This maybe a dumb question but i became paranoid all of a sudden and wanted some answers because i can’t find it anywhere else nor can i sleep without it. Like even if i did flash linux on a lets say amd laptop couldn’t the chip itself be spying on me ? Also i understand bootloaders are stored or rom is there a way to know what else is stored on it are roms open source ? Are cpu’s open source and companies like asus store their logos and shit on their mother boards so what else could they be storing ? Are there open source alternatives for these parts ? Are we all being privacy cautios for nothing ? I know we can use firewall but wouldn’t the chip integrated have the ability to bye pass it ?
I know there are linux laptops but having a pre installed linux and some switches isn’t gonna solve the problem do they use open source roms and motherboard ? Are there any fully open source chipsets ? I want to know the same about smartphones too ?
IMPORTANT EDIT : Please don’t suggest alternatives like dumb phone i wanna know if there is any way to know or ensure we are not spied upon while using smartphones or laptop . And i don’t care about my os spying on me or the apps apps or web spying on me all i wanna know is if the hardware i use are spying on me and if not how do you know ? . Also which is better in terms of open source and privacy intel or amd ?
ANOTHER IMPORTANT EDIT : I am also not concerned by my isp tracking me or someon hacking me as i said all i care about is the hardware doing me in .
LAST EDIT I HOPE : AS I SAID MULTIPLE TIMES AND STILL PEOPLE UNDERSTAND IS I DON’T CARE IF ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE HARDWARE IS SPYING ON ME . LIKE ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT TOP CYBERSECURITY WORKERS OR ELITE HACKERS ARE JUST HOPING THEIR HARDWARE IS NOT SPYING ON THEM AND THERE IS NO WAY FOR AN ELITE HACKER OR CYBERSECURTY WORKER TO ENSURE THEY ARE NOT BEING SPIED BY THEIR HARDWARE OR IS THERE NO OTHER FULLY OPEN SOURCE HARDWARE THEY CAN BUY ?I’M NOT INTERNET SHOUTING OR WANTING TO BE RUDE I JUST WANNA GET THE POINT ACROSS ALSO PLEASE DON’T AVOID THIS AND ANSWER SOMETHING ELSE I JUST WANNA KNOW THIS SPECIFIC THING.
EDIT: LET ME MAKE IT VERY CLEAR I’M JUST A RUN OF THE MILL GUY BYING RUN OF THE MILL LAP AND PHONE AND USING IT I AM NOT BEING TRACKED BY NSA I’M SURE OF THAT BECAUSE I AM NOT THAT INTERESTING EVEN IF I WERE ITS NOT THE QUESTION UNLESS THE CIA OR NSA IS MAKING 1000 OF LAPS TO CATCH ME . YOU HAVE NO OBLIGATION TI ANSWER ME AND I AM GRATEFULL FOR YOUR ANSWERS BUT PLEASE ANSWER WHAT I WANT TO KNOW I FEEL LIKE YOU GUYS AND GALS DON’T EVEN COME CLOSE TO THE SUBJECT.
It should be clarified that using Wireshark on the hardware in question is still subject to what the operating system is allowing your security context to see - meaning a rootkit or hardware level compromise could hide its traffic in that case.
Intercepting all traffic coming from the machine using another network node is a good idea though. Wireshark or an IDS like Snort would both work for that.
Yeah, you want a switch with port mirroring. That way you can send everything that hits your router to a separate device to monitor.
Still doesn’t help with phones though. I don’t think there is any way to truly verify the cellular modem’s connections.