I found out that my mom is using an older phone that serves her just fine, but last recieved updates in 2021.

Realistically, how dangerous is this? What are the scenarios that could potentially happen with a phone that out of date?

She may be open to something like lineage OS, but I don’t want to make her phone less familiar for her, which would be harder to use. She is not very techy but also not fearful of a little tinkering. I don’t live near her so she will not have anyone knowledgeable to troubleshoot if the need arises.

I’m not a infosec person at ALL so I genuinely don’t know what she is exposed to.

Let me know if I should post this in another community instead.

  • RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works
    5·
    2 days ago

    With an out of date phone it will be easier to bypass it’s security. Normally, cops and hackers have to use a series of exploits to bypass an Android’s security. With a phone not receiving security updates this gets easier.

    Installing LineageOS will not fix the security problem because Lineage requires the bootloader to be unlocked. With a locked bootloader, the phone checks to see if the OS has be altered, this is called “verified boot”.

    This video from TheHatedOne explains verified boot around the 10 minute mark https://invidious.nerdvpn.de/watch?v=WkQ_OCzuLNg