New Delhi: Do you own an Android phone? Your security may - it's not certain yet - have been horribly compromised. According to reports on several tech blogs and websites, every one of your activities on your phone - including the contents of text messages, searches, passwords, and even phone numbers dialed - is being recorded. How? Apparently, a piece of secret software made by a company named Carrier IQ captures all of your keystrokes and faithfully conveys them to the software-maker's databases.
As the tech blog Gizmodo reports, the spyware sits between the user and the applications in the phone, no matter how secure and private the apps, and grabs everything entered. The software is said to be loaded without the permission of users. The software always runs, but never shows up in the list of apps running on those devices.
If this is true, it will count as one of the greatest security holes in mobile phone usage ever, not to mention the implications of inserting such software into a phone without the user's explicit permission. What's worse, this information-capturing process may not be limited to Android-based phones - manufatured by, among others, Samsung, HTC, Motorola and LG - but may also be active on phones made by Nokia, RIM (Blackberry) and Apple (iPhone). For, according to reports, the software is included on those phones as well, though it isn't clear yet whether the keystrokes are captured on them too.
The news broke when Trevor Eckhart, an Android app developer in America, posted a video showing that Carrier IQ's software installed on Andorid phones records the way those phones are used along with their geographic locations, reports The Telegraph. In the video, he did a “factory reset" on his Android phone, thereby returning the phone to the condition in which it is shipped, and linked it to a computer screen, which allegedly showed what the software was tracking. The demonstration showed that the software read every keystroke entered in the phone.
Earlier, it was being reported that the software is installed on only Android phones, but tech website Verge has recently reported that the company also may have hooks into Apple's iOS. Chpwn, a well-known iPhone hacker, tweeted that versions at least as recent as iPhone OS 3.1.3 contained references to Carrier IQ and later confirmed that it is in all versions of iOS, including iOS 5.
Carrier IQ, has reportedly said in a statement that it "assists operators and device manufacturers in delivering high quality products and services to their customers." The information is apparently gathered by Carrier IQ for the exclusive use of the specific customer only, and Carrier IQ does not pass on personal subscriber information to third parties, it added. Carrier IQ is a third party company that provides metric information to carriers and handset makers. The software is not part of the OSs on the phones.
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