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posted by n1 on Friday May 22 2015, @03:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the swiss-cheese-security dept.

According to a story at the Intercept, the National Security Agency and its closest allies planned to hijack data links to Google and Samsung app stores to infect smartphones with spyware, a top-secret document reveals.

As part of a pilot project codenamed IRRITANT HORN, the agencies were developing a method to hack and hijack phone users’ connections to app stores so that they would be able to send malicious “implants” to targeted devices. The implants could then be used to collect data from the phones without their users noticing.

 
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by darkfeline on Friday May 22 2015, @03:27AM

    by darkfeline (1030) on Friday May 22 2015, @03:27AM (#186309) Homepage

    Stuff like this makes me want to lock down my smartphone, but it's really hard to do so. Unless you are running a custom Android distribution (which is not supported on all phones), it's almost impossible to completely clean off all the junk running on phones nowadays without breaking some proprietary software infrastructure your provider has set up. I've tried twice on my Galaxy S4, rendering it unbootable both times. There's also no way to install a custom kernel on my model.

    Even if you do lock down your phone, you have to go without all the apps that are almost expected nowadays. For example, if you are part of a large organization, chances are they have their own internal app that you need to use.

    Also, let's not forget the "There's an app for that" mentality that crushes the great idea called code reuse. If you have app A that can play sounds and app B that tracks time, you can't hook A to B, you need a separate app C to play sounds at a given time. If you want to flash the camera light at a specified time, that's yet another app D. If you want to flash the light with a custom intensity, say hello to app E. Don't forget that each app comes with its own set of ads, unless you feel like paying $10 for as many apps to do something that only requires three or four UNIX-style programs.

    Ugh, I'd rather carry a dumb phone that can act as a wireless display for my laptop; keep those apps and services away from me.

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Nerdfest on Friday May 22 2015, @05:24AM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Friday May 22 2015, @05:24AM (#186331)

    Tasker will do most of what you want, and you cn go even deeper by running Python or Lua scripts to do direct API calls if you like.

    • (Score: 2) by everdred on Friday May 22 2015, @02:34PM

      by everdred (110) on Friday May 22 2015, @02:34PM (#186469) Journal

      Tasker is delightful. Its power makes working past the confusing UI totally worth it.

    • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Friday May 22 2015, @05:24PM

      by darkfeline (1030) on Friday May 22 2015, @05:24PM (#186546) Homepage

      That's pretty cool, but my main gripe is not that smartphones don't have enough functionality, it's that they have too much (duplicate and/or malicious and/or sloppy) functionality.

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      • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Friday May 22 2015, @06:22PM

        by Nerdfest (80) on Friday May 22 2015, @06:22PM (#186582)

        I rarely complain about too much choice.

        • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Saturday May 23 2015, @03:10PM

          by darkfeline (1030) on Saturday May 23 2015, @03:10PM (#186878) Homepage

          I suppose you love the US's tax code then? So many rules to choose from, which one's your favorite?

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          • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Saturday May 23 2015, @04:01PM

            by Nerdfest (80) on Saturday May 23 2015, @04:01PM (#186888)

            My favourite would be the one that has me pay the least money.

  • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday May 23 2015, @09:55AM

    by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Saturday May 23 2015, @09:55AM (#186820)

    You could just buy a Windows phone.....(ducks)
    :)

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