851 lines
52 KiB
HTML
851 lines
52 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
|
|
|
|
<!-- Inferencium - Website - About -->
|
|
<!-- Version: 9.2.0-alpha.3 -->
|
|
|
|
<!-- Copyright 2022 Jake Winters -->
|
|
<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause -->
|
|
|
|
|
|
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
|
|
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"/>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" href="main.css"/>
|
|
<link rel="icon shortcut" href="asset/img/logo/inferencium-notext.png"/>
|
|
<title>Inferencium - About</title>
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<nav class="navbar">
|
|
<div><a href="index.xhtml"><img src="asset/img/logo/inferencium-notext.png" width="110" height="110" alt="Inferencium logo"/></a></div>
|
|
<div class="title"><a href="index.xhtml">Inferencium</a></div>
|
|
<div><a href="about.xhtml">About</a></div>
|
|
<div><a href="documentation.xhtml">Documentation</a></div>
|
|
<div><a href="source.xhtml">Source</a></div>
|
|
<div><a href="changelog.xhtml">Changelog</a></div>
|
|
<div><a href="blog.xhtml">Blog</a></div>
|
|
<div><a href="contact.xhtml">Contact</a></div>
|
|
<div><a href="directory.xhtml">Directory</a></div>
|
|
<div><a href="key.xhtml">Key</a></div>
|
|
<div class="sitemap"><a href="sitemap.xhtml">Sitemap</a></div>
|
|
</nav>
|
|
<h1 id="about"><a href="#about">About</a></h1>
|
|
<nav id="toc">
|
|
<h2><a href="#toc">Table of Contents</a></h2>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#about_me">About Me</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="#date_time">Date and Time</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="#languages">Languages</a></li>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#languages-markup">Markup</a></li>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#languages-markup-xhtml">XHTML</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="#languages-markup-asciidoc">AsciiDoc</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#languages-programming">Programming</a></li>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#languages-programming-rust">Rust</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="#languages-programming-go">Go</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#licensing">Licensing</a></li>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#licensing-code">Code</a></li>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#licensing-code-bsd3clause">BSD 3-Clause License</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="#licensing-code-gpl2.0only">GNU General Public License v2.0</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#licensing-noncode">Non-code</a></li>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#licensing-noncode-ccby4.0">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#licensing-open_source_vs_free_software">Do I Distinguish Between Open Source and Free Software?</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#versioning">Versioning</a></li>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#versioning-numbering_scheme">What is the Numbering Scheme?</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="#versioning-phases">What Are the Phases?</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#services">Services</a></li>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#services-websites">Websites</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#recommendations">Recommendations</a></li>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#recommendations-hardware">Hardware</a></li>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#recommendations-hardware-smartphone">Smartphone</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#recommendations-software">Software</a></li>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#recommendations-software-pc">PC</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="#recommendations-software-smartphone">Smartphone</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#recommendations-music">Music</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#gnulinux_or_linux">Is it GNU/Linux or Just Linux?</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</nav>
|
|
<section id="about_me">
|
|
<h2><a href="#about_me">About Me</a></h2>
|
|
<img class="avatar" src="asset/img/avatar/inference.png" alt="My avatar."/>
|
|
<p>I am Jake Winters, also known by my pseudonym
|
|
"Inference", a security researcher based in United
|
|
Kingdom.</p>
|
|
<p>I am the founder, lead developer, and administrator, of
|
|
Inferencium.</p>
|
|
<p>All opinions are my own, and are not necessarily shared
|
|
with projects or people I am affiliated with.</p>
|
|
<p>I write about my research and experience in cybersecurity
|
|
and also physical security. Most of my postings are
|
|
security-related, but I occasionally post about other
|
|
aspects of my life.</p>
|
|
<p>I am an open source advocate for the preservation and
|
|
modifiability of source code. I believe source code should
|
|
be considered human knowledge as much as past knowledge and
|
|
teachings were; it is how modern humanity survives and runs.
|
|
Source code being modifiable allows it to be adapted for use
|
|
by anyone, whether to add features, harden it for increased
|
|
security and/or privacy, or provide accessibility for
|
|
disabled users.</p>
|
|
<p>I am also a modular design advocate for the ability to
|
|
securely and robustly make changes to hardware and software
|
|
without the entire system being affected.</p>
|
|
<p>I run multiple XMPP channels; a directory of channels can
|
|
be found on the
|
|
<a href="https://inferencium.net/directory.xhtml">directory</a>
|
|
webpage.</p>
|
|
<p>If you wish to contact me for any reason, you can use my
|
|
<a href="https://inferencium.net/contact.xhtml">contact methods</a>.</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="date_time">
|
|
<h2><a href="#date_time">Date and Time</a></h2>
|
|
<p>All dates and times across my services are
|
|
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601">ISO 8601</a>-compliant.
