Remember Edward Snowden? The NSA guy that revealed to the world how the United States government listened to and surveilled other countries.
Snowden copied and released lots of classified information of the United States government that proved he was right, and the US government couldn’t deny the act. Because of what Snowden did, the United State government wants his head, so the guy is currently on an asylum in Russia.
Being a security and computer expert, Snowden has just launched an Android app that could help monitor your laptop and prevent it from being stolen. The app, called Haven, uses sensors (microphone, motion detector, light detector, camera, accelerometer, etc.) on the Android phone to monitor the physical environment of the Android phone on which the app is installed.
Haven coordinates the sensors and uses them to monitor and log changes in the environment of the phone.
Micah Lee of The Intercept explained how the app might work as follow: “Here’s how Haven might work. You lock your laptop in a hotel safe — not a secure move on its own — and place your Haven phone on top of it. If someone opens the safe while you’re away, the phone’s light meter might detect a change in lighting, its microphone might hear the safe open (and even the attacker speak), its accelerometer might detect motion if the attacker moves the laptop, and its camera might even capture a snapshot of the attacker’s face.”
The app isn’t only meant for monitoring laptops, though; it is a full surveillance app. As stated on the app’s description page on Play Store, the app is designed for watching unexpected guests and unwanted intruders. And the targetted people Haven is designed for are the investigative journalists, human rights defenders, and people at risk of forced disappearance.
The app is currently available as a beta on Play Store and can be downloaded here. No information on whether the app will be published on iOS yet.
Leave a Reply