Telecom infrastructure exploited in global spy campaigns

As reported by TechCrunch, security researchers have uncovered two distinct spying campaigns that exploit vulnerabilities in global telecommunications infrastructure to track individuals' locations. These campaigns highlight a broader concern about the widespread abuse of global phone networks by surveillance vendors.

The Citizen Lab's report details how surveillance vendors, operating as covert entities, piggybacked on legitimate cellular providers to access and exploit network weaknesses. One campaign leveraged flaws in the Signaling System 7 (SS7) protocol, a long-standing backbone of 2G and 3G networks, and also exploited the newer Diameter protocol for 4G and 5G, which is not always implemented with sufficient security. The second campaign utilized a SIMjacker attack, sending specialized SMS messages directly to a target's SIM card to turn their phone into a tracking device.

Both campaigns used the infrastructure of specific telecom providers, including 019Mobile, Tango Networks U.K., and Airtel Jersey (owned by Sure), to mask their activities and hide behind the providers' networks.

Source: TechCrunch