I was looking through network alarms, and I came across an interesting alert I’ve not seen before for cell phone tracking. I noticed that the POST to the website was in clear text. I started to look at the URL’s that Phone was accessing.

POST to URLS included:

/smart_php/update.php

/smart_php/upload_mms.php

/smart_php/upload_rec.php

I started looking at the different data that was sent to each of the URLs. The information posted to the update.php page included: Userid, Serial, Model, Phone number, Sim card number, IMEI, Phone Number Called and the contact named in phone and more.

The upload_MMS is what I expected; it contained what was being sent via TXT, including pictures.

The upload_rec.php was very surprising to me. My initial thought it was voicemail, but it appears that its an mp4 of all phone conversations. The file that was transferred was 15 min long, obviously too long for a voicemail. Network Miner was able to quickly determine their was MP4 files embedded in the PCAP.

The software is sending this data to http://cellphonetrackers.co. The website appears not to have been updated since 2013 as that's the copyright listed on the front page.

Monitoring your loved ones on devices is important, but you need to make sure that their privacy is still be protected by the tool you are using. There are lots of legitimate review sites that cover pro and cons of tools from name brands you know and trust.

-- Tom Webb @twsecblog