|
|
The short-form format <code>YYYY-MM-DD</code> is used for
|
|
dates, and <code>hh:mm:ss</code> is used for times, with
|
|
display of seconds being based on required level of
|
|
accuracy. The full expression may be used when necessary;
|
|
<code>YYYYMMDDThhmmssZ</code> (UTC without offset),
|
|
<code>YYYYMMDDThhmmss+hhmm</code> (with positive offset), or
|
|
<code>YYYYMMDDThhmmss-hhmm</code> (with negative
|
|
offset).</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="languages">
|
|
<h2><a href="#languages">Languages</a></h2>
|
|
<section id="languages-markup">
|
|
<h3><a href="#languages-markup">Markup</a></h3>
|
|
<p>The following markup languages are used in my code, with
|
|
rationale provided for the usage of each language.</p>
|
|
<p>Note that derivations of non-Inferencium codebases, such as
|
|
forks, may not contain the markup languages listed here due to
|
|
the work involved in replacing all code, but will be rewritten
|
|
whenever possible, and new code will be written in my preferred
|
|
languages whenever possible.</p>
|
|
<section id="languages-markup-xhtml">
|
|
<h4><a href="#languages-markup-xhtml">XHTML</a></h4>
|
|
<p>XHTML is preferred for most content
|
|
due to its HTML-based design and syntax,
|
|
with advantages over HTML, including
|
|
strict parsing checks which assist with
|
|
achieving code-correctness, and being
|
|
XML-compliant to allow widespread usage
|
|
even outside of the intended HTML-based
|
|
use case.</p>
|
|
<p>HTML has multiple flaws, including
|
|
allowing broken code to be loaded in the
|
|
user's web browser, not informing the
|
|
developer of broken code or mismatching
|
|
tags, and using non-standard, highly
|
|
permissive syntax which is
|
|
non-portable. XHTML mitigates or
|
|
completely fixes these issues via
|
|
its XML namespace.</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="languages-markup-asciidoc">
|
|
<h4><a href="#languages-markup-asciidoc">AsciiDoc</a></h4>
|
|
<p>AsciiDoc is used when portability is
|
|
a concern, as it allows easy conversion
|
|
to other file formats, including HTML
|
|
and PDF. AsciiDoc can also be read
|
|
as-is, due to it having clean markup and
|
|
high readability when viewed as
|
|
plaintext.</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="languages-programming">
|
|
<h3><a href="#languages-programming">Programming</a></h3>
|
|
<p>The following programming languages are used in my code, with
|
|
rationale provided for the usage of each language.</p>
|
|
<p>Note that derivations of non-Inferencium codebases, such as
|
|
forks, may not contain the programming languages listed here due
|
|
to the work involved in replacing all code, but will be
|
|
rewritten whenever possible, and new code will be written in my
|
|
preferred languages whenever possible.</p>
|
|
<section id="languages-programming-rust">
|
|
<h4><a href="#languages-programming-rust">Rust</a></h4>
|
|
<p>Rust is a partially object-oriented
|
|
programming language with a focus on
|
|
security and performance. It has strict
|
|
compile-time checks to verify the
|
|
memory-safety and thread-safety of code,
|
|
is memory-efficient, has no garbage
|
|
collection, is highly portable, has
|
|
great support for integration with other
|
|
languages, and is suitable for both
|
|
high-level and low-level code.</p>
|
|
<p>Rust is the modern replacement for
|
|
C++.</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="languages-programming-go">
|
|
<h4><a href="#languages-programming-go">Go</a></h4>
|
|
<p>Go is a functional programming
|
|
language with a focus on performance. It
|
|
is easy to use, has garbage collection,
|
|
allows clean codebases, and is suitable
|
|
for high-level code.</p>
|
|
<p>Go is the modern replacement for
|
|
C.</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
</section>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="licensing">
|
|
<h2><a href="#licensing">Licensing</a></h2>
|
|
<p>I care about upstreaming and sharing code, strongly
|
|
preferring licenses which have high license compatibility in
|
|
order to permit sharing code with as many other projects as
|
|
possible; for this reason, permissive licenses are my
|
|
preferred choice, while avoiding copyleft licenses and other
|
|
licenses which place restrictions on how my code may be
|
|
used, and prevent me from including important proprietary
|
|
code, such as firmware, which can patch security
|
|
vulnerabilities, privacy issues, and stability issues.</p>
|
|
<p>All of my code is and will be permissively licensed
|
|
unless specific circumstances make it impractical or
|
|
infeasible to do so. My goal is to share code which has the
|
|
least amount of restrictions as possible, to allow wider
|
|
