Instropection Engine, Edward Snowden's privacy-enhancing device
Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2025 8:59 am
Edward Snowden , together with hacker Andrew "bunnie" Huang , has led the Instropection Engine project , aimed at blocking secret communications that may be made from mobile phones.
Snowden , known worldwide for having leaked documents from the United States National Security Agency in 2013 and considered persona non grata by his own country , has always been one of the main assets in the fight to achieve the greatest possible privacy in relation to technology.
According to elmundo.es , Instropection Engine will check if the phone that is in airplane mode is sending any kind of information without its owner being aware of it. At first glance, it just looks like a case that provides a battery. Nothing could be further from the truth, as the device monitors the use of Wi-Fi, telephone connection, Bluetooth and GPS systems.
The device is therefore specifically designed for journalists, human armenia phone number rights activists and any other type of person who may be subject to spying for their professional activities or by the totalitarian governments of their countries. For the moment, it is just a device and only works with iPhones .
The project is open source , so anyone can contribute. As its creators state on the product's website, "a good portion of the vulnerability is due to the opacity of modern devices."
One of the biggest complications that devices like these could face is the smartphone manufacturing companies themselves . Any of them could prevent the changes with some modifications in the manufacturing of the phones.
Snowden and Huang's next project is a "Silent Phone" with all communication systems disabled . Connections could only be established via a cable, using a special tab built into the device itself, and all connections would be anonymous through the various routers in the Tor network.
Snowden , known worldwide for having leaked documents from the United States National Security Agency in 2013 and considered persona non grata by his own country , has always been one of the main assets in the fight to achieve the greatest possible privacy in relation to technology.
According to elmundo.es , Instropection Engine will check if the phone that is in airplane mode is sending any kind of information without its owner being aware of it. At first glance, it just looks like a case that provides a battery. Nothing could be further from the truth, as the device monitors the use of Wi-Fi, telephone connection, Bluetooth and GPS systems.
The device is therefore specifically designed for journalists, human armenia phone number rights activists and any other type of person who may be subject to spying for their professional activities or by the totalitarian governments of their countries. For the moment, it is just a device and only works with iPhones .
The project is open source , so anyone can contribute. As its creators state on the product's website, "a good portion of the vulnerability is due to the opacity of modern devices."
One of the biggest complications that devices like these could face is the smartphone manufacturing companies themselves . Any of them could prevent the changes with some modifications in the manufacturing of the phones.
Snowden and Huang's next project is a "Silent Phone" with all communication systems disabled . Connections could only be established via a cable, using a special tab built into the device itself, and all connections would be anonymous through the various routers in the Tor network.