NSA has complete control of your iPhone, can activate your microphone and camera

http://benswann.com/ ^ | December 30, 2013 | Joshua Cook

[rarestia]

The beauty of the Droid OS is that the OS itself is open source. While Google provides wireless service portals for the OS, there are so many derivatives of the Droid OS that Google doesn’t control the libraries/repositories for all of them.

There’s been a lot of work done to “clean up” the repository code on these operating systems whereas Apple’s OS is proprietary and while you can “jail break” your phone, you’re still stuck with the Apple kernels.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

This is no great surprise. They have been able to do this for years with cellphones. Which basically means that if you have a cellphone with you, even if it is "off", its microphone can be used to listen in to your conversations.

And, since every cellphone now has automatic GPS, they not only monitor what you say, but where you say it. And where you travel, to and from, along with your current location.

And even this is enough. All new model cars have GPS, so even if you don't have your cellphone, your location is known. And a large number of public cameras are also available to them. And any time you use a credit card.

Etc., etc. Ad nauseum.

But remember, unless there is surveillance of you 24 hours a day, the terrorists win. Or something.

[Black Agnes]

The toeholds for the hack are likely embedded in the hardware.

[rarestia]

That would mean that every manufacturer was complicit in the deliberate manufacturing of a “hacked” product. Do you honestly believe that every electronics manufacturer in the world would put their reputation on the line like that? I don’t.

If you read what these Snowden leaks have revealed, they show complicity on the part of the operating system manufacturers (Microsoft, Apple, Google). That means they are embedding code into their systems for back door access. Cisco’s been fingered, because they run the majority of the core network backbone infrastructure in the world, and trying to put them on the record as being complicit would mean the entire Internet could be brought down.

Linux has not once been listed as a compromised operating system, and open source technologies and code has not been listed as being compromised. You’re much better off with any Linux-based operating system vs. Microsoft or Apple at this point.

[Black Agnes]

Most hardware is manufactured in China. If you don’t think the Chicoms are doing just that you might need another cup of coffee...

[stockpirate]

They sleep very well because they believe what that they are doing is justified, after all the Constitution is an old outdated document written by racist white men.

[rarestia]

I would encourage you to read up on the electronics manufacturing process before you make very broad comments/assumptions. The code used on chips and semiconductor manufacturing is very specific and does not take well to tampering. While much of our electronic circuitry is manufactured in China, they are simply taking the CAD drawings drafted in America and feeding them into machines to put together the mainboards. The code on the chipsets is not irreversible, and QC catches a majority of screwy code before it hits the market.

Trust me, having programmed BIOS code in the past, there are very tight constraints, and any attempts to subvert the hard-wired BIOS process usually leads to an unusable piece of hardware. China may be complicit in back door code coming out of factories therein, but that code is often overwritten by second and third-tier OEMs for different markets.

[SunkenCiv]

Anyone who thinks they’re immune because they don’t have an iPhone is nuts.

Anyone who purports to believe it just because they hate Apple for whatever reason, is both a liar and stupid.

I run with a prepaid dumb phone, because smart phones are illegible (I’m a little older now, and can’t see small sh##) and try to do too much with a very, very limited interface.

[KoRn]

"No more unaccessible battery products for me."

You could go with using land lines. Wait.... Those are easier to eavesdrop on than cell phones. All virtually anyone needs is a wrench, maybe a screwdriver, and a handheld test set like the phone guys use. With the good ones, you can't even hear someone 'clip on'. Once the cable pair your using is found, it can be used anywhere between the box at your house and the phone office. I doubt the NSA bothers with your physical wire pair though. They most likely have a way of remoting into the switch at your phone office.

[SunkenCiv]

How Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3045986/posts

Microsoft helped defeat encryption for NSA on Outlook, SkyDrive, Skype
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3042087/posts

NSA Paid a Huge Security Firm $10 Million to Keep Encryption Weak
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3103897/posts

New Snowden documents say NSA can break common Internet encryption
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3063108/posts

N.S.A. Foils Much Internet Encryption
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3063036/posts

NSA Breaks Most Codes (Digital Encryption Used by Business)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3063466/posts

NSA encryption story, Latin American fallout and US/UK attacks on press freedoms
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3064198/posts

Guardian: NSA contractor was source of massive U.S. surveillance leak
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3029297/posts

[SunkenCiv]

Should Truecrypt be audited?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3080589/posts

FSF responds to Microsoft’s privacy and encryption announcement
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3099634/posts

Hackers break SSL encryption used by millions of sites
http://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2781678/posts

Researchers identify first flaws in the Advanced Encryption Standard
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2767195/posts

Disk encryption easily cracked, researchers find
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1974545/posts

[Jonty30]

Make your cell phone has a removeable battery.

[Buckeye McFrog]

In a related item, sales of black electrical tape rise by 3800%.

[freds6girlies]

bookmark

[cashless]

Hee hee. Wonder how the OWS dunderheads and obvious hypocrites feel about their precious iPhone now. Their primary communication and social point of contact used to track their every call, every movement, and every treasonous, anarchist conversation. Useful idiots indeed.

[usconservative]

As an owner of an iPhone and an iPad, I’ve turned off every last “convenience” tool and still don’t feel completely secure/private.

The NSA knows you turned those features off, and because you value your privacy they've just put you on a watch list......

[zeugma]

I have a cheap $10 a month phone I carry for calling 911 if I trip and fall while walking. If they can turn it on and use the camera more power to them since I have not been able to figure that out.

It is not necessary to have an active phone to dial 911, if that's really all you use it for. Carriers are required to process 911 calls regardless of the phone's status.

[zeugma]

What scares me more is the ability of nefarious agencies to plant information on unsuspecting parties and then arrest them for crimes which they never committed.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

We have a winner here!

Our government is feral. You can't trust anything they do or say.

[JimRed]

Oh boy- new invention! How do I patent the I-phone security system I just invented?

[CIB-173RDABN]

I don’t have long distance on my house phone. Did not want to pay just so I may call long distance. Most places I call have 800 numbers but on the rare occasion I have to call a long distance number I can use my cheap phone and still save money.