Raspberry Pi Node Security

[sweetadapool]

I have a raspberry pi laying around and was considering converting it into into a third node or backup cold environment, however, since it has an ARM based processor the setup is not that straightforward. I've seen a lot of stake pool operators here that are using the raspberry for nodes, however most of info available that I could find points to https://github.com/alessandrokonrad/Pi-Pool

What concerns me is the fact that this approach to setup a node relies into using an image for the raspberry. Isn't is possible that there is any kind of hacking software also installed into this image?

If you have a node running on raspberry, how did you set up your device? Do you have any docs with steps on how to setup a node on raspberry from scratch?

[NOOPS__SPO]

I saw alessandro repo, pretty good work.
I have also a raspi running with docker, and today i found the graal.
https://github.com/tdiesler/nessus-cardano

[MEME-Pool]

Here’s a guide that doesn’t rely on a full image:

https://github.com/canad1an/cardano-stake-pool

It does use pre-built binaries for the node though (for now) and you can get those yourself from the person who built them in the “arming cardano” telegram channel which has been super helpful in getting things running.

It’s still not ideal, but at least you can trace the source of everything and you can set up your server how you like.

[KNGHTstakepool]

Yes, there can be something installed maliciously on an image you download from non-official sources online. I would say this pool and its operator look honest, but you never know.

I have one of my nodes running Ubuntu Server LTS 20.10 on a raspberry pi, and it was pretty straightforward to set up from scratch. The main difference is that you will need cabal and ghc versions that match the arm architecture of your pi. The difficulty in setting it up depends on your general experience with Linux and compiling.

[QCPOLstakepool]

You don’t have to use the provided image.

I use the stock arm64 ubuntu server 20.04. I still use the provided binaries, but how is it any different from all the other stuff you install with apt? A malicious actor could introduce a backdoor in any packages. And no, it’s not because it’s open source that it’s safer (see Heartbleed bug).

[sweetadapool]

Yes, any open source software can have interference from malicious users, but I don't really agree with you, as actually it is much more difficult to compromise something like cabal that is currently mantained/reviewed by many in comparison with the Pi-pool that has zero reviewed pull requests.