Holy shit I didn't know she was missing.
I guess advocating open source is enough to be imprisoned.
Not quite missing, but she said she had received strike 2 of 3, and the 3rd one is really bad. So she's going quiet to avoid any potential stuff from happening.
https://www.hackingbutlegal.com/p/naomi-wu-and-the-silence-that-speaks-volumes
Welcome to the CCP
It is very wise to use a FOSS keyboard app, because if you think about it a keyboard app would probably be the thing on your phone that knows the most about you. I don't mean that to fear monger, it's just a thought. Plus if you look at events in the past few years like swiftkey's little user data error it gives you an idea of how privacy invasive they could or could already be.
Good recommendations for an app?
OpenBoard (specifically the fork by Helium314 that supports gesture typing) is what I prefer.
I can't seem to find this on fdroid, github, etc. Mind sharing a link?
Keyboard is absolutely a thing to be careful with. On Android mobile, use OpenBoard for example. On computer, if you use Linux, also install kloak [https://github.com/Whonix/kloak], a tool that slightly delays randomly your keystrokes to help you hide your typing pattern that can definitively identify you
So, that makes your typing worse so you can't be identified?
No, it randomizes the key timing. It also doesn't address stylometry so you can still be identified, but it helps. I made a browser addon that does the same thing. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/private-keyboard/
Not worse, but less repeatable. You don't see any difference in typing, it just help reduce fingerprinting
Who exactly can view my typing pattern?
Absolutely every website you visit or app you use, if they track such info of course.
For those who would like to know more about what happened to Naomi Wu, aka SexyCyborg:
https://www.hackingbutlegal.com/p/naomi-wu-and-the-silence-that-speaks-volumes
Thanks for the link!
I have been worried about her ever since the "clipped wings" tweet. Hope she's doing ok 😮💨
I used to use Gboard with a firewall that isolates the app so that it can never connect to the internet. Though that was in the past and I'm not sure if that is even effective. So I just switched to a open source keyboard in FDroid
Removing network permissions from the keyboard! I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned this. Great idea
This sentence kinda highlights how outlandishly dystopic the whole thing is.
Yeah, I used RethinkDNS's Firewall. It's pretty good.
Probably a good place to ask. Are there any FOSS keyboard apps for Android with swipe typing?
AnySoftKeyboard is FOSS and supports gesture typing. It has not been updated in a while and I find it buggy.
Helium314's OpenBoard fork is FOSS but supports Google's proprietary gesture typing library.
FlorisBoard is FOSS and supports gesture typing, but does not have word predictions. It is being worked on.
I use FlorisBoard - but it's under heavy development at the moment, as the dev is doing a complete rewrite... autocorrect isn't implemented yet, but swipe/gesture typing is.
There is another one that has swipe typing and autocorrect but can't recall the name at the moment
OpenBoard
Yes, but you need this fork for swiping gestures.
https://github.com/erkserkserks/openboard
The reason is easy, the libary for swiping is propetary, FOSS projects won't use it and cut this feature.
Thanks for the suggestion. I have used this keyboard for about a day now and I love it. I didn't expect much going in but it actually has a lot of features and options.
Came here looking for the same thing. I still use Gboard because of swipe :(
Florisboard on FDroid.
And dont ever use any Stock Android, its all spyware. Thats simply the truth. At best its "only" Google. Samsung was the worst of the ones I tried, regarding bloatware, but Huawei and Xiami are also horrible and you dont need anything fancy but a keylogger keyboard.
If you go to the Florisboard git hub their is an easy route to install it via Google play, if you can't use fdroid or side load apps for any reason. It basically involves signing up to "beta test" the app which you then get in Google Play as normal.
This may be an important route on some parts of the world.
And dont ever use any Stock Android, its all spyware.
Also reboots your device if you try and revoke permissions from Google Play Services
A while ago I read about a study where they showed how they recreated typed text on a computer keyboard based on the sound the keys made, using AI. I can't seem to find the post right now tho.
All that comes down to your threat model.
If you're very concerned about sophisticated actors getting effectively keyloggers on you. Install a privacy focused operating system on your phone, like graphene os (fixed spelling). Don't change the keyboard. Keep the default secure keyboard.
For your physical computer, uses very standard keyboard. Nothing fancy nothing that's reprogrammable. Most people have USB keyboards nowadays, make sure you plug your keyboard and mouse into their own USB controller, so nothing can snoop those keystrokes. Don't use a KVM, don't use a fancy monitor that basically got a computer inside of it.
If you think you might be a target, buy your keyboard with cash, in fact by all of your electronics of cash, don't order anything for delivery. They could get tampered with on the way to you.
I mean if you're that concerned get a thinkpad X200, libre boot it, and run qubes OS
Good idea, if it fits your threat model.
If your threat model trusts google, then a locked down Chromebook is fine too
The EFF has some good guides to help you design your threat model and tolerances.
Https://ssd.eff.org
At least we could name things properly. I'm 120% sure people who don't know graphene os have no idea what you mean by grafine os, and by searching they may even find something that's a bad knockoff or something like that.
Please always type names correctly, and also include a link to the official website, so that people don't install some literal spyware because they don't know better.
