Hi all,
Is it possible to lock bootloader on Op6 without needing to factory reset? I don't have time at the moment to setup my phony how I like after a reset so would much prefer to continue using as it is, but with a locked bootloader.
Basically, the only purpose I had to use root was ad blocking, and I use Blokada now, so no longer need that.
No
Related
I'm loving to try out the CM7 builds and other custom ROM, but at the same time I'm concerned with all the security risks of an unlocked bootloader and cwm recovery.
I wanted to know if there's a way to trigger a factory reset to remotely wipe the phone using the clockwork recovery. Anyone know of anything done like this?
I know there are apps out there that trigger a remote wipe by going into the stock recovery but, when that happens on CM7 for instance, the phone just goes on that Exclamation Mark screen since the stock recovery was overwritten.
Since CM7 can actually reboot to cwm recovery, would there be a way to issue a command to reboot to recovery AND perform a factory reset (or one that would bring back the stock recovery and then do the wipe).
Am I talking nonsense here? I just wanted to minimize risks with a phone theft for example, by wiping everything (I can wipe the SD card already, but am now concerned with the system itself).
Thanks!
You're just being too paranoid. Unlocking your bootloader won't affect anything.
Besides.. the chances are, if a person stoel your phone. I seriously doubt that they have any knowledge of recovery and all these other things that most users on XDA know.
If they do know, then the chances of them stealing your phone are low. I mean really, what individual with knowledge of flashing different ROMs and all these other things would have the audacity of stealing your phone? Only chance is if you lost your phone (not insulting anyone but I don't think people would have the courage to steal a phone from you if they are so knowledgeable in flashing)
And you can always go to http://market.android.com and download "Plan B" onto your phone.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.lookout.labs.planb&feature=search_result
After you install it, Plan B will start locating your phone using cell towers and GPS, even if you didn't have GPS switched on. Your location will keep updating for 10 minutes, and you will get an email each time it is located, whether the phone is moving or standing still. You can start the process again by texting “locate” to your number from any other phone. In order to locate your phone, we send you a text via SMS, so standard message rates apply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it is somewhat paranoid but I think you can never be too safe with your information nowadays
Having an unlocked bootloader allows anyone to access your phone's data completely and while that's great for flashing ROMs, it's not a secure method.
I understand that most people don't really have the expertise going on at these forums, but I just wondered if someone had developed a security app of that sort, I would certainly buy it!
Plan B is an interesting app, but just allows you to try to locate your phone, not wipe it.
fabio008 said:
Yeah, it is somewhat paranoid but I think you can never be too safe with your information nowadays
Having an unlocked bootloader allows anyone to access your phone's data completely and while that's great for flashing ROMs, it's not a secure method.
I understand that most people don't really have the expertise going on at these forums, but I just wondered if someone had developed a security app of that sort, I would certainly buy it!
Plan B is an interesting app, but just allows you to try to locate your phone, not wipe it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
? I don't get the point that you're making of "unlocked bootloader" vs. "locked bootloader." It's the same thing, it just allows more freedom. Phones that aren't Nexus run on a locked bootloader and such. They're able to flash ROMs and do all that.
And Plan B is a last resort app, its not supposed to be used a security app. Thats what their primary app, Lookout is for.
Stop being paranoid, if somebody steals your phone. The chances of them knowing about recovery and doing all of that are VERY LOW.
If its something that bothers you just put a security lock on your phone and Lookout or any other related app. Report it to the police and they'll help you retrieve it.. unless thats something Brazil doesn't offer.
fabio008 said:
Yeah, it is somewhat paranoid but I think you can never be too safe with your information nowadays
Having an unlocked bootloader allows anyone to access your phone's data completely and while that's great for flashing ROMs, it's not a secure method.
I understand that most people don't really have the expertise going on at these forums, but I just wondered if someone had developed a security app of that sort, I would certainly buy it!
