Edward Snowden interview: 'Smartphones can be taken over'
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34444233Smartphone users can do "very little" to stop security services getting "total control" over their devices, US whistleblower Edward Snowden has said. The former intelligence contractor told the BBC's Panorama that UK intelligence agency GCHQ had the power to hack into phones without their owners' knowledge. Mr Snowden said GCHQ could gain access to a handset by sending it an encrypted text message and use it for such things as taking pictures and listening in. The UK government declined to comment....He did not suggest that either GCHQ or the NSA were interested in mass-monitoring of citizens' private communications but said both agencies had invested heavily in technology allowing them to hack smartphones. "They want to own your phone instead of you," he said.
Mr Snowden talked about GCHQ's "Smurf Suite", a collection of secret intercept capabilities individually named after the little blue imps of Belgian cartoon fame.
"Dreamy Smurf is the power management tool which means turning your phone on and off with you knowing," he said.
"Nosey Smurf is the 'hot mic' tool. For example if it's in your pocket, [GCHQ] can turn the microphone on and listen to everything that's going on around you - even if your phone is switched off because they've got the other tools for turning it on.
"Tracker Smurf is a geo-location tool which allows [GCHQ] to follow you with a greater precision than you would get from the typical triangulation of cellphone towers."
Mr Snowden also referred to a tool known as Paronoid Smurf.
"It's a self-protection tool that's used to armour [GCHQ's] manipulation of your phone. For example, if you wanted to take the phone in to get it serviced because you saw something strange going on or you suspected something was wrong, it makes it much more difficult for any technician to realise that anything's gone amiss."
Once GCHQ had gained access to a user's handset, Mr Snowden said the agency would be able to see "who you call, what you've texted, the things you've browsed, the list of your contacts, the places you've been, the wireless networks that your phone is associated with.
"And they can do much more. They can photograph you".
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customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)You could remove the battery, and put a sticker over the camera lens. Or, if this is done through an infected text message, then I suppose it is possible to disable texting on most smartphones. I never text, anyway.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)about the constitution, or protecting Americans from domestic spying, or some other bullshit...
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)That's no big deal, but Comrade Eddie and his narcissistic pal, Greenwald, THEY'RE THE PROBLEM.
Why not create an OP, Blue_Tires, that carefully lays out your case that Snowden, Greenwald, and Leni Riefenstahl Laura Poitras are tools of Putin and Hu Jintao? As you've stated, over and over, you knew right from the start...
Or you can keep posting status quo-supporting, authoritarian tantrums and character smears like you've always done.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)your point?
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)Yet you show no concern.
"If you've got nothing to hide..." is a popular refrain for those who champion the surveillance state.