12-09-2017, 11:33 AM
Modern mobile phones have three types of capabilities: computing, communication and detection. While these capabilities enable a variety of novel applications, they also pose serious privacy issues. We explore the vulnerability in which attackers sniff at users by sniffing at their mobile phone's sensors, such as the microphone, camera, and GPS receiver. Unlike mobile devices in the past, which were designed for the sole purpose of voice-based communication, today's phones are powerful devices that can communicate, compute and feel. The detection capabilities of mobile phones come from audio, video and location sensors in the form of microphones, cameras and GPS receivers. While these sensors allow a variety of new applications, they can also seriously jeopardise user privacy. In particular, if a mobile device is compromised, an adversary not only can access the data stored in the device, but also record all actions of the user by sneaking the sensors.