It is used to monitor SMS messages, and phone calls, track GPS locations, hack social media apps, and more. It tracks your every move on your cellphone, records it, and sends it to the perpetrator. This type of spyware is what’s used for more targeted attacks. While it can be used on computers, users can install this type of spyware on their targets’ cell phones. Stalkerware is the type of spyware that you really have to look out for. However, it may try to gather your browsing data and sell it to advertisers. It’s generally not as dangerous as other types of spyware, as it doesn’t try to steal your information. Nuisanceware is as its name suggests – a nuisance. It’s not usually targeted at one specific person and is what’s often used for phishing attacks. There are different types of spyware that people use on unsuspecting targets.įirst up is basic spyware – this is a generic type of malware that’s used to steal clipboard and operating system data or anything of potential value, such as passwords. That’s why it’s recommended to password-protect your phone for additional security. This is when spyware is often installed, as it’s easiest to do when the person can access your device physically. However, these can be disabled if someone has physical access to your device. Android, like iOS, is designed with safety features that protect you and your information. Many spying apps can also track your location and even access your camera.Įxamples of spy apps are mSpy, FlexiSPY, and uMobix. They are used to track your digital activities such as the apps you use, read your text messages, listen in on calls, view your social media activity, and more. They later found it, sometimes only when they returned home.Spy apps are also known as spyware. The use of the app was discovered when officials failed to uninstall it on some tourists’ phones. Assuming nothing that concerns the guards is found, the officials are supposed to uninstall the app and return the device to the owner. There are several stages to the border crossing via the Irkeshtam pass, and at one stage travellers are made to unlock and hand over all their devices. The Guardian is only aware of the app being used at the border crossing between Xinjiang and Kyrgyzstan. The software appears to have been developed in Nanjing by an arm of the Chinese state-affiliated networking company Fiberhome Networks. This includes the writings of the Dalai Lama, work on the history and culture of Xinjiang and content critical of China’s involvement in Taiwan. In our sample most of the files were extremist material such as Dabiq and Inspire, propaganda magazines produced by Isis and al-Qaida, but there was also other content that the Chinese state appears to deem undesirable. Using file hashing databases the Guardian and partners were able to see what the authorities were searching for. If both the file size and the fingerprint match something on the list the app registers a “hit”. The app searches the phone for files which are the same size and then generates a fingerprint for that file. This appears to provide a guide to the content the Chinese state considers suspicious, including MP3s, documents and pictures.Įach of the files is identified by its size in bytes and its “hash”, a kind of digital fingerprint. Our analysis of Fēng cǎi found it searches a phone against a list of more than 70,000 files. However, by using the device’s identifiers that have been extracted and stored, combined with passport details, the Chinese state could, if it wanted, track travellers via future connections to mobile phone towers. This information is retrieved and sent for storage on a server on the border office’s local intranet.įēng cǎi doesn’t appear to gather detailed information about the phone’s previous locations, only the details of the most recent cell tower it has connected to, and there is no evidence that it tracks their onward movements. The app has two main functions: to extract personal and private information from the traveller’s device and to search for suspicious files.Īnalysis shows that the app harvests emails, contact numbers, SMS messages, social media account identifiers and detailed information about the handset, including unique device identifiers. Before the border police can install and operate it, the user has to unlock the phone and hand it over. Unlike some of the advanced technology being used by authorities in the region to surveil citizens, the app is not especially sophisticated. The app’s code refers to itself as CellHunter, but the icon that appears on the phone has the name 蜂采 (Fēng cǎi) – which refers to bees collecting pollen. Reverse engineering of a copy of the app found on a traveller’s phone by the Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Ruhr-University Bochum and the German cybersecurity company Cure53 discovered details of how it operates.
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