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Über-secure Blackphone crypto-mobe spills its silicon guts

  • 29 April 2014
  • 3 replies
  • 1953 views
Baldrick
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Tegra-powered handset claims privacy built in

By Neil McAllister, 28 Apr 2014  SGP Technologies, the Switzerland-based joint venture of Spanish handset maker Geeksphone and security firm Silent Circle, has revealed specs for the Blackphone BP1, its forthcoming privacy-minded handset.
 
The locked-down mobe will be powered by the Nvidia Tegra 4i, making it one of the first devices to ship based on that system-on-chip (SoC), despite Nvidia having launched it last year.
 The version that will ship in the BP1 will pack a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 r4 CPU clocked at 2GHz (a hair shy of the maximum of 2.3GHz), plus an extra "battery-saver core" for low-power tasks like active standby, music and video playback, 60 custom GPU cores, and an integrated i500 LTE modem.
 
Said modem will support GSM, HSPA+/WCDMA, and LTE on enough bands to cover most of the world, and the BP1 will come carrier unlocked.
 
The device will also ship with 1GB of LPDDR3 RAM, 16GB of onboard EMMC storage (expandable via microSD cards), 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, GPS, and gravity, light, proximity, and magnetic sensors.
 
 
 
Full Article
 
 
Please excuse me...call me a Luddite...but I just cannot see the point of these phones, as I am certain that as sure as eggs are eggs someone will be working on breaking their encryption ASAP. :p
Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete Beta Tester v9.0.24.49, imaged by Macrium Reflect v7.2

3 replies

Jasper_The_Rasper
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Custom-built with privacy in mind, this handset isn’t for (Google) Play.

By Sean Gallagher - June 30 2014
 


Built for privacy, the Blackphone runs a beefed-up Android called PrivOS.
 
Based on some recent experience, I'm of the opinion that smartphones are about as private as a gas station bathroom. They're full of leaks, prone to surveillance, and what security they do have comes from using really awkward keys. While there are tools available to help improve the security and privacy of smartphones, they're generally intended for enterprise customers. No one has had a real one-stop solution: a smartphone pre-configured for privacy that anyone can use without being a cypherpunk.
That is, until now. The Blackphone is the first consumer-grade smartphone to be built explicitly for privacy. It pulls together a collection of services and software that are intended to make covering your digital assets simple—or at least more straightforward. The product of SGP Technologies, a joint venture between the cryptographic service Silent Circle and the specialty mobile hardware manufacturer Geeksphone, the Blackphone starts shipping to customers who preordered it sometime this week. It will become available for immediate purchase online shortly afterward.
 
Full Article
R
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Interesting, thanks for sharing this Jasper! I will follow this one! :D
R
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Userlevel 7
The following article is a update on Blackphone
(Blackphone security issues and vulnerabilities unveiled)
 
Author: Zeljka Zorz/ HNS Managing Editor/ Posted on 09 September 2014.
 
Blackphone, the carrier- and vendor-independent smartphone that was created with the goal of placing privacy and control directly in the hands of its users, is not without its flaws, the Bluebox Security team discovered while reviewing it.


http://www.net-security.org/images/articles/blackphone.jpg
The team analyzed the device running version 1.0.2 of PrivatOS, which is built on Android, and comes pre-installed with a suite of privacy-enabled applications such as Silent Circle's Silent Phone, Silent Text, and Silent Contacts for secure calling, text messaging, and contact storage, and the Security Center app that allows users to control app permissions. All these apps have been built by the companies behind Blackphone (Silent Circle and Geeksphone).

The phone also has some third-party apps installed, such as Disconnect Secure Wireless, which creates a VPN connection from the device to the Disconnect.me (Blackphone partner) servers, and a special, Blackphone version of the online backup tool SpiderOak.

The team discovered a number of problems with the device itself and the apps on it.
 
 
Help Net Security/ full article here/ http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=17343
 

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