iPhone Zombies, the CIA, the NSA, and what we don't know

I've never understood the fascination with the iPhone, and neither does the NSA. Here are a couple of their powerpoint slides showing how little respect they have for iPhone fans.

Smart phones are the weak link on privacy today. They are extremely easy to hack.

Almost a quarter of mobile devices are exposed to at least one security threat after 30 days online, according to Skycure Ltd., an Israeli wireless security company. That rises to more than two fifths after four months.

At DefCon, where people should know better, they have a Wall of Sheep for people who refused to turn off their smart phones. So you can imagine what the NSA and CIA can do.

Democrat Ron Wyden, possibly the lone member of the Senate Intelligence Committee that actually cares about privacy rights, gave an ominous warning this week.

Wyden bluntly warned that even after the NSA scandal that started with Edward Snowden’s disclosures, the Obama administration has continued programs to monitor the activities of American citizens in ways that the public is unaware of and that could be giving government officials intimate details of citizens’ lives.
Asked if intelligence agencies have domestic surveillance programs of which the public is still unaware, Wyden said simply, “Yeah, there’s plenty of stuff.

That actually shouldn't surprise anyone, considering that Snowden only had access to NSA sources. He couldn't access CIA information.

For instance, the CIA:

* collects bulk information for international money transfers from companies like Western Union
* has a decade-old program for cracking iPhone systems including subverting Apple Store
* teamed up with the U.S. Marshal's Office to use phony cell phone towers called “Dirtboxes or Stingray” surveillance technology

And it keeps going on.
The Postal Service keeps a massive database of photographs of the front and back of every single piece of mail that is sent in the United States.
The DEA has its own mass phone surveillance program - separate from the NSA's - in which “phone records were retained even if there was no evidence the callers were involved in criminal activity.”
The Justice Department is developing a database to track vehicle movements around the U.S. in real time.

Despite knowing all these massive violations of privacy rights, Wyden says there is much more on-going that we don't know about.
Nearly two years after Snowden's whistleblowing, and more than a year after President Obama promised to reform the NSA, there has been almost no effort by the executive branch to stop the privacy violations.

Of course Congress can reform the domestic spying programs, and this week they took a step - in the wrong direction.

The vote on the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, 14 to 1, occurred in a secret session inside the Hart Senate office building. Democrat Ron Wyden was the dissenter, calling the measure “a surveillance bill by another name”.
Senator Richard Burr, the committee chairman, said the bill would create avenues for private-to-private, private-to-government and government-to-private information sharing.

This is probably one of the more under-reported aspects of the domestic spying issue - the private sector.
So far the tech companies have tried to show themselves as innocent victims of the security state, when in fact the opposite is true.

Contractors like Lockheed Martin aren’t a subordinate extension of the national security state. Quite the opposite. It’s probably more accurate to conclude that intelligence agencies, like the NSA, represent a public sector appendage of a much larger corporate power structure whose nexus resides in profound sources of wealth and influence outside of the government. A Deep State, if you will, that’s fundamentally driving what goes on in Washington...
According to the Intercept’s worldview hi-tech companies are but helpless pawns being coerced and assailed by runaway security services rather than willing symbiotic accomplices that directly benefit from the global panopticon.

Remember that the tech companies never made a public complaint until Snowden's whistleblowing exposed them to bad press. And now, after two years, they have somehow not managed to push reforms on the "all-powerful government", despite the fact that corporations often write the laws that Congress passes.
Somehow I doubt that the tech companies are that weak and powerless.

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Cordelia Lear's picture

but do you really think your Galaxy, HTC or Droid is any better?

Bottom line in protecting your phone - whatever it is - shut it off when your not using it and never use "free wi-fi" anywhere.

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"Never separate the life you live from the words you speak." --Paul Wellstone

NCTim's picture

I have read stuff where they track a phone even when it is "off". Leave it at the house whenever plausible.

Or you could be like me, and not have one.

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

Unabashed Liberal's picture

Seriously, we carry phones for medical reasons, and, in case of emergencies, in general.

But I did quit long ago, using any applications which need permission to track location. That's always a good idea, as you suggest.

UL

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Unabashed Liberal's picture

My provider no longer carries them.

We have Androids, but they are awful security risks, from all that I've read. (Although we don't know of any concrete breach that we've ever suffered using a Samsung Galaxy.)

I don't have time to find the most recent article, but this one describes one problem with the OS:

‘Fragmentation’ leaves Android phones vulnerable to hackers, scammers

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/android-phones-vulnera...

Don't know what we'll do.

We detest contracts, and being 'stuck with' a phone service. But it appears that all the prepaid providers have dropped carrying them.

There was a more recent Android scare, but I can't get my hands on the Bloomberg piece right now. Anyway, neither of us plan to buy another one of them.

I wish there were more choices than Blackberry, Android, and iPhones. (for a smartphone)

UL

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

snoopydawg's picture

I don't know which model you had, but maybe you can check eBay.
Every app on my zte tracphone wants permission to my phone and gps along with other things.
I used to have a sony Erickson bar phone, but I couldn't afford the monthly payment and hardly used it.
$15 extra added fees by AT&T made it too expensive. I have friends that pay close to $150 month for their smart phones. Or more. I only use mine for emergencies or if I need to make a long distance call.
Mostly uses it for texts from people interested in buying the items I have on the classifies for sale.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Unabashed Liberal's picture

any longer (for our current carrier), and they haven't sold them for almost a year.

I'm not leery of buying anything on E-Bay or Amazon--except for 'some' electronics. I've read warnings about cell phones, etc., since if you buy a stolen one, etc., you're sometimes just stuck with them.

