

Spyware demo shows how spooks hack mobile phones - merah
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33772261

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joshribakoff
Would installing this spyware require physical access to the device (eg.
flashing the ROM?) If so, that's kind of boring, because with physical access
to the phone I could just put my own bug with its own mic, using it's own
power & network inside the phone's case and easily read all your data without
modifying anything on the phone or giving any "tells" like increasing network
usage.

Also presumably if law enforcement needed to listen in, there would be better
ways to do so than to physically steal your phone... like subpoenaing the
phone company.

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amiraliakbari
> source code for the programme had been dumped online by hackers

No references to online source or even the malware's name is made in the
article. Does anyone have more information on this?

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rabbidrabbit
There appears to be some code on github[0]. I haven't looked through it yet
though

[0] - [https://github.com/hackedteam](https://github.com/hackedteam)

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wcummings
This is it. It's from the Hacking Team dump. You can find the emails on
wikileaks

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yoz-y
Hm, is there currently any mobile anti-virus software available that would
have caught and blocked the Hacking Team exploits before the reveal?

Are there actually any "standard" security procedures for mobile? I suppose a
vast majority of customers simply trust OS vendors to release a secure
environment.

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jandrese
Unless you jailbreak your phone you are basically forced to trust the vendor.
Even with a jailbreak there are lots of places to hide something like this. If
there is a hack in the baseband firmware on your phone you are basically out
of luck.

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Zigurd
> If there is a hack in the baseband firmware on your phone you are basically
> out of luck.

You are out of luck. Around 2005/2006 it was revealed in a mob trial that the
FBI remotely activated, presumably using a special signaling plane command, a
non-smartphone to turn it into a room bug. Ain't no firewall for that.

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jsingleton

      You need to install Flash Player to play this content.
    

I think not.

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rasputhin
Spooks? 😨 Must be brit slang.. Lol

~~~
lorenzhs
It's another word for spies. I never realised it had a completely different
meaning in colloquial American English.

