It is in Google’s best interests for its smartphones to be readily broken into, and the tech giant has now released a new security feature called Pixel Binary Transparency that is currently only available on Pixel devices.
How it Works?
It might be compared to an authenticity certificate for your phone. It demonstrates that the Pixel smartphone you are holding is the real one and not one that has undergone software modifications, which could have had negative effects on security. While currently limited to Pixel devices, this functionality works in conjunction with Android Verified Boot to ensure that the phone in your hand hasn’t been tampered with in any way—possibly even before it got there.
Google wants this new security feature to be one more reason you choose a Pixel over other smartphones, in addition to quick software updates, exclusive apps, and top-notch camera performance. Here’s how it works. Before your new smartphone arrives at your door in a neatly cellophaned box, there are many steps in the process that can be taken advantage of by criminals attempting to seize control of your device. You would be mistaken to believe that just because you opened a brand-new device, there were no security issues to be concerned about.
Securing Potential Attack Surfaces
Before a new phone is put in the box, malware can be injected into the software code—in this example, the Android software code. Keep in mind that in addition to the standard Android operating system, there are a number of third-party libraries and open source programmes on which all of today’s software is based, as well as modifications by carriers and manufacturers (such as Google and Samsung).
Devices can be put at danger with just one exploited step in the supply chain process—one incomplete check or an incorrect assumption. Once you start using your phone, these assaults can also be initiated, with allegedly secure apps accidentally being hijacked by malicious malware. Before they reach users, over-the-air software upgrades can potentially be intercepted.
There are a lot of potential attack surfaces for hackers to take into account when you consider all the firms, from independent app developers to large organisations like Google, who are involved in maintaining the software on your phone. Attacks of this nature are also on the rise. All of this ignores the used market, where Android devices (and in this case, especially Pixel phones) sold by previous owners come with no such warranties that they’re brand-new installations of Android that are safe and malware-free.
