A review of the Blackphone, the Android for the paranoid

#1

Post by suprgeek » Mon, Jun 30, 2014, 4:04 AM UTC

A review of the Blackphone, the Android for the paranoid
arstechnica.com

Re: A review of the Blackphone, the Android for the paranoid

#2

Post by not_rhodey » Mon, Jun 30, 2014, 5:11 AM UTC

not to be a bummer, but it doesn't seem like anything special was done with this special purpose hardware. why go to the trouble to engineer and advertise this as a piece of security enhancing hardware when it's really just "PrivOS"? also, any plans on open sourcing "PrivOS"?

did I miss something in the writeup? OSS modem firmware, OS wifi chipset, anything hardware or firmware related?

Re: A review of the Blackphone, the Android for the paranoid

#3

Post by giancarlostoro » Mon, Jun 30, 2014, 5:20 AM UTC

It doesn't look like it does well in benchmarking either. You sure this isn't an advertisement for the iPhone 5S?

Re: A review of the Blackphone, the Android for the paranoid

#4

Post by walterbell » Mon, Jun 30, 2014, 5:36 AM UTC

See also the OnePlus One with Cyanogenmod 11, $299 unlocked, but for now can't be purchased without an invite.

CM11 hardening: https://blog.torproject.org/blog/mission-impossible-hardenin...

Re: A review of the Blackphone, the Android for the paranoid

#5

Post by iLoch » Mon, Jun 30, 2014, 5:49 AM UTC

giancarlostoro wrote: post #3

It doesn't look like it does well in benchmarking either. You sure this isn't an advertisement for the iPhone 5S?

It's not trying to do well in the benchmarks, so no surprise there really.

Re: A review of the Blackphone, the Android for the paranoid

#6

Post by maqr » Mon, Jun 30, 2014, 5:58 AM UTC

not_rhodey wrote: post #2

not to be a bummer, but it doesn't seem like anything special was done with this special purpose hardware. why go to the trouble to engineer and advertise this as a piece of security enhancing hardware when it's really just "PrivOS"? also, any plans on open sourcing "PrivOS"? did I miss something in the writeup? OSS modem firmware, OS wifi chipset, anything hardware or firmware related?

I don't think you missed anything. I don't see any reason to trust blackphone more than a properly configured Nexus.

The OS might have some neat UI for privacy stuff, but fundamentally if it's closed source and has a closed baseband (afaik, there's no phone with an open baseband), then there's no real security.

Re: A review of the Blackphone, the Android for the paranoid

#7

Post by dublinben » Mon, Jun 30, 2014, 6:23 AM UTC

walterbell wrote: post #4

See also the OnePlus One with Cyanogenmod 11, $299 unlocked, but for now can't be purchased without an invite. CM11 hardening: https://blog.torproject.org/blog/mission-impossible-hardenin...

The most crucial step in that recipe is using a device without a GSM baseband. That rules out anything sold as a 'phone,' such as the OnePlus One.

Re: A review of the Blackphone, the Android for the paranoid

#8

Post by dublinben » Mon, Jun 30, 2014, 6:27 AM UTC

not_rhodey wrote: post #2

not to be a bummer, but it doesn't seem like anything special was done with this special purpose hardware. why go to the trouble to engineer and advertise this as a piece of security enhancing hardware when it's really just "PrivOS"? also, any plans on open sourcing "PrivOS"? did I miss something in the writeup? OSS modem firmware, OS wifi chipset, anything hardware or firmware related?

You're missing the fact that this can be sold (at an outrageous markup) to large enterprises and government agencies because it looks secure/private.

Beyond that, it provides literally nothing that you can't install for free on any Android device. I could make you an equally "secure" or "private" device for $300 and an hour's time.

Re: A review of the Blackphone, the Android for the paranoid

#9

Post by idiot900 » Mon, Jun 30, 2014, 6:42 AM UTC

No mention of the baseband source code. Unless everything running on the phone is open source, there cannot be a guarantee of privacy.

Re: A review of the Blackphone, the Android for the paranoid

#10

Post by walterbell » Mon, Jun 30, 2014, 6:59 AM UTC

dublinben wrote: post #7

walterbell wrote: post #4

See also the OnePlus One with Cyanogenmod 11, $299 unlocked, but for now can't be purchased without an invite. CM11 hardening: https://blog.torproject.org/blog/mission-impossible-hardenin...

The most crucial step in that recipe is using a device without a GSM baseband. That rules out anything sold as a 'phone,' such as the OnePlus One.

Thanks for the reminder.

For those who understand why that's important, what do you think about CM11 on a Samsung Galaxy Player (no GSM), using wifi VPN to a cheap phone/hotspot which does have GSM baseband, e.g. Firefox phone? Or two Firefox phones, if Android apps aren't important?