The other intresting thing is the FOIA we have a right to know 5 year's after law's reg. Ect. Are passed. Ok thay been in place for 5 year's are the legal under the Constitution? Lot's oh Question's there

After reading various posts regarding phone hacking and the very real threat of mobile phone interception by various entities - I have decided to devote time to bringing the IDW community up to speed on the basics of why and how mobile networks are not secure and how this has been a growing trend, - as well as taking an in-depth look at some techniques and the consequences of these interceptions or ( phone hacking ) incidents can affect not only our private communications - but the impact it can have on the business community.

I hope this information is informative and educational.

Firstly, a quick understanding of phone networks & the phones themselves explained in 2 simple realities:

1: By definition, a mobile phone network is not secure by it's very design.

2: Essentially, a mobile phone is nothing more than a 2 way radio device.

Now that we have that out of the way, lets take a look at HOW this happens.

We all know that mobile phones and networks work hand in glove, as one cannot operate without the other - but something within this mutual system is increasingly being exploited.... and this is the identification method used by cellular network itself. There is a particular semiconductor or " chip " used in ALL mobile phones regardless of their make or model - its called an IMSI chip or ( international Mobile Subscriber Identity ) chip.

This chip is actually " unique " to each and every handset in so far as a particular number that is allocated to that particular handset. ( usually around 22 digits or so long ).- essentially, its the phones ( and your ) fingerprint.

So here is an example of the usual sequence of events that take place when you power up your phone.

1: your phone sends a 5 watt signal out trying to communicate with the closest cell tower ( ANY cell tower regardless of what network your on ) when it makes contact, the tower interrogates the information to find the location of the phone for example:

( in sequence )

Northern or Southern hemisphere ?

Country

State or province

City

Suburb

Cell tower location that's receiving the transmission. ( to within (? ) distance calculated by received signal strength.

THEN it interrogates your actual SIM card ( from there telling it if you are a customer or not. - and if so? - your mobile number is matched up with the carriers database - giving your name address account details ( etc ).
Once recognized by your phone carriers network ( providing you have credit or an account of some type that is valid and operational, - now you can join the network and make and receive calls.

This all takes place within a few seconds.- pretty frightening huh?....from What part of the planet are you on, - to locating you within a few meters at any location where there is phone coverage on the globe!.

This I.M.S.I. chip ( as I said is your unique identifier ) and is married to your handset and THIS is whats being used to scoop up your identity. and here's how...

There are devices that exist called " IMSI Catchers " - and as the name implies their function is to literally capture the locations of mobile phones within range of its capabilities ( which can be up to but not limited to ) a radius of a mile or slightly more depending on its method of deployment.

This could be deployed by ground based vehicles of almost any size from a car to a truck or even a motorbike - or even deployed by using drones ( both military or indeed any number of home made varieties ) - and most aircraft both fixed wing and rotor-craft ( helicopters ). thus far, the only aircraft type that I am aware of that cannot use these devices are jet aircraft - purely because they cannot maintain a slow enough airspeed to be useful as they would be out of range of the selected cellular tower far too quickly.

That's because the cell tower itself is the KEY to all this.....and here's why.

Firstly they refer to mobile phones these days as " smart phones " - which I find myself laughing at because your average smart phone is no more intelligent than your average 2 yr old I say this for the following 2 reasons:

1: They always need to know they are not alone and like the security of holding hands or being close to their parents or other grown ups.

2: They usually believe anything you tell them.

In truth? - your phone is actually a " dumb phone " ...for BOTH of the above stated reasons.

Every few seconds your phone transmits the IMSI information ( your location ) and asks if its connected to the network by sending its phone number. This is done so if your on a call and move from one mobile tower to the next, it can keep track of you and switch from one tower to the next closest tower within range of you without ( as far as possible ) interrupting your conversation. Once it initially receives the Towers ID ( for example Tower ( ABC123 ) it will want to make sure its in CONSTANT contact with it.

These IMSI Catchers exploit this back and forth communication by scanning for any and ALL mobile phones within range - collecting their IMSI ( or location ) - and of course their phones number. These devices can scan up to around 10,000 phones per minute or more. This is accustomed to being able to scoop fish out of an aquarium tank. - if your within the scoops reach? - your captured!.

But HOW do these devices actually DO this? - simply by mimicking the identity of your cell phone tower and broadcasting the SAME signal ( or tower identity ) that the original tower does - but at a much increased power range.

So, for example if your phone is looking for tower ABC123, and is receiving a signal from the tower saying yes, this is me and the tower is transmitting at a power of 100 watts.....these IMSI catchers simply mimics the towers identity - then broadcasts the same ID at about 500 watts! - the result? your phone will automatically switch to the FAKE tower not knowing any different! to your phone, its still the same ID - thus? its a stronger signal and it " thinks" it has a better connection. its like one person telling you their name when using a speaking voice - and another telling you the same name while YELLING that name... to your phone? - an ID is simply an ID. the stronger the better...and it won't argue.

