this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2025
233 points (98.3% liked)

Technology

77847 readers
3225 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
technopagan@lemmy.world
L4s@lemmy.world
L3s@hackingne.ws
L4s@hackingne.ws
233
Samsung Embeds Israeli Surveillance App on Phones Across MENA (www.moroccoworldnews.com)
submitted 3 months ago by floofloof@lemmy.ca to c/technology@lemmy.world
18 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/36145028

A nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing human rights in digital spaces across West Asia and North Africa — is warning that Israeli-linked software secretly embedded in Samsung phones across the MENA region poses a serious surveillance threat.

According to SMEX, Samsung’s A and M series devices either come preloaded with the app “Aura” or install it automatically through system updates, without the user’s consent. The application reportedly collects a wide range of personal and device-specific data, including IP addresses, device fingerprints, hardware details, and network information.

​​In 2022, Samsung MENA partnered with Israeli tech company IronSource, integrating its Aura software into Galaxy A and M series phones across the region. The partnership was publicly marketed as a way to “enhance user experience” with AI-powered apps and content suggestions.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Spes@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I don’t think cell phone batteries can be wired to explode, but I am not an electrical engineer.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 19 points 3 months ago

Wired? Certainly.

Doing it without extra wiring is probably possible too. You'd have to override the battery charge controller, which is probably not available to an app, if to Android at all. But I'd be unsurprised if there was some exploit that made it possible.

[–] teft@piefed.social 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I'm not an electrical engineer but I did work with explosives a little in the army. You'd only need a small amount of high explosive to do some serious damage to someone if their phone was in their pocket and that explosive went off. Modern phones have plenty of empty spaces to stuff full of enough explosives to do lots of damage. It'd be a lot easier to detect then just making the Li-ion batteries ignite but who can say what the IDF can smuggle into the supply chain.

[–] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

They would likely be detected by modern airport security if they put in actual explosives.

All battery powered devices go through the scanner separately.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The israeli pager/walkie-talkie attack's tampered equipments (filled with explosives) completely bypassed airport security...

[–] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

Actually that is true. So you are right they probably could easily rig phones.

[–] teft@piefed.social 2 points 3 months ago

Yes, i mentioned in my comment how they’d be easier to detect.

[–] Harvey656@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

No but I bet they could be used do melt the device, imagine if all of a sudden nobody had phones, chaos.