₦airaland Forum

Data leaks through power consumption? Don’t be surprised because security researchers have discovered a way to track your every move by looking at your Android smartphone's consumption of the battery power,even if you have GPS access unable.



Researchers at Stanford University and Israeli Defense Research Group, Rafael, have developed a new technology, which they have dubbed "PowerSpy", that have capability to gather the geolocation of Android phones by simply by measuring the battery usage of the phone over a certain time.



TRACKING PERMISSION GRANTED BY-DEFAULT

Unlike Wi-Fi and GPS access, the battery consumption data does not need the users’ permission to be shared and is freely available to any downloaded and installed application. Therefore, this data can be used to track a phone with up to 90 percent accuracy.



All an attacker would need to do is use an application — any application you download and installed onto your Android smartphone — to measure your phone's battery information in an attempt to track your smartphone’s location.



90 PERCENT ACCURACY RATE

PowerSpy was tested on both an Android LG Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 smartphone handsets, and researchers found that 90 percent of the time the Android’s location could be determined – even when the user wasn’t using their phone. This new discovery could have given spies a powerful new tool to track you.









Spies could fool a target user into downloading an application that uses PowerSpy in order to track victim’s every move. Even companies could use the same technique to monitor users for advertising purposes, the researchers say.



POWER USAGE DEPENDS ON VARIOUS FACTORS

PowerSpy utilizes the fact that cellular transmissions to service towers drain power at different rates, depending upon how close, or far, the user is away from the cellphone tower; and also how many solid obstacles such as mountains, buildings or cars that block phone’s signals are between the phone and the tower.



Michalevski says the correlation between the battery usage and variables like cell tower distance and environmental conditions is strong enough to to filter out other power-draining situations such as phone calls, picture taking and app usage.

"A sufficiently long power measurement (several minutes) enables the learning algorithm to ‘see’ through the noise," Yan Michalevski, one of the Stanford’s researchers, told Wired. "We show that measuring the phone’s aggregate power consumption over time completely reveals the phone’s location and movement"

LIMITATIONS OF POWERSPY

However, there is a limitation for now. PowerSpy technique only really works on pre-defined routes and only if a person has traveled along that route before. If, for instance, the phone user is in a new place for the first time, the hacker or tracker won't have enough data to track the phone's location.



The researchers collected data from phones as they drove around the Bay Area in California and the Israeli city of Haifa, and then compared it with an LG Nexus 4 cell phone. For each conducted test, they chose a different and unknown route and were able to identify the correct one with 90 percent accuracy.

"If you take the same ride a couple of times, you’ll see a very clear signal profile and power profile," says Michalevsky. "We show that those similarities are enough to recognize among several possible routes that you’re taking this route or that one, that you drove from Uptown to Downtown, for instance, and not from Uptown to Queens."

In some cases, the researchers found phones with only couple of apps installed which were easier to track because the power consumption on those phones were more consistent in comparison to phones with half a dozen additional apps that suck power unpredictably. Michalevsky says the accuracy of PowerSpy tracking is to be improved with more paths and more phones.



HOW TO STOP THIS

Well, there is nothing aside from not using the phone, which is, no doubt, impossible for most of us. Generally, users are asked to provide their current geo-location by various apps, like Facebook and Instagram. But, the data from the power supply on a phone is freely available to all of them.

"You could install an application like Angry Birds that communicates over the network but doesn't ask for any location permissions. It gathers information and sends it back to me to track you in real time, to understand what routes you’ve taken when you drove your car or to know exactly where you are on the route. And it does it all just by reading power consumption," Michalevski concluded.

Michalevsky said that the PowerSpy technique points out a privacy issue that Google needs to address because Google’s Android operating system freely provides the power consumption information to all of the installed apps for debugging purposes.

http://thehackernews.com/2015/02/track-smartphone-location.html?m=1

APC used that account to great effect... Their devilish deception skills is legendary online

Ayed44:
Buhari is on a resting visit to the UK. Lols.

these people wont kill person with their confusion ni

senatorbayor:
This is sad. Widows are now drag into the dirty mud of politics.
If this association is that sensitive, they should march to Abia state and rain curses on the govt of Orji whose action had caused the death of 56 widows.
If not, I smell politics and those curses may not go beyond the fence.

use your head when making comments publicly. What concerns the Imo state chapter of an association with Abia state ? You should have advised Abia widows to lay curses on their governor too

thaoriginator:
It cost only 2.6 billion Naira to feed school children in Osun state while a certain minister is spending up 10 billion + to maintain aircraft which can feed the same school kids for 4 good years

2.6 billion is not "only" besides how do we take this govt serious (if they should get in) when Buhari himself stopped subsidized feeding in universities during his dictatorship ? Two mouth no good

Mtn sef does that. Collected money for caller tunes I didn't subscribe for. I warned them straight up though I pitied the guy because of the way I spoke to him

I cant believe some grown azz adults are saying ph will be in lockdown if traffic lights are utilized abi no be the same ph wey I dey drive round ? See me see nonsense excuses for incompetence

Tranquill:
If he says that, it will even be to embarrass himself but the truth is that all they do is to insult their country and Nigerians thinking they are impressing the few white folks mostly journalists that will attend.