propagation of my code and allow more use cases and
|
|
possibilities, as well as ensuring proprietary code,
|
|
whenever required, is permitted to be included and/or linked
|
|
to.</p>
|
|
<p><a href="https://iso.org/standard/81870.html">ISO 5962:2021</a>
|
|
is used for licensing, in the format
|
|
<code>SPDX-License-Identifier: <var><license></var></code>;
|
|
see the
|
|
<a href="https://spdx.org/licenses/">SPDX License List</a>
|
|
for the full list of available licenses under this
|
|
standard.</p>
|
|
<p>My preferred licenses and rationale for using them are
|
|
below; any licenses not listed are chosen on a case-by-case
|
|
basis.</p>
|
|
<section id="licensing-code">
|
|
<h3><a href="#licensing-code">Code</a></h3>
|
|
<section id="licensing-code-bsd3clause">
|
|
<h4><a href="#licensing-code-bsd3clause">BSD 3-Clause License</a></h4>
|
|
<p><b>SPDX License Identifier:</b> <code>BSD-3-Clause</code></p>
|
|
<p><b>Type: Permissive</b></p>
|
|
<p><a href="https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause.html">BSD 3-Clause License</a>
|
|
is a highly permissive license which
|
|
allows content licensed under it to be
|
|
used in any way, whether in source or
|
|
binary form, and allows sublicensing
|
|
under a different license, with the only
|
|
restrictions being the original
|
|
copyright notice must be kept in order
|
|
to attribute the original creator of the
|
|
licensed content, and the name of the
|
|
project and/or its contributors may not
|
|
be used to endorse or promote products
|
|
derived from the original project.</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="licensing-code-gpl2.0only">
|
|
<h4><a href="#licensing-code-gpl2.0only">GNU General Public License v2.0</a></h4>
|
|
<p><b>SPDX License Identifier:</b> <code>GPL-2.0-only</code></p>
|
|
<p><b>Type: Copyleft</b></p>
|
|
<p><a href="https://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-2.0-only.html">GNU General Public License v2.0</a>
|
|
is a strong copyleft license which
|
|
restricts use of content licensed under
|
|
it by requiring all source code of the
|
|
content to be publicly available, making
|
|
binary-only form and inclusion of
|
|
proprietary code impossible, requiring
|
|
all derivatives to be licensed under the
|
|
same license (allowing sublicensing
|
|
under only newer GPL licenses if
|
|
<code>GPL-2.0-or-later</code> is
|
|
specified in the SPDX License
|
|
Identifier), and requiring the original
|
|
copyright notice to be kept in order to
|
|
attribute the original creator of the
|
|
licensed content.</p>
|
|
<p>Due to the restrictive and invasive
|
|
nature of this license, it is avoided
|
|
unless such restrictions would be
|
|
beneficial to my code; whenever this is
|
|
the case, the GNU General Public License
|
|
v2.0 will be used, rather than the more
|
|
restrictive
|
|
<a href="https://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-3.0-only.html">GNU General Public License v3.0</a>,
|
|
and relicensing derivatives under the
|
|
GNU General Public License v3.0 will be
|
|
disallowed.</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="licensing-noncode">
|
|
<h3><a href="#licensing-noncode">Non-code</a></h3>
|
|
<section id="licensing-noncode-ccby4.0">
|
|
<h4><a href="#licensing-noncode-ccby4.0">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International</a></h4>
|
|
<p><b>SPDX License Identifier:</b> <code>CC-BY-4.0</code></p>
|
|
<p><b>Type: Permissive</b></p>
|
|
<p><a href="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International</a>
|
|
is a highly permissive license which
|
|
allows content licensed under it to be
|
|
used in any way, in any medium, with the
|
|
only restriction being the original
|
|
copyright notice must be kept in order
|
|
to attribute the original creator of the
|
|
licensed content.</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="licensing-open_source_vs_free_software">
|
|
<h3><a href="#licensing-open_source_vs_free_software">Do I Distinguish Between Open Source and Free Software?</a></h3>
|
|
<p>No. If code is not released under an open-source
|
|
license and places restrictions on how the code may be
|
|
used, it is either source-available (if viewing the code
|
|
is permitted) or proprietary. "Free software" only
|
|
causes confusion and exists to push an ideology by a
|
|
specific group of people. If software isn't "free", it's
|
|
not open-source, either.</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="versioning">
|
|
<h2><a href="#versioning">Versioning</a></h2>
|
|
<section id="versioning-numbering_scheme">
|
|
<h3><a href="#versioning-numbering_scheme">What is the Numbering Scheme?</a></h3>
|
|
<p>All code uses
|
|
<a href="https://semver.org">Semantic Versioning</a>.