Plan B is an interesting app, but just allows you to try to locate your phone, not wipe it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use Autowipe app and use a pin code to lock ur screen. Autowipe has options to wipe ur phone after 'n' number of unsuccessful attempts to unlock ur screen. You can also set options in the app, to wipe ur device when sim card is changed.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
zephiK said:
? I don't get the point that you're making of "unlocked bootloader" vs. "locked bootloader." It's the same thing, it just allows more freedom. Phones that aren't Nexus run on a locked bootloader and such. They're able to flash ROMs and do all that.
And Plan B is a last resort app, its not supposed to be used a security app. Thats what their primary app, Lookout is for.
Stop being paranoid, if somebody steals your phone. The chances of them knowing about recovery and doing all of that are VERY LOW.
If its something that bothers you just put a security lock on your phone and Lookout or any other related app. Report it to the police and they'll help you retrieve it.. unless thats something Brazil doesn't offer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand the chances of knowing about recovery are indeed very low, still, locked and unlocked bootloader have a significant difference when talking about access to your phone's data. With 2.3.3 now, there is no way to flash cwm if you have a locked bootloader (unless you completely erase your phone), while having it unlocked allows you to access everything from the modded recovery (considering you have the expertise).
It is a long stretch but I just thought it was worth discussing additional security possibilities when you're not completely "stock".
kirdroid said:
You can use Autowipe app and use a pin code to lock ur screen. Autowipe has options to wipe ur phone after 'n' number of unsuccessful attempts to unlock ur screen. You can also set options in the app, to wipe ur device when sim card is changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I actually have a pin code and WaveSecure installed, so for the most part I think it works OK. But their wipe function is not that great, it leaves a lot of stuff behind.
I have a phone that I use for corporate purposes so there is a password requirement for each wakescreen.
This is obviously absurd, so I used Xposed module to "nuke" the password. The coorporate app still thinks there's a password and I've never lost my phone, so that's good.
However one shortcoming of this is, if on the off chance I do lose my phone, using Prey, or Android Device manager, I cannot "lock" the phone, because the xposed module takes it out.
I'd like to do the full encryption, still keep the password "nuked", but somehow be able to reactivate the lock, or at the very least shutdown the phone remotely in case I do lose it, when it comes back on the password will be active.
I could perhaps use tasker to accomplish this, but it's a bit tricky.
TlL;dr
Password Lock must think it's on, but not. (so corporate app doesn't boot me out)
Phone must be able to be remotely locked - or turned off.
The Cerberus App, does exactly what is needed, including full wipe, reboot, etc.
https://www.cerberusapp.com/
Full device encryption on mobile devices is useless for several reasons:
https://security.stackexchange.com/...ny-advantages-to-android-full-disk-encryption
Hi all,
I am a total noob in these matters but from what I understand, in order to root my phone I need to unlock the bootloader. The problem I have is that I have used my phone for a few weeks now and have some very important data (app data) along with the way I set the layout of the phone etc. I was wondering, if there is any back up app that would allow me to literally copy everything from my phone i.e. the layout of apps, app data (very important), pics in different folders etc.
I am on Lollipop 5.0.2. Helium seems to have problems with Lollipop atm. Any other ideas?
I know Titanium Backup would be ideal but from what I gather, my phone needs to be rooted before I can use that so it wouldn't make sense for me to use that. Any other ideas?
Thanks in advance and apologies if this has been posted in the wrong area.
There are many sites selling Mix 3's some Chinese, some Global, some with locked bootloaders, and some with unlocked bootloaders, this thread is to help people "protect" the devices they have bought (or will buy).
It's through my understanding that the most "secure" way of protecting your phone & data from thief's is to have your bootloader locked, with no custom recovery, encryption on & usb debugging disabled right?
This is because with a unlocked bootloader, the thief has the ability to boot into TWRP (for example) & simply wipe your pin/password/lock off the phone completely, then just boot it up, factory reset it & sell it.
I know there is methods such as putting the phone in cold temperatures so you can retrieve the encryption keys from the RAM, but assuming the thief is just basic & what's to make some quick money off your phone...So...
