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WARRIOR PRIDE is the GCHQ and NSA code name for a pair of spyware kits that can be installed on the iPhone and Android-based smartphones. Information about these kits was published by the press on 27 January 2014 from the documents leaked by Edward Snowden. [1]
The iPhone kit was developed first; its code was ported from an undisclosed code base. The Android port was completed later (Q3 2010) and it was done in collaboration with Communications Security Establishment Canada. Although using different code, the modules of the kit have the same names on both platforms (all seemingly derived from The Smurfs cartoons), and correspond to their functionality as follows: [1]
As file retrieval capabilities, the iPhone kit claims to get "any content from the phone, e.g. SMS, MMS, e-mails, web history, call records, videos, photos, address book, notes, calendar (if its [sic] on the phone we can get it)." The Android slide differs slightly in that the last sentence is a qualified "we think we can get it". [1]
This type of software was apparently used, among other things, to discredit Muslim targets by exposing their "online promiscuity" (usage of pornography). [2]
The cost for the whole NSA program targeting smartphones was cited at one billion dollars. [2] The program includes additional interception capabilities that can be performed just by intercepting network traffic, including collecting information leaked by many apps, metadata (Exif) collection from smartphone photo uploads to social media sites, interception of Google Maps requests to geolocate the user etc. [1]
In computing, a Trojan horse is any malware that misleads users of its true intent by disguising itself as a standard program. The term is derived from the ancient Greek story of the deceptive Trojan Horse that led to the fall of the city of Troy.
Mobile malware is malicious software that targets mobile phones or wireless-enabled Personal digital assistants (PDA), by causing the collapse of the system and loss or leakage of confidential information. As wireless phones and PDA networks have become more and more common and have grown in complexity, it has become increasingly difficult to ensure their safety and security against electronic attacks in the form of viruses or other malware.
Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of developers known as the Open Handset Alliance, though its most widely used version is primarily developed by Google. It was unveiled in November 2007, with the first commercial Android device, the HTC Dream, being launched in September 2008.
UC Browser is a web browser developed by mobile internet company UCWeb, a subsidiary of the Alibaba Group. It was the most popular mobile browser in India, Indonesia, and Mali, as well as the second most popular one in China as of 2017. Its world-wide browser share as of May 2022 is 0.86% overall according to StatCounter.
Mastering the Internet (MTI) is a mass surveillance project led by the British communications intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) budgeted at over £1 billion. According to reports in The Register and The Sunday Times in early May 2009, contracts with a total value of £200m had already been awarded to suppliers.
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This is a category of disclosures related to global surveillance.
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Google Cardboard is a discontinued virtual reality (VR) platform developed by Google. Named for its fold-out cardboard viewer into which a smartphone is inserted, the platform was intended as a low-cost system to encourage interest and development in VR applications. Users can either build their own viewer from simple, low-cost components using specifications published by Google, or purchase a pre-manufactured one. To use the platform, users run Cardboard-compatible mobile apps on their phone, place it into the back of the viewer, and view content through the lenses.
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Vault 7 is a series of documents that WikiLeaks began to publish on 7 March 2017, detailing the activities and capabilities of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to perform electronic surveillance and cyber warfare. The files, dating from 2013 to 2016, include details on the agency's software capabilities, such as the ability to compromise cars, smart TVs, web browsers including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera, the operating systems of most smartphones including Apple's iOS and Google's Android, and computer operating systems including Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux. A CIA internal audit identified 91 malware tools out of more than 500 tools in use in 2016 being compromised by the release. The tools were developed by the Operations Support Branch of the C.I.A.