The commenter was meaning refer to graphene os: https://grapheneos.org
It's important to mention that it is only available for Google Pixel phones, and as such it is also unfit as a general recommendation that "you should install this on your phone".
So, the keyboard is important, and is one thing; but one must not overlook that on touch devices, software keyboards run on top of operating systems, and hardware, too.
Actual keyboards made of physical keys/domes/switches, embedded controllers, and USB chips/cables, even if they seemingly present a similar attack surface (after all, they are also connected to hardware with an operating system), are practically harder to compromise.
Yes, in both cases, the operating system has access to the information (be it via the USB subsystem, or via the touch/input subsystem, etc), and the hardware too; but computer hardware is more heterogeneous, more modular and standardized, and "auditable" operating systems are much more common, and readily deployable. Heck, it is entirely possible to run open hardware and open software (including the toolchain to build said software) with a computer; but the same for mobile devices is very much uncharted territory.
The result is that even with our best effort, a mobile device is at the very best a black box, with an unlocked bootloader, a community provided recovery and operating system, often downloaded from random file hosting services, and built with toolchains of variable quality with several proprietary components.
This is not ideal, and it is the best case scenario. In many cases, people run the stock recovery/operating system, and simply sideload software on a device they do not even have root access to.
The takeaway here, is that while nothing is perfect, and there is always an attack surface, using unpredictable components (e.g. standardized, modular), with unpredictable software (e.g. dozen of different operating system families, each with their own version and qwirks), while also having a community of technologists auditing the code (even if only a handful of developers, there is much less risk of them all organizing towards a harmful goal than with a team of employees from a company ultimately led by a single person), practically provides a significantly different environment.
And unless you're an embedded engineer/genius able to design bug-free (g'luck) PCBs from open hardware ICs (so you can have them made via your vendor of choice) and simple components, and then use software you, or people you trust, audited, you have to recognize that you can only do "less bad".
Less bad being a dev-friendly device (old Google pixels come to mind, not sure if they're still like that), installing lineage, /e/ or another alternative system on it, and using software from f-droid (like AnySoftKeyboard - the one I am actually using for typing this).
That, or you decide to trust the reputable (YMMV) company of your choice with your digital life, identity, and data. Many pros I know in infosec go for Apple. It is true that, at least for professional use cases, with companies in the US or in western Europe, it arguably makes sense.
On a standard computer, be it a desktop or laptop, it's very hard to effectively avoid keylogging.
I don't say you 100% have a keylogger on your PC, that's not my point.
My point is that both on Windows, and on Linux systems that use the X11 window system instead of Wayland, any program can log your let presses with basically no effort.
On windows this is somewhat restricted when a program opens a secure desktop (a temporary "desktop", usually (always?) with a single window). This happens when you have to grant admin rights to a program, but other programs can request such a thing too, like the keepass password manager can be set to prompt for the password on a secure desktop. I don't know if the X11 window system of Linux has a similar feature.
But, as the other commenter said too, it depends on your threat model, because it can go a lot deeper than your choice of keyboard app.
If you use the original system of your smartphone, the manufacturer may have hidden software in it that can log your key presses even without cooperation if your keyboard app.
But if the modem - which is basically a different operating system that runs in parralel to the main one, but with the purpose of handling the connection with the cellular network, besides doing quite a few other things too - could get compromised, often it could be used to have open access to all the hardware that your main, android operating system uses. How is this on topic? This way intruders could observe where do you touch the touch screen, among a lot of other things.
This is exactly why Wayland replacing X11 is a good thing. X11 was developed in an academic, on-prem LAN environment where such security wasn't a big consideration in its architectural design and needs to be allowed to gracefully retire from mainline use.
I really don't see why you couldn't attack wayland if you're running code locally. Wayland is going to need keyboard hooks anyway to enable important productivity tools like anykey and clipboard managers.
My point is that both on Windows, and on Linux systems that use the X11 window system instead of Wayland, any program can log your let presses with basically no effort.
On Wayland, they probably still can. Wayland's core protocol doesn't allow it, but extensions to enable things like global hotkeys can almost certainly be used for shenanigans.
Also, if the keylogger is running under your user account, it can insert crafted .desktop files wrapping around your apps, ptrace your apps, you name it. Sandboxing as in Flatpak can stop this sort of thing, but if you run an app outside such a sandbox, and it's malicious, game over.
Wayland's core protocol doesn't allow it, but extensions to enable things like global hotkeys can almost certainly be used for shenanigans.
But does it work without prompting the user?
Also, I'm not too familiar with how it works, but afaik global hotkeys on KDE are implemented by the display server/compositor/whatever it's called itself, and not sourced out to a different program.
Also, if the keylogger is running under your user account, it can insert crafted .desktop files wrapping around your apps, ptrace your apps, you name it.
Well, that's an interesting point, I haven't thought about that.
But does it work without prompting the user?
Also, I’m not too familiar with how it works, but afaik global hotkeys on KDE are implemented by the display server/compositor/whatever it’s called itself, and not sourced out to a different program.
Right, but they're configured by an unprivileged program: the settings app. Presumably, a keylogger can pretend to be the settings app.
I use familiar Gboard with the network permission toggled off.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)