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 ?
You can use Wireshark to monitor all network traffic. It’s not a simple task though. But if you take the time to set it up and learn how to use it, you can know everything that leaves your computer.
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.