Carrier IQ Traces Found on iPhone, iPad & iPod touch Too [Carrier IQ Software Found in iOS 3.1.3, iOS 4.0 & iOS 5.0 According to Hacker, Is It Harmful in Any Way?]

Posted on TFTS by Chris Smith on Wednesday, 30. November 2011 under: Computers & Computing, Mobile/Cell Phones, PCs, Notebooks, Netbooks & Tablets

Earlier today we told you about the new scandal of the week that involves a rather anonymous company called Carrier IQ whose software is already deployed on millions of Android, BlackBerry and Nokia devices and which has been proven to be capable of spying on everything a smartphone user does on such a device.

When finishing up that story I considered asking you, our readers, whether you’d consider switching to the iPhone after hearing what Carrier IQ can do, but then it dawned on me that iOS may also come with traces of Carrier IQ software on board given that this wasn’t an Android-only software.

It turns out that my hunch was soon confirmed and now I’m about to tell you that various users including well known hacker Chpwn, have discovered Carrier IQ traces in various iOS versions, from iOS 3.1.3 to iOS 4.0 to iOS 5.0. The Verge reports:

We were able to independently verify that at the very least, references to Carrier IQ’s servers do exist within iPhoneOS 3.1.3 in a file located at /usr/bin/IQAgent. What exactly that binary is able to access or how it may communicate with either carriers or Carrier IQ is not yet known, though there are references to an IQAgent log on the device as well as references to collector.sky.carrieriq.com.
For versions 4.0 and up, Intell on MacRumors’ forums has found similar references to the http://collector.sky.carrieriq.com location within /usr/bin/awd_ice2, although we have not independently verified that yet. Again, no clear word on just what is or is not being tracked or collected.

As you can see everything is sketchy at best, as nobody seems to know why there are Carrier IQ references in iOS software. Isn’t Apple controlling everything about its iOS devices? Why do they need Carrier IQ? And while we’re asking questions, are Windows Phone devices also packing Carrier IQ software?

If this was a bad conspiracy theory documentary we’d have someone conclude that a certain entity is able to spy on everyone that’s using a smartphone, no matter who makes it. But this is real life, so we’re certainly looking forward to see what happens next before we jump to strange conclusions. Not to mention that according to Carrier IQ’s website just over 141 million handsets are tracked by the software. When you combine just the Android and iOS devices out there you’d get close, if not surpass, 500 million users. Does that mean not everyone can be traced?

What do you think, is there a Congress hearing in Carrier IQ’s future?

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