I was opportuned to attend the one Atiku gave in 2007 in the heat of his problems with Obasanjo when he was also contesting for presidency. He came with Audu Ogbe and Terry Waya with few other folks. Nuhu Ribadu and El Rufai led few others to come and counter all Atiku said, during the Q and A session. You will be so ashamed to see how so called leaders talk down on Nigeria and Nigerians in public because they think that is what will make them look different before the Oyinbos.

The truth is that what they say there does not make the folks there see them as the best but is used to judge Nigeria as a country and increase the negative perception they have of Nigerians.

hehehe Atiku is my man but he always sounds intimidated when speaking in public then goes on an unnecessary and ill co-ordinated offensive. But that is what one gets when square pegs are allowed to prosper in round holes

thaoriginator:
Corruption will be dealt with seriously

show me your friends/oga and I will tell you who you are. Osinbajo cannot be a saint in the midst of thieves eg Tinubu and Amaechi

thaoriginator:
JOB CREATION: is a matter of emergency. 80% of graduate don't have jobs. The FG will support State Govt to create 20,000 jobs.

APC controlled states should have been encouraged to employ 20,000 youths from time instead of using it to deceive the masses. This is one of the reasons Musiwa calls the amiable prof an olodo. Anybody with half a brain knows that govt from lg to fg level can only higher so much people and that our civil service is over bloated. The best way to tackle unemployment which has been proven world wide is the encouragement of small and medium scale enterprises.

It reminds me of that stvpid suggestion he made on how to tackle power problems by trucking gas to power plants across the country (NO SENSE)

thaoriginator:
400,000 barrel of oil is being stolen every single day. It is pure misgovernance.. Of which half of that is what Ghana is producing a day.

400,000 barrels are not stolen. That is a daft assertion

thaoriginator:
The Prof said is wrong to use the chruch as a campaign ground.

the prof went to visit pastor Lazarus Muoka to discuss nairabet tactics.

TVC belongs to Tinubu so prof can get speaking slot there any time. It is a biased station

Op wrote this shyt in the toilet.... Pls flush after using

Flogged our maths teacher with a couple of friends and forced him to climb up a street light while some expatriates living around the sch neighborhood were begging for him.

That's the nice one, I'm suspecting the other one would still be an open case with the police because we actually went all the way to Ogun state to pull that hit on our VP's child who was in the university there

Principals car and sons went through hell and we still wrote waec there even after being publicly expelled twice. Kpako school no good o

dein77:
No mind them. How many vehicles dey here?

port Harcourt cars plenty pass new York own ni

The traffic lights in ph are regularly put out of commission (destroyed) by winch people because it reduces the choppings of traffic control officers eg police who would have easily arrested you on a trumped-up charge.

Those who are saying the lights were switched off because of the amount of vehicles in ph are beyond daft.

I like to hear the general say funny things like stabilizing world oil prices with Nigerian army

Is he resting or on a working visit ? These people should choose one abeg

The devilAPC is a liar

Where some of the scam pictures were "borrowed" from

http://www.demotix.com/news/1849864/retired-nigerian-general-buhari-attends-african-diaspora-conference#media-1849850

Breaking: Chatham House: Baroness Scotland of Asthal to rescue Buhari


Feb 22 2015

APC effort for a face saving speaking slot for Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is making some headway.

Incoming reports indicates that former UK prime minister Tony Blair is lobbying the president of Chatham House for a 1 hour slot for Buhari after the main event billed for Thursday.

Baroness Patricia Scotland is the president of Chatham House and a longstanding Blair loyalist. Tony Blair appointed her as the UK Alternate Representative to the European Convention and later recommended her for the position of Attorney General. She became the first black lady to become AG in the UK. She still remains the Shadow Attorney General. If the Baroness approves on Monday, 23/2/2015, Buhari will speak at Chatham on Thursday 26/2/2015 and this will be a saving grace for the earlier sketchy reports by APC that Buhari was to speak at the Chatham House event even when he was not listed on the Chatham House website as one of the speakers.


http://reportsafrique.com/headlines/?p=20

Oby should concentrate on one thing, is it the phantom missing Chibok girls she wants or action film videos from soldiers who are too busy fighting ? The wicked scallywag should take her ragtag group for an excursion at sambisa to verify things for herself instead of disturbing the polity

Speaking at which function ? It must have been recorded somewhere because sauce no dey here

frankyychiji:
Asin...when did he check out from his London hospital to Denmark

he was represented by a Dr Austin Amaechi

And they must find a reason to complain while the navy is happy to get equipment that they had been starved of since 1983....Evil APCankerworms sha