Smartphone Rootkit Scandal of the Day: Carrier IQ, a service designed to provide network data to cell carriers, is preinstalled on over 140 million phones, and security researchers say it may be logging every keystroke you type into your phone.
Carrier IQ denies that its software is a rootkit and says it’s not tracking anyone, but one security expert has posted video of the software doing just that. It’s not clear that CIQ actually sends personal data to cell carriers, but it does appear to be logging it.
Affected phones were originally thought to include just Android devices, but now evidence of Carrier IQ has been found on iPhones running iOS 3 and above, including phones on the latest version of iOS. Fortunately, the software appears to have been disabled from “phoning home” with your data.
Meanwhile, Verizon says none of the phones it carries use CIQ, and Nokia says its products don’t, either. Google’s Nexus phones and the original Xoom tablet are also unaffected.
Other Android phones and BlackBerry devices, however, appear to have the analytics company’s “rootkit” installed.
In case you’re not sure whether your phone is running CIQ, there’s now an Android app to test your device for Carrier IQ.
Meanwhile, legal experts say that, if the allegations against Carrier IQ are true, the company may have violated federal wiretapping laws.
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