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Thread ID: 137590	2014-07-26 05:22:00	How the NSA can 'turn on' your phone remotely	Geek4414 (12000)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1380148	2014-07-26 05:22:00	Spooky . . . How the NSA can 'turn on' your phone remotely . cnn . com/2014/06/06/technology/security/nsa-turn-on-phone/" target="_blank">money . cnn . com Even if you power off your cell phone, the U . S . government can turn it back on . That's what ex-spy Edward Snowden revealed in last week's interview with NBC's Brian Williams . It sounds like sorcery . Can someone truly bring your phone back to life without touching it? No . But government spies can get your phone to play dead . It's a crafty hack . You press the button . The device buzzes . You see the usual power-off animation . The screen goes black . But it'll secretly stay on -- microphone listening and camera recording . How did they get into your phone in the first place? Here's an explanation by former members of the CIA, Navy SEALs and consultants to the U . S . military's cyber warfare team . They've seen it firsthand . Government spies can set up their own miniature cell network tower . Your phone automatically connects to it . Now, that tower's radio waves send a command to your phone's antennae: the baseband chip . That tells your phone to fake any shutdown and stay on . A smart hack won't keep your phone running at 100%, though . Spies could keep your phone on standby and just use the microphone -- or send pings announcing your location . John Pirc, who did cybersecurity research at the CIA, said these methods -- and others, like physically bugging devices -- let the U . S . hijack and reawaken terrorists' phones . "The only way you can tell is if your phone feels warm when it's turned off . That means the baseband processor is still running," said Pirc, now chief technology officer of the NSS Labs security research firm . This isn't easy to accomplish . It's a highly targeted attack . But if you are really concerned about the government's ability to reawaken your phone, here are some things you could do . Recovery mode . Put your phone on what's known as Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) mode . This bypasses the phone's operating system . Every phone has a different approach for this . It's fairly easy (albeit cumbersome) for iPhone users . Plug it into a computer with iTunes open . Hold down the Power and Home buttons for 10 seconds (no less) then let go of the Power button . Wait for an iTunes pop-up . That's it . For Android users, recovery mode varies by model . Android Magazine has a great tutorial here . Create a barrier . Use a signal-blocking phone case . You can buy them (Off Pocket, HideCell) or even make your own -- assuming you have the patience to do so . Pull out the battery . Without a power source, the phone can't come back on . This is the best, most surefire option . It's also, annoyingly, no longer a choice on most top-of-the-line smartphones . The iPhone, HTC One and Nokia Lumia don't have removable batteries . Luckily, the Samsung Galaxy and LG G3 still do . Silent Circle, a company that enables top-end private communication, kept these issues in mind when it co-created the Blackphone . It has a removable battery . It uses PrivatOS, a stripped-down version of Android that reduces tracking . And because spoofed cell towers can target its antennae too, Blackphone's makers are working with chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA, Tech30) to develop their own custom, more secure baseband chip . Silent Circle CEO Mike Janke, a former Navy SEAL, said they designed the phone based on revelations that the NSA can find powered off phones and the FBI can tap their microphones . You probably don't need to fear that the National Security Agency is using this strategy on your phone, Janke said . Those spies are focused on hunting down a specified list of terrorists and foreign fighters . But he noted that the FBI is using these kinds of surveillance tactics in the U . S . for all sorts of crimes .	Geek4414 (12000)
1380149	2014-07-26 19:59:00	Spooky . . . "The only way you can tell is if your phone feels warm when it's turned off . That means the baseband processor is still running," said Pirc, now chief technology officer of the NSS Labs security research firm . Interesting read . . . The only way to tell by feeling? Maybe possible to create a app notification if external code is written/communicated to the processor or firmware . Or for android utilizing/modifying clockwork mod to store and recover any external entry .	kahawai chaser (3545)
1380150	2014-07-27 22:47:00	Only a concern for the tinfoil hat brigade ? If you a bad guy being spyed on, dont use a smartphone. Use an basic cellphone. You'd have to be stupid to think smartphones, cellphones & wifi hotspots are secure. Even rouge apps can turn on & use the camera, mic etc without you knowing , just why do apps needs all those permissions . Just why does a online newspaper app need to access your contacts ?	1101 (13337)
1380151	2014-07-28 04:36:00	Spooky ... How the NSA can 'turn on' your phone remotely Create a barrier. Use a signal-blocking phone case. You can buy them (Off Pocket, HideCell) or even make your own -- assuming you have the patience to do so. Patience? It takes about 30 seconds to render your phone completely inaccessible. Fastest by far is to wrap it in aluminium foil, (double-wrap if you are paranoid). Other means might be to put it in a biscuit tin, but that's a bit hard to carry in your pocket and the tin/lid interface would probably leak RF. As for removing the battery, how clumsy is that! All that is needed is a mechanical on/off switch, but an electronic switch would do just as well provided it was isloated from the phone side of the technology. I begin to wonder if all this isn't just hoopla............... If the cellsite can't 'see' your phone then it can't carry out any exploit. Have some fun: Try various methods, it is pretty damned easy. All you have to do is 'hide' the phone from the cellsite, then call it from another phone or landline. If it rings, the Feds can find you, if it doesn't you are untrackable by anybody and everybody. You can get the same result on a permanent basis of course, by simply tossing your phone in the ocean. A few years back I had to do some work along pretty much the same lines for a US Supreme Court in relation to a criminal case. I had to assess a device to see (amongst other things) if it was adequately shielded against radio frequency interference as the manufacturer claimed. I don't have lab full of hi-tech stuff like the TV shows, so I simply dismantled the machine, opened up the 'secret' inner enclosure, put Mrs T's very ordinary cellphone inside, closed it all up, then called it three times from a landline. It rang on each occasion, proving that the device was far from impervious to RF interference. Cheers Billy 8-{) :thumbs: I've alway considered that my work is the most fun you can have standing up. :D	Billy T (70)
1380152	2014-07-28 22:17:00	Apple have put some data slurping & back doors into their phones. They are now backpedaling & having to try & justify spying/slurping data from their customers. "This data includes a copy of the user's address book, stored photos, the voicemail database and audio files, any accounts configured on the device such as iCloud, Facebook or Twitter, a cache of screenshots, keystrokes and the device's clipboard, GPS data, and – on iOS 7 – metadata disk sparseimage of the iOS file system." www.theregister.co.uk _site/ www.theregister.co.uk ecret_spying_tools/ This is a bit worrying, US law REQUIRES back doors & easy access for the spys "One possibility is that the software is needed so that the gadgets conform to the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which requires tech firms to have systems in place to allow properly accredited law enforcement limited access for wiretapping. But the bottom line is, all this spying was happening years before cellphones were invented. They used to just tap into your landline, put hidden mic's in your house & car & read your snail mail before it was delivered.	1101 (13337)
1380153	2014-07-31 10:58:00	There is a reference to this capability, in 1991, in "Killing Pablo", book about Pablo Escobar, well known Colombian trader.	Whenu (9358)
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