As the smartphone craze sweeps the nation, hackers are having a field day with their tricks. A few days back, an internet security firm shocked the world when it announced that it bought 20 phones online and retrieved data that was erased.
The data retrieved ranged from undressing women, manhood selfies, call records and loan applications. It triggered a buzz about the safety of personal data on smartphones. How to play safe is the question.
My mobile phone is hacked! Feel angry and worried. It's an Android device. It was behaving like the hacker had control over my phone and was going through my apps and messages and apparently even made a couple of undue calls. Please suggest folks, any help is appreciated," wrote Mani K, as the phone started doing things on its own. The tips to help included, removing the battering, telling the cybercops and uninstalling all the apps.
"My phone started behaving oddly, it would become warm as if someone is using it. It totally freaked me out. I went to Jagdish Market and then the guys charged me a few hundred rupees and restored the phone. The guy clearly told me not to install apps that I am not sure of," says Harish Rao, a college lecturer. Between these two stories of phone hacking and the after effects, there are a whole load of stories about fear and loathing of the tricks smartphones can play.
"The game begins as soon as you download an app and give permission for installation. The moment you do that, it is like you are giving the keys to your home ,wardrobe and all the information on your hard drive. Even simple gaming apps also access details like identity and call records, some can even switch on the mic or the camera," says Aslam Khan, a cellphone technician in Abids, who says he deals with at least 10-15 cases of hacked phones every day. "I try to do a factory reset and tell the customers about the care while browsing the net or using free WiFi zones," says Aslam, busily working with a forceps and watch glass.
Safe and not sorry
The cellphone markets in Abids, near the Assembly, near Koti and countless other locations in Secunderabad and Dilsukhnagar throng with shoppers who are on a trip to upgrade to a better phone. At many of these places, there is no space for parking and haggling is so common it looks like a vegetable market. According to an industry estimate, every year, over 100 million users change their phones in India. These second hand phones are a treasure trove of data for hackers and tinkerers who are using forensic toolkits to retrieve data.
"Privacy is a cultural issue.Many people don't even delete data on the phones and they sell them off with all the photographs, personal videos and songs, and other details on the devices. Sometimes when the screen fails, people sell their phones cheap. They don't even realise all their data is on the phone is intact and can be misused," says Prashant S, a techie. Recently, a Czech internet security firm released data about how a popular cellphone OS retains the data on devices even after factory reset. The company retrieved 40,000 photos, 250 unsavory selfies and 750 photos of women undressing from 20 used phones bought online. Even images shared over chat were retrieved.
Nothing is free
"The online app market is teeming with free stuff. We are suckers for free stuff, but on the internet nothing is free. When we sign up or download certain free apps, we are trading our data with the app developer. So, when you use the app, a lot of information on your phone is bundled as data and sold almost instantly. The ads shown on the phones and browsers are based on such data," says Prashant, who says we should prefer paid apps to free ones.
We can leave the last word to actor Black Jack who shared his status as a warning: Has anyone ever read what all what app asks permission for when you install... Like wtf!!
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