• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

DOJ takes action against 22-year-old running RapperBot Botnet

 | 

Google fixed Chrome flaw found by Big Sleep AI

 | 

Pharmaceutical firm Inotiv discloses ransomware attack. Qilin group claims responsibility for the hack

 | 

A hacker tied to Yemen Cyber Army gets 20 months in prison

 | 

Exploit weaponizes SAP NetWeaver bugs for full system compromise

 | 

Allianz Life security breach impacted 1.1 million customers

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Trend Micro Apex One flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

AI for Cybersecurity: Building Trust in Your Workflows

 | 

Taiwan Web Infrastructure targeted by APT UAT-7237 with custom toolset

 | 

New NFC-Driven Android Trojan PhantomCard targets Brazilian bank customers

 | 

Cisco fixed maximum-severity security flaw in Secure Firewall Management Center

 | 

'Blue Locker' Ransomware Targeting Oil & Gas Sector in Pakistan

 | 

Hackers exploit Microsoft flaw to breach Canada ’s House of Commons

 | 

Norway confirms dam intrusion by Pro-Russian hackers

 | 

Zoom patches critical Windows flaw allowing privilege escalation

 | 

Manpower data breach impacted 144,180 individuals

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office Excel, and WinRAR flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Critical FortiSIEM flaw under active exploitation, Fortinet warns

 | 

Charon Ransomware targets Middle East with APT attack methods

 | 

Hackers leak 2.8M sensitive records from Allianz Life in Salesforce data breach

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Hacking
  • Intelligence
  • Security
  • Surveillance – NSA can access data on your mobile device

Surveillance – NSA can access data on your mobile device

Pierluigi Paganini September 09, 2013

The German news agency Der Spiegel reported last act of US surveillance, the NSA is able to access data stored in a wide range of mobile devices including Android, iPhone and BlackBerry.

Here we are with weekly news on NSA surveillance activities, last week we were shocked by the news on Bullrun program meanwhile today we discuss on the capability of the agency to access data stored on most Smartphones.
The data include the list of calls, SMS traffic, user’s contacts, notes and GPS data, the documents revealed the existence within the National Security Agency of teams of experts for mobile OSs hacking.  The German news agency Der Spiegel reported that the NSA is able to access data stored in a wide range of mobile devices including Android based Smartphones, iPhone and BlackBerry, the news is supported by documents provided by Edward Snowden to the media agency. Blackberry was one of first OS cracked according the documents despite is was considered high secure and for this reason adopted for business.

“In response to questions from SPIEGEL, BlackBerry officials stated, “It is not for us to comment on media reports regarding alleged government surveillance of telecommunications traffic.” The company said it had not programmed a “‘back door’ pipeline to our platform.”” reports the post on SPIEGEL.

NSA mobile cracking teams are organized in working groups, each of them dedicating to the exploitation of a specific operating system.

US intelligence was already able to access to SMS messages, a document of the agency dated 2009remarked that the NSA agents can “see and read SMS traffic“.

Recently, two Guardian journalists discovered on their mobile a suspicious app that is visible the following images poster by reports via Twitter, it has no icon neither title and apparently it isn’t related to any activities on the mobile despite its size of 98,6 MB.
NSA surveillance APP
Who has installed that app and how? .. it is still a mystery.
The German news agency confirmed that the NSA capability to access data on mobile devices is not considerable as a mass surveillance operation, but it is exploited by US Intelligence to spy on specific individuals and was done secretly without the support of manufacturing and Smartphone vendors.
It was June when we discussed on an idea of US law enforcers to the realization of a kill switch on mobile devices that would be used in case of theft. New York’s top prosecutor, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón promoted an initiative, dubbed Secure Our Smartphones (SOS), with purpose to shutdown secondary market on devices. In reality the idea raised an intense discussion on the consideration that someone could abuse of the functionality, anyway differently from the last revelation on NSA in that case law enforcement and US Intelligence got positive response from major vendors such as Apple. Apple revealed that next release of its mobile operating system, iOS 7, include the function “activation lock“ that can make a stole Apple devices (iPhone or iPad) unusable permanently
The last group of Snowden’s documents leaked confirmed to the most skeptical users that nothing is secure, not even their mobile.
Pierluigi Paganini
(Security Affairs – Snowden, mobile, NSA, surveillance)

facebook linkedin twitter

Android Bullrun cyber espionage Hacking mobile monitoring NSA PRISM Snowden surveillance

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini August 20, 2025
Britain targets Kyrgyz financial institutions, crypto networks aiding Kremlin
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini August 20, 2025
DOJ takes action against 22-year-old running RapperBot Botnet
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    DOJ takes action against 22-year-old running RapperBot Botnet

    Cyber Crime / August 20, 2025

    Google fixed Chrome flaw found by Big Sleep AI

    Security / August 20, 2025

    Pharmaceutical firm Inotiv discloses ransomware attack. Qilin group claims responsibility for the hack

    Data Breach / August 20, 2025

    A hacker tied to Yemen Cyber Army gets 20 months in prison

    Cyber Crime / August 20, 2025

    Exploit weaponizes SAP NetWeaver bugs for full system compromise

    Security / August 20, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT