Published on November 11th, 2022 | by Mahbub Hasan

CopperheadOS, the most privacy-friendly mobile OS, is now in India

We have all relied on Android OS for a long time for a variety of reasons, such as extending the life of our phones with the most recent Android versions and others for privacy and security concerns to avoid using Google Apps on our smartphones. One such name in the field is LineageOS, formerly known as Cyanogen, which most of us have tried. For the aforementioned reasons, it became impossible for many professional users to resist not trying it once. Security, though, is a special case. Not these ROMs, but the OEMs, are to blame for the lack of timely firmware and kernel updates. Therefore, before purchasing an expensive Android device, we must consider it twice. Additionally, a Canadian startup named Copperhead offers a Google-free Android distribution with a security and privacy focus called CopperheadOS. It is a reputable company with a group of mobile security experts that is situated in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It establishes strict standards for data security.

We, Techno FAQ, are proud to announce that we are bringing a new product to our customers in India, from individuals to enterprises.

Introducing CopperheadOS in India

Now Indians have access to CopperheadOS from Techno FAQ, with multiple local payment methods and GST billing rather than having to deal with foreign gateways. Techno FAQ also offers support based in India, which means predictable response time and in the same time zone. Now, Indian public companies, PSU and government organizations can buy CopperheadOS licenses and devices without going through many hoops related to import.

Custom integrations, custom organization-wide device branding, white labeling is also possible with CopperheadOS. As Techno FAQ Digital Media is the distributor of CopperheadOS, buying through Techno FAQ Digital Media means that the CopperheadOS and devices can come with access to our own software and service offerings such as (but not limited to) Letter (email and office suite), Seal (VPN), managed application hosting, multi-device management (MDM) and many more.

About CopperheadOS

CopperheadOS is a mobile operating system for smartphones, based on the Android mobile platform. It provides privacy and security features to the official releases of the Android Open Source Project by Google. The OS is developed by Copperhead, a Canadian information security company.

The Toronto-based information security company, Copperhead, launched the CopperheadOS project in 2014. The founders recognized a lack of safe, open-source operating systems for mobile devices while doing this work, so they developed CopperheadOS under an open source license to try to fill this gap. And Now CopperheadOS has been launched in India for the very first time ever under their exclusive distributor Techno FAQ Digital Media.

A robust, ultra secure and privacy focused system

As previously mentioned, a startup focusing on privacy called Copperhead created the Secure Android operating system for encrypted and secure phones. It is available as Google-free Android for the most recent Pixel smartphones, which focuses on privacy and security. It is considered to be the leader in Secure Android since its public release in 2015. Likewise, it combines the top qualities of several Open-Source projects. Additionally, Fortune 50 corporations, military units, intelligence agents, and NGOs around the world use it.

It has a lot of UX enhancements like enhanced dialer with an offer to call a contact via signal or WhatsApp, indicators for microphones and location (when used), lock screen with hidden sensitive notifications, enabling or disabling mobile data or Wi-Fi on the lock screen is prohibited, scrambled PIN layout, a strictly secured browser and Privacy-based DNS (Cloudflare) used by default.

The enhanced SELinux in copperhead prevents privilege escalation. Applications are sandboxed from each other and cannot steal data. The security Flags in Settings provide information regarding device security.

The robust Setup Wizard provides easy integrations and customization for users in CopperheadOS. The Bluetooth displays battery percentage. Modification of the Device Theme is also available in – change icons > accents > overlay corners etc. It also has Pure-black mode and Active edge.

CopperheadOS License Management screen provides easy-to-use license management tools. It can be ported to a custom Android device (such as a phone, tablet, or IoT appliance) or purchased from our selection of hardware distributors. Copperhead facilitates licensing CopperheadOS to enterprise and large organizations.

Verified Boot and more

One of its main features is verified boot. It’s a crucial security feature, and as far as we know, its main goal is to make it far more difficult for an attacker to continuously compromise the OS. Like stock Android operating systems, CopperheadOS offers full verified boot, but it also makes it better by putting less confidence in persistent state. Additionally, it offers fundamental protection against tampering with a device once physical access has been gained.

In the main use case, it acts as an additional line of defense following remote code execution and subsequent elevation to kernel level access by an attacker. Verified boot tries to stop downgrades to earlier vulnerable versions, as well as prevents the attacker from making any modifications to the operating system or firmware. The goal is to make the attacker persist through state outside the operating system, so they can exploit the OS once more every time it starts.

Apart from our everyday need of a secure and private OS, Copperhead distributed by Techno FAQ can be used for some genuine and sensitive cases. Privacy is a human right, we believe. That’s why we created Letter, a private email service. And CopperheadOS has joined our family of products as another privacy tool.

This OS is for journalists, researchers, security analysts, and it is also suitable for everyone working with sensitive information and communications. Every day, millions of information gets leaked that are important and crucial, and lack of security in contemporary operating systems are the main cause.

Whether you are a person responsible for relaying communications safely, or a cybersecurity officer who wants their team to stay secure and keep information in an unbreakable and hardened system, CopperheadOS is for you. Indian NGOs and personnel working outside and communicating back to India for humanitarian causes can use CopperheadOS to keep the information out of criminals and foreign government spies.

Wrapping Up

By the above discussion, we can say that CopperheadOS is the best Android Distro available when it comes to privacy and security. It’s high time we began to recognize and value the arduous work and efforts put forth by teams of developers and other groups in initiatives like CopperheadOS to ensure the highest level of security and privacy for all Android users.

Tags: CopperheadOS, cybersecurity, hardened security, license, partnership, secure mobile, security tool, subscription, team, technology

About the Author

Mahbub Hasan is a creative professional from Bangladesh. In Technofaq, Mahbub writes articles about design, privacy, technology and life surrounding them.