What happens when your phone is spying on you
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What happens when your phone is spying on you
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Re: What happens when your phone is spying on you
#2Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see a link to the actual paper, I think this is it from the conference site:
Re: What happens when your phone is spying on you
#3The title needs to be updated to say “Android”
Re: What happens when your phone is spying on you
#4Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see a link to the actual paper, I think this is it from the conference site: https://petsymposium.org/popets/2023/popets-2023-0013.php
Thanks for linking to the paper
Re: What happens when your phone is spying on you
#5The title needs to be updated to say “Android”
There are surreptitious ways to achieving covert monitoring on iOS. To say this applies to Android only is simply untrue.
You can do things via MDM on iOS for example and install spyware “monitoring” apps/set OS level permissions that are invisible to non tech saavy users.
Also if you have access to the device and the iCloud password/device pin (e.g. abusive partner scenario, etc.) then non tech saavy people don’t stand a chance against being secretly monitored.
Re: What happens when your phone is spying on you
#6The title needs to be updated to say “Android”
This quote in the article seems overly optimistic:
> "While Google does not permit the sale of such apps on its Google Play app store, Android phones commonly allow such invasive apps to be downloaded separately via the Web. The iPhone, in comparison, does not allow such “side loading” and thus consumer spyware apps on this platform tend to be far more limited and less invasive in capabilities."
Recommended:
https://citizenlab.ca/2021/12/pegasus-vs-predator-dissidents...
> "After confirming forensic traces of Pegasus on Nour’s iPhone, we identified the presence of additional spyware, which we attribute with high confidence to Cytrox. We further conclude with high confidence that it is unrelated to Pegasus spyware."
Re: What happens when your phone is spying on you
#7The title needs to be updated to say “Android”
There are surreptitious ways to achieving covert monitoring on iOS. To say this applies to Android only is simply untrue. You can do things via MDM on iOS for example and install spyware “monitoring” apps/set OS level permissions that are invisible to non tech saavy users. Also if you have access to the device and the iCloud password/device pin (e.g. abusive partner scenario, etc.) then non tech saavy people don’t st…
> To say this applies to Android only is simply untrue.
To be fair, this particular issue — the creative abuse of Android APIs by "stalkerware" apps — applies to Android only.
Also, MDMs on iPhones can't do the kinds of covert monitoring that this paper discusses. They can't access texts, emails, photos or other personal messages or data within apps on a device.
Re: What happens when your phone is spying on you
#8"When your phone is spying on you"???
The title makes it sound like this isn't a 24x7x365 concern when it very much is!
Re: What happens when your phone is spying on you
#9The title needs to be updated to say “Android”
This quote in the article seems overly optimistic: > "While Google does not permit the sale of such apps on its Google Play app store, Android phones commonly allow such invasive apps to be downloaded separately via the Web. The iPhone, in comparison, does not allow such “side loading” and thus consumer spyware apps on this platform tend to be far more limited and less invasive in capabilities." Recommended: https://…
Once an iPhone is jailbroken, yes — anything goes. The paper describes an Android attack that just requires an app install that "[does] not require specialized technical know-how to deploy or operate".
Re: What happens when your phone is spying on you
#10Something happened to me the other day, I started drafting a text using the regular text messaging app on my android phone, I was sending it to a friend, but I got distracted by a call and never sent the text. Later I went to finish it and send it but he had gone in and put some smart-alec comment in the text of the message I was drafting. I was shocked. He refuses to tell me how he did it. I went through all the settings, scans permissions and so on. He says he can't do it now but still refuses to tell me how he did it. Scary. I wish I could find out what it was he did. Any HN'ers have any ideas?