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Hello! When dark forums ask questions about anonymity, the authors constantly advise using push-button phones for work. Let's find out if this is the case. I will give my arguments FOR:
And now to the article, who is interested in learning more.
There is a popular belief that push-button phones are a panacea for surveillance. They are used by some officials and intelligence agencies in the hope of preserving personal or state data. Alexander Lukashenko, for example, says that "smart people are looking" for old mobile phones, because " the United States is monitoring users." The same opinion is shared by the speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko — she believes that civil servants should not use the iPhone for official purposes from the point of view of national security.
Smart people, contrary to the traditionally exalted statements of Lukashenka, do not look for budget phones, but found them long ago, replacing smartphones with them, at least; and as a maximum, they do not have phones at all, exchanging all information using an assistant that provides both voice and video communication through secure systems. But the government theme is not entirely correct here, because at this level, special communications are provided by specially trained people, complexes, systems and networks.
But if we talk about the top management of corporations, banks, or the average user, the use of push-button phones can be justified for two reasons:
But it doesn't always work that way. The cheaper the phone, the more likely it is that poor-quality software was installed inside it in advance.
Marketers of third-tier brands have filled the market with extremely low-cost models of push-button phones, which in fact are, with rare exceptions, a natural Trojan horse in your pocket. They leak any information about the owner to unknown sites without their knowledge at all. This applies to literally all budget manufacturers of push-button phones. In a good way, this is, at least, a very acute issue for the FSB and certifying bodies, but no one is doing this at all.
One of the users of the Habr website conducted a study by buying five models of push-button phones from pseudo-Russian and Chinese manufacturers in a random store. It turned out that four of them contain features that were not declared at the time of purchase. In these cases, the brand itself is to blame. It orders the development of the device itself and firmware for it from the OEM manufacturer, but does not check the end device for malware.
And so, in fact, this market is not checked in any way, although it is very clearly and strictly regulated by law.
The ability to geolocate is required by many applications, and to say that this is done for surveillance is gratuitous, however, and to say the opposite is at least cunning. Any company stores a lot of data about anything. There is no direct malice involved. This can be either a business interest, or directly information, without which it is impossible to provide any service.
But the opinion that push-button phones are safer than "regular" smartphones is very optimistic. In the domestic market, which is flooded with cheap Chinese fakes, there is a risk of running into a device that already has spyware installed, and it can steal your data or money.
That's all! Don't work on ru)
- You can track your location, but the accuracy is much lower.
- There are no Googles, just a call and a flashlight, so it remains to calculate only by the time of registration in the cell.
And now to the article, who is interested in learning more.
- In short, yes, but no
- Push-button phones can really be hacked
- Mobile operators know your movement, but is it surveillance?
- Result
There is a popular belief that push-button phones are a panacea for surveillance. They are used by some officials and intelligence agencies in the hope of preserving personal or state data. Alexander Lukashenko, for example, says that "smart people are looking" for old mobile phones, because " the United States is monitoring users." The same opinion is shared by the speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko — she believes that civil servants should not use the iPhone for official purposes from the point of view of national security.
In short, yes, but no
Push-button phones are no safer than modern, advanced devices.Smart people, contrary to the traditionally exalted statements of Lukashenka, do not look for budget phones, but found them long ago, replacing smartphones with them, at least; and as a maximum, they do not have phones at all, exchanging all information using an assistant that provides both voice and video communication through secure systems. But the government theme is not entirely correct here, because at this level, special communications are provided by specially trained people, complexes, systems and networks.
But if we talk about the top management of corporations, banks, or the average user, the use of push-button phones can be justified for two reasons:
- First — a push-button phone without complex operating systems is much simpler. Accordingly, according to the rule "the elevator breaks down more often than the stairs", it works more reliably and longer, since it does not have advanced settings, applications, or other things.
- The second one has fewer software vulnerabilities.
But it doesn't always work that way. The cheaper the phone, the more likely it is that poor-quality software was installed inside it in advance.
Marketers of third-tier brands have filled the market with extremely low-cost models of push-button phones, which in fact are, with rare exceptions, a natural Trojan horse in your pocket. They leak any information about the owner to unknown sites without their knowledge at all. This applies to literally all budget manufacturers of push-button phones. In a good way, this is, at least, a very acute issue for the FSB and certifying bodies, but no one is doing this at all.
Push-button phones can really be hacked
You can accidentally purchase a product with a pre-installed Trojan or backdoor in the store. Using a virus, for example, a third-party user can withdraw money from accounts, and through a backdoor — intercept incoming SMS messages in order to use someone else's number for registering on services.One of the users of the Habr website conducted a study by buying five models of push-button phones from pseudo-Russian and Chinese manufacturers in a random store. It turned out that four of them contain features that were not declared at the time of purchase. In these cases, the brand itself is to blame. It orders the development of the device itself and firmware for it from the OEM manufacturer, but does not check the end device for malware.
Right. To avoid this, you need to buy proven models like Nokia (they are more expensive than Chinese or" pseudo-Russian " analogues); read reviews; track the behavior of the device in the first day; in case of unpleasant activity, contact Rospotrebnadzor or the manufacturer.
And so, in fact, this market is not checked in any way, although it is very clearly and strictly regulated by law.
Mobile operators know your movement, but is it surveillance?
In the case of both push-button phones and modern gadgets, mobile operators know perfectly well the identifier of your SIM card, the SIM card itself and the phone code. Moreover, this information is stored indefinitely along with information about the registration of a SIM card at any base station-you can always track the movement of a person with a cell phone turned on at base stations, track in detail which device is being used.The ability to geolocate is required by many applications, and to say that this is done for surveillance is gratuitous, however, and to say the opposite is at least cunning. Any company stores a lot of data about anything. There is no direct malice involved. This can be either a business interest, or directly information, without which it is impossible to provide any service.
Result
Using push-button phones, the user can experience less paranoia about surveillance, since the functions of his device are reduced to a minimum — calls and SMS messages - and are devoid of questionable applications. Only a disk phone will be safer.But the opinion that push-button phones are safer than "regular" smartphones is very optimistic. In the domestic market, which is flooded with cheap Chinese fakes, there is a risk of running into a device that already has spyware installed, and it can steal your data or money.
That's all! Don't work on ru)
