Smart Sheriff
Smart Sheriff was a cybersecurity app introduced by the Government of South Korea, after it introduced regulations requiring the smartphones of everyone under 19 run powerful monitoring software.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] The regulations were issued on May 15, 2015. Every smartphone sold to a youth would have to be restricted by a monitoring app - there was no way for their parents to opt out. The government didn't require smartphones to use the Smart Sheriff app, but it did sponsor its development, and make it available for free. Human rights commentators strongly criticized how intrusive Smart Sheriff was. [8]
On November 2, 2015, the Korean government withdrew the Smart Sheriff app from Google playstore.[8][9][10]
Japan Times particularly noted the work of the Citizen's Lab project at the University of Toronto, and the work of the cybersecurity firm Cure53 in finding that Smart Sheriff itself was massively insecure, providing many avenues through which malicious hackers could abuse the app to monitor other people's children.[11]
Regulation
In 2015 the BBC News reported that the government of South Korea "ruled that people under 19 who buy a smartphone must install an app that monitors their web activity."[1] South Korea had prepared the Smart Sheriff app, one approved to perform the monitoring it required. Other apps can provide this service, but the Smart Sheriff app is provided for free.[2]
Commentators' criticisms
The BBC reports the app monitors the youthful smartphone owners' web searches for terms like "threat", "run away from home", "pregnancy", "kill", "rape", "don't want to live", "suicide" and "crazy".[1][4] Infosecurity Magazine noted that the default search terms that are monitored also includes "generic words like motel, inn, handicap, crazy and garbage", noting this "may provide more of a window into the regulators’ sexual hang-ups than anything else."[6] Infosecurity Magazine also reported the monitoring of words that required so much context that it suggested monitoring them was worthless, including "girl I like", "boy I like", "dating", "boyfriend", "girlfriend", "breakup", "jealousy", "lonely", "stress", "complaint", "help", "worry", "breast", "plastic surgery", "appearance", "menstruation", "adoption", "divorce", "homosexual love", "single parent", "terrorism" and "poison".
Infosecurity Magazine also reports that the app tracks the youth's travels by monitoring the smartphone's GPS location, allowing parents to know where their children are, at all times.[6]
After the monitoring and reporting version of the app is installed on the youth's smartphone, a control version of the app is installed on their parents' smartphone.[2][5] It provides mechanisms for the their parent to choose to block access to websites. It also allows the parent to set time limits on the youth's use of the apps on their smartphone
Help Net Security magazine reports some South Korean youths plan to nurse their existing phones until they turn 19, because they were not built to require the government mandated monitoring.[2] In South Korea market forces mean that almost all phones run the Android operating system, and no apps existed for Apple smartphones.[1][5] So youths planning to avoid the monitoring had the option to buy an Apple smartphone.
Naked Security reports that, unlike nations like Japan, which also require the availability of apps for parents to monitor their children's online activity, there is no option for parents to "opt-out".[3] Parents are reminded, using draconian warnings, to monitor their children.[6]
The Register reports the app was written to particular bar youths from viewing pornography.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Stephen Evans. [https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33091990 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33091990 South Korea provokes teenage smartphone privacy row], BBC News, 2015-06-15. Retrieved on 2024-01-05. “Parents will be able to to see what their kids are up to online and block access to "undesirable" sites. Failure to install such an app means the phone won't work.” mirror
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Zeljka Zorz. South Korean minors to be monitored via smartphone spying apps, Help Net Security magazine, 2015-05-20. Retrieved on 2015-08-08. “What does such an app monitor, exactly? Among the 15 approved apps is SmartCOP (or Smart Sheriff) by Korean app maker Moiba, whose development was funded by the South Korean government and is distributed for free by it.”
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lisa Vaas. South Korea mandates spyware on teens' phones, Naked Security, 2023-05-20. Retrieved on 2015-06-16. “The Associated Press reports that the country's Korea Communications Commission, which has sweeping powers covering the telecommunications industry, last month passed a law mandating spyware on the mobile phones of anybody under the age of 18. Unlike countries with similar laws, such as Japan, parents can't opt out, regardless of any (well-founded) privacy concerns.” mirror
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 John-Patrick Gerard Thackeray. Spyware for teenagers, Korea Times, 2015-05-21. Retrieved on 2015-06-17. “The government has funded the 'Smart Sheriff' app that Korean firm MOIBA developed. It was designed to block harmful material, such as pornography and gambling. But it has a built-in key logger that detects more than 1,100 trigger words and phrases such as 'kill,' 'rape,' 'don't want to live,' and 'suicide.'”
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Alexander J Martin. South Korea mandates spyware installation on teenagers' smartphones, The Register, 2015-05-19. Retrieved on 2015-06-16. “One particular monitoring app called Smart Sheriff was funded and developed by the South Korean government with the declared intent of blocking children's access to pornography.”
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Slack Alice. South Korea Mandates Obsessive Kid-Tracking Spyware, Infosecurity Magazine, 2015-05-22. Retrieved on 2015-06-17. “The Korea Communications Commission regulatory body pushed the legislation through last month. And it’s rather airtight: parents can’t opt out, and the mobile phone operators themselves are mandated to “remind” parents of their civic requirement until they comply.”
- ↑ South Korea orders all teenagers should install "Smart Sheriff" App for surveillance, Techworm magazine, 2015-05-22. Retrieved on 2015-06-17. “South Korea’s telecom watchdog, Korea Communications Commission, which has sweeping powers covering the telecommunications industry has mandated that telecoms companies and parents to ensure Smart Sheriff or one of the other monitoring apps is installed when anyone aged 19 years or under gets a new smartphone.”
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 S. Korea pulls plug on child monitoring app, Korea Times, 2015-11-02. Retrieved on 2015-11-04. “Smart Sheriff’s disappearance is a blow to South Korea’s contentious effort to keep closer tabs on the online lives of its youngest citizens. Less than a year ago, the government and schools sent letters to students and parents to encourage them to download Smart Sheriff.”
- ↑ Max Lewontin. South Korea pulls plug on child surveillance app after security concerns: Government officials pulled Smart Sheriff, an app that lets parents track how their children use social media, from the Google Play store over the weekend, Christian Science Monitor, 2015-11-02. Retrieved on 2016-01-09. “But researchers from Citizens Lab, a research group based at the University of Toronto, and Cure53, a German software company, released two reports in September finding that Smart Sheriff had a variety of security issues that it made it vulnerable to hackers and put children and parents’ personal information at risk.”
- ↑ Raphael Satter, Youkyung Lee. South Korea shuts down child surveillance app over security concerns: The removal of the state-approved Smart Sheriff is a blow to South Korea's effort to keep closer tabs on the online lives of youth., Toronto Star, 2015-11-02. Retrieved on 2016-01-09. “Pulling the plug on Smart Sheriff was “long overdue,” said independent researcher Collin Anderson, who worked with Internet watchdog group Citizen Lab and German software auditing firm Cure53 to comb through the app’s code.”
- ↑ South Korea ditching Smart Sheriff child monitoring app over 'catastrophic' security woes, The Japan Times Online, 2015-11-02. Retrieved on 2015-11-04. “Pulling the plug on Smart Sheriff was “long overdue,” said independent researcher Collin Anderson, who worked with Internet watchdog group Citizen Lab and German software auditing firm Cure53 to comb through the app’s code. In a pair of reports published in September, Cure53 described the app’s security as “catastrophic.” Citizen Lab, which is based at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, said the problems could lead to a “mass compromise” of all users.” mirror