Security researchers have discovered a way to track a person's every move by consuming the battery of any Android smartphone they may have, even with GPS turned off.
Researchers at Stanford University and the Israeli Defense Research Group, Rafael, have developed a new technology, dubbed “PowerSpy,” which has the ability to find the location of an Android phone simply by measuring its battery usage over a certain period of time.
Unlike Wi-Fi access and GPS, battery consumption data does not require user permission and is freely available to any app the smartphone owner has downloaded and installed. Therefore, this data can be used to track a phone with up to 90% accuracy.
All an attacker needs to do is use an app that the user can download and install on their Android smartphone to monitor the phone's battery consumption in an attempt to find the smartphone's location.
PowerSpy uses the fact that cellular network transmissions to signal towers consume battery power at different rates, depending on how close or far the device is from the tower, and also depending on obstacles that may block the signal.
No one can avoid this, since the best way would be to avoid using the phone, which is impossible for most people these days. Most apps ask for permission to access the device's location, but battery data is freely available to all apps.
