I was all ready to buy my brand new pixel 8a unfortunately I’m bummed I missed the sale by one day. I do not want to spend over $500 for a phone. I know y’all said refurbished is bad. I don’t understand how it would make a difference if I’ll be putting grapheneOS on it. Doesn’t putting a different o…

[image] anon29374801: refurbished is fine, especially if you are putting grapheneos on it. You can use the verified boot and hardware attestation to verify that the hardware, firmware and operating system are genuine. To clarify, buying a used pixel, resetting it, and flashing GOS will restor…

[image] curious78: buying a used pixel Preferably from a certified refurbisher. [image] curious78: Pixel hardware and firmware attestation? Unless I misunderstand dramatically, Verified Boot is not a deterent against against physical attacks (ex: compromises by the refurbisher) nor is…

[image] ignoramous: Unless I misunderstand dramatically, Verified Boot is not a deterent against against physical attacks (ex: compromises by the refurbisher) nor is it enough to prevent vulnerabilities in (even Verified / unmodified) privileged blobs like bootloader / init / recovery / fastboot …

yeah the info on GOS, from what I can find, is a bit unclear. it just states GrapheneOS provides our Auditor app for using a combination of the verified boot and attestation features to verify that the hardware, firmware and operating system are genuine which is pretty broad.

[image] anon48875053: Yes. These two links lead me to agree with you, that I can have a great deal of confidence buying a refurbished Pixel, flashing it with GOS, and then verifying it to create trust in the hardware, firmware and OS: [image] Possibility of malicious firmware/rootki…

[image] curious78: then verifying it to create trust in the hardware, firmware and OS Does Android do Verified Execution? If not, per my understanding, Verified Boot on a device that’s been in adversarial hands aka “evil maids” (non-certified refurbishers, if your threat model allows for it) …

[image] TinFoilHat: Personally I dont buy used ones for anything I touch with bare skin daily, be it phones, clothes, shoes, keyboards, its not for security reasons, but from hygiene and psychological perspective. But you can definitely disinfect whatever you buy when it arrives. I appreciate…

Refurbished is fine just make sure it works before you buy it.

It seems like the consensus is that buying a used device from like eBay or Swappa is probably safe as long as it works for most people. What do you think about buying a device like this for the activist/protester threat model? Maybe they are not leading movements, but they may be local organizers o…

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ignoramous October 14, 2026, 8:00pm 55

Oh, I remember.

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