It stashes information in the phone's memory, which it remains stored until the device is powered down. That debugger is supposed to be turned off unless a developer turns it on.
It's also highly unusual -- and potentially insecure -- for an application to store so much data to the debug logger. A stolen phone that hasn't been turned off could be a gold mine for hackers, who would have access to literally everything a user has done or said on the device since it was last powered down.
Though Carrier IQ is installed on more than million phones worldwide, the debug logging problem appears to only exist on HTC and Samsung smartphones. Those two manufacturers add a layer of their own software on top of the stock Google Android operating system, according to Dan Rosenberg, a consultant at Virtual Security Research who has extensively studied Carrier IQ's software.
HTC did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A Samsung spokesman confirmed to CNNMoney that Samsung was storing data in its phones' logs, but declined to say why the manufacturer had turned on that functionality or whether it is working on a fix for the problem. As part of its internal investigation, the company discovered that it had been accidentally sending users' text messages to carriers.
The problem was the result of a bug, which Carrier IQ says it has told the carriers how to fix. The texts were also encoded, so they weren't "human readable," the company claims.
The potential privacy breach caught the attention of the government regulators, who have launched a probe into the issue, according to The Washington Post. It's still alarming that Carrier IQ's program has the ability to strip out personal data from your smartphone and we deserve assurance that this won't happen.
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Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news. Steve Kovach. Sign up for notifications from Insider! In fact, you can find it on a bunch of different devices, including Android, Nokia, and BlackBerry phones. It's what's known as a rootkit—a program with massive amounts of privileges that hides its presence from the user. It was originally designed to log things like dropped calls and bad data connections for troubleshooting purposes, but manufacturers like HTC and Samsung have modified it to run in the background, completely undetectable, with no option to opt out of its "services".
At best, it slows down your phone, and at worst, anyone on the other end of the application could, in theory, read your text messages, see what you search on the web, and much more. Worst of all, after being confronted, phone manufacturers, wireless carriers, and Carrier IQ themselves have tossed around blame, saying they aren't doing anything wrong. Some have and their privacy policies aren't super specific on what they collect and use. Sprint claims they are "unable to look at the contents of messages, photos, or videos" using Carrier IQ, but Eckhart claims differently.
I highly recommend reading Eckhart's article for a deeper look at how Carrier IQ works and how it's manifested itself on certain devices. Relax and be free from anxiety Take back good sleep and help alleviate pain.
Update : Our original article stated that the software also came preinstalled on iPhones and dumphones, which has not been confirmed.
That information came from this article at Geeks.
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