How I ditched smartphones

[Julie]

In many router, and access point, you may disabled each band individually.

For example, on my access point, 2.4 Ghz is disabled. You may also check for transmitting power ajustement.

[TinFoilHat]

On top of that, it is also worth noting

1. The difference between Omni-directional antennae and Directional antennae (panel / Yagi–Uda antenna).
2. Potential application of Low-E glass

Using low gain omni directional antennae, or replacing them with directional antennae (repositioning your router / using extension cable is required) could effectively mitigate signal spillage.

For Home broadband using cell network, you can also use directional antennae, pointing it towards the cell tower you would like to connect, connect to it and then set your router to “lock-in“ that cell tower, so it wont and cant roam about, hence make it harder to be triangulated.

Low-E glass is very effective in preventing RF signal leaking in / out of your property as well (mind you, you cell signal is affected too).

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Back to the topic, I wont be too concerned about IMEI tracking, I am yet to see study / report showing tangible gain over the basic combo (i.e. Prepaid sim + Privacy friendly phone OS & apps + always on VPＮ + Minimum use of cell signal + Maximum use of public Wifi).

[Colter]

@fria

The reality is that the firmware has vulnerabilities and needs to be updated to fix them. There’s scant few options that will do that for you automatically. A lot of the privacy and security features in Bluetooth like MAC randomization are optional and it’s tough to find info on if a specific device supports them.

A recent example:

MAC randomization is nice but not neccessary for security.

But as far as I know, a malicious bluetooth device can’t attack a secure host system unless it has a zero day exploit

[fria]

@Colter

But as far as I know, a malicious bluetooth device can’t attack a secure host system unless it has a zero day exploit

Presumably the Bluetooth device is involved with data you don’t want to leak to attackers, like audio from your phone calls etc. A lot of Bluetooth devices have microphones as well, and they can typically control your main device for example activating Siri and issuing commands. A Bluetooth keyboard being compromised essentially gives the attacker carte Blanche access to your system through arbitrary keystrokes. So I don’t think you necessarily need to compromise the main device, a compromised pair of Bluetooth headphones or a keyboard or mouse are quite bad still.

[Colter]

Isn’t the

@fria

Presumably the Bluetooth device is involved with data you don’t want to leak to attackers, like audio from your phone calls etc. A lot of Bluetooth devices have microphones as well

Do they have enough space to store this data to extract it latter?

If not it would require permanent connection to the attacker.

@fria

A Bluetooth keyboard being compromised essentially gives the attacker carte Blanche access to your system through arbitrary keystrokes.

The best solution for this would look like this:

• Always look your device when you are not looking at it
• When the user is looking at the screen, the attacker can only succeed if he is extremely fast and/or open’s a window in the background. Therefore Input to background windows should always be blocked and the system should block input that is obviously faster then a human could type

[fria]

@Colter

Do they have enough space to store this data to extract it latter?

They need to be in close proximity to exploit Bluetooth anyway so they can just stream it straight to their own device.

@Colter

When the user is looking at the screen, the attacker can only succeed if he is extremely fast and/or open’s a window in the background. Therefore Input to background windows should always be blocked and the system should block input that is obviously faster then a human could type

This isn’t an effective strategy since the window won’t be in the background when it’s used of course. It’ll be so fast you can’t even see it. They could also not issue any inputs but simply passively read your keystrokes to get your passwords and everything you type as well, that wouldn’t require anything the user could possibly see.

There’s also a problem with blocking fast text input, which is that copy/paste exists and is infinitely fast. Also humans can input text quite fast anyway so you could end up blocking actual typing.

All these solutions aren’t real security solutions, the reality of the situation is you need to update Bluetooth devices to be secure. There’s no way around it.

[iluvprivacy]

How does one secure Bluetooth anyway? Right now, I have it turned off on all of my devices and only on when I need it.

[fria]

It’s fully up to the devs of your operating system, the people who made the bluetooth chip in your phone, and the people who made your headphones or whatever you’re using. Nothing you can really do on your own except make sure everything is getting updates.

[TinFoilHat]

I would say that is the most effective way to protect yourself

[Colter]

@fria

They need to be in close proximity to exploit Bluetooth anyway so they can just stream it straight to their own device.

So it’s only relevant for vrry high threat models.

No normal person will get hacked that way.

@fria

There’s also a problem with blocking fast text input, which is that copy/paste exists and is infinitely fast. Also humans can input text quite fast anyway so you could end up blocking actual typing.

I am not sure but I think all copy paste goes through the compositor (at least on Wayland) and can have safety checks.

And no human would type so fast that you can’t see the window opening before he’s done.