Categories: MobilitySecurity

Smartphones Tracked Through Analysing Battery Usage

The location of Android smartphones can be tracked by analysing battery usage over the course of a few minutes, according to new research (PDF).

Because mobile phones use more batter power the farther they are from a cellular base station, it is possible to determine a handset’s location from this data alone, researchers at Stanford University said.

Battery drain caused by other factors, such as application or network usage, can be filtered out using machine-learning techniques, they said.

“Aggregate phone power consumption data is extremely noisy due to the multitude of components and applications simultaneously consuming power,” wrote Yan Michalevsky, Dan Boneh and Aaron Schulman, of the Stanford computer science department, and Gabi Nakibly, from Rafael Ltd, in the paper. “Nevertheless, we show that by using machine learning techniques, the phone’s location can be inferred.”

The team constructed a virus called PowerSpy that was able to determine a user’s location more than two-thirds of the time. It does not requires the user to grant permission to access GPS, Wi-Fi, cellular or other location information, only asking for network connectivity and access to power data.

Defence

“These are very common permissions for an application, and are unlikely to raise suspicion on the part of the victim,” the researchers wrote. “By simply reading the phone’s aggregate power consumption over a period of a few minutes an application can learn information about the user’s location.”

The technique was tested using real-world data collected from popular handsets with a significant market share, and could be refined with access to more data, the researchers said.

They said smartphone security should be reviewed to better defend users’ privacy.

“Our work suggests that more security modelling needs to be done before giving third-party applications direct access to sensors,” they wrote

Are you a security pro? Try our quiz!

Matthew Broersma

Matt Broersma is a long standing tech freelance, who has worked for Ziff-Davis, ZDnet and other leading publications

Recent Posts

OpenAI Hit By Austrian Complaint Over ChatGPT ‘False Data’

Rights group argues ChatGPT tendency to generate false information on individuals violates GDPR data protection…

5 hours ago

EU Designates Apple’s iPad OS As DMA ‘Gatekeeper’

European Commission says Apple's iPadOS is 'gatekeeper' due to large number of businesses 'locked in'…

6 hours ago

Beating the Barbarians in the Cloud

As the cloud continues to be an essential asset for all businesses, developing and maintaining…

6 hours ago

Austria Conference Calls For Controls On ‘Killer Robots’

Internatinal conference in Vienna calls for controls on AI-powered autonomous weapons to ensure humans remain…

6 hours ago

Taiwanese Chip Giant Exits China Mainland

Major Taiwan chip assembly and test firm KYEC to sell Jiangsu subsidiary, exit mainland China…

7 hours ago

Deepfakes: More Than Skin Deep Security

As deepfake technology continues to blur the lines between reality and deception, businesses and individuals…

7 hours ago