|
|
The numbering scheme divided into 3 blocks (herein referred to
|
|
as Block 0, Block 1, and Block 2, in left-to-right order); the
|
|
version blocks are separated by periods. When a version number
|
|
block is incremented, all blocks to the right of it are reset to
|
|
0. The legacy versioning scheme was a similar numerical
|
|
versioning scheme which lacked standardisation.</p>
|
|
<p>Block 0 contains the <code><var>MAJOR</var></code> version;
|
|
this number is incremented whenever an API-incompatible change
|
|
is made to the code.</p>
|
|
<p>Block 1 contains the <code><var>MINOR</var></code> version;
|
|
this number is incremented whenever an API-compatible,
|
|
substantial change is made to the code, such as adding a
|
|
feature.</p>
|
|
<p>Block 2 contains the <code><var>PATCH</var></code> version;
|
|
this number is incremented whenever an API-compatible,
|
|
unsubstantial change is made to the code, such as fixing or
|
|
optimising the code.</p>
|
|
<p>Development and pre-release versions are suffixed with
|
|
a hyphen, followed by their phase, a period, then the version of
|
|
that phase; for example, <code>-alpha.<var>n</var></code> for an
|
|
alpha version, <code>-beta.<var>n</var></code> for a beta
|
|
version, and <code>-rc.<var>n</var></code> for a release
|
|
candidate version, with <code><var>n</var></code> being a
|
|
non-negative integer. Stable versions have no suffix.</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="versioning-phases">
|
|
<h3><a href="#versioning-phases">What Are the Phases?</a></h3>
|
|
<p>There are 4 phases of development. Each phase typically has
|
|
its own branch in each source code repository. The phases are as
|
|
follows:</p>
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>Alpha: Pre-alpha development and alpha testing
|
|
occurs in this phase. Features are added, modified,
|
|
and/or removed. Fixes and optimisations may also occur
|
|
if they are caught during this phase. This is where the
|
|
majority of changes occur and where the fine-grained
|
|
commits can be found. Breakage is highly likely within
|
|
this phase as it makes no attempt to be stable or usable
|
|
due to being where the most rapid development occurs.
|
|
Code is tested internally in a fine-grained manner and
|
|
is moved to the next phase only when it is deemed
|
|
feature-complete and reasonably stable for broader
|
|
public testing. If you would like to assist in testing
|
|
code in this phase, you must use the code and/or tags
|
|
from the source code repositories due to it not being
|
|
available publicly outside of them.</li>
|
|
<li>Beta: Feature-complete testing occurs in this phase.
|
|
Only bug fixes and optimisations occur in this phase,
|
|
such as stability and security fixes. This phase is
|
|
classified as stable enough for broad public testing and
|
|
is made available publicly in many cases without having
|
|
to use the source code repositories. Since this phase
|
|
contains only feature-complete code, no features will be
|
|
added, modified, or removed in this phase.</li>
|
|
<li>Release candidate (RC): Feature-complete testing
|
|
occurs in this phase. Code in the RC phase is often
|
|
stable enough for production usage, but is not yet
|
|
completely acceptable to be classified as stable by my
|
|
standards. This phase is often skipped due to most bugs
|
|
being caught in the beta phase, but will be used should
|
|
the need arise for finer-grained testing beyond what the
|
|
beta phase can provide. Like the beta phase, code in
|
|
this phase is available publicly without requiring usage
|
|
of the source code repositories.</li>
|
|
<li>Stable: Feature-complete and well-tested code is
|
|
moved to this phase. Code in this phase is deemed to be
|
|
stable enough for production usage and full support is
|
|
provided.</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
<p>When development of a new version has begun, the code within
|
|
the alpha phase is rebased onto the most recent code from the
|
|
stable phase before work commences. This cycle continues for the
|
|
lifetime of the code.</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="services">
|
|
<h2><a href="#services">Services</a></h2>
|
|
<p>This list contains the policies and practices of my services.</p>
|
|
<p>My policies and practices are heavily security- and privacy-focused, with
|
|
improvements made on an ongoing basis as new technologies, protocols, and
|
|
software become available.</p>
|
|
<h3 id="services-websites"><a href="#services-websites">Websites</a></h3>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Unnecessary logging avoided (only logs required for security
|
|
and debugging purposes)</li>
|
|
<li>All server logs purged every 14 days</li>
|
|
<li>User IP addresses used only for security and debugging
|
|
purposes (purged along with logs)</li>
|
|
<li>All connections made via
|
|
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security#TLS_1.3">TLS 1.3</a>
|
|
only to ensure the most secure
|
|
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authenticated_encryption">AEAD</a>
|
|
ciphers are used, along with
|
|
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_secrecy">forward secrecy</a></li>
|
|
