I don't understand what kind of malware this is supposed to detect? This only seems relevant when you're using airplane mode, and why wouldn't malware just wait until you went back online before transmitting the data?
Let's say a certain three letter agency would like to listen to that conversation in real-time if they could.
Let's say the journalist thinks that by setting his phone to flight mode, the radio is off and he can't be maliciously tracked.
Let's say the three letter agency has various means to connect and listen in on phones in real time if it chooses.
This new smartphone case would then be able to confirm to the journalist that the phone is not sending/receiving radio signals.
Now, that might sound like a far-fetched scenario, but bear in mind that Snowden asked reporters meeting with him to put their phones in his fridge to prevent exactly that scenario from playing out.
It is therefore not surprising that he might play a part in developing a case like this.
Even some sort of electromagnetic shielding case or bag wouldn't be as convenient (so more likely to be used) or informative.
Knowing you are compromised, you could prepare disinformation to throw off, embarrass or otherwise humiliate an adversary.
Well, all they need to do is modify the malware to record the audio to a file and transmit it when the radio is next switched on, perhaps interleaving it with normal radio activity.
As a malware detector, this case is useless.
This case is not a silver bullet, but it's a useful tool.
It pushes the capacity for your adversary to operate into (slightly) slimmer confines, which is a marginal improvement.
Otherwise, your adversary can behave in an unrestrained manner. No?
Got a secret meeting? Don't take your bloody phone.
http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/even-if-theyre-off-...
In this case it was a Motorola device on an iDEN network, probably using a Freescale baseband. But it is likely that most major vendors were persuaded to include similar capabilities and that network providers cooperate in providing special signaling to control these capabilities.
While it's easy to prevent the phone from recording your conversation (just place it somewhere out of earshot, maybe next to a noise source for the duration of the conversation alone), it's much harder to prevent it from learning where you're going (if you're taking it with you).
Only Samsung devices have been shown to give the baseband processor backdoor access to device storage. Afaik.
My Galaxy Note 4 gets a solid connection on T-Mobile in the fridge, in the oven, in the washer, and in the dryer.
It's in the range of 33ms ping, 45Mbps upload, 24Mbps download in each of those locations.
Why? T-Mobile has a neighborhood tower one short block from home.
If it were me, though, I'd just drop the phone into a potato-chip bag.
https://www.amazon.com/Faraday-EMP-BLACKOUT®-Prepping-Smartp...
As noted by dnh44, these are almost certainly bog-standard antistatic bags, which are not intended to provide any kind of RF shielding.
However the concept of Faraday Cages is not new. There are vendors catering to the Law Enforcement market that make these bags to prevent tampering of evidence on confiscated devices.
You just have to find the right ones. I was just showing examples of such products available online.
Caveat Emptor.
Plausible deniability is really important if one expects to be frisked. Traveling in something like cycling gear could be part of the disguise, you can go through special gates at train stations and not be ticket inspected by machine. Nobody expects the guy in fluorescent clothing travelling at 15 mph.