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Andrew
354e11203d649417e334ff8bd7b039b34afbf2aedd2d30830db1823d0be12716
Replying to Avatar Final

There are some companies who claim BFU Physical extractions, mostly on very insecure MediaTek devices and some Samsung Exynos devices. This extracts everything but the data extracted is still encrypted... so it needs a brute force anyways. There isn't a "master key" because that key is created and derived from the user credential which you need to know. It's advertiser speak.

Take a look at this video MSAB made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y9PZzHu_3U

Notice it says "XRY Pro has allowed me to *BRUTE FORCE* that device" at around 1:20 despite the narrative in the title and the video? Shameless...

A good amount of Samsung devices do have brute force support though as documented in our last doc publications and in this video. More reasons why a dedicated secure element like the Titan M2 is very valuable.

Very good. Thank you again.

Replying to Avatar Final

There'd be no realistic concerns. Attack surface is miniscule, even in a hot state it needs a pretty thorough exploit chain and would need to be bespoke to a target. I don't recommend keeping a device seized and returned in the state it's returned in anyway. I'd disable any network access, take any important files out (you should have backups) and reset it.

Some customers of forensic tools are known to implant spyware into seized devices when returning it. Serbian law enforcement did it, but those came with the prerequisite of having the device unlocked by their Cellebrite tool to install it. The spyware in question appeared to not be provided by Cellebrite either. No access = no install.

Some forensiccompanies had tools that implanted spyware on AFU devices to keylog the PIN/Password when they could not access the device, such as GrayKey's Hide UI for iPhones. Hide UI alone was known to be buggy and problematic. It also didn't deliver the PIN remotely and required seizing it a second time when first revealed.

https://wccftech.com/how-fbi-uses-graykey-and-hide-ui-to-unlock-iphones/

Graykey moved away from being just for iOS devices a long time ago though.

OS updates and device differences can intentionally (and more often unintentionally) break how exploits work. For example Pixel 9 was unsupported by Cellebrite despite no major security changes, and only just became supported this February.

They'd likely put their focus on finding an exploit for the secure element to allow faster brute forcing.

Is the Hide UI installed even with the iPhone locked (AFU)?

I heard about recent cases of modern iPhones being unlocked even when the user is using a complex password with special characters. Is there any other explanation besides the Hide UI?

Replying to Avatar Final

If you have the choice to use anything then SimpleX is gold standard. Signal is excellent if the phone number requirement isn't a problem for you. We heavily recommend https://molly.im/ for Signal users. Provides many privacy and security features Signal misses.

Session is good but disappointed with the lack of PFS. We disagree with their stance that it is not important. Exploiting someone's device gives access to their current encryption keys but if there is PFS then it doesn't imply recovering all past messages. It's great that they're honest though.

Thanks for the clarifications.

Using a messaging app linked to a phone number is never a good idea.

Replying to Avatar Final

No and yes. It can't be done directly through the OS and requires convoluted processes such as debug features and tampering with non-persistent state but it provides little overall value that avoids the solution of dealing with a hostile network like it which is not using that network at all. High risk users should just stick to WiFi and not use a SIM. Airplane mode prevents tracking from cellular by disabling the cellular radio. Such identifers usually aren't visible to apps in the OS unless they have READ_PRIVILEGED_PHONE_STATE, so system apps. The default SMS app is a special case that's given access to the IMEI, which is normally the GrapheneOS fork of the AOSP Messaging app unless users explicitly change it to another app at their own discretion.

We had been asked about it and clarified back when old Snapdragon Pixels could do it. Exynos Pixels could, but it's a no at this stage and had been for a long time It's nothing like WiFi MAC address randomisation.

Changing IMEI wouldn't prevent tracking via cellular since there are other identifiers specific to radios and also extensive fingerprinting possibilities. Choosing a random IMEI while everything else being the same as before would make you almost entirely unique as a starting point. It will only hide one commonly used ID rather than making the device not uniquely identifiable.

Carriers often detect device model via IMEI and multiple other ways as part of their standard operating procedure. They change how things work based on the detected capabilities but also hard-wired quirks for device models, etc. Devices send a lot of info on capabilities or features they support. The general type of radio/device is extremely obvious to the network since a bunch of capabilities, configuration, etc. vary and are directly reported to the network. We try to match stock Pixel OS configuration but it's clear it's a Pixel based on network behavior and not just an arbitrary number.

Identifying yourself to the network is what a SIM implements so you inherently get identified as a specific subscriber based on that too. You could change SIMs often but that's costly and doesn't solve the above problem. The radio is also supposed to send a unique identifier and will often send other identifiers, including but not limited to EID when using eSIM.

Since IMEI is typically configurable by OEMs building the phone and often has a debug feature for changing it, it can end up being possible to change it. It's a mistake and typically comes along with vulnerabilities. Reporting upstream could come with rewards but we're not looking into it. If upstream patches it, its no good for us then...

GrapheneOS only generally reports to Google if the vulnerability is major, exploited in the wild and/or their input to patch is required to protect the devices we support. Last major example of when we did this was for vulnerabilities exploited by a forensics firm selling a password brute force exclusively for the stock OS. While not affecting GrapheneOS the response and firmware changes helped us greatly in implementing duress password.

I also haven't counted RF fingerprinting (affects other radios too) or tracking miscellaneous artefacts like mobile data web traffic (conditional) or direct connection to the provider's IPsec tunnel for WiFi. RF fingerprinting two of the same mobile devices is a common academic project and you can check them out online.

Uninformed users would be fed false hope and act in ways they shouldn't with the feature which could endanger them. There is no legal restriction holding the project back, it's the above reasons.

We plan to provide more configuration for controlling Wi-Fi calling/texting where users can entirely toggle off the IPsec tunnel it uses while still using the SIM. It's not one of our top priorities since disabling the SIM is already available as a standard option and does that.

Which messaging apps do you recommend? Session, Matrix, Briar?

Is it possible for the operating system to provide IMEI spoofing for the mobile network? And at the system level, apart from MAC spoofing in the case of Wi-Fi, are other identifying signals hidden from applications?

Depression is undoubtedly a product of social/food/sexual engineering. In the field, fornication leads to 'instant karma,' and the guy literally loses productivity. In the case of the prostitute, even with the fridge full, she might end up simply forgetting to eat or not wanting to prepare food properly, or because she's a feminist and doesn't cook, and definitely because of the compulsive state that consumes her.

Recipe for depression:

Methylfolate + lithium dimethyl bicarbonate + magnesium dimalate

Or simply eat kale; also adding the basic dose of beef liver, whole salt, and fruits.