Bitdefender Carrier IQ Finder

Martin Brinkmann
Dec 4, 2011
Updated • Apr 11, 2013
Apps, Google Android
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The deeply integrated Carrier IQ software for mobile devices has made the rounds lately. Check out this introductory post for detailed information about Carrier IQ. The technology has recently been discovered on Android and Apple smartphones in a way that the discoverer called rootkit-like. Users have a hard time finding out if Carrier IQ is running on their phone, and virtually no option of finding out which data it collects or transfers. To top it all off, there is no native option to disable Carrier IQ from running on the phone.

If you are like me, you'd probably want to know if a program that can virtually access all data on the phone is running on it and if it does, if it transfers data to remote servers. And if it transfers data, which data.

Bitdefender Carrier IQ Finder is a new program for Android mobile phones by Bitdefender that can be used to find out if the technology is running on a phone.

Android users need to download the application from Android Market where it is available for free. The app has been designed to detect Carrier IQ on Android phones. It cannot remove the technology nor detect or remove malicious software from the phone.

Android users can point their browsers to the Bitdefender carrier IQ Finder market place listing to install the program directly from there. It is necessary to be logged in a Google account to install the app.

The app will search for traces of Carrier IQ on the phone on start up.

carrier iq detector

A red screen after the scan indicates that Carrier IQ has been found running on the system, a green screen that the technology has not been found on the smartphone.

What can you do if Carrier IQ has been found on your phone? It may be virtually impossible to remove the technology completely from the phone. You could contact your carrier for additional information about the technology. (via)

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Comments

  1. Bryan said on December 5, 2011 at 6:22 pm
    Reply

    my biggest concern is not so much what the carriers plan to do with the information but if somebody else gets hold of it. Peoples personal data has hardly been well protected by anybody lately. it’s a digital age i guess but by collecting this data aren’t these companies setting the selves up for a big potential claim from many many people if the data they have collected gets into somebody else’s hands?

  2. charliechan said on December 5, 2011 at 4:22 pm
    Reply

    Carrier IQ mainly is a problem for folks in the US, in Canada, all mobile companies here claim they don’t use Carrier IQ, however someone did find it installed on an old HTC phone that was bought from Rogers.

    This software probably doens’t send out everything like your txts, call logs and pictures you have taken, it most likely checks network performance, ie dropped calls, or when the phone goes into roaming, but why make it so hidden?

    I wonder if Carrier IQ is just a front for some software developed by the NSA to watch over US citizens, I’m just theorizing here, I’ll let someone dig deeper into this, but I’m sure Sprint, AT&T have board members who once worked for intelligence agencies. If this program was just there to “check out network performances regarding dropped calls, and battery usage” would it be more like any other app on your phone And not have such rootkit behaviors? Why hide it so well, why not let your customers know about it, and say “hey we’ve got this app that’s on your phone to check our networks, and in turn it will help us make our mobile networks better for you!”

    I’m most likely wrong, but you never know…..

  3. ParisMan said on December 5, 2011 at 10:18 am
    Reply

    Probably USA was the “testing” ground before world wide deployment of the nasty application. Thanks to all the guys that discovered it help stop it right in the egg.

    And i wouldn’t be surprise to see no further action against the Carrier IQ company, as their accomplices are the OEM’s + Telco companies; the latter being on Gov best friends list.

    Also not to forget that all this has been crafted on Our Behalf for Our not so Obvious Safety and Benefit, right ?

  4. ilev said on December 5, 2011 at 8:29 am
    Reply

    How To Check And Remove Carrier IQ Keylogger Activity On Android

    http://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-check-and-remove-carrier-iq-keylogger-activity-on-android/

  5. Hans said on December 5, 2011 at 7:43 am
    Reply

    It seems that europeans that own a HTC running android should not be afraid that “carrier IQ” is running on their phone.

    A statement from HTC has been given to “ZD Net Belgium” that no European phones have been equipped with this (malicious) software

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