Modern smartphones can “eavesdrop” on their owners without their knowledge. This was told by an expert on information and computer security Sergei Vakulin, specifying that the owners of the devices themselves give such permission.
As the specialist said, some applications installed on a smartphone can record voice data in order to transfer it to third parties after analysis, and advertisers are primarily interested in such information. The expert noted that such applications can sell similar information.
“Not just collect, but sell. It often happens with us that you took out a loan from one bank, and another bank immediately calls you and offers another loan. Selling data is already a commonplace topic, ”he said in an interview with Sputnik radio.
The expert explained that the owner of the device gives access to the microphone to such applications during installation. According to the expert, after that the microphone can be turned on at any time, and the smartphone will be able to “listen” even in the locked state.
“If there is access, then the application can turn on the microphone at any time convenient for it and collect information,” the specialist said.
Vakulin added that you can protect against such eavesdropping by limiting the number of applications with access to the microphone. For especially important negotiations, the expert advised to purchase the simplest push-button telephone without the ability to connect to modern communication networks. As he pointed out, such a device is very difficult to listen to, since it does not connect to 3G, LTE and so on.
