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Israel’s IDF Bans Android Phones—iPhones Now ‘Mandatory’ (www.forbes.com)
submitted 1 week ago by fne8w2ah@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[-] TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website 54 points 1 week ago

The Israeli military has decided to ban Android phones for senior officers

“Under the expected order, commanders from the rank of lieutenant colonel and above will be permitted to use only iPhones for official communications. The step is aimed at reducing the risk of intrusions on senior officers’ handsets, according to the report.”

So it seems that Israel (one of the leading country in hackers spies for hire) thinks that there’s a lot « Hezbollah honey pot » that target android device

[-] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Israeli company Cellebrite sells a device to extract data from locked phones, both Android and iPhones afaik. So indeed I'm guessing their government knows some stuff about the security of both platforms.

Fun fact: comments mentioning Cellebrite get immediately shadow-hidden on Reddit, or at least in some of the main subs.

[-] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

In 2021, Moxie Marlinspike, creator of the encrypted messaging app Signal, pointed to several vulnerabilities in Cellebrite's UFED and Physical Analyzer software that allowed for arbitrary code execution on Windows computers running the software. One exploit he detailed involved the UFED scanning a specially formatted file, which could then be used to execute arbitrary code on the computer running the UFED. Marlinspike wrote that the code could then "[modify] not just the Cellebrite report being created in that scan, but also "all previous and future generated Cellebrite reports" from all previously scanned devices and all future scanned devices in any arbitrary way."[27] Marlinspike also found that Cellebrite software was bundled with out-of-date FFmpeg DLL files from 2012, which lacked over 100 subsequent security updates. Windows Installer packages, extracted from the Windows installer for iTunes and signed by Apple, were also found, which he said raised legal concerns.[28] Cellebrite responded that the company "is committed to protecting the integrity of our customers' data, and we continually audit and update our software in order to equip our customers with the best digital intelligence solutions available."[29] The report by Signal followed an announcement by Cellebrite in 2020 that it had developed technology to crack encrypted messages in the Signal app, a claim the company later retracted and downplayed.[30][31] The announcement by Marlinspike raised questions about the integrity of data extracted by the software,[32][33] and prompted Cellebrite to patch some of the vulnerabilities found by Signal and to remove full support for analyzing iPhones.[34][35]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellebrite

Sounds like it is just malware to me.

[-] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Vulnerable software is different from malware.

Iirc there was also the part of the story where the exploit for Cellebrite's thing was included in Signal, and Marlinspike said that data on any device scanning Signal with Cellebrite software would be poisoned.

[-] grehund@lemmy.world 39 points 1 week ago

They don’t want people installing GrapheneOS on them.

[-] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 week ago

But isn't that stupid tho. Like they should want their military officers to be using the most secure OS.

But then again, its funny to see them make stupid decisions.

[-] Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

That's only true if they trust them. If the goal is to ensure they can keep track of dissidents then no.

[-] SlippiHUD@lemmy.world 34 points 1 week ago

[-] NoForwardslashS@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago

The Genius Bar are much more violent these days.

[-] bluemoon@piefed.social 33 points 1 week ago

says everything about iPhones 'security' & 'privacy'

repeats it

[-] Isthisreddit@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago

This is it right here. I can't believe the nonsense I'm reading in this thread. Just goes to show how absolutely uninformed most people are when it comes to security and privacy

[-] bluemoon@piefed.social 1 points 1 week ago

also illiterare on sarcasm too lmao i see my comment got 60 upvotes and your unsarcastic comment got downvoted

[-] handsoffmydata@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 week ago

I thought Apple doesn’t let the bad guys … oh wait, that’s just in Movies and TV shows.

[-] ILiveByTheRiver@lemmings.world 1 points 1 week ago

I was already thinking of getting a Linux phone next, this is helping to seal the deal. Fuck Apple the genocide enablers.

[-] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 week ago

frankly this is because israel knows exactly how much spyware they've gotten their partner, Google, to put into android. the iphone is also chock full of spyware, and they do want to spy on their military force to make sure it's as ideologically and racially pure as they need it to be to continue their genocide. further consider that budget iphones don't exist and you realize that their systemic impoverishing of the indigenous Palestinian people means that all of the targets of their genocide are much more likely to be android users than iphone users. given this, israel is in real time creating a new signifier of jewish-israeli identity. soon having an android phone as civilian will be evidence of HAMAS.

and again.

i want to remind everyone that google is a major partner to israel. this is not a case of iphones bad guys, android phones good guys. this is a case of both being components in a system of torture. i can't tell you yet to divest yourself of both to switch to linux phones like postmarketos because even i can't do that without buying a new device, but please watch that space. and until you can, if you're using a google pixel please consider installing grapheneos, and if you're not please consider using a de-googled lineage based rom. israel greatly values the intel they get from their partner google.