<li>All connections made via high-security AEAD ciphers,
|
|
preferring AES-256-GCM for devices with AES
|
|
hardware acceleration, and ChaCha20-Poly1305 for devices without
|
|
AES hardware acceleration, with AES-128-GCM as a fallback
|
|
(AES-128-GCM is mandated for TLS 1.3 by
|
|
<a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc8446#section-9.1">IETF RFC8446 section 9.1</a>)</li>
|
|
<li>All connections are made via high-security key exchange
|
|
protocols, preferring X25519, with secp256r1 as a fallback
|
|
(secp256r1 is mandated for TLS 1.3 by IETF RFC8446 section
|
|
9.1)</li>
|
|
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System_Security_Extensions">Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC)</a>
|
|
enabled to provide a root-of-trust for encryption and
|
|
authentication for domain and server configuration</li>
|
|
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNS_Certification_Authority_Authorization">Certification Authority Authorization (CAA)</a>
|
|
records enabled to prevent all certificate authorities other
|
|
than
|
|
<a href="https://letsencrypt.org/">Let's Encrypt</a> from
|
|
issuing TLS certificates for my domains</li>
|
|
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSHFP_record">Secure Shell fingerprint (SSHFP)</a>
|
|
records enabled to provide a DNS-based root-of-trust for SSH
|
|
connections to my domains</li>
|
|
<li>Referrer headers disabled to prevent knowing where a user
|
|
was redirected from</li>
|
|
<li>All content sourced from my own domains, with third-party
|
|
content prohibited via
|
|
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_Security_Policy">Content Security Policy</a>
|
|
configuration</li>
|
|
<li>All servers physically under my control (no VPS or other
|
|
hosting providers)</li>
|
|
<li>No proprietary services, ensuring I have complete control
|
|
over my services, and vendor lock-in does not occur</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="recommendations">
|
|
<h2><a href="#recommendations">Recommendations</a></h2>
|
|
<section id="recommendations-hardware">
|
|
<h3><a href="#recommendations-hardware">Hardware</a></h3>
|
|
<section id="recommendations-hardware-smartphone">
|
|
<h4><a href="#recommendations-hardware-smartphone">Smartphone</a></h4>
|
|
<div style="overflow-x:auto;">
|
|
<table>
|
|
<thead>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th id="hardware-smartphone-type">Type</th>
|
|
<th id="hardware-smartphone">Hardware</th>
|
|
<th id="hardware-smartphone-description">Description</th>
|
|
<th id="hardware-smartphone-source_model">Source model<br/>
|
|
(License)</th>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</thead>
|
|
<tbody>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th id="hardware-smartphone-smartphone">Smartphone</th>
|
|
<th id ="google-pixel" headers="hardware hardware-smartphone-smartphone">
|
|
<img src="asset/img/google-pixel_8_pro.png" width="100" height="100" alt="Front and rear view of a Google Pixel 8 Pro in Obsidian colour"/><br/>
|
|
Google Pixel
|
|
</th>
|
|
<td class="desc" headers="hardware-description google-pixel">
|
|
<h5>Security/Privacy</h5>
|
|
<p>Google Pixel devices are the best
|
|
Android devices available on the market
|
|
for
|
|
<a href="https://security.googleblog.com/2021/10/pixel-6-setting-new-standard-for-mobile.html">security and privacy</a>.</p>
|
|
<p>They allow locking the bootloader
|
|
with a
|
|
<a href="https://android.googlesource.com/platform/external/avb/+/master/README.md#pixel-2-and-later">custom Android Verified Boot (AVB) key</a>
|
|
in order to preserve security and
|
|
privacy features when installing a
|
|
custom operating system, such as
|
|
<a href="https://source.android.com/docs/security/features/verifiedboot/">verified boot</a>
|
|
which verifies that the OS has not been
|
|
corrupted or tampered with, and
|
|
<a href="https://source.android.com/docs/security/features/verifiedboot/verified-boot#rollback-protection">rollback protection</a>
|
|
which prevents an adversary from rolling
|
|
back the OS or firmware version to a
|
|
previous version with known security
|
|
vulnerabilities.</p>
|
|
<p>They also include a
|
|
<a href="https://developer.android.com/training/articles/keystore#HardwareSecurityModule">hardware security module</a>
|
|
(Titan M2, improving on the previous
|
|
generation
|
|
<a href="https://security.googleblog.com/2018/10/building-titan-better-security-through.html">Titan M</a>)
|
|
which is extremely resistant to both
|
|
remote and physical attacks due to being
|
|
completely isolated from the rest of the
|
|
system, including the operating system.
|
|
Titan M2 ensures that the device cannot
|
|
be remotely compromised by requiring the
|
|
side buttons of the device to be
|
|
physically pressed for some sensitive
|
|
operations. Titan M2 also takes the role
|
|
of
|
|
<a href="https://source.android.com/docs/security/best-practices/hardware#strongbox-keymaster">Android StrongBox Keymaster</a>,
|
|
a
|
|
<a href="https://source.android.com/docs/security/features/keystore">hardware-backed Keystore</a>
|
|
containing sensitive user keys which are
|
|
unavailable to the OS or apps running on
|
|
it without authorisation from Titan M2
|
|
itself.
