Edward Snowden launches security app to spy on those spying on you
27 Dec 2017
Edward Snowden, working with associates, launched a new Android app on 22 December, designed to turn smartphones into a surveillance device. The former NSA contractor-turned whistleblower's app, ''Haven'' will especially help people in journalism and activism protect their information and shield them from online surveillance and hacking.
The software has been developed with The Guardian Project and the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Haven's designers claim it is like a 'safe room' in one's pocket, or way to defeat 'evil maid' attacks.
Snowden wrote in a tweet: ''Announcing #Haven, a safe room that fits in your pocket. A free app released in beta today by @GuardianProject & @FreedomofPress.''
The app works by activating all the sensors in the users' smartphone device (such as camera, accelerometer, microphone, etc) to inform them of any unexpected guests and unwanted intruders invading their personal space be it their bedroom, or a hotel room or even a safe or desk drawer.
The app captures images and sound when a motion or noise triggers it to turn on and stores everything on the device. It also sends secure notifications of invasions as soon as they occur, and users to access logs remotely at any time.
The app can be installed on any burner device, and can be kept at any place. When someone enters the room, the app notifies about this to the primary phone. A burner device is a prepaid device.
One can leave the app running in one's hotel room, for instance, and it can capture photos and audio of anyone entering the room while the user is out, whether an innocent housekeeper or an intelligence agent trying to use your laptop to install spyware on it. The app then instantly sends pictures and sound clips of those visitors to the user's primary phone, alerting them to the disturbance. The app also uses the phone's light sensor to trigger an alert if the room goes dark, or an unexpected flashlight flickers.
"Imagine if you had a guard dog you could take with you to any hotel room and leave it in your room when you're not there. And it's actually smart, and it witnesses everything that happens and creates a record of it," Snowden said in an encrypted phone call with WIRED from Moscow, where he has lived in exile since 2013. "The real idea is to establish that the physical spaces around you can be trusted."
