Discussion: DHS Found Suspected Unauthorized Phone Spying In DC Last Year

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Quick fix, have the next smart phone update not allow 2G access unless the person opts in on a call by call basis. I’m sure cell phone carriers and manufactures will get right on that.

Right?

No, I didn’t think so either.

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Ok, let’s all meet up in DC and talk smack on our cell phones. “Russia sucks!”
Plenty of fantabulous restaurants and pubs we can meet up in afterwards.

:slight_smile:

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“The executive branch, however, has shied away from even discussing the subject.”

How many of those listening devices were used by the GOP to spy on Democratic campaigns?

(And, no, that’s not a rhetorical question.)

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I feel so much safer knowing Trump is guarding our nation…can someone give me a hug, please?

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“rogue devices that foreign spies and criminals could be using to track individual cellphones and intercept calls and messages.”

If it exists, then Trump and the GOP are using it. Period.

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Wait a darn minute…I thought it was only OBAMA! and HILLARY! that spied on people. What about that cottage industry in the RW Media that insisted that they were ‘listened’ to by ‘liberal operatives’ to destroy their reputations? Poor Republicans that were on the road to ruin because they were ‘spied’ on…and now we find out it happened in the Reign of Trump and it’s foreigners? WTF???

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With a moderate amount of knowledge you can basically do this using off-the-shelf components. You just need to repurpose a microcell/signal booster to allow connections from all phones (or defined ones) and then develop software to analyze the connections and then re-channel them through a mobile broadband router back to the cell network.

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FCC spokesman Neil Grace, however, said the agency’s only role is “certifying” such devices to ensure they don’t interfere with other wireless communications, much the way it does with phones and Wi-Fi routers.

More generally, the only role of the FCC under Chairman Pai is to remove the word “public” from the phrases “public airwaves” and “public interest.”

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I was gonna say that you could do it by convincing people to upgrade their phones to the new Canstring technology and then trick them by connecting the other end of the string to your own can.

Your idea might be better, because I hadn’t figured out how to keep all the strings from getting tangled.

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“Hey, it’s all ball bearings these days. Now you prepare that Fetzer valve with some 3-in-1 oil and some gauze pads. And I’m gonna need about ten quarts of anti-freeze, preferably Prestone. No, no – make that Quaker State.”

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So Jared’s backdoor communications with Russia are finally paying off for both Trump and Russia?

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I am shocked, shocked to discovery that spying is going on in the capital of a major nation.

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If it exists, then Trump and the GOP are using it. Period.

In a rational world, it wouldn’t be Trump and the GOP, but Roger Stone, who so clearly has no connection to either of those entities.
Instead, we have poseurs like Kushner, Nunes, Prince, Trump and Nix, folks who are confident enough that they’re above the law that this is too real of a suggestion.

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I have assumed for years that my cell phone is the least secure device in my possession and I treat it as such. Email runs a close second.

I am not paranoid, I just know that I do not have the technical expertise to assure any kind of real security when it comes to these things - especially my cell.

However, I am pretty sure I still have John Podesta beat, not to mention the entire Trump brain trust.

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FCC spokesman Neil Grace, however, said the agency’s only role is “certifying” such devices to ensure they don’t interfere with other wireless communications, much the way it does with phones and Wi-Fi routers.

So, wait, I thought the FCC was in charge of stopping broadcasting on unauthorized frequencies, things like Pirate Radio stations. But with this statement, the FCC says that anyone can build a cell site simulator as long as they submit it for FCC certification. This clearly allows prototypes and personal/test use of the devices. Want to hijack and listen in on your neighbor’s cell phone calls? How about man-in-the-middle monitoring of their internet use? FCC Spokesman Neil Grace says that’s legal as long as you don’t sell the devices before getting FCC certification.

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The method @jjwhack described is a well documented cell phone vulnerability. And you don’t even need to build it. You can buy it at Fry’s. This is from 2010:

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When I worked with GSM phones, encryption was disabled in most cells covering airports. Clearly somebody would like to be able to listen in, in case of a ‘situation’.

(A normal cellphone won’t necessarily tell you that, but with special field-test-displays enabled, you can see all the parameters for the cell you are ‘camped’ in )

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