|
|
<a href="https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2018/05/insider-attack-resistance.html">Insider attack resistance</a>
|
|
ensures that Titan M2 firmware can be
|
|
flashed only if the user PIN/password is
|
|
already known, making it impossible to
|
|
backdoor the device without already
|
|
knowing these secrets.</p>
|
|
<p>Google Pixel device kernels are
|
|
compiled with
|
|
<a href="https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2018/10/control-flow-integrity-in-android-kernel.html">forward-edge control-flow integrity</a>
|
|
and
|
|
<a href="https://security.googleblog.com/2019/10/protecting-against-code-reuse-in-linux_30.html">backward-edge control-flow integrity</a>
|
|
to prevent code reuse attacks against
|
|
the kernel. MAC address randomisation is
|
|
<a href="https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/04/changes-to-device-identifiers-in.html">implemented well, along with minimal probe requests and randomised initial sequence numbers</a>.</p>
|
|
<p>Google releases
|
|
<a href="https://source.android.com/docs/security/bulletin/pixel/">guaranteed monthly security updates</a>,
|
|
ensuring Google Pixel devices are
|
|
up-to-date and quickly protected against
|
|
security vulnerabilities.</p>
|
|
<p>Pixel 6-series and 7-series devices
|
|
are a large improvement over the already
|
|
very secure and private previous
|
|
generation Pixel devices. They replace
|
|
ARM-based Titan M with RISC-V-based
|
|
Titan M2, reducing trust by removing ARM
|
|
from the equation. Titan M2 is more
|
|
resiliant to attacks than Titan M, and
|
|
is
|
|
<a href="https://www.tuv-nederland.nl/assets/files/cerfiticaten/2022/09/nscib-cc-22-0228971-cert-final.pdf">AVA_VAN.5 certified</a>,
|
|
the highest level of vulnerability
|
|
assessment. Google's in-house Tensor
|
|
System-on-Chip includes Tensor Security
|
|
Core, further improving device
|
|
security.</p>
|
|
<p>Pixel 8-series includes Armv9's
|
|
<a href="https://community.arm.com/arm-community-blogs/b/architectures-and-processors-blog/posts/enhanced-security-through-mte">Memory Tagging Extension</a>,
|
|
which dramatically increases device
|
|
security by eliminating up to 95% of all
|
|
security issues caused by
|
|
memory-unsafety.</p>
|
|
<h5>Support</h5>
|
|
<p>Pixel 5a is supported for a
|
|
<a href="https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4457705#zippy=%2Cpixel-a-g-pixel-pixel-a-g-pixel-a-pixel-xl-pixel">minimum of 3 years from launch</a>.</p>
|
|
<p>Pixel 6-series, Pixel 7-series, Pixel
|
|
Fold, and Pixel Tablet are supported for
|
|
a
|
|
<a href="https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4457705#zippy=%2Cpixel-a-pixel-pixel-pro-pixel-a-pixel-pixel-pro-pixel-fold">minimum of 5 years from launch</a>.</p>
|
|
<p>Pixel 8-series is supported for a
|
|
<a href="https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4457705#zippy=%2Cpixel-pro">minimum of 7 years from launch</a>.</p>
|
|
</td>
|
|
<td headers="hardware-smartphone-source_model google-pixel">
|
|
</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</tbody>
|
|
</table>
|
|
</div>
|
|
</section>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="recommendations-software">
|
|
<h3><a href="#recommendations-software">Software</a></h3>
|
|
<section id="recommendations-software-pc">
|
|
<h4><a href="#recommendations-software-pc">PC</a></h4>
|
|
<div style="overflow-x:auto;">
|
|
<table>
|
|
<thead>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th id="software-pc-type">Type</th>
|
|
<th id="software-pc">Software</th>
|
|
<th id="software-pc-description">Description</th>
|
|
<th id="software-pc-source_model">Source model<br/>
|
|
(License)</th>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</thead>
|
|
<tbody>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th id="software-pc-os">Operating system</th>
|
|
<th id="gentoo_linux" headers="software-pc software-pc-os">
|
|
<img src="asset/img/logo/gentoo_linux.png" width="100" height="100" alt="Gentoo Linux logo"/><br/>
|
|
Gentoo Linux
|
|
</th>
|
|
<td class="desc" headers="software-pc-description gentoo_linux">
|
|
<p><a href="https://www.gentoo.org/">Gentoo Linux</a>
|
|
is a highly modular, source-based, Linux-based
|
|
operating system which allows vast customisation
|
|
to tailor the operating system to suit your
|
|
specific needs. There are many advantages to
|
|
such an operating system, with the most notable
|
|
being the ability to optimise the software for
|
|
security, privacy, performance, or power usage;
|
|
however, there are effectively unlimited other
|
|
use cases, or a combination of multiple use
|
|
cases.</p>
|
|
<p>I have focused on security hardening and
|
|
privacy hardening, placing performance below
|
|
those aspects, although my system is still very
|
|
performant. Some of the hardening I apply
|
|
includes
|
|
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffer_overflow_protection">stack protection</a>,
|
|
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integer_overflow">signed integer overflow trapping</a>,
|
|
and GrapheneOS'
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/GrapheneOS/hardened_malloc/">hardened_malloc</a>
|
|
memory allocator.</p>
|
|
<p>You can find my Gentoo Linux configurations
|
|
in my
|
|
<a href="https://src.inferencium.net/Inferencium/cfg/">configuration respository</a>.</p>
|
|
</td>
|
|
<td headers="software-pc-source_model gentoo_linux">
|
|
Open-source<br/>
|
|
(GPL-2.0-only)
|
|
</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th id="software-web_browser">Web browser</th>
|
|
<th id="chromium" headers="software-pc software-web_browser">
|
|
<img src="asset/img/logo/chromium.png" width="100" height="100" alt="Chromium logo"/><br/>
|
|
Chromium
|
|
</th>
|
|
<td class="desc" headers="software-pc-description chromium">
|
|
<p><a href="https://chromium.org/">Chromium</a>
|
|
is a highly secure web browser which is often ahead
|
|
of other web browsers in security aspects. It has a
|
|
dedicated security team and a very impressive
|
|
<a href="https://www.chromium.org/Home/chromium-security/brag-sheet/">security brag sheet</a>.
