Hi everybody.
Just a general data/privacy question that I would like to have your input and thoughts on. I can see a lot of these Chinese GSM/GPS Tracker/ODB2 devices, e.g. TK306 that you can buy on Aliexpress and Ebay, are being market with own brand and good looking pictures etc., but I expect them basically coming from the same factory with same chipset/hardware – I don’t think that is completely wrong observation.
However what are your thoughts if these firmware can actually post data of your locations etc to other servers that is defined inside the firmware? I find it quite hard to be able to track where the data is going by just putting in a SIM card. I can ofcause see that you can type an IP + port for the server thru sms etc., but how can you be sure that data is not also posted to others servers or having “backdoors” to geo-fencing etc?
Are any of you using some open source custom firmware that you actually know what happens inside the device?
What have your thoughts been regarding inserting those devices into your vehicles?
Best.
Pede
Personally I don't think cheap devices have backdoors. They can barely work with one server. I feel like it's unlikely they also report somewhere else. I would be more worried about the fact that most devices send data unencrypted.
Now if you feel paranoid about backdoors, there are some things you can do:
Your network provider should report your data usage per SIM card. You can potentially calculate how much data was received by the server and calculate the difference. It won't be precise, but can give you an indication if some other activity is happening.
There are SIM cards that let you only connect to your private network only. I believe the feature is called "private APN". Then you have full control and you can disable general internet access. It also solves the unencrypted traffic problem.
Hi everybody.
Just a general data/privacy question that I would like to have your input and thoughts on. I can see a lot of these Chinese GSM/GPS Tracker/ODB2 devices, e.g. TK306 that you can buy on Aliexpress and Ebay, are being market with own brand and good looking pictures etc., but I expect them basically coming from the same factory with same chipset/hardware – I don’t think that is completely wrong observation.
However what are your thoughts if these firmware can actually post data of your locations etc to other servers that is defined inside the firmware? I find it quite hard to be able to track where the data is going by just putting in a SIM card. I can ofcause see that you can type an IP + port for the server thru sms etc., but how can you be sure that data is not also posted to others servers or having “backdoors” to geo-fencing etc?
Are any of you using some open source custom firmware that you actually know what happens inside the device?
What have your thoughts been regarding inserting those devices into your vehicles?
Best.
Pede