spying - SlashGear

ZTE, Lenovo, Archos dragged into BLU’s AdUps scandal [UPDATE]

JC Torres | Dec 19, 2016

Warranted or not, Chinese companies have had the misfortune of being associated with shady business practices and espionage. That has recently come to a rather sour turn when that situation directly reached US shores via Florida-based mobile device maker BLU Products. It seems, however, that the extent of the AdUps spyware is more far-reaching than initially thought. According to a report from mobile security outfit Trustlook, AdUps’ list of customers also includes some rather known brands like ZTE, Lenovo, MediaTek, and even France-based Archos.

Spies at 33,000 feet! NSA listens to phone calls in flight

Chris Burns | Dec 8, 2016

Aircraft carrying GSM phone-using passengers are revealed to have been targeted by the NSA for at least the past 5 years. This information comes from a newly revealed document from the National Security Agency's former contractor and infamous leaker Edward Snowden. In this document, a riddle starts off the reveal of technology which allowed and allows the NSA to listen in on phone calls and intercept messages posted to social networks - texts too, of course.

BLU to use Google’s updater instead of Chinese “spyware”

JC Torres | Dec 5, 2016

2016 may be remembered as being unkind to smartphone makers, be it because of slumping, or at least plateauing, sales, or distinct problems and scandals that rocked even mainstream news. Miami-based BLU Products would have had a normal year if not for the one last minute issue that gripped its business. Security firm Kryptoware discovered and reported that some of the company’s smartphones used a particular piece of software sourced from China. And that piece of software regularly phone home with data collected for the sake of advertising. Or so the story goes.

Chinese spyware on BLU smartphones claimed to be a “mistake”

JC Torres | Nov 16, 2016

BLU Products is a US-based smartphone maker known for selling low to mid range unlocked smartphones at dirt cheap prices. Almost like Xiaomi, but without the impressive sales numbers. But what buyers, and even BLU itself, didn’t know is that the low price may have come at the cost of privacy. Security firm Kryptowire has just revealed that a small piece of code hidden deep inside some of BLU’s smartphones was actually private user data, not to some US company, but to an undisclosed OEM in China.

NSA has ended its bulk data collection

JC Torres | Nov 29, 2015

Privacy advocates have scored a major victory this Sunday as the National Security Agency of the United States finally shuts down its en masse surveillance program that has left many of its own citizens vulnerable to invasions of privacy. But though the new Freedom Act does curtail the NSA's powers, it of course does not completely nip it in the bud. Instead of bulk spying, the agency will have to target specific people or groups which they can then monitor for months, of course with a court order and the cooperation of involved telecommunications companies.

Senate approves controversial CISA bill in 74-21 vote

JC Torres | Oct 27, 2015

In an overwhelming number of votes, the US Senate has given the thumbs up to the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, more popularly known as CISA, though it definitely has less flattering nicknames. While the bill will still have to go through a joint committee of House and Senate, the show of majority support is already quite telling. Naturally, privacy interest groups are raising their voices high in continued opposition, calling the bill a huge step backwards in the fight for privacy rights and an ineffective weapon against cybercrimes.

NSA will delete phone records on 29th November, sort of

JC Torres | Jul 28, 2015

Can an elephant forget? That might be the metaphorical question on people's minds after hearing about the NSA's move to restrict its access to phone records accumulated under the USA Patriot Act. On face value, it seems like a win for privacy and all that, but, as with all legal cases, there are always fineprints to be meticulously observed. In other words, the phone database won't exactly disappear immediately, but will hang around for a while, giving interested people some time to do what they can to squeeze out what they can.

Coders warn that security backdoor will open a can of worms

JC Torres | Jul 7, 2015

The US and UK governments continue to push for a VIP backstage access to the world's computers, networks, and devices, sometimes using the most emotional, not to mention deplorable, arguments. But such a security setup is ultimately a technical consideration and should also be driven by technical arguments. A group of industry specialists and luminaries are doing exactly that, releasing a paper that gives the proposal their stamp of disapproval, proving that not only is the backdoor access unfeasible, it will actually put countries at even more risk.

NSA expanded warrantless internet surveillance in attempt to stop hackers

Adam Westlake | Jun 5, 2015

New documents from Edward Snowden have revealed that since 2012, the US's National Security Agency has had an expanded ability to spy on Americans' internet data and communications, with no need to get a warrant. The documents were published in a New York Times article this week, and reveal that the NSA's goal is to find and stop hackers attempting cyberattacks from outside the country. Until now, this program was never disclosed to the public.

NSA eyed hijacking connections to Samsung, Google app stores

JC Torres | May 22, 2015

You have to hand it to the NSA and its allies. It would have moved heaven and earth to be able to spy on anyone and everyone. In the interests of national security, of course. The latest covert plans revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden strikes at the very heart of the Android world. According to leaked documents, the NSA and its counterparts in the "Five Eyes" alliance sought to ride on the traffic that connects smartphones with the likes of Google Play Store, in order to implant spyware on these devices.

House passes USA Freedom Act, curtails NSA’s powers

JC Torres | May 13, 2015

The NSA and other government agencies like it have been dealt yet with another near fatal blow. Just a week after the Court of Appeals agreed with the ACLU that the agency's massive data collection spree was illegal, the House of Representative further reduces the NSA's power. In an almost landslide vote of 338 to 88, the House passed what is known now as the USA Freedom Act of 2015, which imposes limits on what the government can and cannot demand in terms of private phone data.

Appeals court rules NSA surveillance program illegal

Nate Swanner | May 7, 2015

In March, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the NSA, claiming their surveillance program was overreaching and illegal. Today, a Federal Court of Appeals has agreed with that assertion, finding the NSA’s practice of data collection “exceeds the scope of what Congress has authorized”. This decision comes well after Edward Snowden began leaking documentation highlighting just how deep and intrusive the NSA’s domestic surveillance program is. In the ruling, Circuit Judge Gerald Lynch wrote “such an expansive concept of 'relevance' is unprecedented and unwarranted”.