|
|
Chromium's security features include a strong
|
|
<a href="https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/LinuxSandboxing">multi-layer sandbox</a>,
|
|
strong
|
|
<a href="https://www.chromium.org/Home/chromium-security/site-isolation">site isolation</a>,
|
|
<a href="https://www.chromium.org/Home/chromium-security/binding-integrity">Binding Integrity</a>
|
|
memory hardening, and
|
|
<a href="https://www.chromium.org/developers/testing/control-flow-integrity/">control-flow integrity (CFI)</a>.</p></td>
|
|
<td headers="software-pc-source_model chromium">
|
|
Open-source<br/>
|
|
(BSD-3-Clause)
|
|
</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</tbody>
|
|
</table>
|
|
</div>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="recommendations-software-smartphone">
|
|
<h4><a href="#recommendations-software-smartphone">Smartphone</a></h4>
|
|
<div style="overflow-x:auto;">
|
|
<table>
|
|
<thead>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th id="software-smartphone-type">Type</th>
|
|
<th id="software-smartphone">Software</th>
|
|
<th id="software-smartphone-description">Description</th>
|
|
<th id="software-smartphone-source_model">Source model<br/>
|
|
(License)</th>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</thead>
|
|
<tbody>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th id="software-smartphone-os">Operating system</th>
|
|
<th id="grapheneos" headers="software-smartphone software-smartphone-os">
|
|
<img src="asset/img/logo/grapheneos.png" width="100" height="100" alt="GrapheneOS logo"/><br/>
|
|
GrapheneOS
|
|
</th>
|
|
<td class="desc" headers="software-smartphone-description grapheneos">
|
|
<p><a href="https://grapheneos.org/">GrapheneOS</a>
|
|
is a security-hardened, privacy-hardened,
|
|
secure-by-default, Android-based operating
|
|
system which implements extensive, systemic
|
|
security and privacy hardening to the Android
|
|
Open Source Project used as its base
|
|
codebase.</p>
|
|
<p>Its hardening includes closing gaps for apps
|
|
to access sensitive system information, a secure
|
|
app spawning feature which avoids sharing
|
|
address space layout and other secrets AOSP's
|
|
default Zygote app spawning model would share,
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/GrapheneOS/kernel_gs-gs101/">hardened kernel</a>,
|
|
hardened memory allocator
|
|
(<a href="https://github.com/GrapheneOS/hardened_malloc/">hardened_malloc</a>)
|
|
to protect against common memory corruption
|
|
vulnerabilities,
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/GrapheneOS/platform_bionic/">hardened Bionic standard C library</a>,
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/GrapheneOS/platform_system_sepolicy/">stricter SELinux policies</a>,
|
|
and local and remote hardware-backed attestation
|
|
(<a href="https://attestation.app/about/">Auditor</a>)
|
|
to ensure the OS has not been corrupted or
|
|
tampered with.</p>
|
|
<p>GrapheneOS only supports
|
|
<a href="https://grapheneos.org/faq#device-support">high-security and well-supported devices</a>
|
|
which receive full support from their
|
|
manufacturers, including firmware updates, long
|
|
support lifecycles, secure hardware, and overall
|
|
high-security practices.</p>
|
|
<p>For an extensive list of features GrapheneOS
|
|
provides, visit its
|
|
<a href="https://grapheneos.org/features/">official features list</a>
|
|
which provides extensive documentation.</p>
|
|
</td>
|
|
<td headers="software-smartphone-source_model grapheneos">
|
|
Open-source<br/>
|
|
(MIT)
|
|
</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th id="software-smartphone-web_browser">Web browser</th>
|
|
<th id="vanadium" headers="software-smartphone software-smartphone-web_browser">
|
|
<img src="asset/img/logo/vanadium.png" width="100" height="100" alt="Vanadium logo"/><br/>
|
|
Vanadium
|
|
</th>
|
|
<td class="desc" headers="software-smartphone-description vanadium">
|
|
<p>Vanadium is a security-hardened,
|
|
privacy-hardened, Chromium-based web browser
|
|
which utilises GrapheneOS' operating system
|
|
hardening to implement stronger defenses to the
|
|
already very secure Chromium web browser.</p>
|
|
<p>Its hardening alongside Chromium's base
|
|
security features includes
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/GrapheneOS/Vanadium/blob/13/patches/0081-Implement-UI-for-JIT-site-settings.patch">disabling JavaScript just-in-time (JIT) compilation by default</a>,
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/GrapheneOS/Vanadium/blob/13/patches/0051-stub-out-the-battery-status-API.patch">stubbing out the battery status API to prevent abuse of it</a>,
|
|
and
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/GrapheneOS/Vanadium/blob/13/patches/0084-Toggle-for-navigating-external-URL-in-incognito.patch">always-on Incognito mode as an option</a>.</p>
|
|
<p>Vanadium's source code, including its Chromium
|
|
patch-set, can be found in its