Think that we'll just change the carrier. Unfortunately, we're still leery of entering into a contract again--after T-Mobile. They dropped their contracts for 'roaming,' and we had almost no access, but we couldn't get out of our contract with them.

So, we haven't contracted with anyone in over a decade. Which means the phones aren't discounted.

So, can't win, for losing.

Wink

UL

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Norton and McAffee both provide virus software for that operating system. I love my iPhone - just got the 6. I figure I can worry about people spying on me, or I can do what the hell I want. I really doubt I'm anybody the government would be interested in; and if I thought I "could" be made vulnerable by an electronic trail, I would plan those digital events it into my life's activity. My credit card/money trail probably exposes me more than any phone.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Tammany Tiger's picture

The ad agency that created them is narrowcasting to phone buyers who detest the very idea of literacy.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

this evening by itself.

Not that I must not have accidentally hit a key, but Jeeeeeeezzzzzzz!!!!!!!

You can't breathe around them.

They do function fairly well as hotspots, though.

(And that's its main use--as a secondary Wi-Fi hotspot device. When it plays out, we'll not purchase another one.)

UL

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snoopydawg's picture

It will make calls in the middle of the night. I called tracphone and the 1st time they had me reset the phone and returned the minutes. The 2nd time, the jerk wouldn't. I check it everyday now and if it's more then 30 seconds I call them.
I'm not resetting again.
Once as I was setting it down, I saw the voice dialer powering up. I've deleted it from my screen, but somehow it keeps activating it b
I hate android, google and ms with a passion.
I want to be able to afford my old cheap bar phone again.
Sigh, maybe one day I won't be so poor.

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mimi's picture

is somehow more "risky" than your own wi-fi at home?

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Cordelia Lear's picture

you can define various things such as: a password one needs to use the network, how many concurrent users can be on the network, whether you encrypt the data as it transmits,... In other words you have control over who uses the network and it should be users you trust.

If you use "free wifi" anyone including those with malicious intentions can be on the network. If another user has malicious intentions then you're essentially screwed unless you have protected your laptop or phone to an incredible level. Have you consciously set your permissions so that no other computer on a network can aceess any of your files? Do you have any passwords set to autosave so you don't have to enter them each you visit a site? Have ever answered yes to saving a credit card number (even if it's accidentally)? Has your address or social security number ever been autosaved? The default options your computer comes set with are not your friend.

During the Olympics in Russia there were news stories about taking a barnd new computer out of the box and hooking it up to a "free wifi" and it was totally infected and taken over within 20 minutes.

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"Never separate the life you live from the words you speak." --Paul Wellstone

mimi's picture

how I set it up, if at all.

You say an autosave password is good to use? I never use that. And I never save credit card numbers. Address autosaved? Not by me, but it's easily available online. SS autosaved? I hope not. There are very few sites that ever needed my SS, just government sites, like Medicare or SS services itself.

I have no smart phone and don't check any email over a phone. I often wonder over text messages. How and where they are saved. I usually never use outside free wi-fi, but my son had to. Shoot. I hate this technology. I don't believe in any sort of security anymore for online communication.

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There is a couple things that you absolutely must do with your home wifi router:

1) Set the administrator password ASAP
2) Set encryption on your wifi to WPA2 (WEP isn't good enough)
3) Place low limits on the number of users, and if it has a firewall, lock that down to just the basic ports

Even then you aren't 100% safe, but computer security is like home security. If someone is determined to break into your home they will eventually do it. The idea is to make it so difficult that they look for someone easier.

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Depending on how long I needed to be online, I would probably use one in a starbucks. Would I do my banking, check my credit card, or plot to rob a bank on it? No, but opening work/word documents, CFRs, etc. - wouldn't think twice.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Seriously. Standing in line all night to buy a phone? That's nuts.

No, Android phones aren't better. They may be worse, but they are also generally a lot cheaper.

As for me, I turned wifi off on my smart phone about 6 months ago and never turned it back on.

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gulfgal98's picture

No matter what phone you have, the NSA probably can track you regardless. I do not even have a "smart" phone, but I do have an old fashioned flip phone. I am realistic enough to know that if the NSA wants to know more about me and where I am at, they probably already do. Heck, I am pretty sure they already do since I was active in Occupy Tallahassee and am currently active in a Peace vigil. In both cases, I never tried to hide my identity. But still, the issue for me is NOT me, but the idea that none of us have any privacy right envisioned under the 4th Amendment.

The bad news is that the NSA collects it all. The good news, at least temporarily, is that they collect it all and there is no way they can sort through all at this time. In the future, that may not be the case. But the real problem is that what they are doing is grossly unconstitutional.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

snoopydawg's picture

Utah is in a drought and the huge NDA building in Bluffdale uses 2 million gallon of water a day. The legislature is rethinking cutting off their water. We just have to worry about the other gazzilion NSA and corporate owned buildings. :).

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Big Al's picture

originally, but as time passed it certainly become one. Actually it was the stupid two year contract
bullshit that stopped me at first. The only cell phone I've had is a pay as you
go one which is very limited and I usually don't have it charged or have minutes on it, like now.
If I really need one, I'll get more minutes and charge the damn thing.
I have no interest in going further and the more I (we) learn, the more it doesn't interest me.
I don't know if it matters if I avoid some of this since I use the internet willy nilly.

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LapsedLawyer's picture

And now just think, when the idiot Apple freaks get their new iWatches they'll have to have one of those just to tell what f***ing time it is!!!!

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"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
-- John Lennon