Archive for the ‘taps’ Category

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Bugging Equipment Found in Mexico Lawmaker Offices

By Dawn in Debugging - Electronic Countermeasures, eavesdropping, Investigations, MSI Detective Services, Politics, taps at January 31st, 2012 | No comments

Bugging Equipment

 

 

 

 

 

 

A search of several Mexican lawmakers’ offices turned up recording equipment, leading legislators to believe they have been spied on for years, a congressman said Wednesday.

Congressman Armando Rios said security personnel found microphones and other devices that seemed to have been installed years ago.

“Some of the equipment has newer technology, but other devices are from a long time ago, which leads us to believe they were installed years ago,” said Rios, a member of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD.

Offices of key committees and of several lawmakers from different political parties were bugged.

Congress president Guadalupe Acosta, also of the PRD, has filed a complaint with federal prosecutors, who have opened an investigation. Read the full article »

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Under Pressure – Sprint Says It Is Disabling Controversial Carrier IQ Software

By Dawn in Debugging - Electronic Countermeasures, invasion of privacy, MSI Detective Services, Privacy, taps, Technology at December 30th, 2011 | No comments

 

 

 

 

 

On December 1st, I wrote a story titled, “Your Smartphone Is Spying on You.” In that story I discussed a controversial software discovered to be in millions of smartphones. The software is called “Carrier IQ Software” and has the ability to track your phone activity, including text messages.

After coming under fire, Sprint recently announced it is disabling this software from their phones, along with AT&T and T-Mobile, who were using Carrier IQ’s controversial key-logging software. Sprint now says it is “disabling the use” of software from customer’s phones.

In a statement by Sprint spokeswoman Stephanie Vinge, she said, “We have weighed customer concerns and we have disabled use of the tool so that diagnostic information and data is no longer being collected.” “We are further evaluating options regarding this diagnostic software as well as Sprint’s diagnostic needs.”

Carrier IQ has also come under fire over the past several weeks after an independent researcher discovered the software can track the activities of phone users, including text messages. Carrier IQ says its software is used only to help with network diagnostics.

Personally, I am grateful to this researcher for discovering this software and making the public aware of it as well as to those in Congress who are investigating this suspicious software and pressuring cell phone providers for answers.

Sprint, whose software is on 141 million cellphones around the country, claims this software does not track user activity. The company said that its software “does not record, store or transmit the contents of SMS (text) messages, email, photographs, audio or video. For example, we understand whether an SMS was sent accurately, but do not record or transmit the content of the SMS. We know which applications are draining your battery, but do not capture the screen.”

The use of the software has already resulted in some lawsuits over alleged violation of federal wiretap laws and government attention on privacy violations. On Dec. 2, Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Carrier IQ for violating the privacy rights of millions of mobile phone users and expressed concern that the practices of Carrier IQ are possibly unfair or deceptive. “I have serious concerns about the Carrier IQ software and whether it is secretly collecting user’s personal information, such as the content of text messages,” said Markey, co-chairman of the Bi-Partisan Congressional Privacy Caucus. “Consumers and families need to understand who is siphoning off and storing their personal information every time they use their smartphone.” Read the full article »

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GSM Phones Vulnerable to Hijack Scams – Researcher Says

By Dawn in Electronic Fraud, Electronic Theft, Hacking, MSI Detective Services, Security, taps, Technology at December 28th, 2011 | No comments

 

 

 

 

 

Mobile security is a hot issue as smartphone sales have outpaced PC sales. Smartphone malware is popping up at an unprecedented rate as people put more and more valuable information on their devices, using them to hold corporate secrets, conduct banking and function as digital wallets.

Hackers have taken notice and continue to find ways to breach the security of these devices.

Karsten Nohl, head of Berlin-based Security Research Labs, will be speaking at the Berlin hacking convention this week about the security vulnerabilities of GSM phones.

Nohl discovered flaws in a widely used wireless technology that could allow hackers to gain remote control of phones and instruct them to send text messages or make calls. Nohl is a well-regarded expert on mobile security who identified a bug last year in GSM technology that makes calls vulnerable to tapping. He says he is calling attention to these flaws to pressure the industry into beefing up the security of their products.

They could use the vulnerability in the GSM technology — which is used by most telecom operators globally and by billions of people — to make calls or send texts to expensive, premium phone and messaging services in scams.

Security experts have previously identified a small number of viruses designed to infect smartphones, allowing hackers to take control of the devices and force them to make calls or send text messages. But Nohl said he has discovered a way to leverage previously disclosed vulnerabilities in GSM technology that could potentially threaten hundreds of thousands of phones.

GSM became the dominant mobile technology globally in the late 1990s. Although new and faster mobile networks have been rolled out across the world, operators have stuck to their GSM networks to support older phones and to offer service when new networks fail. Read the full article »

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News International to Pay $3.2 Million to Family of Murdered British Schoolgirl

By Dawn in Crime, Debugging - Electronic Countermeasures, eavesdropping, Hacking, invasion of privacy, Investigations, MSI Detective Services, Privacy, taps at October 31st, 2011 | No comments

With the Murdock family making the rounds in offering interviews to the media, we thought we would share a recent story about a monetary settlement agreed to by Mr. Murdoch’s company.

Rupert Murdoch’s company said it has agreed to pay 2 million pounds ($3.2 million) to the family of a murdered schoolgirl whose phone was hacked by the News of the World tabloid.

News International, the U.K. newspaper publishing division of News Corp, and the family of Milly Dowler confirmed the settlement in a joint statement.

Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old News of the World in July after evidence emerged that its reporters had eavesdropped on the telephone voice mail messages of the 13-year-old who disappeared in 2002 and was later found murdered.

The statement said Murdoch also will donate 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) to charities chosen by the Dowler family. Read the full article »

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