What are the four routes that personal information leaks out from smartphone?

ByTom Blackwell

Mobile phones and smartphones continue to evolve as key communication tools for not only exchanging calls and messages but also connecting to the Internet. Mobile terminals that are designed to be able to execute various functions with simple operations compared to PCs are convenient, while communication records, current position, etc. are easily identified. So Surveillance Self-Defense (SSD), which is pointing out how to protect yourself from spy acts on the net, is summarizing examples and methods of personal information leakage from mobile phones and smartphones with examples.

The Problem with Mobile Phones | Surveillance Self-Defense
https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/problem-mobile-phones

◆ 1: Identification of location information from the radio tower

ByOrin Zebest

In the modern mobile network, mobile phone carriers can determine the user's location from the radio tower that provides mobile phone communication network. Calculate from the radio field intensity when connecting to the radio towerTriangulationIt is due to the fact that accuracy increases as the number of radio towers in the area increases. In urban areas, accurate location information can be identified with considerable precision, and there is no way to prevent tracking by mobile phone carriers as long as they are connected to the mobile phone communication network.

Each mobile phone carrier does not disclose this information, but in some cases, the government and police may ask mobile phone carriers to provide a real-time location of a specific user, a movement log, and the like. Sometimes you are asked for a criminal investigation, but in 2014The Ukrainian government had asked cell phone carriers to provide information to make a list of anti-governmentistsIt is reported that the user information of mobile phone carriers is exchanged by country depending on country.

◆ 2:IMSI(Imzi) mobile network pursuit

ByThe Italian voice

All mobile phone users of GSM · W-CDMA · cdmaOne · CDMA 2000 are assigned an identification number called "IMSI". The IMSI information stored in the SIM card can be intercepted by "IMSI catcher", which is a portable fake radio tower, and if the organization has advanced government or government, It is possible to collect data. In 2015, there are no effective countermeasures against all IMSI catchers. However, by turning off 2G communication and roaming from terminal settings if possible, it is possible to prevent tracking from several IMSI catchers.

◆ 3: Identification of the terminal by Wi-Fi · Bluetooth

ByPost Memes

In addition to the mobile network, smartphones also have a Wi-Fi / Bluetooth connection function. Though these communication methods are usually usable only in a short distance of "the same room" and "the same building", in the experiment conducted in Venezuela in 2007, we succeeded in receiving Wi-Fi even at a distance of 382 km away It is said that. Both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signalsMAC addressAnd can not be changed later, the interception of the Wi - Fi · Bluetooth signal means that the user terminal is specified.

Commercial tracking applications have been confirmed that can track statistical information such as "how often a particular customer visits and how many hours are staying" using Wi - Fi · Bluetooth communication already. Since around 2014, smartphone manufacturers are beginning to raise concerns about Wi-Fi / Bluetooth tracking, but it is considered unlikely that it will take at least several years to apply tracking measures to all terminals In such a case you can prevent this type of tracking by turning off the connection yourself. In the future, software that can change the MAC address on the user side is needed.

◆ 4: Spill of position information from application · web browser

ByRichard Masoner / Cyclelicious

In the case of an application using GPS like the destination guide service, the application can ask the smartphone for GPS permission. While such applications sometimes send user's location information to the service provider via the network, providing location information to use the service of the application is tracked by the government or hacker There is a possibility to lead to that. Preventive measures are to review the privacy settings for each application and restrict the location information to only trusted applications.

There is a danger that various privacy may be naked to identify location information, to investigate whether certain people are in a relationship of love relationship or to identify secret information sources that journalists are touching. In 2013 the Washington Post,NSA tracks the current location of 5 billion mobile phones worldwide in 1 dayIt is reporting what I was doing and it is becoming a world that can not be concluded that "I can not have a spy".