App "telemetry"

Published: 2014-07-22
Last Updated: 2014-07-22 15:39:30 UTC
by Daniel Wesemann (Version: 1)
7 comment(s)

ISC reader James had just installed "Foxit Reader" on his iPhone, and had answered "NO" to the "In order to help us improve Foxit Mobile PDF, we would like to collect anonymous usage data..." question, when he noticed his phone talking to China anyway. The connected-to site was alog.umeng.com, 211.151.151.7. Umeng is an "application telemetry" and online advertising company. Below is what was sent (some of the ids are masked or have been obfuscated)

I particularly like the "is_pirated: No". It goes well with "is_snooping: Yes" that is though missing from the exchange...

 

Keywords: foxit iPhone
7 comment(s)

Comments

I like "is_jailbroke"...
What apps for an IPhone would you suggest for seeing what your phone is currently connecting ("talking") to? Thx in advance
It actually says "is_jailbroken":"yes" - it's just word wrapped and looks odd at first glance.

Knowing the phone is jail broken, I'd like to know if this copy of Foxit Reader came from the Apple app store or not.
Yes. PCAP&logs show the app came from a1644.phobos.apple.com
I don't want this comment to be seen as xenophobic, but:

Eugene Xiong – Founder and Chairman of the Board
Eugene founded Foxit Corporation in 2001 and has been the company's president and CEO. Under Eugene's leadership, the company is growing rapidly, employs hundreds of employees worldwide, and has become a worldwide leader in PDF and electronic document technology and solutions. Before founding Foxit, Eugene worked at Bexcom Corporation and at China's National Astronomical Observatory, where he participated in building one of the first Internet nodes in China. Eugene earned his BS in Computer Science at the University of Science and Technology of China.

George Z. Gao – President, Foxit Corporation
George leads the world-wide sales and marketing team as well as business development at Foxit Corporation. George has more than 20 years of experience in the software industry in marketing and sales in addition to software development and project management. Before joining Foxit, George worked for Nortel Networks and Lite-on Communications. George earned his degree of Bachelor of Science in Astrophysics from Nanjing University and his Ph.D of Science in Astro Technology from Chinese Academy of Sciences in China.
I posted a link to this article on the FoxitSoftware forum for Foxit reader mobile, and asked if they had any comment.
The post was deleted. Imagine that.
Somebody needs to contact Apple. They take privacy seriously, and would probably warn foxit to fix it in next versio.

As for log. Set up your phone to use a proxy server. Then look there.

Diary Archives