BUSTED! Secret app on millions of phones logs key taps
Researcher says seeing is believing
An Android app developer has published what he says is conclusive proof that millions of smartphones are secretly monitoring the key presses, geographic locations, and received messages of its users.
In a YouTube video posted on Monday, Trevor Eckhart showed how software from a Silicon Valley company known as Carrier IQ recorded in real time the keys he pressed into a stock EVO handset, which he had reset to factory settings just prior to the demonstration. Using a packet sniffer Android debug options while his device was in airplane mode, he demonstrated how each numeric tap and every received text message is logged by the software.
Ironically, he says, the Carrier IQ software recorded the “hello world” dispatch even before it was displayed on his handset.
Eckhart then connected the device to a Wi-Fi network and pointed his browser at Google. Even though he denied the search giant's request that he share his physical location, the Carrier IQ software recorded it. The secret app then recorded the precise input of his search query – again, “hello world” – even though he typed it into a page that uses the SSL, or secure sockets layer, protocol to encrypt data sent between the device and the servers.
“We can see that Carrier IQ is querying these strings over my wireless network [with] no 3G connectivity and it is reading HTTPS,” the 25-year-old Eckhart says.
The video was posted four days after Carrier IQ withdrew legal threats against Eckhart for calling its software a “rootkit.” The Connecticut-based programmer said the characterization is accurate because the software is designed to obscure its presence by bypassing typical operating-system functions.
In an interview last week, Carrier IQ VP of Marketing Andrew Coward rejected claims the software posed a privacy threat because it never captured key presses.
“Our technology is not real time,” he said at the time. "It's not constantly reporting back. It's gathering information up and is usually transmitted in small doses.”
Coward went on to say that Carrier IQ was a diagnostic tool designed to give network carriers and device manufacturers detailed information about the causes of dropped calls and other performance issues.
Eckhart said he chose the HTC phone purely for demonstration purposes. Blackberrys, other Android-powered handsets, and smartphones from Nokia contain the same snooping software, he claims.
The 17-minute video concluded with questions, including: “Why does SMSNotify get called and show to be dispatching text messages to [Carrier IQ]?” and “Why is my browser data being read, especially HTTPS on my Wi-Fi?”
The Register has put the same questions to Carrier IQ, and will update this post if the company responds. ®
Update
More than 19 hours after this post was first published, Carrier IQ representatives have yet to respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile, computer scientists have uncovered an unrelated Android glitch that could also invade smartphone users' privacy, and iOS Devices may be running Carrier IQ also.
Follow dangoodin001
Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery
COMMENTS
Legality
Is this even legal in the UK (or EU)? Surely this qualifies as interception under RIPA for starters, and it is clearly not with informed consent of the user. Maybe about time the rules made quite clear what exactly you can and can't bury 622 paragraphs down in T+Cs and still take a punt at claiming you have consent. Being spied on for gain should never, ever be a permissible condition of taking a service.
Perhaps the carriers would like to explain explicitly what uses they put the data to?
If this is proven true, then its very serious, not least because of the scale of it. If that is the case, its time for a massive class action to utterly destroy their company and send a clear warning to others. A line has to be drawn against companies behaving like this, because their kind are not going to stop pushing for ever more detailed spying without people standing up to them and saying no more. A limit has to be created somewhere!?!
"Sucks if you don't custom ROM it though, but that's the users' own fault for being dumb."
What a petty, arrogant little tech-snob you are? People want a phone, they would like it to work properly and they do not have time to take a 6 month course in Unix just to be able make a few phone calls, send a few SMS and sling a few birdies around the screen when killing time.
Perhaps we should get some people in to laugh at you as you most likely cannot crochet an intricate lace doily, plan and cook a 6 course meal for 30 people or play Chopin to concert standard, 'because "it's your fault for being so dumb"!
IT infrastructure monitoring strategies
What you need to know about cloud backup
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Top 10 SIEM Implementer’s Checklist
Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner
