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can replicant be used with straight talk or readysim/other sim card types?

Added by C V about 9 years ago

I am curious because I am considering buying the samsung galaxy tab 7.0 p3100. (unlocked one aka)
Is this project still being developed and more importantly can I put any sim card provider on it?
oh and last but not least if I use a less private one (not readysim)
will it be able to collect information on the select device's memory ram or sd card...

Sorry if this is a lot but could you provide me with some info? also I would like to know if it is easy to install/use.


Replies (6)

RE: can replicant be used with straight talk or readysim/other sim card types? - Added by My Self about 9 years ago

I am curious because I am considering buying the samsung galaxy tab 7.0 p3100. (unlocked one aka)
Is this project still being developed and more importantly can I put any sim card provider on it?

IMHO, Replicant is still in development, like any other Android custom ROM. Otherwise you don't get security fixes or any other patches...
If you want to know (with your question) if you to have the heart to install Replicant on your device, I would say that Replicant is pretty much stable in my eyes. I've tested it on two (Samsung) devices in the past.

AFAIK it's depending on your (hardware) device if you could put in any SIM you want. If it's unlocked, you should be able to use every provider you want, normally.

oh and last but not least if I use a less private one (not readysim)
will it be able to collect information on the select device's memory ram or sd card...

[Probably somebody other could give you an answer to that question, because I think I don't get what wou want to ask].
If you want to ask, if you'r SIM card could collect some private data, then please keep in mind, that your SIM card has a remote reachable microcomputer itself, which is vulnerable to attacks by default; POC (Proof of Concept): http://media.ccc.de/browse/congress/2013/30C3_-_5449_-_en_-_saal_1_-_201312271715_-_mobile_network_attack_evolution_-_karsten_nohl_-_luca_melette.html#video

Sorry if this is a lot but could you provide me with some info? also I would like to know if it is easy to install/use.

I think the installation is not that hard. Just use the installation wiki here:
http://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/GalaxyTab270P31xxInstallation

And the usage is as easy as Android is easy to use; just have a short look at it before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEXOPFvm-1c

Hope that helps.

RE: can replicant be used with straight talk or readysim/other sim card types? - Added by C V about 9 years ago

So it could steal files from documents encrypted or otherwise?
or just my phone call information?
And if yes to both are there ways to make that a nonexistant problem.
and also, I would like to thank you for giving your earlier answer.

RE: can replicant be used with straight talk or readysim/other sim card types? - Added by My Self about 9 years ago

So it could steal files from documents encrypted or otherwise?

Sorry, I don't want to make you paranoid; but IMHO this risk is omnipresent on every networking device you use, (or on every offline device, with physical access of other people).
Replicant is as secure as other custom ROMs in my eyes. The only problem is the deprecated Android (4.2.2) base, which makes some older components, like the WebView (rendering engine) insecure: http://redmine.replicant.us/boards/39/topics/8007
But IMHO Replicant is definitely more secure than the obligatory stock ROMs, which are often not patched at all.

To cut a long story short. The headliner vulnerabilities are patched in the actual Replicant source code. But the risk of further (known or unknown) vulnerabilities is always in the air.

or just my phone call information?

Calls & SMS are generally vulnerable, for example by the insecurity of the SS7-Protocol (2G/[3G|UMTS]): http://media.ccc.de/browse/congress/2014/31c3_-_6249_-_en_-_saal_1_-_201412271715_-_ss7_locate_track_manipulate_-_tobias_engel.html

And if yes to both are there ways to make that a nonexistant problem.

First of all you should initiate some basic hardening. If you need some inspiration, please look here: http://redmine.replicant.us/boards/39/topics/8079
Encrypting your device, doesn't prevent from unauthorized access to private data if your device is online connected to other unknown web services (like browsing the internet).
Additionally encrypting your critical files would more do the trick. For encrypted notes you may want to give the following apps a chance:

AFAIK there is no effective protection against the SS7 vulnerability, and also against the risk of using a manipulated/infected SD-card: http://media.ccc.de/browse/congress/2013/30C3_-_5294_-_en_-_saal_1_-_201312291400_-_the_exploration_and_exploitation_of_an_sd_memory_card_-_bunnie_-_xobs.html at the moment.
The only topic vulnerability I know, which gets more and more protected by an app is the "IMSI catcher" one: https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=imsi&fdid=com.SecUpwN.AIMSICD

Hope that helps a little.

RE: can replicant be used with straight talk or readysim/other sim card types? - Added by C V about 9 years ago

hmm... This is a slight problem... I may have to look elsewhere then... But I will keep this all in mind. thank you.

RE: can replicant be used with straight talk or readysim/other sim card types? - Added by My Self about 9 years ago

hmm... This is a slight problem... I may have to look elsewhere then... But I will keep this all in mind.

Please don't get me wrong. I don't want to demoralize you. You have that kind of risk on every other device, today.
For example on your desktop with BadUSB: https://srlabs.de/badusb/ or "firmware-hacking" on each other hardware (mostly USB) devices.

One part of the solution for that, could be to use a completely open source firmware instead. For some mainboards there already exist a project called: http://www.libreboot.org/ but IMHO, we need open bootloaders and/or firmwares on the other devices (like USB sticks), too...
Replicant also seems to recommend devices with free bootloaders: http://blog.replicant.us/2014/06/replicant-4-2-on-the-goldelico-gta04/

For those people, who don't want to install the free firmwares on its own, there are shops to buy ready to go solutions, like for libreboot this one: http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/
One person brought up such an approach for Replicant: http://redmine.replicant.us/boards/33/topics/6249?r=6267#message-6267 but the website seems to be down...

Whatever, IMHO Replicant is the most free mobile operating system, I've ever seen. This provides freedom. But you have to look after the security aspect by yourself; like on any other device, (for example by installing a anti-virus solution on the Windows™ device of your friends/family), too.
I've made the above-mentioned points, because you (more or less) asked for it. But we all have that kind of risk and it's on you/us to deal with it, on every device (and any operating system) in the wild.

If you ask me, if I would prefer Replicant, instead of other (fancy, fast, feature-rich, but non-free) custom ROMs, my personal answer would be yes.

Good luck with making your decision.

RE: can replicant be used with straight talk or readysim/other sim card types? - Added by Paul Kocialkowski about 9 years ago

I suggest that you read http://www.replicant.us/freedom-privacy-security-issues.php to have a clear idea of what exactly the problems are.

It all depends on modem isolation and the galaxy tabs, we found no evidence that the modem can access storage or RAM directly. Hence your data may be safe.

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