Simple but effective privacy technique for phones etc

[Tubetec]

As we all well know phones and tablets (as well as other tech gadgets) ,depending on the apps you use may eaves drop via the internal microphone , of course by using these kinds of software your effectively agreeing to your mic being used in this way . Plugging in a four pole mini jack (headphones and mic) you physically interupt the connection to the internal mic in the phone , if you want to gain a little more privacy simply make up a dummy four pole jack without anything connected , of course if you want to take or make a call you need to remove the dummy plug so connection is restored to both mic and earpiece. I think a good reading up on counter surveillance techniques is quite appropriate in an age where our right to privacy has more holes than a hunk of Swiss cheese.
Of course there are other even more sinister techniques out there too routinely used by law enforcement to illegally eavesdrop and intelligence gather on, without warrant,  'persons of interest' . The real issue with all of that is lack of a legal framework or any kind of accountability . None of this tainted evidence will ever be admissible in court or for that matter will law enforcement ever even admit to doing it  , it can however lead them to the little lepreachaun with a large stack of ill-gotten gains under his arse, or even be used as a means of manipulating underworld figures into thinking theres a 'rat in the kitchen' for a 'Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes'  type ending. While not many of us would loose a nights sleep over some heroin or meth dealer meeting a grizzly end there is also plenty of anecdotal evidence it gets used for nefarious reasons against for instance 'whistle blowers' or for the application of coercive force for political or financial ends .
At your next high powered business meeting you could always arrive in and show off your 3.5mm 4 pole dummy plugs ,then offer them around to the others just to bring a touch of psychological edginess to proceedings.

 

[TwentyTrees]

You make some really good points there, and I like the idea of the dummy plug. Maybe that's part of why phone manufacturers have moved away from TRRS sockets...

On a related note, when the first lockdown came in across the UK and my team moved to working from home, I had a word and asked them all to make sure their smart home devices (Alexa etc) were properly configured so they wouldn't be snooping in on our confidential calls. A lot of them hadn't even clocked the severity of the security risk there - rather a nifty corporate espionage model on Google & Amazon (etc)'s parts!

 

[JohnRoberts]

I just read a prediction that powerful quantum computers will be able to break current encryption schemes in about ten years. Visa and CC companies are already working on next generation encryption.

JR

 

[Tubetec]

Yeah theres no doubt about it working from home poses some interesting security issues with the many ears that now surround us . That our personal data gets hoicked out to the highest bidders is bad enough , but that legit businesses are liable to be subsumed ,sucked dry of the intellectual property and sold off for scrap reads more like Spectre's plan for Total and Utter World Domination .

Come on Joe , time to get your Superman suit on a save the world from Lex Luther and the baddies  ;D

I've seen the French banks use a keyfob system to generate a rolling code that allows the user complete online banking transactions with a very high level of security , were light years behind anything like that here in Ireland.

 

[boji]

a good reading up on counter surveillance techniques is quite appropriate

Indeed. Snowden did a overview video on dangers/perspicacity of cell phone spying.

Regarding the dummy jack- not a bad idea, but if one was a serious target, I don't think it would take much to write an exploit to pull from both analog jack and onboard mic simultaneously. If there's only one A/D, perhaps switch inputs back and forth at a high rate.  Depending on sample rate, I bet it's even possible to sensitize the onboard compass or inertia chips to act as a sort of low frequency microphone. Heck I bet you could hack a switching chip to send out HF and use it as a sort of lidar.

https://www.gim-international.com/content/article/lidar-and-sound-modelling

Reconstructing sound from light?! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKXOucXB4a8

Safest to simply not carry your phone everywhere, and assume its tracking and storing info even when off. Of course if you're not a 'person of interest' to an agency, then sophisticated exploits are not being deployed.

 

[Tubetec]

Interesting technique on recovering sound from video, high frame rate cameras though, there not cheap , one could easily cost you the price of a very fine dwelling .
Laser interferometers are an order of magnitude better again and could be bodged together from a novelty shop laser pointer , a reflector placed on a surface such as a window and then a sensor and associated electronics to pickup and demodulate the audio from the carrier freq. The technicalities of it are the easy bit  , Id imagine the hard part for law enforcement is figuring out how to act on the info in a way that holds up legally , if they end up writing cheques their butt cant cash they end up little better than a silent accessory before the fact and having to stomach bad stuff going down in real time with their hands tied behind their back , that will hollow out the soul of even the most well rounded individual . Typically cops /criminals and others who secrete themselves into positions of power are themselves victims to begin with , they start out with laudable and lofty aims only to end up like a tooth on a busted cog for a finish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAK5blgfKWM

The moon of Alabama ..........whiskey song 

 

[boji]

high frame rate cameras though

Watch the 2014 vid!  They use a cellphone and sophisticated algos to makeup for slower frame rates.

hard part for law enforcement is figuring out how to act on the info in a way that holds up legally

Oh I'd wager if techniques like this worked, they wouldn't want to reveal it in court.  Only after the tech has been superseded by a better, more reliable method would the public hear anything about it.

 

[scott2000]

lol

 

[Dan Kennedy]

YO Wiretap, wtf is a Dalek?

 

[cyrano]

IIRC a Dalek is an alien in the BBC's "Dr. Who" series.

The trick with the jack won't work on a lot of devices. The switch doesn't switch the signal any longer, it just triggers the audio chip to switch inputs. I have no idea if a remote attacker can control that audio chip, but in security you have to suppose it can.

Most notably, it's like that in most recent Apple devices, but I've seen it on recent PC laptops and Android phones too.

TBH, I don't think it's used by spies, as there are plenty of other, better options. SSL taps are everywhere and your mic signal can always be tapped there.

 

[sodderboy]

"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you" Joseph Heller

Do I really need to consider putting a dummy plug in my phone (first generation iphone se, getting long in the tooth as they say. . .)? Really? Is my mundane hamster wheel life that important to be monitored, or recorded for potential future monitoring?!?

"Time to make the doughnuts. . . Time to make the doughnuts. . . Time to make the effing doughnuts. . ." Any bastard listening can have at it.

Or I'll paraphrase George Carlin- "Get up, throw-up, wash-down (I'm a clean person), eat-up, get out, get in, punch in, put-out, punch out, get out, go home, eat-up, throw-up, pass-out, rinse and repeat" Any bastard listening can have at it!

We moved our manufacturing company to a building that is a union house and there is a factory-wide buzzer that marks the beginning of the day, break times, lunch, and end of day. What an absolute dreary existence! I'm not long for the place with that effing buzzer. Talk about an imagination and creation killer!

I do have a smiley face sticker over my mac laptop cam, but a dummy plug in the phone? Umm, if I were to do it, and I'm not planning to at the moment but you can't stop the ever-flowing stream of consciousness. . . I figure 8Ω SMD across the earbud connections and a dead short on the mic oughta dooit. Epoxy encapsulation. Hmmmmm.

Bloody blast! Mike

 

[sodderboy]

Oh, my flailing old SE is the last iphone with a 3.5 mm mini on it. Now I gotta get the pinout, I mean if I decide I want to stop [italics] them [stop] from monitoring me, for the lightning conn- and an actual solderable lightning conn if it even exists?!? Doh! Calgon, take me awaaaaaaaay.
Mike