Phones.jpg (Photo : SCMP)
Security authorities in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, will be shelling out 149,000 yuan for a cellphone monitoring software. The local public security bureau purchased a Trojan program costing 49,000 yuan as well as an application costing 100,000 yuan for the program to be integrated into cellphones.
The program is compatible for unlocked iPhones and Android devices so that saved call logs, messages, snaps as well as other important information could be monitored.
The Trojan program may be activated in smartphones when they received junk messages or browsing specific websites.
Trojans planted directly on cellphones can also be used for checking the history on the browser, browse photos located on the server, alter messages, and send all these information to a particular device. This was explained by an employee of wooyun.org, an Internet security monitoring platform in the country.
These new devices are powerful when taken advantage of, especially when they are applied in the proper contexts.
"Those devices would help the police get information to facilitate investigations, especially when suspects refuse to cooperate in cases that may threaten social security," an anonymous expert on criminal investigation shared to the Global Times.
The devices can also be helpful for analyzing how criminals commit fraud on the Internet or mobile messages, the expert added.
Xiang Ligang agrees. An IT expert, he said that these devices are indeed powerful for combatting crime.
"It is normal for departments like the public security forces to use the monitoring devices, but it is odd to see a publication on such purchase."
Despite the many advantages anticipated from the devices, there is an ongoing debate as to the possibility that these devices would violate people's privacy rights.
