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Leaker reveals which Pixels are vulnerable to Cellebrite phone hacking

(arstechnica.com)
452 points akyuu | 2 comments | 30 Oct 25 23:12 UTC | HN request time: 0.01s | source
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j1elo ◴[31 Oct 25 22:10 UTC] No.45777248[source]▶
> Notably, the Pixel 10 series is moving away from physical SIM cards.

Is it? I hadn't followed news of the new Pixels.

I don't like the idea of modernizing this and going full eSIM. It will introduce a lot of new friction, somehow I don't doubt it. Just now arrived to Mexico for a quick trip and grabbed a prepaid SIM from a 7-11 in the airport. All quick and simple. I doubt things would be so seamless when not having a SIM tray in the phone. Having to go through an official process to register a new card, ID oneself, hope to not have any incompatibility with the eSIM slots in your phone (admittedly I don't know how this works)... vs. just paying MXN100 and leave the store with a ready to use number.

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stackskipton ◴[31 Oct 25 22:40 UTC] No.45777498[source]▶
eSIM can be QR code so if they wanted, Mexican vendor just pay and show QR code for you to scan.
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purpleidea ◴[31 Oct 25 23:19 UTC] No.45777790[source]▶
The unfortunate problem with eSIM is that you can't swap it between phones.
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wooptoo ◴[01 Nov 25 00:08 UTC] No.45778082[source]▶
You absolutely can. But it does need an internet connection for that. Which actually makes eSIM more secure than regular SIM.
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tavavex ◴[01 Nov 25 00:43 UTC] No.45778267[source]▶
It can be more secure, but it also feels like the kind of "improvement" that's ripe for exploitation. When you put in a step where you have to ask your service provider for permission to swap the SIM, buckle up for the inevitable development of them asking for a $5, $50 or $100 "service fee" so they consider allowing it.
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1. ziml77 ◴[01 Nov 25 03:40 UTC] No.45779078[source]▶
Couldn't they do that with physical SIM cards? On their end, record the IMEI of the first device they see connecting with a specific SIM card and then disallow connections if that SIM is used with a different IMEI.
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2. tavavex ◴[02 Nov 25 00:21 UTC] No.45786787[source]▶
I'm not sure if that's legal, but even if they did it, it's a lot more opaque. If they started doing it, many people would assume it to be a technical fault by the provider or the phone manufacturer, and the ensuing support calls and drama would probably cost way too much for this to be worth it in the first place. However, with eSIM, they get to redefine all the rules, since the customer has to learn how to use them from scratch anyway. And they also get access to nice, digital, software-driven workflows that can make the need to pay up apparent, as opposed to just randomly cutting service to the user.