Mobile batteries become prime target for hackers
Batteries have become a new security risk for smartphone users, with a group of security researchers saying they are able to transmit personal data to hackers.
Lukasz Olejnik, Gunes Acar, Claude Castelluccia and Claudia Diaz have written a paper outlining the risks, saying a piece of software used in the HTML5 web language transmits data such as how much power is still left in a battery so websites using the code can save power while browsing.
However, it can also be used maliciously to track people as they navigate around the web, revealing which sites they visit and what kind of data they are inputting. Unlike other actions carried out on a mobile, such as downloading an application, you don't have to grant HTML5 permission to pass this information onto the wider world. Therefore, a smartphone will respond to battery information requests without checking with you whether that's OK.
