SIM lock and automatic reboot

DeletedUser43

Recently there was a lot of social media posts from GrapheneOS, about improvements to automatic reboot functionality. I get the benefits of purging the keys and getting updates installed over night. But, I can't use it because of a SIM lock. It seems like no one is talking or complaining about this, so I started to wonder, maybe I don't understand something?

I use SIM lock, because in some cases I'm forced to use SMS for 2FA, and even if I can use my hardware keys, lot's of companies allow to reset credentials with a phone call, if the caller knows some basic personal info (not a password).

Not having my SIM card unlocked all the time is an issue for me. 30 minutes for a phone update is fine, but there are people, like family, who should always be able to reach me even if I'm asleep.

Am I missing something? What's a solution? eSIM? Getting separate phone for 2FA? I wouldn't like to have another device to charge and carry around.

F0SSIL

Voip with something like JMP.chat could solve it for the overnight issue. It will not use the sim, but wifi. Or turn off the Sim lock. I used to have sim lock, but turned it off for this exact reason.

DeletedUser43

F0SSIL How do you deal with SIM as 2nd-factor, or credentials reset over phone issue? Separate phone?

BRNko

This is strange. I thought about that too. Also it can be usefull when someone like myself, want automatic restart shorter than my sleep time over night and still be reachable while PIN is required. Why not implement such basic thing as automatic SIM unlock? You just type your PIN somewhere in settings and phone will unlock SIM itself after reboot. Physically it's possible. It's just about SW. I'm programmer of simple IOT devices and when I interfacing with SIM modules, they can be programmed to unlock SIM automatically and I used this feature. It's sweet. But I'm not capable to look and create such code in GOS. It's too complicated for me, know that GOS must store the PIN for unlocking somewhere outside encrypted part of flash. Can anyone explain why this not exist like everywhere? No IOT devices or dumb/smart phones that I know, has this feature but I done easily? It's strange.

System should detect how many tries the SIM offer to try PIN code. When SIM is offering default 3 attempts, system should try one attempt when user want. What do you think?

DeletedUser43

BRNko Makes sense, but for some threat models: storing unencrypted PIN could be an issue. All I want, is that SIM should not work without PIN outside my phone.
For now, the solution is e-sim.

BRNko

DeletedUser43 True that. For some threat models. When enabling such feature, you should just read warning about it, that PIN can be obtainet via forensics tools and that's it. I just want to protect my SIM with pin so when phone is lost or stolen, nobody can use it immediately and this pin can give me time to call my carrier to disable my SIM. That's it. I think this is enough for most of people. SIM is not something where your data lives and owner have power to disable it remotely so no threat here. If you are person who can end up kidnapped for threat model you mentioned, you just not enable this feature with physical sim. Also time to time I want possibility to try my SIM in different device for testing purposes so no eSIM for me.

DeletedUser43

I'd like to highlight one last thing: if my family could call me after reboot, then I would enable automatic restart to apply system updates at night. I think even with PIN stored unencrypted, in many cases overall it'd be a security gain.

I can't move to e-sim for my main number, in my country e-sim still requires personal visit.