[-] D_C@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) 
          Apple

The Official Phone Of Genocide

Lets face it, the more you know about ol' tyranty boy StevieJobs the more it makes sense.

[-] Mrkawfee@feddit.uk 0 points 1 week ago

Guess we now know what the "i" stands for.

[-] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago

I said it before and I’ll say it again, among all tech companies, Apple is the closest to the nazi mindset.

[-] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Google has decided you cannot turn off Gemini in their newer versions of Android. You cannot install other roms that do either, Google is killing those too. But yea, Apple is the bad guy. Ignore the Google rug pull.

[-] UnspecificGravity@infosec.pub 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

What roms does Apple let you install on iPhones?

[-] ILiveByTheRiver@lemmings.world 1 points 1 week ago

LINUX PHONE

[-] Tja@programming.dev 1 points 1 week ago

Apple never even tried to allow it, so yeah, Apple IS the bad guy. Google is becomeing it, Apple is the mayor of bad guy town.

[-] _Nico198X_@europe.pub 0 points 1 week ago

lol that last line. XD

[-] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago

It's like no one remembers the 90's and Microsoft.

Also, IBM literally made computers for the Nazis.

[-] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

To summarize: The bad guys is US

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

I mean it's not just that. Probably not even mostly that. Security is really not great on Android far beyond the AI. I've been running Android for years and probably won't change until Linux with LUKS is a reasonable alternative, But from a hardware level on through to the software, there are so many holes in the OS and ways to access privileged information. Even the top end of the Samsung line is largely rootable at this point, not without concessions, mind you, but as far as an enemy getting a phone and gaining access, or the company itself getting your data even without AI, I'd probably be concerned enough for ANY military org not to allow them to be used.

Apple has a hell of a lot of issues, might even be overly friendly with Israel, but from a security standpoint, it's probably safer for secrets than android at the moment.

I really just want an encrypted portable linux device with a cellular modem. I don't even care if it can SMS or VOLTE, I just need it to run a secure chat client, support Bluetooth headphones and last all day on a charge.

[-] skaffi@infosec.pub 1 points 1 week ago

I really just want an encrypted portable linux device with a cellular modem. I don’t even care if it can SMS or VOLTE, I just need it to run a secure chat client, support Bluetooth headphones and last all day on a charge.

Then you're in luck, because that's something you can already have by now! Just get yourself one of the more recent-ish phones that are well supported by PostmarketOS. The things Linux phones struggle the most with these days, are the more traditional phone-things, such as text messages or calling, which may not be ready for production, as they say (although, both texts and calls have actually worked well for me as of late). But if all you want is a pocket Linux computer/PDA, and intend to carry another phone for calls and texting, that's something you can have, for the grand price of an old, second-hand phone. I've been loving my (LUKS-encrypted) OnePlus 6T, and I do actually use it for calls and texts as well!

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

If all I needed was five hours worth of battery would be a great fit.

Both post-market and nix are great options if you want to run a really old phone, but neither one can last even half a day.

[-] titanicx@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 week ago

Bullshit. I have it turned off on my pixel 9pro and Samsung s24 plus 

[-] bss03@infosec.pub 1 points 1 week ago

I've lost features that used to work without Gemini, but I believe it is disabled on both my Pixel 7 Pro and the Pixel 8 I have access to.

[-] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works -2 points 1 week ago

Nope, it’s still running in the background. You just turned off its ability to interact with you but can and does still interact with others.

[-] bss03@infosec.pub 2 points 1 week ago

Do you have some sort of evidence for this claim?

[-] titanicx@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

Trust him bro...

[-] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 week ago

You actually turned off geminis ability to serve YOU. You never turned off Gemini itself. Google won’t allow that. It’s still running in the background send your data to Google and its advertising partners. Google has publicly stated this is the intended design and they will not allow turning that off.

[-] titanicx@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

Show me.

[-] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 week ago

oracle

[-] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca -1 points 1 week ago

FFS a government makes a policy on phone security which may or may not be a good decision. OK whatever, who cares?

Ah but that government is Israel. So now this is today's reason for your daily Two Minutes Hate?

Get a grip people.

[-] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

I've hated the Israeli Gov't much longer than 2 minutes.

Fuck Israel, genocidal scum!

[-] Bakkoda@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

Do you salt the boot leather first or just a dash of A1 maybe?

[-] diffaldo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

Probably licks raw

this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2025
153 points (99.4% liked)

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