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/GrapheneOS/Vanadium/">official repository</a>.</p>
|
|
</td>
|
|
<td headers="software-smartphone-source_model vanadium">
|
|
Open-source<br/>
|
|
(GPL-2.0-only)
|
|
</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th rowspan="2" id="software-smartphone-messenger">Messenger</th>
|
|
<th id="molly" headers="software-smartphone software-smartphone-messenger">
|
|
<img src="asset/img/logo/molly.png" width="100" height="100" alt="Molly logo"/><br/>
|
|
Molly
|
|
</th>
|
|
<td class="desc" headers="software-smartphone-description molly">
|
|
<p><a href="https://molly.im/">Molly</a>
|
|
is a security-hardened, privacy-hardened
|
|
<a href="https://signal.org/">Signal</a>
|
|
client which hardens Signal by using a variety
|
|
of
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/mollyim/mollyim-android#features">unique features</a>,
|
|
allowing
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/mollyim/mollyim-android/wiki/Data-Encryption-At-Rest">locking the database when not in use</a>,
|
|
and
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/mollyim/mollyim-android/blob/a81ff7d120adc9d427be17239107343146bad704/app/src/main/java/org/thoughtcrime/securesms/crypto/MasterSecretUtil.java#L91">utilising Android StrongBox</a>
|
|
to protect user keys using the device's hardware
|
|
security module.</p>
|
|
<p>Molly is available in
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/mollyim/mollyim-android#free-and-open-source">2 flavours</a>:</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Molly, which includes the same
|
|
proprietary Google code as Signal to
|
|
support more features</li>
|
|
<li>Molly-FOSS, which removes the
|
|
proprietary Google code to provide an
|
|
entirely open-source client</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</td>
|
|
<td headers="software-smartphone-source_model molly">
|
|
Open-source<br/>
|
|
(GPL-3.0-only)
|
|
</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th id="conversations" headers="software-smartphone software-smartphone-messenger">
|
|
<img src="asset/img/logo/conversations.png" width="100" height="100" alt="Conversations logo"/><br/>
|
|
Conversations
|
|
</th>
|
|
<td class="desc" headers="software-smartphone-description conversations">
|
|
<p><a href="https://conversations.im/">Conversations</a>
|
|
is a well-designed Android
|
|
<a href="https://xmpp.org/">XMPP</a>
|
|
client which serves as the de facto XMPP
|
|
reference client and has great usability.</p>
|
|
</td>
|
|
<td headers="software-smartphone-source_model conversations">
|
|
Open-source<br/>
|
|
(GPL-3.0-only)
|
|
</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th id="software-smartphone-viewer">Viewer</th>
|
|
<th id="gallery" headers="software-smartphone software-smartphone-viewer">
|
|
<img src="asset/img/logo/gallery.png" width="100" height="100" alt="Gallery logo"/><br/>
|
|
Gallery
|
|
</th>
|
|
<td class="desc" headers="software-smartphone-description gallery">
|
|
<p><a href="https://github.com/IacobIonut01/Gallery">Gallery</a>
|
|
is a lightweight image and video viewer with
|
|
image editing capabilities.</p>
|
|
<p>It has a clean and modern design without
|
|
including unnecessary features, and runs
|
|
smoothly. It provides both individual image and
|
|
video file view, and folder view.</p>
|
|
</td>
|
|
<td headers="software-smartphone-source_model gallery">
|
|
Open-source<br/>
|
|
(Apache-2.0)
|
|
</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</tbody>
|
|
</table>
|
|
</div>
|
|
</section>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="recommendations-music">
|
|
<h3><a href="#recommendations-music">Music</a></h3>
|
|
<p>For a curated list of music I enjoy,
|
|
visit my
|
|
<a href="music.xhtml">music page</a>.</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<section id="gnulinux_or_linux">
|
|
<h2><a href="#gnulinux_or_linux">Is it GNU/Linux or Just Linux?</a></h2>
|
|
<p>It's just Linux. GNU is unrelated to Linux, which is a
|
|
kernel developed by
|
|
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds">Linus Torvalds</a>.
|
|
Linux can be used entirely without GNU software in
|
|
userspace, and the kernel can be compiled without the use of
|
|
GNU tools. Just because GNU tools were used to initally
|
|
develop and compile the kernel, and were initially the only
|
|
available tools for userspace, does not make this true
|
|
today, and it never made GNU a part of Linux itself at any
|
|
point of time.</p>
|
|
<p>Where are all of the other forward-slashes for every
|
|
other piece of software on a Linux-based system which makes
|
|
it just as usable? If a system is running "GNU/Linux", it
|
|
should be using more than a single forward-slash when there
|
|
is more to the system than only GNU.</p>
|
|
</section>
|
|
<div class="sitemap-small"><a href="sitemap.xhtml">Sitemap</a></div>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|