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The newest Android phones use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset with its TrustZone/TEE. The Android OS makes sure that a stolen phone, in its assembled form, is not usable.

Does Trustzone further prevent the CPU from being removed from a stolen phone and used in any way? I see how Qualcomm could lock the CPU (e.g., with a PIN or a fingerprint), but I also see how this could be dangerous for hardware development so I suspect that Qualcomm would allow some reset/unlock mechanism.

I'm basically wondering if there is any phone with anti-theft features preventing the CPU from having any stolen value. If not Android, what about iPhone?

bobuhito
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  • How do you remove a CPU from a phone? – schroeder Oct 22 '19 at 15:52
  • Melt the solder and pull? Also, an in-place CPU reset might be possible, but I can't find security info from Qualcomm...thus my question. – bobuhito Oct 22 '19 at 16:13
  • Trustzone does not provide hardware security. – defalt Oct 22 '19 at 18:06
  • Then my question is simply "Does any phone provide hardware (specifically CPU) security?" If the answer is no, that would mean that all stolen phones can be wiped/reset, with no replacement parts needed (though disassembly and programming might be needed), to work at least with WiFi. OK, maybe that's true, but I wish someone would provide a formal answer. – bobuhito Oct 22 '19 at 19:32
  • Removed TPM modules form PC MBs. They still worked fine... – Overmind Oct 23 '19 at 12:52

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