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Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

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Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#121

Post by tokioyoyo »

mumbisChungo wrote: post #101
throwaway290 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Computer usage and consequently threat landscape went through a crazy change from 40/50 years ago. Desktops are a minority of devices. If you take personal devices even more so. Most people in the world with a computer have just a pocket one. Especially in WANA countries discussed If you talk to regular non IT savvy people many of them don't bother and correctly assume that at some point it will "get a virus" or some…

>almost no one uses desktop for critical stuff like payment or finance. I'm not saying this is wrong (in fact I assume it is accurate), but relative to my life experience this is crazy to me.

Worked on some financial stuff before, and dashboards showed the opposite of your experience, if I’ll be honest. An average user is very different from us.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#122

Post by charcircuit »

mrusme wrote: post #60
charcircuit wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Root access is an outdated security concept from the previous century. Trying to mandate such a concept is parroting UNIX propaganda. Users can be given control of devices without them having a "root" account.

How?

By following the principle of least privilege. Like with apps the user should only have privileges for what they are allowed to control and nothing more. So if the user should have privilege to disable apps, then the settings app could expose a way for the user to do so.

Yes, this is kind of approach of coming up with a design to security instead of going with the easy route of everything being allowed is harder to do and takes more time, but it leads to better security.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#123

Post by mellow-lake-day »

lmm wrote: post #113
anonymars wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my case I wanted a damn SD card slot. And more than 2 years of security updates.

Sony still sells flagship phones with an SD slot. I wish my Xperia was cheaper but other than that I'm very happy with it.

Not in the US.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#125

Post by mellow-lake-day »

tock wrote: post #59
anonymars wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In favor of what? The Android ecosystem is pretty lousy. Which manufacturers allow you to easily migrate to a new phone (Samsung has Smart Switch) and have, let's say, 4+ years of security updates? Genuine question. In my case I also wanted an SD card slot so it was slim slim pickings indeed. (And still there are some misfits who insist that there is no such thing as progress!)

I love the phones Nothing makes. And they are offering five years of Android updates and seven years of security upgrades on their upcoming Nothing phone 3.

All the nothing phones are too big. Give me something the size of the s25.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#126

Post by menzoic »

userbinator wrote: post #24

making it nearly impossible for regular users to uninstall it without root access, which voids warranties and poses security risks Stop parroting the corporate propaganda that put us into this stupid situation in the first place. Having root access on devices you own should be a fundamental right, as otherwise it's not ownership.

How is the security risk propaganda?

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#127

Post by fc417fc802 »

perching_aix wrote: post #28
userbinator wrote: post #24

making it nearly impossible for regular users to uninstall it without root access, which voids warranties and poses security risks Stop parroting the corporate propaganda that put us into this stupid situation in the first place. Having root access on devices you own should be a fundamental right, as otherwise it's not ownership.

Didn't we backslide hard enough at this point that it is now architecturally ensured that there is a security downside to rooting? Prevents verified boot for example, since the attestation is tied to said corporations, and not you.

AFAIK that's true for many vendors but for example Pixels (and IIRC also OnePlus at least a few years ago) you can relock the bootloader with other keys.

The crazy thing is that on all the devices I've had AVB is implemented on top of secureboot. Being able to set your own secureboot keys is bog standard on corporate laptops. The entire situation makes absolutely no sense.

Also for the record I think it's a silly attack vector for the average person to worry about. A normal person does not have secret agents attempting to flash malicious images to his phone while he's in the shower.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#128

Post by miohtama »

willtemperley wrote: post #103
thenthenthen wrote: post #55

AppCloud, developed by the controversial Israeli-founded company ironSource (now owned by the American company Unity) Yes the Unity 3D engine company wow.

So Unity can now be considered malware by association.

Discussed in 2022 here

https://www.pcgamer.com/unity-is-merging-with-a-company-who-...

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#129

Post by chaosbolt »

boramalper wrote: post #10

I suspect a strong link between mass surveillance (by corporations for advertising or by states for intelligence purposes) and the very recent targeting of the senior Iranian nuclear scientist and military officers at their homes in Iran. Wherever you are from or whatever side of the conflict you are on, I think we can all agree that it’s never been easier to infer so much about a person from “semi-public” sources su…

I suspect Israel has backdoor access to most CPUs.

Here is how Pegasus seems: - China has 1.5 billion people, lots of resources, would profit a lot economically if they found a way to hack iOS, etc. But yet couldn't hack it. - Israel with its 7 million people, not only hacks iOS multiple times, but does it to spy on its allies.

Now I've seen the threads analysing Pegasus' complexity, I don't know if it's been reproduced, and if it has then I guess it logically proves me wrong (the tinfoil hatter in me still thinks its right though).

Here is why:

Israel has a lot of silicon fabs or R&D centers, now it makes ZERO sense for the US to have fabs or R&D centers in Israel, since that country is (allegedly) always at the risk of being bomber for no reason at all (yeah right).

Intel has had fabs in Israek since the 80s, why not in Japan or France or the UK (France and the UK are close allies to the US and have no earthquakes or risk of being bombed), why not even Canada?

And I compared the dates of when intel started putting the Intel Management Engine in all of their CPU and the date of which they built their biggest fab in Israel, then I went down the rabbit hole of when AMD started using PSP (similar tech to Intel ME), and it coinciding with it buying a large pentesting startup in Israel, then starting to build its R&D centers there, Apple and Qualcomm have similar stories.

Obviously this is all tinfoil, and while the dates coincide it's obviously not enough.

But to each their own, and I choose to treat my tech as if it was all was backdoored already, because for me the evidence (while not enough to be sure) is enough for how much I value my privacy.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#130

Post by dgb23 »

ArtTimeInvestor wrote: post #80

I sometimes think that "track record" is the main value of Google and Apple. They have been around for decades, and except in their own interest to collect data for themselves, I am not aware of any blatant privacy violations of these companies. And one can hope that in their own interest, they keep it that way. That's not great, but it's better than the other companies. I don't see how any company can compete with t…

What about PRISM?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM

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