New linux device NC_1 from Necuno

trainailleur · 25 Jan 2020, 17:07

@Mic_ said in New linux device NC_1 from Necuno:

Is it easier to take standard android and to MAKE it 'safer' (whatever that in detail means) - or to develop something new? I thought UT takes the way of a new developemnt - to have it at the end easier!?

A Pixel 3 or 3a running GrapheneOS or CalyxOS is highly secure, and with carefully chosen apps, highly private, so I think the answer to your question is that making Android safer is easier for now. Of course going that route puts money directly into Google's pocket, which isn't ideal.

In the long run, I expect open hardware to produce systems which are also both secure and private, but for the time being, I am not seeing the open hardware we've seen so far as secure, nor am I seeing the OSes running on them as being especially so. With regard to privacy, the situation is perhaps better simply because such platforms are so obscure they are not yet major tracking targets, yet even so I suspect the average user of existing alternative phone OSes is highly fingerprintable.

In order to take back control of mobile computing, we the users need open hardware and we need operating systems under community control, so I don't mean in any way to discourage any open hardware effort. I do wish though that we who are enthusiasts of open systems would be more careful not to overstate the situation as it stands.

In Necuno's case, they state they are a security company, so perhaps they have baked things into their hardware and software that they haven't explained on their website. I hope that is so, and if it is, I hope they will share info about it.

Mic_ · 26 Jan 2020, 11:35

An ex-collegue reported me once about the hardware-testing-department of AVM. So they inspect all components of their routers and only purchase elements which they trust.

I thought that way brings us secure routers. Want to have the same for phones. Isn't that possible - or at least conceivable?!

dobey · 26 Jan 2020, 16:00

@Mic_ That doesn't create a fully secured device. It simply means that you can verify the origin of the hardware, and whether it was tampered with in transit. It doesn't mean there are no security flaws in the hardware itself, the firmware, nor the software.

It is only one of the many steps that need to be taken, to make things secure. And security is not really a binary state in that sense. It's more a sliding scale, and there really isn't anything that is 100% secure.

Mic_ · 26 Jan 2020, 17:16

Yes sorry I am very inconclusive at this point. What I mainly mean is the possibility to sell a service which companies allows to massively influence peoples 'opinions' - which at the end bases on the collection of data about these people.

That specific phones can at the end nearly always been attacked - ok, but that is not my point. Maybe I should call it not 'security' in general.

As I have heard AVM does really a lot of work to get the right elements from the producers of chips etc. I thought that is the right way.

dobey · 27 Jan 2020, 17:51

I would like to see some evidence of their claims, from the software side. For example, all over the web site, it talks about this "aera OS" thing, which is supposedly a Linux based OS which they make for the phone. However, despite much searching, I can find absolutely no information about it.

flohack · 27 Jan 2020, 21:08

I will try to get hands-on on FOSDEM and see. Last year they had a "non-functioning deactivated" prototype, which was essentially a 3D-printed case with nothing inside

Mic_ · 28 Jan 2020, 10:29

"Aera OS can be run on select off-the-shelf devices (e.g Sony Xperia X ) or it can be combined with our third level."

https://www.f6s.com/necunosolutionsltd

A part of SFOS maybe?

dobey · 28 Jan 2020, 15:23

@Mic_ said in New linux device NC_1 from Necuno:

A part of SFOS maybe?

There's literally no actual information, so I don't want to make assumptions. There are also old blog posts where they talk about partnerships with pmOS, KDE, etc… similar to how Purism did with the Librem 5, but those are all from before this "aera OS" existed I guess.

I would much like to know what it is actually though, and what "hardening" has been done.

Mic_ · 28 Jan 2020, 18:21

@dobey https://necunos.com/blog/necuno-solutions-and-nemo-mobile-collaboration/

Nemo based on Mer-core. Mer-core was started as a fork from Nokia MeeGo. Sailfish based on MeeGo.

dobey · 28 Jan 2020, 18:42

@Mic_ said in New linux device NC_1 from Necuno:

based

December 2018

Again, this is quite old and from a time before this aera os seems to have ever been mentioned by Necuno. Obviously Nemo is not a "hardened Linux" either.

I'm talking about aera os only, and not the previous "partnerships" with other mobile OS projects like Nemo, pmOS, etc… which were all mentioned in 2018 prior to any claim of Necuno developing a hardened OS called aera os.

makeixo · 29 Jan 2020, 21:10

Well maybe @Flohack will find something out. I don't think I belong to the user group but nevertheless it an interessting topic.

makeixo · 10 Feb 2020, 09:23

@Flohack said in New linux device NC_1 from Necuno:

I will try to get hands-on on FOSDEM and see. Last year they had a "non-functioning deactivated" prototype, which was essentially a 3D-printed case with nothing inside

I did you find them?

flohack · 10 Feb 2020, 10:30

@makeixo Yes. Bascially now they showed a prototype which had cables sticking out and sticky tape held it together. On the device it was running Nemo, but again a lot of primises were given.
I personally think they are in early prototype stage, as I lack hard evidence they already did both software and hardware in such a away that its already beta-grade.

makeixo · 10 Feb 2020, 13:08

@Flohack Well, if they continue to work on it, I think, its good thing.

Nemo is an interesting choice. I have always the impression, somewhere in siberia there is just 1 russian, who develops the UX. But I like what I have seen. I think it could be a nice UX/OS.