Posts tagged Security
Carrier IQ Speaks: Our Software Ignores Your Personal Info
John Paczkowski at All Things D:
While CIQ might “listen”* to a smartphone’s keyboard, it’s listening for very specific information. Company executives insist it doesn’t log or understand keystrokes. It’s simply looking for numeric sequences that trigger a diagnostic cue within the software. If it hears that cue, it transmits diagnostics to the carrier.
Regardless, why did no one know about Carrier IQ? Why was everyone so quick to distance themselves from them? Were any laws being breached?
Have an Android, BlackBerry or Nokia phone? Everything you do on it is being logged.
David Kravets of Wired:
Though the software is installed on most modern Android, BlackBerry and Nokia phones, Carrier IQ was virtually unknown until 25-year-old Trevor Eckhart of Connecticut analyzed its workings, revealing that the software secretly chronicles a user’s phone experience — ostensibly so carriers and phone manufacturers can do quality control.
But now he’s released a video actually showing the logging of text messages, encrypted web searches and, well, you name it.
Wow. This is pretty crazy stuff. Nobody is going to like the thought of all their calls, emails, texts, et cetera all being logged and recorded.
For the sake of clarity, it’s worth stressing a few things:
1) The issue is confirmed in the US; it’s not yet know what the situation is here in the UK.
2) It isn’t Google (in the case of Android) behind this, it’s something added by phone carriers.
3) There are some traces of Carrier IQ software on iPhones but a) they don’t grab the same sensitive information and b) there is full opt out.
It is also worth emphasising that if this was something that was happening on Apple products, there would be WAY more coverage of the issue. When you think of the amount of coverage there was when a bug was tracking the location of WiFi towers near where you went with you iPhone, it says a lot about how the media loves stories that are down on Apple and don’t give balanced coverage of negatives with other companies.
UPDATE
John Gruber has been following the story closely and has a string of posts with links to further information that are worth looking at if you’re interested in this story:
Really Google?
If you don’t want your broadband router to be included in Google’s huge location database this is what you have to do:
Visit your access point’s settings and change the wireless network name (or SSID) so that it ends with “_nomap.” For example, if your SSID is “Network,” you‘d need to change it to “Network_nomap.”
Do they really think that the average home user has the knowledge to go about changing a setting like this?
3 Major Issues with the Latest iPhone Tracking “Discovery”
Alex Levinson sheds some light:
1) Apple is not collecting this data.
2) This hidden file is neither new nor secret.
3) This “discovery” was published months ago.
It’s a bit technical, but worth a read.
Everywhere I’ve been in the UK since May 2010
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This is based on the app that was released recently to highlight a potential - but very unlikely - security risk scenario with the iPhone keeping track of everywhere you go. Check my post from yesterday on why this is more-or-less a non-issue.
UPDATE:
My Scottish work colleague points out that I have falsely titled this post as I never crossed the border into Scotlan (or Wales) and so it should really be ‘Everywhere I’ve been in the England since May 2010’!
iPhones record your recent locations (So what?)
Joe Cieplinski:
First and foremost, we’re talking about a locally stored file that never gets sent anywhere. It’s on your iPhone, and it’s on the computer you use to backup the iPhone. That’s it. Apple isn’t “tracking” you. Your phone is tracking you and keeping that information from anyone, including you, unless you get into this file.
Inevitibly of course, since this is Apple, it’s a media storm. Joe does a great job of showing how this is a big non-issue. That said, I do think iTunes backups should be encrypted by default which would completely seal this as a non-issue.
