"Cover the phone's camera!": expert on IT security told me how watching us secret services

Expert on IT security Igor Ashmanov gave an interview to journalists of the newspaper "Arguments and facts". It specialist answered the questions of thousands of people, for example, is it true that technology is watching us, do I need to disable the phone when not in use, and how to protect themselves from outside observation?

The answers to these and many other questions you can see below.

Of course, most of you have at least once wondered: is it true that with the Internet and mobile communications you can follow the person? Igor Ashmanov confirmed this. According to experts, our phones are watching us in the "non-stop".

Even when the smartphone is locked, he can listen to you, identify the location, "watching" you through the camera. No wonder it is one of the most technically advanced people in the world, the founder of social network Facebook mark Zuckerberg 7 years stick the camera on his laptop.

As for your personal photos, then there should not expect complete privacy. The phone "knows" when a photo is something that may be of interest to workers "Central server", and sends them to the. It can be pictures with different people, actions, situations, places... Very difficult to say exactly what the consumers of these data. And who they such, too, is unclear.

By the way, even if you think you turned your phone off, you know: not the fact that it is really so! It is possible that your smartphone only "pretended" like turned off, and at that time continues to for surveillance. Are you sure that the screensaver off is not an ordinary animation, which is activated after the "special monitoring mode"?

According to Ashmanov, the only way to reduce the risk of surveillance is to remove the battery from the phone. But, as you know, on most modern smartphone has non-removable battery. Hmm, why would that be?

Another way — buy "babushkofon", as it was his most difficult "control from the outside." But even this does not guarantee you complete safety. As the saying goes, "even the walls have ears"...

Igor Ashmanov

He Ashmanov uses modern Korean smartphone and not even stick the camera. According to him, the fear of wiretapping and surveillance is only for those who are somehow connected to illicit or secret Affairs. Basically, it's officials, representatives of intelligence services, criminals and big business.

Personal life of ordinary citizens, employees of the intelligence services is not particularly interesting. However, it is not worth the risk to use the phone in specific places and situations, such as in a sauna, at business meetings, bedroom, bathroom and so on.

Many fear a third-party intervention in his life, began to prefer instant messenger, but this, according to Ashmanov, not output. No one except the creators can't know for sure that such applications do encrypt the information. It's probably just a marketing ploy.But even if encryption does exist, there are a number of additional questions. How it is reliable? On what servers store the encrypted data? Does someone the opportunity to dispose of them? For example, did you know that mail servers like Gmail can read your personal correspondence, and then offer the advertising of those goods or services, which were discussed in the conversation? You have probably noticed something similar...

Of course, all this data is monitored not real people, but special programs — artificial intelligence, endowed with the ability of linguistic analysis.

Igor Ashmanov strongly recommends not to spread in social networks photos of their children, not to participate in flash mobs, not to share your location. Parents the IT specialist advises to pay special attention to the entertainment of children on the Internet. According to Ashmanov, modern "group of death", group of romanticizing of school shootings or associations of youth gangs can inflict far more damage than any wire.