Silent Circle’s Blackphone 2 - Secure Cell phone
Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 12:44 pm
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/09/ ... ckphone-2/
Long, but interesting.
Excerpt:
Silent OS supports multiple (up to four) "spaces": virtualized phones within the phone, partitioned all the way down through the OS. In essence, Silent OS is not just a phone OS—it's a virtualization platform. Each user space, which is an extension of Android's multiuser mode, can be configured with its own lock screen PIN, password, or pattern, based on the desired level of additional security.
You can selectively punch holes in the walls between spaces, choosing applications to share between one space and another. But each space has its own storage, so you can't access the files in one space from another. When tethered to a computer, you also can't reach any of the files stored on the Blackphone's internal storage unless you're logged into the appropriate space.
Another application of the "spaces" approach is the creation of virtual burner phones. You can create "throw-away" spaces for specific situations, setting them up with separate Silent Phone phone numbers and other accounts in order to delete them when you're done. (That's a feature many former Ashley Madison customers probably wished they had a while ago.)
The Security Center app allows you to set the level of application access to the operating system and phone hardware. When running from the primary "Owner" space, Security Center can configure defaults for the entire phone, including how the phone treats app installs (choices include "deny all," "ask all," or "allow all"). The "ask all" setting gives the user power over what permissions the app is allowed instead of doing a blanket acceptance of them. "Allow all" handles app installations much like normal Android, but you can still go back and kill individual permissions later.
Long, but interesting.
Excerpt:
Silent OS supports multiple (up to four) "spaces": virtualized phones within the phone, partitioned all the way down through the OS. In essence, Silent OS is not just a phone OS—it's a virtualization platform. Each user space, which is an extension of Android's multiuser mode, can be configured with its own lock screen PIN, password, or pattern, based on the desired level of additional security.
You can selectively punch holes in the walls between spaces, choosing applications to share between one space and another. But each space has its own storage, so you can't access the files in one space from another. When tethered to a computer, you also can't reach any of the files stored on the Blackphone's internal storage unless you're logged into the appropriate space.
Another application of the "spaces" approach is the creation of virtual burner phones. You can create "throw-away" spaces for specific situations, setting them up with separate Silent Phone phone numbers and other accounts in order to delete them when you're done. (That's a feature many former Ashley Madison customers probably wished they had a while ago.)
The Security Center app allows you to set the level of application access to the operating system and phone hardware. When running from the primary "Owner" space, Security Center can configure defaults for the entire phone, including how the phone treats app installs (choices include "deny all," "ask all," or "allow all"). The "ask all" setting gives the user power over what permissions the app is allowed instead of doing a blanket acceptance of them. "Allow all" handles app installations much like normal Android, but you can still go back and kill individual permissions later.