Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Share Post: Reddit Facebook
Google Adds New Firmware Integrity Protection System to Pixel Smartphones
#1
[Image: Pixel2.png]

Quote:Google has announced today a new security mechanism for Pixel 2 smartphones, for which, in the near future, it would be impossible to update or replace the phone's firmware without entering the user's password.

Google says it added this new security mechanism as a way to prevent malicious insiders, even those with the highest level of access, from tampering with its smartphones.

New security feature enhances an already hard-to-hack phone
This new security measure is just the cherry on top of an already super-secure device that even today comes with plenty of low-level firmware protections.

For example, Pixel devices use secure hardware components to store and handle the encryption keys used for encrypting the user's locally-stored data.

This "secure hardware" also runs its own set of secure firmware that checks the validity of the user's password and also protects the device from repeated attempts to guess a password (brute-force attacks).

This firmware is also protected by a code signing mechanism to prevent attackers from replacing the firmware altogether with one that bypasses password checks and just decrypts the data, no questions asked.

Phone password will be required for Pixel firmware updates
Here's where Google's new security feature comes in handy. By requiring a phone's password when replacing or updating this firmware, Google is making sure that an attacker has to compromise both the firmware's digital signature process and the user's device password at the same time. Compromising one is hard enough, but compromising both is near impossible.

It's a small update on Google's part, but one with great repercussions to device security. Sure, hacking a Pixel 2 phone was hard anyway, but not it just got many times harder.

SOURCE
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Ads are taking over Samsung's Galaxy smartphones — and it needs to stop tarekma7 2 2,959 10-14-2020 , 02:49 AM
Last Post: John Weems
  How to download official (Original) Samsung Firmware? tarekma7 0 1,453 04-10-2020 , 12:11 AM
Last Post: tarekma7
  Among Stiff Competition, Google Better Bring the Heat With the Pixel 4 tarekma7 0 2,063 05-16-2019 , 12:59 AM
Last Post: tarekma7
  Samsung Galaxy Note 8 & Google Pixel 2 - Next iPhone 8 Killers? baziroll 0 2,038 08-11-2017 , 12:46 AM
Last Post: baziroll
  Google Pixel 2: Everything we know so far baziroll 0 2,151 07-14-2017 , 12:49 PM
Last Post: baziroll

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)