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Comment by ExoticPearTree

4 days ago

Keep your devices always up to date and limit the number of apps you use (lower attack surface).

If paranoid, use a different device to access suspicios apps/sites with nothing on it.

43 comments

ExoticPearTree

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hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm  4 days ago

How do we know it is not rigged with an explosive like the Pagers?

Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45763674

"Cohen (former head of Mossad) insisted that the publicly recognized success against Hezbollah was merely one element of a far wider, systematic deployment of sophisticated devices worldwide, although notably abscent in the Gaza Strip."

  • ivl  4 days ago

    His claim there did not necessarily imply rigged explosives, but supply chain attacks either for surveillance or assassination purposes.

    And his limiting it to "virtually every potential theater" would suggest that it's mostly present in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Yemen, most likely Iraq as well.

    But let's be honest here, this isn't civilian equipment that's been compromised. It's supply chain attacks where the buyer is manipulated into buying goods that they've tampered with, or re-engineered. They weren't pagers anyone could pick up at Radio Shack. (Everyone who got hit was a target, or a direct relative of a target.)

    • SiempreViernes  4 days ago

      Or just standing next to someone in the line at the supermarket.

      Also, lets be clear and admit that if your notion of "target" is "anyone close to a device I sold years ago", you're not the type of person that cares if the balled up paper made it to the trash can: so long as it left your hand you would be satisfied.

      17 replies →

    • hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm  4 days ago

      >And his limiting it to "virtually every potential theater" would suggest that it's mostly present in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Yemen, most likely Iraq as well.

      Except we don't know. "virtually every potential theater" is intentionally very vague language that could mean anything.

      1 reply →

  • foolserrandboy  4 days ago

    We know because we're not shooting rockets at them.

    • Panda4  4 days ago

      Today they are targeting people shooting rockets, tomorrow they will target people commenting on these posts, the day after they will target specific group of people.

      So you may be safe today, what happens when they don't like your opinion ?

ignoramous  4 days ago

> limit the number of apps ... lower attack surface ... If paranoid

While true in general, super apps that do too many things and used by billions (WhatsApp, Chrome, TikTok, Instagram, CleanMaster etc) are big enough of an attack surface already.

Defenses (compile-time / runtime memory safety & control flow integrity, media coders/decoders, sandboxes, for example) are getting better & so exploits are getting expensive.

> use a different device to access suspicios apps/sites with nothing on it

While using different devices is good enough, it requires the end user to maintain strict isolation (and sometimes may require appropriate features from the OS). Using burners is an extreme version of this practice.

  • gruez  4 days ago

    >super apps that do too many things and used by billions (WhatsApp, Chrome, TikTok, Instagram, CleanMaster etc)

    One of these are not like the others...

  • dietr1ch  4 days ago

    Burners seem extreme, but old used hardware still seems the best and only way you can sort of prove isolation on your own.

    You can't trust software not to be buggy and both, hardware, and software not to be purposely compromised because "think of the children" (that the EFs proved to be BS).

jsheard  4 days ago

And if you use iPhones and have reason to be really paranoid, consider using lockdown mode.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/105120

  • PlatoIsADisease  4 days ago

    Has android been hacked?

    I only know pegasus broke iOS.

    I find it interesting that Apple has spun Lockdown mode from a 'we are terrible at security' into a feature for marketing.

    Now when someone gets hacked Apple can say: "Well they weren't in lockdown mode, its their own fault."

    Gosh I wish I was as good at marketing as Apple. They really need to sell their marketing team as a service. If they did that, I'd buy their stock outright.

  • iririririr  4 days ago

    two last attacks from paragon for pixel devices uses the modem firmware. these things doesn't help much.