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Google has a secret browser hidden inside the settings

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Re: Google has a secret browser hidden inside the settings

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is baseless fud.

[flagged]

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

> Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data.

Re: Google has a secret browser hidden inside the settings

#202
post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are you suggesting that privilege-escalation attacks are not security risks? Nope. What I'm suggesting is that threat modelling is important. If attack vectors were classified equally based on technicalities we would have infinite surface area. Kiosk bypass might be vaguely categorisable alongside things like polkit exploits but they are not equivalent in any normal threat model.

No, you said they are 'unrelated to security.' Just admit you made a mischaracterization. It happens.

I agree with lucideer here. While I think the language chosen needlessly leaves space for pedantic arguments. They're correct that, from the context of google's software, none of these are relevant to the security that Google needs to care about.

it's true they could be a part of the things security needs to care about, but so is a phone catching on fire because of its battery. which in of itself is not directly a security risk.

Re: Google has a secret browser hidden inside the settings

#203
Haha, I spent an embarrassing amount of time hunting down browsers hidden in apps in the past. The same thing exists in iOS and bypasses for example a time restriction on Safari or Chrome, but can't bypass domain ban or domain time limit restrictions (also included in parental controls). You can access google.com from many apps, I'd say probably half of them. Especially Apple Support app and Microsoft and Google Apps. Those apps always have external links to for example their Terms of Service and you can access internet with not much difficulty, although procedure varies for each app/external link. Also those in-app browsers persist history and website data and there's no way I know of to delete them. iOS Settings app had a couple links which opened in-app browsers which were able to bypass all restrictions but they're all gone since some time, except literally one. Apple, if you hear me, it can be accessed this way: Settings > iCloud > Family Sharing > Screen Time > Learn more about Family Sharing. I am able to access internet from there: Scroll bottom > About Apple > Apple Leadership > Albert Gore Jr. He has links to Insta, twitter and google books (which can take you to google search and youtube) on his site.

Re: Google has a secret browser hidden inside the settings

#204

This is a bit like accessing the internet from chm (help) files when the browser was blocked. Damn. I revealed my age!

Are we revealing our age through exploits now? How about "using gopher on a university library terminal to access a site that launched a telnet session so you can check your out-of-state college email over the summer"?

Re: Google has a secret browser hidden inside the settings

#206
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data.

Are you pretending to be a moderator? Referencing widely documented news isn’t an insinuation. If you want to see the links yourself you can just ask - not every post here has citations linked even when already widely available/known (I see several people have provided several references already)

Re: Google has a secret browser hidden inside the settings

#207
post #10

Google's increasingly cavalier attitude towards security is concerning: 1) Kids WILL use this to bypass parental / school controls as soon as they learn about it 2) In some contexts (especially as high-stakes test settings, but also some military/prison/finance/medical/legal/etc. settings) this IS a direct security risk 3) Given the embedded browser is not secure, if a lot of kids do this, it WILL lead to someone exp…

Increasingly it seems iOS is the way to go for kids devices and management of the screentime.

Maybe folks here have had good luck with other android roms

Re: Google has a secret browser hidden inside the settings

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is literally a privilege-escalation attack: i.e. the user escapes from controls that are imposed on them by the device manager (which may well not be the user, but a corporate MDM platform). Are you suggesting that privilege-escalation attacks are not security risks?

> Are you suggesting that privilege-escalation attacks are not security risks? Nope. What I'm suggesting is that threat modelling is important. If attack vectors were classified equally based on technicalities we would have infinite surface area. Kiosk bypass might be vaguely categorisable alongside things like polkit exploits but they are not equivalent in any normal threat model.

>Nope. What I'm suggesting is that threat modelling is important. If attack vectors were classified equally based on technicalities we would have infinite surface area.

OK, so we agree that, your original statement (which follows) is wrong, because it makes broad, tacit assumptions about the threat model that are not justified?

Security is a field related to protecting device-users from malicious actors.

Whereas a more conventional definition of information security would also involve protecting systems from unauthorized access, including privilege escalations (that's the E in STRIDE, right?) that bypass controls that were intended to apply to the user.

Honestly, it's baffling to me why you're arguing this point.

Re: Google has a secret browser hidden inside the settings

#210

mmm my kids *will* use this if they find out about this. What would be a way to find out if they did? Does this leave any trace?

If they use it often, then the Settings app will have a longer screen time compared to normal usage I'd guess.
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