Edward Snowden and fellow hacker, Andrew Huang, want smartphone users to know at all times whether the NSA is tracking your iPhone.
The two presented their research on phone “hardware introspection” at MIT, stating that it aims to give users the ability to see if their phone is sending out secret signals to an intelligence agency.
“This work aims to give journalists the tools to know when their smartphones are tracking or disclosing their location when the devices are supposed to be in airplane mode,” the two wrote.
Snowden, an ex-NSA contractor, and Huang, a prominent hacker who has reverse-engineered the Xbox, noted that their solution could protect journalists and activists from being betrayed by their smartphones. In their paper, they mentioned Marie Colvin, a reporter who was killed by Syrian forces in 2012. In 2016, a lawsuit was filed against the Syrian government, alleging her smartphone signals were intercepted, and she was intentionally targeted.
Additionally, the paper makes it clear that what you see on your device’s screen is not always true.
If you turn off Bluetooth or cellular service, the phone’s radios and other electronics can still send signals, especially if intelligence agencies or hackers compromise them. Even with airplane mode on, the current version of Apple’s iOS keeps the GPS active.
Rather than trusting the phone’s software, Snowden and Huang have proposed a device that plugs into the hardware and continuously scans to see if it’s transmitting. Currently, the pair is building one for the 4.7-inch iPhone 6.
The add-on hardware will give the iPhone extra battery charge, while also providing a digital readout of whether a user’s device is “dark” (not transmitting when it’s supposed to) or whether a GPS, cellular, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi signal has betrayed them.
“If the prototype proves successful, [then the Freedom of the Press Foundation] may move to seek the necessary funding to develop and maintain a supply chain. This would enable the FPF to deploy modified iPhone 6 devices for field service among journalists in high-risk situations,” they wrote.
Via Tech Insider
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