Android Hacks Render User’s Home, Grant Free Fares

GLOBAL – Hackers and malware designers seem to have received a boost of energy from latest technology, especially when considering the Android world.

Last month, two security researchers at the Intrepidus Group revealed a demonstrative Android app, named UltraReset, that could manipulate contact-less fare cards in order to enable travellers to travel for free.

The app uses NFC to read the data from a fare card with an available travel balance, save it and write it back to the card once the balance is used up. San Francisco Muni and New Jersey Path are two major transit systems at risk, whereas other cities like Boston, Seattle, Salt Lake and Chicago haven’t been tested by the researchers.

UltraReset – Using a smartphone for free subway rides from Intrepidus Benn on Vimeo.

A more intriguing aspect of virtual theft has come alight with the unveiling of an Android malware app named PlaceRaider, which is capable of creating 3D visual maps of the device owner’s home or office. Developed by researchers of the University of Indiana and the US Navy, the app is capable of deciding when the user is moving within the space concerned, through GPS and accelerometers. Then it uses the camera of the device to snap photos of the interior space, which are sent to a remote server which constructs a 3D model of the interior.