Writer Tim Greene reports that the recent rash of smartphone malware – which effectively allows hackers remote control to the smartphone's features – could affect the Android handsets of military personnel.
According to Greene, this type of malware would not be unlike the recently discovered Android malware.
Two researchers – Hugh Thompson, a software security professor at Columbia University and conference chairman for the RSA Conference, and Markus Jakobsson of PayPal – told the reporter that "malicious software that commandeers phone functions could give wartime enemies valuable information about troop locations and movements".
Even worse, the security experts say, even normal apps can send a lot of information back home and, adds Thompson, individual users are generally ill equipped to determine whether these apps represent security risks.
Greene goes on to say that Jakobsson has discussed the problem with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). In fact, he says, DARPA brought it up.
"I would say the military are aware of it but not very comfortable with it", Jakobson told the Network World reporter, adding that malware that sent out geolocation data every half hour could potentially reveal troop movements.
Even timestamps on photos could be somewhat revealing. Time of day combined with lighting in outdoor conditions could reveal something about where in the world the camera was when it took the photo, he added.