Recently the FCC released a "FCC Speed Test" application for Android.
Of course, the paranoid among us will claim that the app may be designed to secretly spy on you.
Fortunately there are Android app analysis sites out there, such as Anubis. These sites will automatically analyze an application for you and tell you everything it does.
I went ahead and analyzed the FCC Speed Test application, and the report is available here.
I have to admit, looking at the results doesn't feel very reassuring. The app is supposed to measure broadband speeds and report back to the FCC. But an interesting question is, why does the app contain IP addresses used to connect to internal networks?
I haven't done an Android for the Paranoid article lately, so I was absolutely glowing when I stumbled across "Radiation Alarm".
This nifty little app lets you know if your phone is detecting any harmful radiation.
How does it do that? The science behind the app is pretty simple - if you cover your cellphone camera with a dark piece of paper or tape over the cell phone, light won't pass through, but radiation will still hit the camera's CMOS censor, causing pixels to "light up".
My "Radiation" reading after calibration
A neat trick I found works well is to slip a small piece of a floppy disk inside the camera's case, so that it covers the phone's camera. This way light can't pass through, and I don't have to worry about making my camera lens sticky or blurry. Best of all, the piece of floppy disk can be hidden behind the camera battery when not in use.
NOTE: Using a piece of a floppy disk may generate false positives if your phone is pointed at a light source, or used in a very bright area.
While I don't have a radioactive source available to me, the science behind this is sound, and reinforced by this YouTube video, which shows what a cellphone camera looks like when exposed to radiation.
When you install and calibrate this app for the first time, you should be away from any known radiation sources. For example, if you live in a brick house, you should actually calibrate your app in a location away from any brick buildings. After all, brick houses do give off low levels of radiation. Of course, if you live anywhere near Fukushima or Chernobyl, you might have a hard time calibrating this.
Sometimes, you find that some apps just aren't enough for the paranoid. Sometimes available apps in the marketplace just aren't sufficient for a paranoid person to fulfill their security obsession.
One gap I've found is that there appears to be no app out there to analyze QR codes for malware, outside anti-virus software.
In response to this, using MIT App Inventor, I have created an app which uses VirusTotal.com's API in order to submit QR code URLs for scanning.
Note that this app does NOT address possible security flaws with QR codes themselves. However, it does submit any URL a QR code contains to VirusTotal, and provides a link to the resulting report.
I encourage you to try out this wonderful new app.
This is the first article in a series of articles highlighting applications for security conscious users.
Today we're going to take a look at an Android application called "Fake GPS".
First, why does "Fake GPS" qualify as a security application?
Many Android applications are "location aware", meaning the application may not only find out where you are, but also report this information to the developer and advertisers, and possibly even post this information publicly. Another serious issue is that by default Android's camera will embed your GPS location inside your photos. This means when you post a photo online, everyone will know exactly where you are!
The solution to this problem is "Fake GPS". When combined with the Android feature "Mock Location", this application allows you to trick your phone into thinking you're somewhere else.
The above photo appears to have been taken in Phoenix, Arizona.
And this photo appears to have been taken in Florida.
How can you see the embedded GPS coordinates? With an EXIF viewer.
Fake GPS is very easy to use. Simply use a scrollable/zoomable map and choose where you want the GPS coordinates to be set. You can even go into the advanced options and have the GPS move in a random direction and speed.
So, if you're worried about someone tracking your every move with your cell phone, I highly recommend Fake GPS.
I've decided to write a series of articles titled "Android for the Paranoid".
The articles will be an in-depth look at some of the Android security related applications out there, and how they can be leveraged by you and your organization.
If you have any apps you would like me to specifically look at, please post in the comments section below!
