That makes a lot of sense. I wonder if he uses software or a hardware device to block the microphones too though. I recently brought an Apple device into my home for the first time in about a decade (for reasons that aren’t important). I set it up anonymously, then spent well over an hour in the settings hardening and disabling all the privacy invasive settings. It’s as hardened and private as it can be…and within a day I got the first targeted ad on a web search that I’ve gotten in years. It would make no sense that they would show an ad with this content to someone randomly. I know there are lots of people on this forum who think Apple devices can be configured to be private, but especially seeing how privacy invasive the defaults are, I highly doubt so at this point. The default device and app settings now allow Siri full view into all apps and allow Siri to train Apple AI on that data. My question is whether you trust a company that behaves like that to obey your settings. I know I don’t (especially after getting that targeted ad). I’m more surprised heads of state are using Apple (or Google) devices at all.
Each Apple device has a unique advertising identifier. Even if it isn’t shared by default you never know who has access. It is easy to tap a popup and opt in without noticing.
That setting is disabled. I very thoroughly checked all the privacy settings twice.
Some phone casing manufacturer also have models with sliding door to cover the camera lens, usually marketed for protecting the lense from scratch and that would’ve look nicer to a head of state to use instead of hobo looking cheap stickers haha
Yeah I was looking at a few of those. The cheap tape he’s using seems to be almost transparent as well so I’m not really sure what Mr. Netanyahu is trying to do there.
As far as blocking the microphone, I don’t think there’s much you can do hardware-wise unless you try and take the microphone out which seems like it would cause more problems than it’s worth. If you absolutely need an Apple device, iPads and MacBooks have built-in microphone hardware disconnect when you close the lid on a MacBook or on an iPad with an official Smart Folio case.
iPhones supposedly tie the indicator lights for the microphone and camera to hardware, so theoretically it should act similarly to an indicator light that’s wired up in series with the camera although I haven’t seen that confirmed in official documentation.
I’m curious about the devices like Type-C Microphone Blocker that take up the microphone connection and would prevent casual listening if the microphone was active for some reason. It obviously wouldn’t prevent sophisticated attacks.
Also, is there no system-level microphone or camera toggle in iOS and iPadOS? For the life of me I can’t find it, and I’m surprised if Apple wouldn’t have something like that.
Those aren’t really blocking it in hardware it’s effectively an even weaker blocker than just not granting microphone permission in the first place, it’s pretty much useless imo.
There’s not, it’s only on a per-app basis. It would be nice to have that for sure.
I’m guessing Israel probably know something about spyware that we don’t. All the biggest spyware companys is in Israel after all.
Benny should get some black gaffers tape. It would blend in and not leave glue behind if it’s ever removed.
He is giving the public a false sense of security. His country produces some of the best malware.
I’ve also just remembered this one The iPhone With No Camera – And Why Nuclear Plants Pay Extra for It
Although his threat model might consider a tampered iphone by a 3rd party more insecure than a (assuming) generic one with tape over the lense.
I’m confused why someone like him sticks to such cheap solutions.
Wouldn’t it be better to buy a camera cover like many cases have?
This seems almost certainly like a decoy. Other world governments have the ability to get inside an iPhone with a targeted attack. He’s almost certainly not using an iPhone for anything other than a grocery list. It could also be a custom device inside an iPhone case. There are so many possibilities.
I bet he switches phones every 24 hours and reuses the old case. I’ve heard Maduro did that.
I’m sorry to inform you but world leaders use iPhones a lot. Biden had an iPhone. Google Pixels and iPhones are both some of the most secure consumer devices you can buy and also are vulnerable to malware. It just goes to show how abysmal the state of cybersecurity is at the moment.
It just goes to show how abysmal the state of cybersecurity is at the moment.
It is not the security department of the government more is it the higher ups.
I have pretty strong insights in how some of this is doing.
For example someone brought an to the internet connected Amazon Alexa to a confidential meeting where even cell phones were not allowed, and after he got asked why he did this He just said that he didn’t care because if something happens he is not the one that gets his ass kicked.
Of course this insight is only from my country, but I don’t think that in other places around the world this doesn’t happen.
It does make a lot of sense. Hes a high value target and because he knows exactly what his government is capable of and they also control some of the best hacking software that they apparently rent out to other governments. His phone probably has special encrypted software as most governments have their own version of Android but even then if the devices camera is not unplugged Snowden style then there’s always a chance right