An THIS is where the " magic " happens.

Once the targets phone number is identified by the entity that wishes to target them, the man in the middle has a few choices:

1: they can simply listen in on the phone conversation currently taking place by setting up a condition where instead of going to the REAL tower first - the IMSI Catcher will instead, silently act as a " relay" back and forth BETWEEN the tower and the phone. This is called PASSIVE monitoring - your phones not exactly " hacked " - just eavesdropped on.

2: Attack mode: This option is where the actual hacking of the device takes place by attacking the firmware ( the OS or operating system ) with a number of various types of software and injecting ( or up-loading ) such software onto the targets device.

After this has been completed, the man the attack can be ended and their job is done. - from that point on? the users phone has now effectively been hi-jacked.

Some ( just some ) of the things that can happen as the result of a successful man in the middle attack are:

Turn on your microphone at any time and listen in. - even turn its sensitivity up.

Gain FULL access to your phones GPS ( both current location and its total location history since you first purchased it ) - despite you switching your GPS feature OFF?.....it will however remain active and track your movements.

have total access to all file transfers, text history, pictures and any other files contained within the phone.

It can turn on either your front or rear ( or BOTH cameras at once ) at any time and stream the images by remote across the cellular network and if desired.

Archive any and ALL date coming from, or going to another party from your device.

it can also create FAKE text messages making it appear as if they originated from your phone. ( this is useful for example if a criminal gang member sends a text to all his other criminal contacts with a fake message like " I got 20K from this guy we beat up..I wanna b do the right thing by my brothers - so I'm gonna share it with y'all... - meet me at ( where ever ) in 2 hours and we can split it an go grab some beers an party! ) - this of course can be sent by the Authorities that will of course nab anybody that's a known gang member stupid enough to turn up that has warrants outstanding.

There are MANY situations when an innocent person can get scooped up and become a suspect when in actuality they have done nothing wrong.

CASE IN POINT:

A friend of mine used to go to a local club on a regular basis every friday night for a few beers and a social get together with his mates.

Being creatures of habit- we all have our usual drinks, at our usual tables, in the usual part of the room ( providing its not already taken of course ) .

Well, it just so happened that 2 tables away, a criminal gang ALSO used to frequent the same club at the same time on the same friday night.

Now because of the proximity of my mate and his friends, and the proximity of the criminals - the IMSI catcher always put them at the same locations ( within say 10-15 feet. ). The result was not only the criminals - but my friend and his mates ALSO got arrested in a planned raid by the police and was put through the wringer as possible known associates of this criminal gang. - when in fact? the poor bloke just picked the wrong seat at the wrong night of the week!. This is the drag-net mentality. he's been put on a watch-list as a consequence of this. ( just in case! ) - how unfair is that?.

So who DOES this ? - who spies on us? - well the answer to this is multiple entities are the ones doing this - and all without our knowledge OR permission. without warrants of any kind, without any judicial intervention prior.

The MAIN offenders are

Governments - Intelligence agencies - Free-lance Hackers - ans just those that want to see the world burn if for no-other-reason....they want to cause kayos.

This can have a great effect on not only your personal life - but your business too!

Gone are the days when if you needed to be on the road your employer would issue you with a mobile phone. These days it's BYOD ( bring your own device ) -which in MY mind is what has caused this problem to increase exponentially.

If the company issues you a phone - it could account for all calls and of course depending on the employer, personal calls would be the users responsibility.

But instead - the employee now downloads the companies " app " and conducts business that way.....which can cause HUGE problems.

Put simply, outside work hours the employee can use his or her phone any way they want - its their property right? they can visit any site they choose or download any app they want.

But what happens if they download an app that demands access to all e-mails? or their location? or other such information. Even accepting to allow txt messages now allows all the users text messages ( including their WORK text messages ) - to ALSO be open to examination by unknown 3rd parties.

As an example - if you have a business and are releasing a new product soon, or have a contract wit ha client that's about to expire and have put in a tender for it to renew that contract - hackers can be hired to hack you or your employees phones and retrieve the information on that product, or that contract bid...and under cut you and take that contract from you - or release their OWN version of your product before YOU get yours to market - effectively wasting your hard work, and monetary investment. - pretty much your sunk.

To close, I hope this has been somewhat of an education to those of you out there that use your mobiles especially for business.

My phone has been hacked but not for bank info. So since FB and more are the CIA easily reseachable CBS did a report in 2017. I'm sure it was by design.