Snowden backed Haven app turns your smartphone into a home security system

Freedom of the Press Foundation where NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is one of the directors, in collaboration with Guardian Project has jointly released a new open source security app called Haven.

Haven is described as a "personal security system" and is targeted at investigative journalists, human rights defenders, and people at risk of forced disappearance. It uses the phone's on-board sensor to monitor their possessions and physical spaces when they are away from them. 

"Imagine you are a journalist working in a hostile foreign country and you are worried about security services breaking into your hotel room and rifling through your belongings and computer while you are away." said the Guardian Project about. The app will help people to keep any eye out for intrusions into their home, office, hotel room or other private space, when they are away. Note that for the app to work, you'll have to leave behind a phone (for instance a cheap burner phone) in your home, office or hotel room to monitor the activity.

The app uses the smartphone's on-board sensors including — camera, microphone, gyroscope, accelerometer, ambient light, USB power —and records the measurable change in the environment to an event log on the device.

It then sends end-to-end encrypted alerts to your phone via Signal to alert you if anyone enters your home or attempts to tamper with your devices while you aren’t there. You can monitor the activity remotely through a Tor Onion Service. It supports SMS function as well in case there is no internet connectivity. Also the app does not rely on cloud service and does not transmit data that third parties can access.   

The Haven app is designed to be used on a cheap Android burner phone, and is available for download from the Google Play Store (link). The app is still in beta phase, so it might have some bugs.

Source | Via

Kaiser Bey

Kaiser is a tech enthusiast who likes to write, read and talk about tech. He dreams of going to Mars and never come back. We hope that you find his posts on AndroGuider helpful and informative