Before we talk about how smartphones expose your privacy and security in the open, we just learned,
German government wants ‘backdoor’ access to every digital device: report
The RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) reported that Thomas de Maizière had written up a draft proposal for the interior minister conference, taking place next week in Leipzig, which he has called “the legal duty for third parties to allow for secret surveillance.”
According to the RND, the proposal would “dramatically extend” the state’s powers to spy on its citizens.
The Interior Minister has been motivated to propose a new law by the fact that it is becoming ever more difficult for the intelligence agencies to break through the security systems which protect privacy on digital devices.
For example, the modern locking systems on cars are so intelligent that they even warn a driver if their car is shaken a little bit. De Maizière wants the new law to ensure that these alerts would not be sent out to a car owner if the police determined it to be justified by their investigation.
But the parameters of the proposed law are reportedly much wider. De Maizière also wants the security services to have the ability to spy on any device connected to the internet. Tech companies would have to give the state “back door” access to private tablets and computers, and even to smart TVs and digital kitchen systems.
The draft law is “a frontal attack on the digital and physical security of all citizens,” Frank Rieger, spokesman for the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) told netzpolitik.org. “Access to the IT system of a car means danger to life and limb – it is a literal kill switch.”
“The Interior Minister’s plans sounds like an Orwellian nightmare. Soon all flats in Germany will be equipped with devices which are potential wiretaps,” Konstantin von Notz, deputy faction leader of the Green Party, told Spiegel.
“We need to think really hard about the fact that we are a country with two dictatorships in its recent history. Do we want to live in a land where there is no privacy and where the state can interfere wherever it is technologically possible?” he asked.
Source
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babaroga73: Howhow about giving them a spare key to everyone’s house ? …no? But why not? Isn’t this basically the same?
recovThrowAway: Why are they even being transparent? why not just pull a NK if this is what they want and hire a group of top-secret agents to study security vulnerabilities and make their own backdoors?
if you had a nice fat black ops budget and a bunch of programming and security specialists, I dont imagine it would be that hard to stay a step ahead of US-CERT and other international organizations like ISO/ESO
TheoremUKChannel: Of course those Nazis do. why do you think little englanders are getting the fuck out of their club? whilst im against brexit, i can only assume that the high er uppers know something that isn’t pleasant for their interests, which could filter down to not being in our interests. of course they are not thinking of us hahaha. but what concerns them, may concern the average citizen
And you know what?
Today I learned a vigilante hacker discovered that some big smartphone companies (like OnePlus) that use Qualcomm chips build upon processor code, purposely leaving backdoor access and making their gadgets extremely vulnerable to hacking attacks. This has reportedly been going on for years.
Some smartphones that use Qualcomm chips reportedly come with a hidden backdoor. This was discovered by Robert Baptiste, a mobile security researcher. Baptiste, who goes by the pseudonym Elliot Alderson, the name of the main protagonist and vigilante hacker from the popular TV series Mr. Robot, discovered that smartphones with Qualcomm chips are being shipped and sold with an application called Engineer Mode, Motherboard reports. This has reportedly been going on for years.
The Engineer Mode app is meant to be used for testing, while the smartphone is still in the factory. This app allows anyone with physical access to a smartphone (assuming they have the knowledge) to root a device, accessing everything on it. A few lines of code is all that it takes. And although Engineer Mode is password-protected, someone like Robert Baptiste could easily crack it within minutes.
Initially, only the largest Chinese smartphone manufacturer, OnePlus, was accused of shipping devices with hidden backdoor, but it has since been discovered, by Baptiste and other security researchers, that Motorola, Xiaomi, Lenovo, and Oppo gadgets appear to be similarly compromised. In fact, everyone can check if their gadget has the Engineer Mode application, by accessing Settings, selecting Apps, then Menu and then System Apps.
Earlier this year, security researcher Chris Moore published a report, proving OnePlus devices were collecting sensitive information from users and transmitting it to a dedicated server, along with device serial numbers. This was widely covered by the press, so the Chinese company publicly announced that they will scale back on data collection.
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joseph177: Every single smart device in existence has back doors. All of them.
toneii: Oh, chips huh? That could be a vulnerability. And code too.
Apollocalypse: >In fact, everyone can check if their gadget has the Engineer Mode application, by accessing Settings, selecting Apps, then Menu and then System Apps.
My Blackberry has it. : /
RagingSatyr: If you’re on oneplus you have to flash LineageOS with microg asap.
Uhillbilly: This is “News?”Echelon has been around since the 60s and this is just another extension of that program.
colordrops: The root access doesn’t bother me, as you can get root access to pretty much any phone that you have physical access to.
What bothers me is that I opened the app settings for this “Engineering App” and it’s already sent 2.6GB of data somewhere…
Icytentacles: The manufacturers are making it harder and harder to root phones. This might be helpful, if the password gets released. No more jumping through hoops and flashing the firmware.
ribeye789: Yup, all the Chinese phones actively send data to somewhere in China. Thanks for buying a OnePlus!
Whaddaya Say?