Remember the Hello-Garci tape?  While most of the attentions were focussed on the authenticity of the taped conversation, not so much attention was given to how it's done.  What equipment was used?  Who did the wiretapping?  When and where was it done?  Who's phone was wiretapped?  The questions goes on and on.

If there's one gadget that can be considered as the closest gadget to our lives nowadays, no doubt that the hands down choice would be - our MOBILE PHONES.  People from all walks of life own a cellphone.  Its primary usage is to communicate with people.  We love it so much that for some, they cannot live without their cellphones.  Some will even give up their lives just to protect their phones while others are willing to take lives just to take possession of the phone. 

What if I tell you now that your mobile phone can be spying on you without you knowing it?

Yes, you read it right.  For a measly Fifty U.S. Dollar (2,500.00 pesos), Someone can turn your mobile phone into a spy - a reliable spy at that.  A software classified as an 'activity logger' for mobile phones is now being sold online.  All activity such as sending & receiving SMS messages, call history, (incoming / outgoing), call duration, GPRS activity, & contact names in address book that is associated to each SMS and call are logged and can be seen by someone who installed the software.  It is the world's first spy application designed and built exclusively for the mobile phone, and it's absolutely undetectable by the mobile phone owner.   You can install the software within minutes and receive your first phone activity report within hours.

How does it work?
Anyone can buy the software and download it.  Then it has to be installed to a mobile phone and it has to be activated.  From then on, all phone activities such as SMS messages, call history & other phone data are uploaded directly from the mobile phone to the software vendor's server.  All data received by the vendor's server can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via any computer connected to the Internet by the person who installs it. 

So for example, if I install this software to a friend's mobile phone.  I can read all the text messages (sent and received) using my computer.  All these happening without the knowledge of my friend.  For what other purposes can this software be used - I will just leave it to your imagination.

If you think that's bad enough, wait till you see the next version of this software.  A professional version is soon to come.  Not only do you get all the powerful mobile phone 'activity recording' features of the first version, but you now can monitor their phone in 'real time' by listening in on their phone from any remote location in the world.  It's called "Remote Monitoring".

How is it done?  The second version allows you to specify a phone number from which you can call the mobile phone installed with the software, and rather than the phone ringing, the software activates the microphone on the phone, so you can listen in to what is happening where ever the phone may be or whatever they may be doing.  If the phone has email capability, you can also view all outgoing and incoming email headers.  It can also monitor MMS messages and many others.  The first version works only with all Symbian devices (Nokia Series 60).  Soon it will also work with Pocket PCs and BlackBerry.

Security vendors has classified this software as a "Trojan", since the application could easily be used by malware installing it as part of its payload, or a hacker could simply send it to a victim over Bluetooth and trust that there are enough curious people to install it.  The software's vendor vehemently denied the labeling saying that their software requires to be consciously installed and configured by someone, unlike a Virus or Trojan which spreads automatically without any action.

The vendor also added that the software comes with an uninstalling feature.  My question is:  How can I uninstall something when I am not even aware that it was installed on the first place?  Anyway, security vendors has tagged the software as a Trojan.  A signature to detect the software has been added to the security vendors database. The signature does not delete the software, but does warn the cell phone's owner that his or her conversations are being monitored.

This kind of software may be new to mobile phones, but it has been here for quite sometime for personal computers.  It's called "Spywares" - any application that may track a person's or organization's online and/or offline PC activity and is capable of locally saving or transmitting those findings to third parties, most often without their knowledge or consent.  According to a survey by the Poneman Institute, nearly 85% of all computers have been infected at some point.  The loss of confidentiality can damage your enterprise's reputation, brand, customer loyalty, and bottom line.  Spyware has already become a "global pandemic".

Now that Mobile Spywares are available, we are now threading the thin line between security and privacy.  Are softwares like what I revealed to you today created to secure it's users or invades one's privacy?  How can innocent users protect themselves from such threats when they're totally undetectable?  Perhaps it's time for phone manufacturers and telecom providers to work together and help thwart this kind of problems.  Security is an integral part of your customer service responsibility.   

With this new development, what this means is that we are now living in a privacy-free world. With the introduction of new technology, anyone with the appropriate knowledge (good or bad) can now possess the capability of tracking every intimate detail of our lives.  So what do we tell our mobile users now - "Turn Off Phone While Not In Use?"

In case you're wondering why I didn't mention the name of the software - it is because I don't approve of it.  I just want you to know that there is such a software now available so that you can be vigilant.

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