Image via CrunchBase
I first took attention to Carrier IQ when it was discovered by custom ROM developers for the phone I personally have; the Sprint Epic4G made by Samsung. The device is part of the massively popular Galaxy S line of Android-powered devices that virtually every major cellular carrier in the world sells. Around June, it was discovered that this software records virtually everything a user does with their phone from each screen-tap to every site they visit to recording audio and even the physical orientation of the device itself.
A thread (which I now cannot find on XDA-Developers) outlined this “middleware” and it was surmised that individual Carriers like Sprint used it solely for coverage and troubleshooting issues. An effort was undertaken to remove this software from the Android Linux kernel as it was discovered to hinder the device’s performance. Developers notably had a very difficult time removing Carrier IQ, but managed to eventually remove it for their custom Android ROMs.
Fast forward to Fall of 2011 where a developer named Trevor Eckhart decided to look into Carrier IQ a bit deeper and found that Carrier IQ was essentially a rootkit and actually recorded almost all actions performed with a device it was installed on and phoned home with that information. He has released a video showing proof of Carrier IQ recording his location with location turned off, un-encrypted HTTPS streams, all SMS messages sent/received, and even EVERY touch of the device screen he makes.
Essentially what everything boils down to is that carriers can spy on literally everything you do with your phone. This is obviously a blatant violation of privacy rights and repercussions are sure to come. Developing…
Related articles
- Carrier IQ Rootkit Reportedly Logs Everything On Millions Of Phones (pcworld.com)
- You Can Test Your Android For Carrier IQ (Sort Of) [Carrier Iq] (gizmodo.com)
- People Are Freaking Out About Carrier IQ, The Hidden Smartphone Program That Tracks Everything You Do (businessinsider.com)
- Carrier IQ: How To Find It, And How To Deal With It – TechCrunch (techcrunch.com)
- Silicon Alley Insider: RIM: We Do Not Authorize Carrier IQ On BlackBerry Phones (RIMM) (businessinsider.com)
- Verizon: No CarrierIQ, No way (gigaom.com)
- So, there’s a rootkit hidden in millions of cellphones (zdnet.com)
- Phone ‘Rootkit’ Maker Carrier IQ May Have Violated Wiretap Law In Millions Of Cases (textually.org)
Security research firm M86 Security (no relation) has posted a whitepaper outlining how cyber-criminals started utilizing the Zeus v3 trojan in conjunction with the Eleonore, Phoenix, and Siberia Exploit Kits to siphon £675,000 (~$1.05 million USD) so far from UK victims’ systems that have been compromised. The attack started on July 5th and has continued silently ever since. The main reason why the theft hasn’t been successfully mitigated thus far is because of the Zeus trojan’s extreme difficulty to detect by antivirus solutions. The Zeus trojan, also known as Zbot, PRG, Wsnpoem, Gorhax and Kneber is sold as a kit to people willing to pay a price for the latest code known as Zeus v3. It primarily infects a machine through exploiting un-patched versions of Internet Explorer to gain control.
The Zeus trojan has been known to steal user data in the past, but has never been used in such a direct manner. In the US, there are believed to be 3.6 million infected machines by the malware alone, which makes it arguably one of the world’s most dangerous trojans/botnets in terms of potential damage. The Daily Mail has a good article outlining the exact details.
M86 Security Whitepaper (PDF)
