A well known US government whistleblower Edward Snowden has reportedly help to create and iPhone 6 case that protects the users from surveillance activities by the NSA.
Co-designed by hardware hacking expert Andrew ‘Bunnie’ Huang, this shell has the ability to detect if the device is transferring data when it is in airplane mode.
Huang announced this project two days ago. He also published a paper describing the concept. He mentioned that the case is designed to protect the journalists and the right elements of the society.
Snowden and Huan said that switching to airplane mode does not guarantee zero radio transmission.
In order to avoid any interruptions from a malware from the phone, the device has its CPU, which is not connected to the phone’s processor.
It has probe wires to access the antennae of the phone through the SIM slot to monitor the transmission of signal. There is also a small screen attached outside of the case to keep the user updated with anything that the phone transmits.
The duo is also working on a ‘kill switch’, that will automatically shut down the device if it detects any suspicious transmissions.
There have been incidents where journalists have been tracked and harassed and even killed for their work. The paper cites the tragic death of journalists like Marie Colvin, who was tracked and killed by Syrian forces in 2012.
There was a lawsuit filed against the Syrian government that accused them of deliberately tracking her location by using the intercept of devices and killing her.
The cover is designed to protect people from such threats and activities. Snowden has been propagating this agenda for a long time, and this is a major step for him in achieving his goal.