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Smartphones with Qualcomm chip secretly send personal data to Qualcomm

nitrokey.com

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Re: Smartphones with Qualcomm chip secretly send personal data to Qualcomm

#241

Post by rolph »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #226
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the covert operating system (AMSS) has complete control over the hardware, microphone and camera. The Linux kernel and deGoogled /e/OS end-user operating system function as a slave on top of the hidden AMSS operating system So they can also exfiltrate audio and video

This is why Snowden removes the microphone from his phones.

me too, and i also remove the camera[s], and put a dab of urethane over the hole. if i know there is an accelerometer i cut Voltage, and shunt it to ground

Re: Smartphones with Qualcomm chip secretly send personal data to Qualcomm

#242

Post by krn »

captainmuon wrote: post #146

As the article mentions, this is for assisted GPS. I've worked quite a bit with this system on android and implemented (or rather fixed) it for a custom android device. I've also worked with separate Qualcomm modems in the past. They are basically a whole small Linux computer in a package. You supply voltage, antennas, and connect via serial or USB, and then you can send AT commands to control it. On the one hand it…

> When a custom ROM, even a "degoogled" one, is made, you include a customized kernel and custom drivers, and the AGPS URLs are part of this "driver".

Thanks, this should be the top comment.

Both, Sony and Google, provide driver downloads for their smartphones[1][2].

In this case, the tested "de-Googled" OS (/e/OS) did exactly what it promised to do: removed all network connections made by Google – and not by Qualcomm or anybody else.

Since Pixel smartphones now use Google's own Tensor chips (which are based on Samsung Exynos), they obviously don't make any connections to Qualcomm servers.

This blog post is clearly an ad for NitroPhone, which is simply a Google Pixel smartphone with a different open-source OS pre-installed.

GrapheneOS[3] is only targeting Google Pixel line-up at the moment, and therefore is able to make sure that even A-GPS URLs are "de-Googled" on the latest models.

But the older Google Pixel models with Qualcomm chips make exactly the same connections – from the driver, not from the firmware[4]:

> GrapheneOS has modified all references to these servers to use HTTPS rather than a mix of HTTP and HTTPS. No query / data is sent to the server.

[1] https://developer.sony.com/develop/drivers/

[2] https://developers.google.com/android/drivers

[3] https://grapheneos.org/

[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/CalyxOS/comments/pym8l1/comment/hev...

Re: Smartphones with Qualcomm chip secretly send personal data to Qualcomm

#243

Post by linmob »

lrvick wrote: post #203

I love a lot of the work of Nitrokey, but I cannot get behind the Nitrophone. Firstly, the Nitrophone is just a Pixel 4A which contains a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G CPU. I am confused at how the author claims it is free of Qualcomm control. They are unquestionably an active participant in mass surveillance efforts and there are much more covert ways of doing that when you control a CPU, like making your random number g…

Regarding the first point: Their current offerings are based on more current Pixel devices (6a, 7, 7 Pro), which use Google's chips, which in turn IIRC are mostly Samsung Exynos with a sprinkle of Google. That way they are only shooting their first product into the foot.

Re: Smartphones with Qualcomm chip secretly send personal data to Qualcomm

#244

Post by Sunspark »

rolph wrote: post #241
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why Snowden removes the microphone from his phones.

me too, and i also remove the camera[s], and put a dab of urethane over the hole. if i know there is an accelerometer i cut Voltage, and shunt it to ground

[flagged]

Re: Smartphones with Qualcomm chip secretly send personal data to Qualcomm

#245

Post by Eumenes »

freedomben wrote: post #21

This seems like much bigger news than it's being received as. Sure, other chip makers do sketchy things, but is that really where we're at in 2023? We're so beaten down by proprietary user-disrespecting hardware/software that we just shrug it off? This makes me mad. I'm so sick of this type of thing. It's a horrible time too because the embedded 5G chips are about to be part of everything , sending telemetry back abo…

This news will only appeal to very technically minded individuals, like the HN audience. Have you seen the average persons smart phone home screens or social media feeds? They don't care about privacy one bit. Its all about comfort and convenience.

Re: Smartphones with Qualcomm chip secretly send personal data to Qualcomm

#246

Post by sizzle »

rolph wrote: post #241
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why Snowden removes the microphone from his phones.

me too, and i also remove the camera[s], and put a dab of urethane over the hole. if i know there is an accelerometer i cut Voltage, and shunt it to ground

What’s the privacy issue with accelerometer?

Re: Smartphones with Qualcomm chip secretly send personal data to Qualcomm

#248

Post by nyarlathotep_ »

Can't even avoid spyware web services at the hardware level now. This is really gross.

Edit: I've long since sink-holed `izatcloud.net`, and have seen countless look up to this subdomain for the duration of ownership of a Pixel 4a (running GrapheneOs).

How long has this been going on for?

Re: Smartphones with Qualcomm chip secretly send personal data to Qualcomm

#249

Post by greggsy »

krn wrote: post #242
captainmuon wrote: post #146

As the article mentions, this is for assisted GPS. I've worked quite a bit with this system on android and implemented (or rather fixed) it for a custom android device. I've also worked with separate Qualcomm modems in the past. They are basically a whole small Linux computer in a package. You supply voltage, antennas, and connect via serial or USB, and then you can send AT commands to control it. On the one hand it…

> When a custom ROM, even a "degoogled" one, is made, you include a customized kernel and custom drivers, and the AGPS URLs are part of this "driver". Thanks, this should be the top comment. Both, Sony and Google, provide driver downloads for their smartphones[1][2]. In this case, the tested "de-Googled" OS (/e/OS) did exactly what it promised to do: removed all network connections made by Google – and not by Qualcom…

> This blog post is clearly an ad for NitroPhone

Thanks - somehow I completely glossed over that possibility. This kind of biased rage bait has no place in privacy stories.

Re: Smartphones with Qualcomm chip secretly send personal data to Qualcomm

#250

Post by sizzle »

lovelearning wrote: post #143
gabereiser wrote: post #41

This is all assumptions. Just because izatcloud.net is owned by Qualcomm = they must be exfiltrating personal data? c'mon! Then you go and peddle your own NitroPhone as a "Qualcomm free" alternative? You're just gaslighting your customers to buy. This is a very short-sighted article based on lax assumptions and NO WIRESHARK to back it up. Just because a firmware makes a call home doesn't mean it's sending your person…

I fail to see why, in the absence of rigorous technical evidence, my benefit of the doubt should be with QualComm by default.

This is the privacy lens I view these issue through as well
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