Multiple crypto-experts said that the safest crypto wallet is a recent iPhone in airplane mode which is only used for this purpose. Because it's much harder to implant that your average hardware crypto wallet.
As long as the cost of sucha single-target attack isn't substantially below its potential upside, you should be safe.
Otoh, it's only meaningful if you have more than just toy assets in there.
There should be a range between those two though that would contain lots of folks comfortably.
Also known as buying a laptop, removing the WiFi card, and putting stock Ubuntu on it.
Yeah, the problem with "crypto hardware wallets" is the same as the problem with "secure phones for drug dealers" - they are an extremely juicy targets, you KNOW that any user of them is your target.
4G chips cost nothing and can be super small.
Would be good if Apple (or anyone) could have some kind of user-verifiable supply chain integrity thing, if they don't already.
I would've not dismissed the esim thing
like you do realize the Apple store scenario isn't on the same level, at all? like, you'd have to bascially stalk your target figure out when they're gonna go buy an iphone at some specific store and have all the SKUs ready, all for that one job vs. this where you can buy and resell these things and the cost is materials + labor for implanting the thing and shipping costs, and you don't really have to even identify your victims because your customers are likely wealthy (to a degree at least)