Collaborate Disseminate
By Uzair Amir
Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon has made startling new revelations about CSS or cell-site stimulators. These cell surveillance devices, better known as Stingray, are used to disrupt communications of cell phones, mostly of criminals and lawbr… Continue reading Cell-Site surveillance devices (Stingray) could disrupt 911 emergency calls
The 4G wireless telecommunications protocol is vulnerable to the same types of remote exploitation as its 3G predecessor, new research emphasizes. As with the flaw-ridden protocol underlying 3G, the 4G protocol is susceptible to attacks that disclose mobile users’ information or impose a denial of service, according to a report from mobile-security company Positive Technologies. Security researchers have long warned that spies or hackers could exploit the protocol supporting 3G — known as Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) — to intercept or track call data. The move from 3G to 4G, and the latter’s Diameter protocol, was supposed to mitigate some vulnerabilities, but security experts also have made clear that Diameter is no safeguard against hacking. While the new research indicates 4G is vulnerable to a smaller scope of attacks than 3G, it shows that attackers could shift a user’s device to 3G mode to exploit the less-secure SS7. Further, most mobile […]
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This is the 77th episode of the Shared Security Podcast sponsored by Security Perspectives – Your Source for Tailored Security Awareness Training and Assessment Solutions, Silent Pocket and CISOBox. This episode was hosted by … Continue reading The Shared Security Podcast Episode 77 – Personal Risk Assessments, Stingray Surveillance Devices
The Department of Homeland Security has received reports that “nefarious actors” may be exploiting cellular communications vulnerabilities to spy on Americans, according to Chris Krebs, a senior DHS official. Cybersecurity experts have warned that longstanding vulnerabilities in the telephony protocol known as Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) could allow spying on callers and interception of their data. Krebs revealed the possible exploitation of SS7 in a May 22 letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that also said DHS had “received reports from third parties about the unauthorized use” of mobile surveillance devices. The devices in question, known as Stingrays or IMSI catchers, imitate a cell tower to capture caller location and other associated data. They have been used by U.S. law enforcement for years, but their use for foreign espionage and hacking in the U.S. has been a source of speculation. From January to November 2017, DHS deployed sensors in Washington, […]
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Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden has blocked Christopher Krebs’s nomination to be undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security’s National Protection and Programs Directorate until the department is more forthcoming about its detection of unauthorized mobile surveillance devices, commonly known as Stingrays, in the United States. In a congressional notice Thursday, Wyden said he was objecting to Senate floor consideration of the nomination until the department makes public a presentation it gave to federal employees on Stingrays in February. “That presentation included important information that I believe the American people have a right to know,” the Oregon senator wrote. Krebs is currently NPPD’s acting head. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson declined to comment on Wyden’s move. In a March letter to Wyden, Krebs acknowledged the presence of apparently unauthorized mobile surveillance devices in the Washington, D.C., area and elsewhere in the country that could be exploited by foreign spies to track and […]
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SiFive raised $50 Million in funding. SiFive is a semiconductor working on two fronts: they want to democratize silicon prototyping, and they’re the people making the HiFive series of microcontrollers and SoCs. The HiFives are built on the RISC-V instruction set, a Big-O Open instruction set for everything from tiny microcontrollers to server CPUs. With RISC-V, you’re not tied to licensing from ARM or their ilk. Recently SiFive introduced an SoC capable of running Linux, and the HiFive 1 is a very fast, very capable microcontroller that’s making inroads with Nvidia and Western Digital. The new round of funding is …read more
Data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act style-request shows Finnish companies exporting powerful surveillance technology to Mexico, Colombia, and the United Arab Emirates. Continue reading New Data Gives Peek at European IMSI Catcher Exports
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is requesting information from the Department of Homeland Security concerning the use of foreign cell phone surveillance devices in the U.S., according a letter posted Monday to the Senator’s website. Wyden’s inquiry specifically looks at issues surrounding the use of IMSI catchers, also known as international mobile subscriber identity collectors. An IMSI catcher is an inexpensive spying tool that can essentially act as a fake cell phone tower to intercept calls, text messages and other location information that normally emits from mobile phones. The letter, dated Nov. 17, asks Christopher Krebs, an acting DHS undersecretary, if the agency is aware of foreign-operated IMSI catchers in the Washington, D.C. area or in other major cities. “I am very concerned by this threat and urge the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to improve its efforts to detect such activity,” Wyden writes. “Foreign government surveillance of senior American political and […]
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GSM IMSI catchers preyed on a cryptographic misstep in the GSM protocol. But we have LTE now, why worry? No one has an LTE IMSI catcher, right? Wrong. [Domi] is here with a software-defined base transceiver station that will catch your IMSI faster than you can say “stingray” (YouTube video, embedded below).
First of all, what is an IMSI? IMSI stands for International Mobile Subscriber Identity. If an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) is your license plate, your IMSI would be your driver’s license. The IMEI is specific to the phone. Your IMSI is used to identify you, allowing phone …read more
And they need to answer for it. Continue reading It’s Not Chill At All That Canadian Police Misled the Public For Years About Stingrays
