Smartphone Spying as Art
A film student put spyware on a smartphone and then allowed it to be stolen. He made a movie of the results. EDITED TO ADD (12/20): Slashdot thread…. Continue reading Smartphone Spying as Art
Category Archives: cellphones
Impressive Social Engineering Display
In this impressive lc7scxvKQOo">social-engineering display, a hacker convinces a cell phone tech-support person to change an account password without being verified in any way…. Continue reading Impressive Social Engineering Display
Samsung May Permanently Disable Galaxy Note 7 Phones In The US As Soon As Next Week
Those who are still clinging on to their Galaxy Note 7, even after Samsung recalled the devices due to faulty batteries in mid-September, may want to seriously reconsider returning them to the Korean company. The Verge has obtained an image of an alert… Continue reading Samsung May Permanently Disable Galaxy Note 7 Phones In The US As Soon As Next Week
New NSA Stories
Le Monde and the Intercept are reporting about NSA spying in Africa, and NSA spying on in-flight mobile phone calls — both from the Snowden documents…. Continue reading New NSA Stories
NSA, GCHQ Have Been Intercepting In-Flight Mobile Calls For Years
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: American and British spies have since 2005 been working on intercepting phone calls and data transfers made from aircraft, France’s Le Monde newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing documents from former… Continue reading NSA, GCHQ Have Been Intercepting In-Flight Mobile Calls For Years
Former Samsung Engineers Build Smart Umbrella That Tells If It’s Going To Rain
A team of former Samsung engineers have developed a smart umbrella, dubbed Opus One, that tells its owner if it’s going to rain with the shake of the handle. International Business Times reports: Developed by a team of former Samsung engineers, Opus On… Continue reading Former Samsung Engineers Build Smart Umbrella That Tells If It’s Going To Rain
Smartphone Secretly Sends Private Data to China
This is pretty amazing: International customers and users of disposable or prepaid phones are the people most affected by the software. But the scope is unclear. The Chinese company that wrote the software, Shanghai Adups Technology Company, says its code runs on more than 700 million phones, cars and other smart devices. One American phone manufacturer, BLU Products, said that… Continue reading Smartphone Secretly Sends Private Data to China
Using Wi-Fi to Detect Hand Motions and Steal Passwords
This is impressive research: "When CSI Meets Public WiFi: Inferring Your Mobile Phone Password via WiFi Signals": Abstract: In this study, we present WindTalker, a novel and practical keystroke inference framework that allows an attacker to infer the sensitive keystrokes on a mobile device through WiFi-based side-channel information. WindTalker is motivated from the observation that keystrokes on mobile devices will… Continue reading Using Wi-Fi to Detect Hand Motions and Steal Passwords
Mass Spectrometry for Surveillance
Yet another way to collect personal data on people without their knowledge or consent: "Lifestyle chemistries from phones for individual profiling": Abstract: Imagine a scenario where personal belongings such as pens, keys, phones, or handbags are found at an investigative site. It is often valuable to the investigative team that is trying to trace back the belongings to an individual… Continue reading Mass Spectrometry for Surveillance
Fake HP Printer That’s Actually a Cellular Eavesdropping Device
Julian Oliver has designed and built a cellular eavesdropping device that’s disguised as an old HP printer. Masquerading as a regular cellular service provider, Stealth Cell Tower surreptitiously catches phones and sends them SMSs written to appear they are from someone that knows the recipient. It does this without needing to know any phone numbers. With each response to these… Continue reading Fake HP Printer That’s Actually a Cellular Eavesdropping Device