Carrier IQ: Researcher Trevor Eckhart Outs Creepy, Hidden App Installed On Smartphones (VIDEO) (UPDATE)

A security researcher has posted a video detailing hidden software installed on smart phones that logs numerous details about users' activities.

In a 17-minute video posted Monday on YouTube, Trevor Eckhart shows how the software – known as Carrier IQ – logs every text message, Google search and phone number typed on a wide variety of smart phones - including HTC, Blackberry, Nokia* and others - and reports them to the mobile phone carrier.

The application, which is labeled on Eckhart’s HTC smartphone as "HTC IQ Agent," also logs the URL of websites searched on the phone, even if the user intends to encrypt that data using a URL that begins with "HTTPS," Eckhart said.

The software always runs when Android operating system is running and users are unable to stop it, Eckhart said in the video.

"Why is this not opt-in and why is it so hard to fully remove?" Eckhart wrote at the end of the video.

In a post about Carrier IQ on his website, Eckhart called the software a "rootkit," a security term for software that runs in the background without a user's knowledge and is commonly used in malicious software.

Eckhart's video is the latest in a series of attacks between him and the company. Earlier this month, Carrier IQ sent a cease and desist letter to Eckhart claiming he violated copyright law by publishing Carrier IQ training manuals online. But after the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, came to Eckhart’s defense, the company backed off its legal threats.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said the software that Eckhart has publicized "raises substantial privacy concerns" about software that "many consumers don’t know about."

Carrier IQ could not immediately be reached for comment. But the company told Wired.com that its software is used for “gathering information off the handset to understand the mobile-user experience, where phone calls are dropped, where signal quality is poor, why applications crash and battery life.”

On its website, Carrier IQ, founded in 2005, describes itself as "the world's leading provider of Mobile Service Intelligence solutions."

*A Nokia spokeswoman said CarrierIQ does not ship products for any Nokia devices.

UPDATE 1: Grant Paul, a well-known iPhone hacker who goes by the screenname "chpwn", wrote on his blog that Apple has included Carrier IQ on the iPhone, but the software's default is disabled.

UPDATE 2: Want to find out if your phone is secretly tracking you? Check out our comprehensive list of the devices and carriers known to use Carrier IQ.

UPDATE 3: Senator Al Franken, concerned that Carrier IQ's software may violate federal law, sent a letter to the company requesting an explanation of the software's purpose. (Click here to read more.)

UPDATE 4: Carrier IQ has come forward with a statement regarding its "tracking" software. Many mobile carriers and device manufacturers have also responded to the controversy with statements of their own.

Watch video of Eckhart explaining his findings:

Check out our slideshow (below) to see the 13 smartphones that were rated most vulnerable to hackers and malware in 2011.

Loading Slideshow

• #13 - Apple iPhone 4 (And Older Models)

• #12 - HTC Evo 4G

• #11 - Morotola Droid 2

• #10 - LG Optimus One

• #9 - Motorola Droid X

• #8 - Samsung Galaxy S

• #7 - LG Optimus S

• #6 - Samsung Epic 4G

• #5 - HTC Wildfire

• #4 - Sanyo Zio

• #3 - Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

• #2 - HTC Desire

• #1 - Samsung Galaxy Mini

• RELATED VIDEO

Comments

[Fireman69w]

12:19 PM on 01/19/2012

We leave Electronic Footprints with the use of Any and All Electronic Devices.But this video shows that anyone wanting to see where you have been and what you have said, would have to get their hands on your phone and plug into it to find this info as it doesn't appear to be sent out wirelessly. ALL Cellphones are equiped (I canit think of the name) that can track you almost anywhere on this planet.It's been that way from the begining. WHY DO YOU THINK PAYPHONES WERE TAKIN AWAY SO QUICKLY ??? Phone companies sure didn't take them away because they made money from doing so.

[ilovecandy]

03:52 PM on 12/17/2011

I don't facebook because I like my privacy, but it seems with any technology now a days your privacy is being usurped.

