[Eng: Tutorial] Kali NetHunter - Linux on Android

[Saint-loup]

For anyone who's only interested on only using PGP on Android without GUI, Termux is enough to install GnuPG.
So only the first few steps and a very little amount of storage is required in this use-case.

Simply install Termux, and follow Steps 1 to 4 in the instructions to update and set the necessary permissions.
Then install GnuPG via: apt install gnupg (current version 2.4.3)

After that, it's a matter of using GnuPG in the command line which has an abundant number of tutorials like: /index.php?topic=5240594.0#post_CmdInstruct
Example final result of the tutorial above in Termux:

Yes that's what I did on my tablet few years ago in order to check the Electrum APKs signature because I didn't find any UI Android app able to do it. As far as I remember I downloaded Termux from the Playstore and not from Github or F-droid and it worked well. But I would be surprised if there is still no user-friendly app able to do it. On a small smartphone using Termux is not really convenient. Does anyone know an Android app able to check files PGP signatures?

[PrivacyG]

That's common for you to think and you are right. They pose security threat. But the thing is most to the ROMs are open source. So you get to view their code directly. If you had the knowledge, you would know if there were any vulnerabilities.

You are correct.  If you had the knowledge, you would know.  But do you have the knowledge?  And if you do, you do not spend time auditing by yourself EVERY single ROM you flash, do you.  Every body does the same.  They trust by believing some body else must have audited it before them.

Almost all ROMs go unaudited and this is a serious concern for me.  It is your choice of course.  But I think it is worth noting the danger of this.  I would not trust a Custom ROM built by some random developer with my Hot Wallet.

If I wanted privacy and security I would have used Ubuntu Touch. But I don't. I am a tester. I won't be using same Rom forever. I keep on changing, flashing and testing. 

If you are ever interested in security and Privacy, Ubuntu Touch is not a great choice for Privacy.  Better than what other Operating Systems offer but not great.  I would put Kali over Ubuntu Touch any time of the day.

[tech30338]

DVlog, I haven't personally used any crypto related software on my Kali NetHunter. So I don't know if it'll work or if it has a compatibility issue or not. To be honest, I don't know if our smartphones have that kind of capacity to run massive level software. The OS itself took up 20GB of my space. Imagine what would happen. But, again, yes, technically, it should work. Give it a try.

Cheers  

Then what is the point of using Linux on our smart phones if we can not use mobile applications? Though I think you are right a smart phone won't be able to install such a large file. I am not sure about this either but using a heavy application can make things slow and the capacity to run an application like this can be limited. I do understand that even if we can manage to install one it won't be as convenient as using an android application.

The point of the tutorial is not for normal usage or anything for Android, like installing apps for normal usage, its mostly use for testing and penetration purpose for android correct me if I'm wrong.
I still remember when ubuntu plans to create a mobile phone and can be turn into desktop wonder what happen to that project, its been 9-10 years still have not heard of it, those who will donate will have a mobile phone to test.
see the link below :
https://www.simplilearn.com/tutorials/cyber-security-tutorial/what-is-kali-nethunter
https://kali.org/docs/nethunter/

[Shishir99]

Don't dare to run heavy-weight software like Bitcoin core. But I don't think trying electrum will be a bad idea as it's not heavy software. What other crypto software do you guys want to use?  

Bitcoin Core can run on very weak devices.  It has to be a possibility to run it on the latest mid range Smart phones at least.

I don't think it will be wise to run Bitcoin core on mobile device Linux as it takes a lot of time to synchronize with the network and consume a lot of internet. Do you think a mid-range device can handle this pressure? It needs at least 50 GB of free space even if anyone tries to run the pruned node. Forget about downloading the whole blockchain. Most mobile device comes with 64 GB storage if its RAM is 4 or 6 GB. Even a device with 128 GB storage won't be sufficient for this because most of the time the system takes up a lot of space. if you are an Android user, you should know this already. Even if anyone runs Bitcoin core, it will take ages to get syncronized.

[DYING_S0UL]

Don't dare to run heavy-weight software like Bitcoin core. But I don't think trying electrum will be a bad idea as it's not heavy software. What other crypto software do you guys want to use?  

Bitcoin Core can run on very weak devices.  It has to be a possibility to run it on the latest mid range Smart phones at least.

I don't think it will be wise to run Bitcoin core on mobile device Linux as it takes a lot of time to synchronize with the network and consume a lot of internet. Do you think a mid-range device can handle this pressure? It needs at least 50 GB of free space even if anyone tries to run the pruned node. Forget about downloading the whole blockchain. Most mobile device comes with 64 GB storage if its RAM is 4 or 6 GB. Even a device with 128 GB storage won't be sufficient for this because most of the time the system takes up a lot of space. if you are an Android user, you should know this already. Even if anyone runs Bitcoin core, it will take ages to get syncronized.

You are right, Shishir99. Even if it were technically possible, I don't think we should run something we are unsure of. I could have installed the Bitcoin core and given you (PrivacyG) feedback, but just as Shishir99 said, you will run out of storage before you know it. I had to free up 20 GB of storage before the installation. And after the installations, I only had 5GB of storage left. But yes, if you have an 8/256 GB variant phone, then if you want to, you can give it a go. I don't know how to install Bitcoin Core, so I didn't. But again, I think that's unreliable. Using Kali Nethunter on an Android device for a long time can be unreliable. There can be app crashes, low memory kills, lags, hitting issues, etc. Nethunter can be quite handy in the hacking sector, to be honest. You run some tools, test, expoloit, etc. Or you could use PGP encryption (if it supports it). How much time would it take? Max 10 minutes, I guess.

Kali Nethunter is the perfect solution, for those who wanna, at least have a taste of Linux operating system on Android.