“To show what the CryptoPhone can do that less expensive competitors cannot, [Les Goldsmith, CEO of ESD America, maker of CryptoPhone] points me to a map that he and his customers have created, indicating 17 different phony cell towers known as ‘interceptors,’ detected by the CryptoPhone 500 around the United States during the month of July alone,” Andrew Rosenblum reports for Popular Science. “Interceptors look to a typical phone like an ordinary tower. Once the phone connects with the interceptor, a variety of ‘over-the-air’ attacks become possible, from eavesdropping on calls and texts to pushing spyware to the device.”
“‘Interceptor use in the U.S. is much higher than people had anticipated,’ Goldsmith says. ‘One of our customers took a road trip from Florida to North Carolina and he found 8 different interceptors on that trip. We even found one at South Point Casino in Las Vegas,'” Rosenblum reports. “Who is running these interceptors and what are they doing with the calls? Goldsmith says we can’t be sure, but he has his suspicions.’What we find suspicious is that a lot of these interceptors are right on top of U.S. military bases. So we begin to wonder – are some of them U.S. government interceptors? Or are some of them Chinese interceptors?’ says Goldsmith.”
“Some interceptors are limited, only able to passively listen to either outgoing or incoming calls. But full-featured devices like the VME Dominator, available only to government agencies, can not only capture calls and texts, but even actively control the phone, sending out spoof texts, for example. Edward Snowden revealed that the N.S.A. is capable of an over-the-air attack that tells the phone to fake a shut-down while leaving the microphone running, turning the seemingly deactivated phone into a bug,” Rosenblum reports. “And various ethical hackers have demonstrated DIY interceptor projects, using a software programmable radio and the open-source base station software package OpenBTS – this creates a basic interceptor for less than $3,000. On August 11, the F.C.C. announced an investigation into the use of interceptors against Americans by foreign intelligence services and criminal gangs.”
Read more in the full article here.
Nice.
There oughta be a law…
There probably is, but we’re not authorized to see it.
You are behind the times here. Think a bit.
Mr. Obama just uses presidential orders, instead.
The FCC has control over whether anyone can have an active radio tower, including a cell phone tower. Whether they enforce their control is another question.
What’s fascinating, in this regard, is that the FCC has to investigate whether there are foreign agent run towers in the USA. OOPS. That says quite a lot.
As for government agencies treasonously running citizen surveillance cell towers: Why not? They blatantly and treasonously surveil us all on the Internet. I’d expect they’ve been surveilling intercepted cell phone calls for quite some time.
The fine line, of course, is when our governments intercept crooks and foreigners planning dirty deeds. That can be important! But everything requires a warrant, no exceptions. Having the towers up and running does not have to equate to destroying the privacy rights of We The People. But when it does, I want arrests, prosecutions and punishments doled out. I want consequences. It’s all about being responsible.
The X-Files show founders were either prophetic geniuses or knowledge about this have always been in the hands of a chosen few. That show has covered several other controversial issues about our government that turned out to be true. I think we’re being taunted.
If a phone can be hacked, why not the hardware of a cell tower? It is entirely possible these are legit towers that have been “enhanced” by some 3rd party.
So sad to see the land of the free turn to a police state. It’s pretty bad when my faith in the government’s ability to control it’s own actions has eroded to the point where I’m afraid to voice my true opinions on this subject for fear of unwarranted searching of my activities. I’m definitely not trying to be tried in a court where the prosecutor doesn’t have to disclose anything about how they got their evidence.
The compromise of privacy is intrinsically part of the digital technology package. Anyone who is surprised by any of these “discoveries” is naive and blind.
Make that compromise and vulnerability…
There is no reason privacy has to be compromised to have digital advancement. The government used to be required to have a warranty to tap your phone, but now it’s OK to run an interceptor to gather cell phone calls and text messages?
The only difference I can see is interceptors on US military bases. There very likely are valid national security interests being protected by monitoring transmissions from bases. We certainly wouldn’t want a pizza guy to be able to walk into a nuclear launch control room now, would we? /s
Overheard in the White House rest room:
“Pass me the Constitution, I need to wipe my ass.”
You assume government. I think the crypto phone guy has the best ideas… Either military monitoring what goes on near bases or spies monitoring what goes on at bases. The placement seems very specific.
Though the one in Los Angeles might be watching for certain icloud passwords.
So how does this report help us? Can we do anything other than tossing our phones away, to protect us?
Russia has this technology and they have been using it against Ukraine, from Crimea and points along the Eastern border.
Can we have a software update please, that will only let our phones talk with legitimate cell towers?
“One of our customers took a road trip from Florida to North Carolina and he found 8 different interceptors on that trip.”
If phony cell towers are so easy to detect, why isn’t the police breaking down the doors of those who put them up?
Interesting to note that the CryptoPhone is a modified Android OS and during testing of the towers using it, a Samsung Galaxy and an iPhone the iPhone had no indication anything was wrong, the Galaxy connection ‘flickered’ a little and the Cryptophone indicated that there was something wrong.
http://www.itworld.com/mobile-wireless/434462/secure-phones-find-17-cell-towers-unknown-origin?source=ITWNLE_nlt_tonight_2014-09-03