Security of pixel 7 and down

qpwoei

I am using a pixel 9 with gos on it as my daily phone but I have ordered a pixel tablet to install gos on for saving things and home use.. Now I see a couple times passing by in chats and topics that the pixel 8 and 9 are recommended because the earlier ones are missing something not sure wat.. Question is if the security of the 7 (so the tablet as well) is less then the 8-9 and does that also goes for security to brute force or does that not impact that aspect at all?

23Sha-ger

qpwoei
If you are talking about MTE, yes it's recommended but on Pixel tablets it doesn't exist because they were released earlier. However, since there is no baseband module in them, and a tablet is mainly a companion but not a main device, the attack surface is generally much lower. Unless you have some highly sophisticated adversary, it's still a supported device and one of the most secure options for tablets.

qpwoei

23Sha-ger
Can you explain please wat a highly sophisticated adversary could do on the pixel tablet or the pixel 6-7 what it can't do on the 8 or 9? Without getting in to much details I am a kind of target of a highly sophisticated adversary but till now only targeted on the iPhone..

23Sha-ger

qpwoei
A highly sophisticated adversary means one who has enough funds and technology to invest on you in particular. That roughy means the 5 eyes countries and my beloved home Israel.

qpwoei

At least that's what we think and hope. No confirmation on a success or attempt on the gos devices

qpwoei

23Sha-ger
I understand that but nowadays there are more then the five eyes countries who are doing very specific sophisticated attacks with the help and preformed by companys from your beloved home Israel... More then people would believe and could imaging.. But I qhas wondering actually more in what could they do to attack more on a 7 or a tablet. Then that they could do on a 8-9. Is there any difference or should we say once your the target of them no any device could safe you? I actually thing a gos with the right use and settings would be a very difficult task for them.. My set up is like this..

Flight mode
WiFi connected to a router with VPN
Device extra VPN
All transmitting things disabled like printer Bluetooth and sos
Long alpha numerical password

You think even that a piece of cake for Letts say a 5eye 3 letter agency?

23Sha-ger

qpwoei
Your device is rather safe, safer than equivalent devices running OEM software. This is what I tried to say.

qpwoei

23Sha-ger

OK but a ckear description of the difference of security in the 7 and below compared of the 8-9 was where I was looking for. He he. I have tried to find info but I can't find anywhere a clear answer except people saying security is less but why and what the MTE or something else prevents is not clear for me

de0u

qpwoei OK but a ckear description of the difference of security in the 7 and below compared of the 8-9 was where I was looking for. He he. I have tried to find info but I can't find anywhere a clear answer except people saying security is less but why and what the MTE or something else prevents is not clear for me

Some material on what MTE is/does is here: https://developer.arm.com/documentation/108035/0100/Introduction-to-the-Memory-Tagging-Extension

It's hard to provide a simple description of a complicated countermeasure for a vulnerability class that requires complicated exploits.

qpwoei

Letts go a other route since you started about it. He he. I noticed every time somebody starts talking about it or ask questions about it there is a heavy push back on the topic and I think its a bit overreaction.. But do you or any other who knows where he or she talks about have any idea in how far a sophisticated personal attack with a pegasus like trojan can be succesfull on a up to date graphenos pixel 8 or 9? Is the sandboxing strong enough to resit the attack and would it be possible to have complete access on all the users or if it could penetrate the sandbox would it only affect the current user? Hoping actually for serieus thoughts

23Sha-ger

qpwoei
We never had any evidence of Pegasus on GOS.
Knowing a few people in both NSO and Cellebrite, they both have a different goal. Most "high ranking" targets have iPhones.
This is why for NSO it was, and remains, number one focus. Cellebrite on the other hand focuses on lowend enforcement, call it your local Police branch, etc. GOS is hard target so they have a special mark in the Matrix table for them. Most "suspects" that are going thru cellebrite are not worth the 0days used by Pegasus.

qpwoei

23Sha-ger

That's what we hope and think yes.. Thanks for the series input and have a good night or day depending where you located