Edward Snowden Helped to Design an Anti-Spy iPhone Case

[Maura]

Whistleblower Edward Snowden has been involved in the design of an iPhone 6 case that is able to detect when the phone is still transmitting data in Airplane Mode.

Hacker and Bunnie Studios founder Andrew “Bunnie” Huang announced the project yesterday, writes MacRumors. Huang is perhaps best known for being the first person to hack the Xbox and for mounting a legal challenge to the DCMA act.

A paper entitled “Against the Law: Countering Lawful Abuses of Digital Surveillance” describes the concept for the case, explaining that it has been designed in order to prevent journalists, activists, and rights workers from being tracked by governments.

The case has probe wires that use the SIM slot to access the phone antennae and monitor signal transmission. An audible alarm and display on the front of the case will keep the user informed of the phone’s transmission status.

Snowdon and Huang say that using Airplane Mode on a phone is “no defense” for radio transmission, which many may not be aware of.

“For example, on iPhones since iOS 8.2, GPS is active in airplane mode. Furthermore, airplane mode is a "soft switch" – the graphics on the screen have no essential correlation with the hardware state. Malware packages, peddled by hackers at a price accessible by private individuals, can activate radios without any indication from the user interface; trusting a phone that has been hacked to go into Airplane Mode is like trusting a drunk person to judge if they are sober enough to drive.”

Image credit: Huang & Snowden

Source: Edward Snowden Designed an iPhone Case to Guard Against Radio Snitching