–With the “Live Listening” function, which is activated for use in conjunction with the AirPods, the Apple mobile device being used (iPhone, iPad or iPod touch) becomes a remote microphone that sends the sound to the headphones .
“The Live Listening feature can help you listen to conversations in a noisy place or to someone who speaks from the other side of the room,” Apple explains on its official website.
To add the Live Listening function (which has the icon of one ear) to the Control Center, go to the configuration menu and choose the Control Center option and then the Custom controls option. It can really be a very useful function since it allows you to optimize the operation of the headphones.
The point is that this tool can also be used to listen to outside conversations without permission. Just simply let someone leave your iPhone, or other mobile Apple device, next to the person you want to listen to, put on the AirPods wireless headphones and activate the function from the setup menu.
Touching the “Audition” icon activates the “Live Listening” tool.
The iPhone will continue to amplify and send the conversations at a distance, even when the cell phone is locked. What to do then? If you notice that someone leaves your iPhone near you, take care because you could be listening to your conversation in real time.
Of course, if a recorder is activated on an Android phone and the phone is left, it will also continue recording, even when the screen is locked and then the recording can be accessed. But in the case of the iPhone, as mentioned earlier, the transmission occurs in real time.
It is worth taking this into account because it is something that can happen without us noticing. Currently there is so much technology available that it is necessary to take the greatest amount of precautions to avoid falling into deception that may violate privacy.
The tool can be managed from the configuration menu.
Social Engineering and Phishing
Beyond this type of gadgets, in recent times there have been many social engineering or phishing techniques that are deceptive so that the same user ends up offering, without realizing it, their confidential data.
Usually, phishing emails or messages include an attachment that, if downloaded, infects the computer with malicious programs that can steal information. On other occasions it includes the link to a fake page that is passed, for example, by a home banking site, a social network or site with supposed promotions where the user is asked to enter their information either to obtain a benefit, collect a prize, reactivate an account that they say is outdated or any other excuse that serves the cyber-attacker to get what he wants.
What to do about this situation
Never enter links that arrive by mail or SMS with promises or requests for information. Nor download attachments. If we really believe that the mail can be genuine one can contact the entity in question or enter the address by directly typing the URL in the search engine. That way we make sure we enter the real site and not a fake one.
–
