Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Secret Monitoring and CIQ

Many marvel at how far we have come technologically in the past few decades. From mobile phones that required a full briefcase to phone that can surf the internet, it truly is amazing! While the rest of us marvel at the flexibility of technology in phones and ponder how we can make it work more efficiently. Others try to twist the technology to benefit their own personal agenda. Whether it's the lone wolf hacker, an organized group like Anonymous, or a corporation doing "market research," your information is always at risk.

Smart phones these days are used as much if not more than computers to search the web and for the mobile person it's almost a necessity. Many think their information is safe because they use a phone and not a computer. This is not the case, according to a security researcher Trevor Eckhart has found evidence of hidden software that is installed on all stock phones relating to the makers of Android, Blackberry, and Nokia devices. The problem has gained such notoriety that Carrier IQ had to threaten Trevor with legal action. Trevor's findings revealed key logging, battery monitoring, and user experiences.

Trevor put out a video on his findings
















So far Trevor claims Carrier IQ's application is spying on people and Carrier claims it's not. While we revel in the thought that certain software is there to make a summarized report on the performance of the phone, how would you feel if that same software was making key logs of everything you type, what you look at, and  where you are. Be informed, not everything is as simple as you think.

Source: Researcher: Secret software tracks phone users
Additional Info: Wired