Mobile Devices | EFF Surveillance Self-Defense Project

This article discusses privacy implications of cell phones and other devices that communicate with large scale wireless voice and data networks.

This page doesn't discuss Wi-Fi. If you have a mobile device that uses Wi-Fi but not GSM, CDMA 2000, or any of the other cellular networks, you should follow the same steps that you would for a laptop with Wi-Fi. If you have a cell phone that also connects to Wi-Fi networks, you should read the Wi-Fi article as well as the material below.

Problems with Cellular Device Privacy

Cell phones pose several privacy problems.

No Anonymity. Every cell phone has several unique identifying numbers. For a GSM phone these include the IMEI number for the handset itself and the IMSI in the SIM card. Unless you have purchased your handset and account anonymously, these will be linked to your real identity. Even if you have an anonymous handset and account, the typical use pattern of a phone is almost always enough to link it to your identity.

Location tracking. Cell phones communicate with transmission towers. The strength of the signal received by these towers from a phone is a measure of distance, and this allows the phone network to know where its users are. Many if not all networks log approximate location on a regular basis. These records may be subject to subpoena. If your adversary is law enforcement and has probable cause for a warrant, they could receive continuous triangulation location surveillance data from the network.

Easy interception. Cell phone communications are sent through the air like communications from a walkie-talkie, and encryption is usually inadequate or absent. Although there are substantial legal protections for the privacy of cell phone calls, it's technologically straightforward to intercept cell phone calls on many cell networks without the cooperation of the carrier, and the technology to do this is only getting cheaper. Such interception without legal process could be a serious violation of privacy laws, but would be immensely difficult to detect. U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies have the technical capacity to intercept unencrypted and weakly encrypted cell phone calls on a routine basis.

Lack of user control. Cell phones tend to run proprietary operating systems, and the operating systems on different devices tend to be different from each other. This means for instance that on most cell phones:

• it's impossible to guarantee that the phone is using secure encryption for its transmissions, or determine whether it's using encryption at all
• it's very difficult for the user to gain access to and control over the data recorded by the phone's operating system

However, because cell phones do not create stored records of the contents of your communications, telephonic communication has certain privacy advantages over other modes of communication, like email, instant messaging or text messaging which do create such records.

Data Stored by Your Phone

Your phone will store the contents of the text messages you send and receive, the times and numbers of the calls you make and receive, and possibly other information such as location-related data. Secure deletion of this data poses a challenge. On most mobile devices your best strategy is to manually delete these records using the phone's user interface, and then hope that new records will overwrite them. If you have deleted all your text messages and calls, and waited long enough for the phone's memory to fill, there is a chance that later forensic investigation would not find the original data.

There are a couple of drive encryption programs available for devices that run the Windows Mobile operating system. Proprietary drive encryption that has not been audited by the computer security community should always be treated with caution; it is probably better than no protection at all, although even that is not guaranteed.

We are hopeful that the arrival of open Linux-based phones (notably OpenMoko and those using the Google Android code) will offer users better control over stored data in the future.

The undeleted data could be accessible to anyone who takes physical possession of the phone, including thieves or an arresting officer.

Transmitted Data

The control data and actual voice conversations sent by cellular devices may be encrypted using various standard encryption protocols. There is no guarantee that this will occur — phones do not usually offer users a way to refuse to operate in unencrypted mode, and many don't indicate whether they are using encryption. As a result, it is largely up to the network operator to decide if its users will receive any cryptographic defense against eavesdropping.

Carrier-provided encryption can be good protection against eavesdropping by third parties. However, if it is the carrier that wants to listen in, or the government with a warrant ordering the carrier to allow wiretapping access to your calls, then that encryption will not protect you because the carrier has the means to decrypt.

Even if your cell phone is communicating in an encrypted fashion, it turns out that most of the standard cryptography used in cell networks has been broken. This means that an adversary that is motivated and able to intercept radio communications and cryptanalyze them will be able to listen to your phone calls.

It would be technologically possible to use strong end-to-end encryption with voice calls, but this technology is not yet widely available. The German company GMSK has begun selling a GSM-based "Cryptophone"; as with computer encryption, both users would need to be using the technology in order to make it work. Some third parties have produced software to encrypt SMS text messages; here, again, both the sender and recipient of a message would need to use compatible software.

Data Stored by Other Parties

A great deal of data pertaining to your use of your phone will be stored by the telephone company or companies that are providing you with service. A more diffuse set of records will also be stored by the phones of the people you communicate with.

Expect your telephone company to keep a record of: who you talk to and when; who you exchange messages with and when; what data you send and receive using wireless data services; information revealing your physical location at any time when your phone is on; and whether your phone is on or off.

The text messages exchanged by your phone — as well as summary information for the calls you sent and receive from other cell phones — are likely to be stored by those other cell phones. As anyone who follows celebrity gossip should know, the people you are communicating with can disclose the contents of your communications. Other adversaries may use subpoenas or other legal process to obtain text messages or call information.

Malware for Phones

If you face a determined adversary such as federal law enforcement with a warrant, assume that your phone could be reprogrammed with malware to assist in their investigations; there are reports of the FBI doing this.

Under these extreme circumstances, it is possible for your phone to be turned into a remote bugging device. It is possible for a phone to remain on even when you press the "off" button, but not if you remove the battery.

If you have a pair of speakers that crackle when your phone is nearby, you can check that the phone is actually off / not transmitting continuously by placing it near those speakers.

via ssd.eff.org