maybe be forced to compete and thus have to differentiate from one another, but also big changes to Android and the way updates are done, to keep firmware/driver/kernel updates as simple as possible to develop and roll out. We can see the effects with multiple Android vendors (e.g. Google, Samsung) now supporting phones for much longer. So hopefully soon things will improve.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given 5, it sounds pretty reasonable to recommend everyone to turn it off. Given 6, it sounds difficult to follow that advice.
This is exactly why kill switches an user-unlock-able boot-loaders should be the norm, not the exotic edge case. Phones (as they are today) are a massive exercise in insecurity and privacy violation, to the point where they are actually banned in some settings.