Carrier IQ Your cell phone's secret big brother

[rhody]

I have been following this story for awhile, and since no one is reporting it, I thought I would post, because I feel you should be aware of what you may be subjected to when you use your cell phone. Have a look, comments, disbelief, outrage...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/technology/chi-meet-carrier-iq-your-phones-secret-recording-device-20111202,0,225498.story

Carrier IQ is a piece of software installed on millions of mobile phones that logs everything their users do, from what websites they browse to what their text messages say.

and

Reports about Carrier IQ's hair-raisingly detailed tracking capabilities began swirling in the tech press several months ago and gained steam after Android developer Trevor Eckhart posted an analysis of the software's data logs.

But on Monday, Eckhart followed up with a 17-minute YouTube video showing how the software secretly runs on his HTC EVO 3D Android phone and logs every key press, every text, and the full URL of every website he visits. It recorded that data even from websites that use security encryption designed to prevent that kind of tracking.

Then word began spreading about just how ubiquitous Carrier IQ's software is. It's on an estimated 150 million mobile devices .

The carrier's justification for having the software on the devices is to spot problems across a network, where and why calls are being dropped, battery life problems, and general phone software glitches. Apple says it stopped supporting it in the latest version of iOS and will completely eliminate Carrier IQ from all iPhones and iPads in an upcoming software update.

Aren't rootkits fun ? I wonder if Kasperski's latest tool to detect them has a cell phone app as well as for a PC. I have it on my PC, and it has detected and removed google web page redirects nicely. Evert time you execute it, it goes out and downloads a new version of the software in a .zip file, it takes only seconds to run as well. I run the free version. Rootkit insurance is what I like to call it.

Rhody...

 

[Borek]

We already have a thread on Carrier IQ here.