[Local SEO Crusher]

04:23 AM on 12/05/2011

nice gadget
i liked it very much

[Commission Streamer]

04:13 AM on 12/05/2011

thanks for sharing this post

[Commission Streamer]

04:12 AM on 12/05/2011

nice post

[ked2130]

02:57 AM on 12/05/2011

Have at it, you brilliant people who obviously have nothing better to do with your intelligence/money than snooping through worthless information about people you don't know. Good luck trying to glean some meaning from the 400 or so texts/emails I've sent to my best friend about the cute European guy who sits next to me in class. It's a comfort knowing that my remarks about his perfect hair will be logged in your databases for eternity.

[YoBear]

08:09 PM on 12/04/2011

After seeing the video, Trevor is the creepy one.

[King7David]

05:40 PM on 12/04/2011

This is truly pathetic and shows how corrupt some companies are in there attempts to gather information.

The paragraph below, show's that the the company attempted to bully Mr. Eckhart, but EFF came to his rescue.....Thanks many EFF.......

"Eckhart's video is the latest in a series of attacks between him and the company. Earlier this month, Carrier IQ sent a cease and desist letter to Eckhart claiming he violated copyright law by publishing Carrier IQ training manuals online. But after the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, came to Eckhart’s defense, the company backed off its legal threats."

The last sentence in the article- "On its website, Carrier IQ, founded in 2005, describes itself as "the world's leading provider of Mobile Service Intelligence solutions."- shows that the company's that utilized this software, knew, or should have known what this software was about....

Glad I'm not with AT&T anymore, because if I was I, would be ending my contract now....

[savvysearch]

12:14 PM on 12/04/2011

Technological advancement shouldn't mean that consumers should have to sell their souls. Why aren't there tougher federal laws about these things?

[Bobotheclown]

11:52 AM on 12/08/2011

Really? You don't know why?

[ar22s]

09:57 AM on 12/04/2011

Still have a "dumb phone." Was considering upgrading but now I think I'll just stay with it.

[Gayane Virabyan]

03:31 AM on 12/04/2011

I knew this quite a long time ago and actually all these smartphone and social networking story has some creepy spying things in it! Why do you think FACEBOOK has raised the number of status characters??? Do you think it's for your convenience? No way! Check out this!
http://goo.gl/YzuiL

[Zwei Stein]

09:56 PM on 12/03/2011

Assumptions I live by: 1. When in a public place or store, I am the star of someone's video. 2. Whatever private information I disclose on the internet or phone, is no longer private. 3. Every keystroke on my computer is open for the world to see, even if done off-line.

[maigrey]

10:16 PM on 12/03/2011

Clean underwear when you go out. ;-)

[Rickbangkok]

09:22 PM on 12/03/2011

OMG! Bradbury's Farenheit 454 and Orwell's 1984 all rolled into one! Get off my grid now with these kind of apps.

[Tim Bates]

06:24 PM on 12/03/2011

Well that's it. I am done with smart phones. They are a great thing, but hardly necessary.

[Zwei Stein]

10:10 PM on 12/03/2011

Yeah...I don't like my phone being smarter than me.

[ciskokid]

03:55 PM on 12/03/2011

A commenter says that this 'app' is hardwired into the cell phone. WHAT! Can it be uninstalled/removed? Do we have Any Privacy left?

[NoireLion]

08:51 PM on 12/03/2011

Only one way of making sure its not running- hack/root your phone- and run aosp (Android open source programs)- custom roms. Cyanogen mod7 -is free of the software. If you have an android you can check to see if its running- I saw software company Lookout has a new CIQ detector- to see if this evil software is running on your phone its free. Get it on the Android Market- and the developer who discovered this trevor eckhart has a free app on the android market that can spot this evil criminal software embedded in our phones.
Apparently carrier Verizon doesn't allow this crap... but it seems Sprint(My carrier), ATT, T-Mobile, Apple, HTC, and Samsung all are caught up in this and either put the software on- or requested it. If you are on Verizon- and have a samsung htc etc phone- your safe- it seems. While carrier iq wrote the program and implemented it- they did so at the bequest of the carriers. There are now three class action lawsuits california, illinois and delaware- I bet by Monday night there with be twice that.
I was horrified looking at the video. These people need to be stopped. Even if they are multinational corporations- this is pure evil.

[Ramart]

04:30 PM on 01/25/2012

Behest, not bequest.