What's the best way & most recommended thing to do with Xiaomi devices specifically, locked/unlocked, encrypted/not-encrypted, does it matter?, If not, why not?
Any help is appreciated! The more in-depth the better.
Even with a locked bootloader a thief can hold VolUp while booting, wipe phone and sell it. Wiping is possible in any case and thats not even the issue a stolen Phone is gone.
The issue are your data which can be stolen too when you have a unlocked bootloader. Simply boot to twrp connect usb and copy everything. But you can prevent that with encryption and enable "requires pattern to start". That way if your phone gets stolen the thief can still Install/use Twrp but he needs to enter a pattern to decrypt the storage. If he doesnt, twrp wont be able to read the partition and your data is safe. He can still wipe the Phone and sell it but you cant prevent that. I don't know if the pattern generates the encryption keys or retrieves them from somewhere but i'd assume it generates them, probably together with some device specific values, else that would be a flaw in my book. If someone could enlighten me here that'd be nice.
If your bootloader is locked he also can't access your data. Since stock recovers doesn't allow/support Usb-filetransfer. So a lockpattern is all you need there. Encryption shouldnt really matter against the normal thief.
I am going this way: Unlocked bootloader to get rid of Miui, Twrp to have a proper recovery menu, and encryption+pattern to save my data. Disable USB-Developer Options to prevent adb shenanigans.
But on the hand if you wan't to get really panariod a locked bootloader would be better since you still can read the system image from the phone from twrp, this means, and this is a easy way to do it, you could read it copy it to the pc and simply brutefroce the lockpattern. If you have the partitions you can simply try 3 patterns either it works or the phone locks itself up because you did 3 wrong. If it locks up you simply write the partitions back and try again. If you can do 3 in 30 seconds you are done in 45 days since there are only 390.000 different patterns on a 3x3 grid (which is what most people use since some Roms don't even allow for 4x4 or 5x5) but if you emulate it and can do 3 in 15 seconds you are down to 23 days. If you run it in 20 emulators you are done in 1 day. (That would be an awesome weekend project.) In emulation you could really optimize this since you can cut everything out what isn't needed for the attempt to encrypt the partition. you dont even need the screen to load, simply send the decryption module whatever the last module in the Numbers-from-touches-chain would have sent, everything that is loaded before the attempt to decrypt must be unencrypted therefore can be messed with, probably it's even universal across phones since that's a stock android thing. If it tries to write used attempts, save whatever what gets overwritten beforehand, let it write its thing, kill the process, revert changes and try again with the next set. Maybe you get it down to 3s or 4s for 3 attempts and boom you are at 6 hours to encrypt any android phone, no matter which version, with an unlocked bootloader which uses a 3x3 pattern. But your data would be really valueable to someone if they did this. You can't do that with a locked bootloader since you can't read the partitions or you could just use the 5x5 pattern, which you cant do on MIUI (i just tried and havent found where you could change it). But probably i have a giant oversight in there so this probably woudn't work
________________________________________________
On the other hand if you want to recover your phone you should make it as easy as possible to get the thief into your phone since you dont want them to run it off and wipe it. I DONT RECOMMEND THIS. But you could make a 2nd user who has no lock pattern on it. Concider your Data public at this point but while they are busy looking at your selfies you could use a app like prey to track the phone. But since Data are more important than a phone i'd never do or recommend that.
Or you could just buy a tin foil hat.
~phoeny~ said:
Even with a locked bootloader a thief can hold VolUp while booting, wipe phone and sell it. Wiping is possible in any case and thats not even the issue a stolen Phone is gone.
The issue are your data which can be stolen too when you have a unlocked bootloader. Simply boot to twrp connect usb and copy everything. But you can prevent that with encryption and enable "requires pattern to start". That way if your phone gets stolen the thief can still Install/use Twrp but he needs to enter a pattern to decrypt the storage. If he doesnt, twrp wont be able to read the partition and your data is safe. He can still wipe the Phone and sell it but you cant prevent that. I don't know if the pattern generates the encryption keys or retrieves them from somewhere but i'd assume it generates them, probably together with some device specific values, else that would be a flaw in my book. If someone could enlighten me here that'd be nice.
