Apple, HTC, Samsung, AT&T and Sprint admit to using the rootkit

Dec 2, 2011 12:59 GMT  ·  By

Those who might have blindly trusted their smartphones will be disappointed to learn that they have been deceived.

Although not everybody admits to using it, a rootkit has been found on many smartphones out there, one that could spy on basically everything that a user would do on the device, courtesy of low-level access to the system.

As we already reported, this means that every move you make on the device is recorded, and the device could send it away.

Apparently, more than just one wireless carrier or handset vendor already confirmed use of this rootkit, though it seems that there are some devices that haven’t been touched by it.

Called Carrier IQ, the rootkit was confirmed on Apple’s iPhones, though the company says that it stopped using it in iOS 5.

“We stopped supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update,” the Cupertino-based company said

Android handsets coming from leading vendors such as HTC and Samsung were also found to include Carrier IQ.

What’s interesting to note is that, according to HTC, this was one of the requirements that wireless carriers in the United States imposed.

“Carrier IQ is required on devices by a number of U.S carriers so if consumers or media have any questions about the practices relating to, or data collected by, Carrier IQ we’d advise them to contact their carrier,” the handset vendor stated, according to ZDNet.

Of these carriers, AT&T and Sprint admitted to using the software for ‘network diagnostics.’ Both claim they have been using it to find and resolve issues with their networks.

Carriers in other markets around the world denied using the software in any form or for any purposes, though it seems that not all of them were explicit on the matter.

At the same time, there are also those handset vendors and carriers who firmly deny using Carrier IQ. Verizon Wireless is one of them, and we can also add Nokia and Research In Motion to the list.

Moreover, Microsoft stepped up to say that Windows Phone does not make use of such software, while Google says they have never had anything to do with the rootkit either.