How can a smartphone "spy" on you even when it is not connected to the Internet?

A smartphone can "spy" on its owner, even if the device is not connected to the Internet. According to experts, smartphones constantly collect data about their owners, and the absence of the Internet does not guarantee the safety of this data.

In an interview with Prime agency, Shamil Magomedov, head of the Department of Intelligent Systems of Information Security at the Institute of Cyber Security and Digital Technologies of the Russian Technological University, said that modern smartphones collect a person's location, photos taken and many other data, even regardless of whether the phone is connected to the Internet or not.

"For example, the metadata of graphic files – information about the location and time of shooting – is stored in the phone's memory. However, as soon as the device connects to the Internet again, it uploads the data to the cloud storage," explained Magomedov.

According to him, confidential information is also stored on the SIM card of the smartphone. Such information may include, for example, the user's contacts and movement history. According to Magomedov, even a newly purchased and unpacked smartphone already collects a huge amount of data for its manufacturer.

The artificial intelligence that powers the ChatGPT chatbot has also confirmed that the smartphone can collect some data that it can pass on to potential attackers when it connects to the internet. Such data includes phone contacts, calendars, message and call logs, photos and videos, data about applications running on the device, as well as GPS sensors, accelerometer and other data.

In order to protect your smartphone as efficiently as possible in everyday life, it is recommended to follow some fairly simple tips.