Encrypting Phone Storage and Transmission? (2011 Version) 198
An anonymous reader writes "Soon I'll be moving to one of the hot, culturally restrictive countries which has recently been in the news ... and which monitors and filters web traffic. ISPs and cellular providers are both owned by the government. Needless to say, I'm concerned about privacy and am even posting to my fellow Slashdotters as an anonymous coward. Which smart phones are the best for a) encrypted storage, and b) encrypted transmission? I'm not worried about encrypting SMSs or traditional voice traffic, but I would like all IP traffic as secure as possible. Setting up a server in my less restrictive home country is an option. What storage encryption and transmission encryption would you recommend for that situation? I'm willing to buy yet another device, if necessary. (No, I won't get a SatPhone.) I currently have a Nokia N900 running Maemo5 and another device running Symbian S60v3. I was hoping to have a secure OS like BackTrack running on the N900, but it looks like the software was never totally ported for the device."
Traditional VPN? (Score:5, Informative)
Why not a traditional VPN with an Android or iOS device? Symbian should also be able to support VPN connections as well.
Re:Traditional VPN? (Score:4, Informative)
That's my thought too. There are lots of reasonably priced VPN services out there, or you could run your own. But for ~$10 a month or less, why bother? I've used the $6 "Premium" service from hideipvpn.com & it was fine, I'm sure that there are others that are just as good though.
Blackberry + BES Express (Score:5, Informative)
Set up a BES Express server, and get a BlackBerry. I'm not sure you can find equivalent security on any other platform. The BES Express server (free) offers transparent VPN. The devices themselves are unmatched, security-wise (though you'd be stepping back like 5 years in features). Email might be a problem if you don't want to also run exchange or lotus domino, but you could easily set up an IMAPS server and use that.
BackTrack != Secure (Score:3, Informative)
n900 is probably the most flexible (Score:5, Informative)
Some resources for the n900:
----- file system encryption-- ...and then mount the phone's encrypted volume from the card, thru 1 usb connection
Truecrypt for true cross-platform encryption on the phone's non-boot volume
(available by default in the N900's Extras-Testing repository)
A nice script to simplify use of TrueCrypt (no screen icon = non-obvious = good)
http://forums.internettablettalk.com/showthread.php?p=597269
Also note that for your pc, you can put the x86 tc.exe on the phone's unencrypted boot volume,
----- IP encryption
Tor is available as a package and works well, tho with caveats
http://www.torproject.org/docs/N900.html.en
SSH is also available
----- semi-secure voip
Skype support is inbuilt (tho sometimes suspect w/proprietary encryption & whatnot)
configure thru Settings>Connectivity>VoIP and IM.
Run your own Asterisk PBX on the n900 with an encrypted config/tunneled
available in the Extras repository
----- alt boot options
option to boot alt OS hidden on card
http://wiki.meego.com/ARM/N900/Install/Dual_Boot
http://neopwn.com/ (sometime soon, one hopes)
option to carry a hidden/alt bootable PC OS in your phone
http://zitstif.no-ip.org/?p=451
Re:Solution. (Score:5, Informative)
Welcome to the US. If you're speaking on a phone, you're not talking in private, if you're talking in a room where other people are or have been, you're not talking in private. Better-paid attorneys will actually sweep the rooms regularly for bugs and have external audits performed.
Why you ask? The duty to keep the attorney/client privilege is not on the state but on the attorney so the state could get a warrant (or not if you're DHS/FBI, the Patriot Act cares for it) for the wiretapping of an attorneys office if they could demonstrate (or not) that it could further their case. If a cop 'accidentally' overhears a conversation between an attorney and his client, it can be used or even if it can't be used in court it could be used in questioning and pressuring. The only exception to that is at a prison or a state office where the attorney or client can request a private area to conduct their conversation (again, duty is on the attorney or his client to request such privacy) but most likely they won't carry on a conversation in those settings - the focus would be to get them out of there first without saying too much if possible.
Re:Could be dangerous ... (Score:3, Informative)
I currently live in and have been working in one of those 'hot' countries for several years. First, your concerns about privacy seem misplaced to people who live around here. Tracking is for the general plebes who live there and have nowhere else to go. As a foreigner, your behaviors doesn't matter as much so long as you are not part of the problem. If you are a problem, forget about your supposed rights and privacy that you believe that you are entitled to.
First, the government/state/security/police can just break into your house whenever it wants, and your only recourse is that you are important enough that your embassy or company will raise a big enough fuss. Otherwise, you are out of luck. Unless, you want to carry around your laptop with you all the time, you can assume that they can get physical access to your computers when they really want. Same for your phone.
The government/state/security/police will question your building security, maid, nanny and almost certainly obtain their cooperation in tracking your movements and rumaging through your personal belongings. They also have access to all your financial transactions within the country, and all cross-border movements.
Is it your financial privacy that matters to you? Or is it that you do not want your phones or computers seized? In the latter case, just keep a low profile and don't cause trouble.
Re:Traditional VPN? (Score:4, Informative)
I think the best advice would be...to stay as far the fuck away from any middle eastern country to begin with!!
There is a western, christian country, that is in the news at all times, known for seizing laptops at borders and keeping your data.
In fact, when I travel there, I don't carry my laptop or any personal/work data with me, that's how worried I am.
Why any sane person from the free part of the world would go over there....especially NOW...is beyond me.
There is no free part of the world. There are only shades of grey. There are places where you are safer and worse places, but enemies of freedom exist and act everywhere.
Add to that the fact that your definition of freedom probably doesn't match what some other people believe, and the whole "free world" concept becomes a dumb idea.
I mean, hell...I'd do just about anything for a dollar..but I'd not risk my life (and head) by going over there for any amount of money.
And you probably make enough. The world is full of people who risk their lives to make a dime. Otherwise, there would be no cops, no antenna installers, no tall buildings. That is because they can make a better living that way than staying safe.