I am not satisfied with Linux’s security and have been researching alternative open source OS for privacy and security So far only thing that’s ready to use is GrapheneOS (Based on Android) but that’s not available on desktop (Though when Android release Desktop mode it may become viable)
Qubes OS is wrapper around underlying operating systems, so it doesn’t really fix for example Linux’s security holes it just kinda sandbox/virtualize them
OpenBSD is more secure than Linux on a base level but lack mitigations and patches that are added to linux overtime and it’s security practices while good for it’s time is outdated now
RedoxOS (Written in Rust) got some nice ideas but sticks to same outdated practices and doesn’t break the wheel too much, and security doesn’t seems to be main focus of OS
Haiku and Serenity are outright worse than Linux, especially Haiku as it’s single user only
Serenity adopted Pledge and Unveil from OpenBSD but otherwise lacks basic security features
All new security paradigms seems to be happening in microkernels and these are the ones that caught my eyes
None of these are ready to be used as daily driver OS but in future (hopefully) it may change
Genode seems to be far ahead of game than everything else
Ironclad Written in ADA
Atmosphere And Mesosphere Open Source Re-implementation of Nintendo Switch’s Horizon OS, I didn’t expected this to be security-oriented but seems like Nintendo has done a very solid job
Then there are Managarm, HelenOS, Theseus but I couldn’t figure out how secure they are
Finally there is Kicksecure from creators of Whonix, Kicksecure is a linux distro that plans to fix Linux’s security problems
if you know of any other OS please share it here
If you are so qualified to talk about this, why don’t you provide any details at all, instead of repeating yourself?
Edit: btw why would they even do “marketing”? It’s a non-profit free software project.
FOSS snake oil and scams are plenty out there. There are many who abuse FOSS moniker as a medal of honour.
GrapheneOS is pure snake oil with a disgusting sole developer that believes in pushing corporate Big Tech propaganda, harassing and witch hunting any critics, having a little social media army with sockpuppets to do this, abuses mentally challenged by hiding behind “autism” label (Louis Rossmann has a nice video), falsely claims he was swatted without giving evidence or coverage in local Canadian media and blames everyone from redditors to community mods to YouTubers and so on.
I covered this disease for about 5 years, and it emanates from the same sewer that “security” clowns like Brad Spengler and madaidan do in Linux community. All they do is either push their bullshit solutions or push corporate Big Tech propaganda and hate any FOSS project they think will not worship them.
You can read my documentation of this lore here.
https://old.reddit.com/r/privatelife/comments/ug9qnc/writeup_criticism_of_rprivacyguides_grapheneos/
https://old.reddit.com/r/privatelife/comments/13teoo9/grapheneos_corporate_foss_loving_witch_hunting/
All I see is a bunch of drama. Daniel Micay is also no longer the head of GrapheneOS.
IDK maybe beyond the wall of text there is some actual technical criticism, but I’m not going to sift through a bunch of unrelated pictures to find it.
GrapheneOS very recently reported two CVEs affecting Android, with one not affecting GrapheneOS due to their mitigations.
GrapheneOS has many features which are clearly visible to users and don’t really exist elsewhere - eSIM without Google Play, sandboxed Google Play, additional “Sensors” permission just to name a few.
Edit: I watched the Louis Rossmann video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4To-F6W1NT0, and he also only talks about drama related to Daniel Micay (while clearly not saying anything negative about the project on a technical level).
Then why is he the only one making any commits to this AOSP fork project on GitHub? You fell for his tricks too, like most.
Android devices in general are very good against security risks at this point, since Android 9/10 came. Android security continues to get solid across all devices at this point, with Android 14 release. Anything that is close to or stock is going to be very solid, and then it depends on competition evaluations like in BlackHat Pwn2Own every year. Pixel, Huawei/Honor, and Sony/Moto like stock phones tend to do very well, while Samsung, Xiaomi have issues due to lots of cruft and custom APIs they make in their skinned phones. Apple does well but iOS is insecure compared to Android.
I should clarify that sandboxed Google Play means practically nothing. You can use AppOps and neuter its permissions and achieve same effects of privacy and security on any non rooted phone, where only IP address and pings for Google certified SafetyNet device number is attained by Google, if you choose to use GMS.
Most of the security measures are something you can take with lots of Android devices, and is nothing exclusive to Pixel/Graphene fairy tales. Micay and his minions just love selling that combo as the only solution, and I frankly hate it as it has no basis in reality.
Edit: this is not drama. Please read the paper by Ken Thompson, co-creator of Unix and C, on why we should be able to trust the developer and NOT the code. https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rdriley/487/papers/Thompson_1984_ReflectionsonTrustingTrust.pdf
This argument is going nowhere.
https://grapheneos.org/features lists features of GrapheneOS which differentiate it from AOSP. Are you claiming this is all fake?
Is the Pixel 8 not the first device to support MTE? Is hardened_malloc pointless? And I literally listed 3 more features exclusive to GrapheneOS in my last comment.
Hardened_malloc function is in Linux kernel, and so it is part of every single Android device since years now.
MTE looks like some memory overflow protection, but that comes in the form of various functions. It is not a fancy thing limited to Pixels or Chromium browser. Memory protection is such a standard thing in software, I am not sure how MTE specifically is some form of USP. Also, let me tell you that all apps in Android basically run sandboxed, as far as memory goes, and now with SAF, even storage permissions are restricted by default.
I broke down Graphene features a year or so ago to someone. Here it is. https://i.imgur.com/pQHoq84.jpg
There are only 3 things they ever did on their own as extras, and even they have basically no value in the grand scheme of things, them being offering:
Now, I will elaborate on these 3.
So out of the 20-30 features GrapheneOS claims they developed, basically everything is either a modification of app permissions or firewalling or AOSP feature rebranding. You can do these things on any non rooted Android device.
Also, as you may have famously heard about “Sandboxed Play Services”, it is not developed by GrapheneOS, but a project called ProtonAOSP, whose developer is kdrag0n. GrapheneOS took that and rebranded it as their own developed thing.
I am not too interested in their buzzword self-circlejerking campaign after I observed this, in addition to the drama they invent via sockpuppets or otherwise to stay relevant in privacy communities.
hardened_malloc is a replacement for the libc function malloc. It is not part of Linux.
MTE is hardware-based, and is in fact restricted to Pixels currently (8+) AFAIK.
As I said in my first comment to you, do more research.
They are not much more than buzzwords, and I did my research. Nothing is “dealbreaker” about not using Pixel/Graphene, and it is perfectly okay to use other Androids with plenty security. They sell snake oil dreams and pretend theirs is the only solution, and that sounds dishonest. Not to mention, them lying in YouTube comment sections on how they bought $1M Israeli Cellebrite kits and Pixel/Graphene combo is immune to bootloader attacks.
I do not see the developer and his internet minions lying as a source of increasing trustworthiness in the project, not to mention their FUD and dogma dissemination cultist tactics that fool privacy seekers. They are not keen on improving or teaching security, but in fooling and scaring people for personal benefits.
They are not buzzwords. I do agree that the project and its members could improve in many ways, but this is unfortunately true for many security focused projects.