UK, March 13, 2017.- Can they invade our privacy with a smartphone off and with a TV off?. It seems that we do believe the latest papers published by Wikileaks on the procedures of the CIA. Smart devices appear to use the battery to emit data, even if they are not turned on. That’s why I wonder if in the era of implementing internet in all the objectives of our personal and professional lives the best way to guarantee our privacy is to turn off the Internet … and now … remove the battery from the mobile. And this can not always be done, because on many smartphones and laptops the battery is soldered to the motherboard. The information read in The Guardian is as follows:

A broad range of devices are targeted by the agency CIA. A lot of attention is focused on breaking into general-purpose computing devices, including PCs and smartphones, with malware that affects iOS and Android phones referred to in the text, as well as Windows and Linux computers.The tools described would allow the CIA to take almost complete remote control of a user’s phone, turning it into a complete spying device reporting back to the agency. But it would only do so on the most important targets, since each time the agency uses the malware, it runs the risk of being discovered, prompting manufacturers to release a fix to prevent future attacks from succeeding.Exactly that happened in August 2016, when Apple issued a global iOS update after three attacks implemented to try and break into the iPhone of an Arab human rights activist were discovered.The documents also include discussions about compromising some internet-connected Samsung televisions to turn them into listening posts. That hack, like many others, would only work in an extremely targeted manner: it requires physical access to the TV in question, since the malware is loaded via a USB port.

One other document discusses hacking vehicle systems, appearing to indicate the CIA’s interest in hacking recent-model cars with sophisticated onboard computer systems. Apple, one of numerous tech companies whose devices appear to have been targeted, released a statement late on Tuesday saying many of the vulnerabilities described by the documents were already fixed as of the latest version of its iOS mobile operating system, and aimed to reassure customers that it was working on patching the rest of the holes. It said: “While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked today were already patched in the latest iOS, we will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities,” it added. “We always urge customers to download the latest iOS to make sure they have the most recent security updates.” Microsoft and Samsung both said they looking into the reports. The maker of the secure messaging app Signal said the purported tools described in the leaked documents appeared to affect users’ actual phones, but not its software designs or encryption protocols. The manufacturer of the popular Telegram mobile messaging app said in a statement that manufacturers of mobile phones and their operating systems, including Apple, Google and Samsung, were responsible for improving the security of their devices. It said the effort will require “many hours of work and many security updates” and assured its customers: “If the CIA is not on your back, you shouldn’t start worrying yet.”

Security researcher Matt Blaze shared his tips on Twitter: “What can you do as a user to defend? Boring stuff. Keep your software up to date. Don’t run unneeded apps.” But, most important of all: “Don’t become a CIA target.”

Maybe we have to go back to the first televisions, without internet connection, without being intelligent. But then there was no You Tube and we lost the second channel of information behind Google … on the Internet: