Since last one year, spyware hidden in Android traces users and sends their location discreetly to Google. A device that works even when geolocation is turned off.
To not be traced, simply disable geolocation on your smartphone. Easy, but is it really effective on Android? According to a Quartz survey, Google has developed a system that allows it to know where you are, even if the location is cut, thanks to the GSM cell number.
Contacted by Quartz, Google has recognized the method by stating that it was used since January 2017. It seems to be another technique that detected this summer by a website that already allowed the Californian group to know the movements of Android users. According to the Belgian site, the history made trace this tracking to 2016.
Regarding the method detected by Quartz, Google - the Alphabet subsidiary was justified. According to a spokesperson, this is a test to improve message routing services by identifying the positioning of relay antennas. He specifies that the data are not stored and that this system will be disconnected at the end of November. Experts want to know if this explanation holds water.
Although it seems consistent, Google has failed to warn Android users and in its Terms of Use, the group discusses the location methods it uses, but not exactly that one. The case will probably not go any further, but it adds to the suspicions of illegal recovery of data that weigh on digital companies.
This week, the French Wiko has been pinched by spyware in its smartphones that sends monthly personal information to Tinno, the Chinese manufacturer of smartphones of the French company. This data (the customer number, the IMEI, the serial number, the version of the operating system), according to Wiko, would make it possible to evaluate the use of smartphones and their lifetime in order to improve them. A few weeks ago, OnePlus was spotted by a cybersecurity expert using the same technique.
Like Google, the company did not warn users, and according to Elliott Alderson, the hacker who detected this method, the data circulated between Europe and China without even being encrypted. Wiko announced that its device would soon be modified to comply with the legislation.
To not be traced, simply disable geolocation on your smartphone. Easy, but is it really effective on Android? According to a Quartz survey, Google has developed a system that allows it to know where you are, even if the location is cut, thanks to the GSM cell number.
Contacted by Quartz, Google has recognized the method by stating that it was used since January 2017. It seems to be another technique that detected this summer by a website that already allowed the Californian group to know the movements of Android users. According to the Belgian site, the history made trace this tracking to 2016.
Regarding the method detected by Quartz, Google - the Alphabet subsidiary was justified. According to a spokesperson, this is a test to improve message routing services by identifying the positioning of relay antennas. He specifies that the data are not stored and that this system will be disconnected at the end of November. Experts want to know if this explanation holds water.
An indication that does not appear in the Terms of Use
Although it seems consistent, Google has failed to warn Android users and in its Terms of Use, the group discusses the location methods it uses, but not exactly that one. The case will probably not go any further, but it adds to the suspicions of illegal recovery of data that weigh on digital companies.
This week, the French Wiko has been pinched by spyware in its smartphones that sends monthly personal information to Tinno, the Chinese manufacturer of smartphones of the French company. This data (the customer number, the IMEI, the serial number, the version of the operating system), according to Wiko, would make it possible to evaluate the use of smartphones and their lifetime in order to improve them. A few weeks ago, OnePlus was spotted by a cybersecurity expert using the same technique.
Like Google, the company did not warn users, and according to Elliott Alderson, the hacker who detected this method, the data circulated between Europe and China without even being encrypted. Wiko announced that its device would soon be modified to comply with the legislation.