If your bootloader is locked he also can't access your data. Since stock recovers doesn't allow/support Usb-filetransfer. So a lockpattern is all you need there. Encryption shouldnt really matter against the normal thief.
I am going this way: Unlocked bootloader to get rid of Miui, Twrp to have a proper recovery menu, and encryption+pattern to save my data. Disable USB-Developer Options to prevent adb shenanigans.
But on the hand if you wan't to get really panariod a locked bootloader would be better since you still can read the system image from the phone from twrp, this means, and this is a easy way to do it, you could read it copy it to the pc and simply brutefroce the lockpattern. If you have the partitions you can simply try 3 patterns either it works or the phone locks itself up because you did 3 wrong. If it locks up you simply write the partitions back and try again. If you can do 3 in 30 seconds you are done in 45 days since there are only 390.000 different patterns on a 3x3 grid (which is what most people use since some Roms don't even allow for 4x4 or 5x5) but if you emulate it and can do 3 in 15 seconds you are down to 23 days. If you run it in 20 emulators you are done in 1 day. (That would be an awesome weekend project.) In emulation you could really optimize this since you can cut everything out what isn't needed for the attempt to encrypt the partition. you dont even need the screen to load, simply send the decryption module whatever the last module in the Numbers-from-touches-chain would have sent, everything that is loaded before the attempt to decrypt must be unencrypted therefore can be messed with, probably it's even universal across phones since that's a stock android thing. If it tries to write used attempts, save whatever what gets overwritten beforehand, let it write its thing, kill the process, revert changes and try again with the next set. Maybe you get it down to 3s or 4s for 3 attempts and boom you are at 6 hours to encrypt any android phone, no matter which version, with an unlocked bootloader which uses a 3x3 pattern. But your data would be really valueable to someone if they did this. You can't do that with a locked bootloader since you can't read the partitions or you could just use the 5x5 pattern, which you cant do on MIUI (i just tried and havent found where you could change it). But probably i have a giant oversight in there so this probably woudn't work
________________________________________________
On the other hand if you want to recover your phone you should make it as easy as possible to get the thief into your phone since you dont want them to run it off and wipe it. I DONT RECOMMEND THIS. But you could make a 2nd user who has no lock pattern on it. Concider your Data public at this point but while they are busy looking at your selfies you could use a app like prey to track the phone. But since Data are more important than a phone i'd never do or recommend that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really appreciate the time you took to type out this post, thankyou.
There are many reasons why people need to root their phones. We're glad to have phones like the Pixel 3 with unlockable bootloaders. Google requires that the bootloader remains unlocked to have a rooted phone. A security warning about the unlocked bootloader is displayed every time the phone starts.
In an ideal world, once the phone is configured the way the owner likes (including root), it should be possible to re-lock the bootloader, entering a password required to unlock again, and perform lock and unlock without wiping the phone.
With the current status quo, what steps can the owner take to improve security and reduce the attack surface of a stock but rooted Pixel 3 - from both wireless and app-borne threats, as well as physical threats (e.g stolen phone)?
timg11 said:
There are many reasons why people need to root their phones. We're glad to have phones like the Pixel 3 with unlockable bootloaders. Google requires that the bootloader remains unlocked to have a rooted phone. A security warning about the unlocked bootloader is displayed every time the phone starts.
In an ideal world, once the phone is configured the way the owner likes (including root), it should be possible to re-lock the bootloader, entering a password required to unlock again, and perform lock and unlock without wiping the phone.
With the current status quo, what steps can the owner take to improve security and reduce the attack surface of a stock but rooted Pixel 3 - from both wireless and app-borne threats, as well as physical threats (e.g stolen phone)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just the usual stuff, use a strong pin or passcode to access the device. And don't side load apps from shady sources.