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Government Privacy United States Politics

Signs of Sophisticated Cellphone Spying Found Near White House, US Officials Say (washingtonpost.com) 85

A federal study found signs that surveillance devices for intercepting cellphone calls and texts were operating near the White House and other sensitive locations in the Washington area last year. From a report: A Department of Homeland Security program discovered evidence of the surveillance devices, called IMSI catchers, as part of federal testing last year, according to a letter from DHS to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on May 22. The letter didn't specify what entity operated the devices and left open the possibility that there could be alternative explanations for the suspicious cellular signals collected by the federal testing program last year. The discovery bolsters years of independent research suggesting that foreign intelligence agencies use sophisticated interception technology to spy on officials working within the hub of federal power in the nation's capital. Experts in surveillance technology say that IMSI catchers -- sometimes known by one popular brand name, StingRay -- are a standard part of the tool kit for many foreign intelligence services, including for such geopolitical rivals as Russia and China.
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Signs of Sophisticated Cellphone Spying Found Near White House, US Officials Say

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  • by Errol backfiring ( 1280012 ) on Friday June 01, 2018 @10:24AM (#56710166) Journal
    What a waste of resources. You can just follow the main troublemaker on twitter.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    It would be amazing if they weren't there....
    How the hell is this news???
    Can we have some tech info that isn't an ad
    Pretty Please

    • by XXongo ( 3986865 )
      "...surveillance devices, called IMSI catchers"

      Otherwise known as "Stingrays".

      Yes, I'm not surprised. I'm only surprised that other people seem to be surprised. The local TV news even reported this weeks ago: https://news.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]

  • by ledow ( 319597 ) on Friday June 01, 2018 @10:43AM (#56710274) Homepage

    That's not a problem.

    Nobody would be stupid enough to talk about anything important to national security on an unsecured cellphone, right?

    • They were/are overconfident.

      See the text message exchange between the (feds/lovers) working on the Clinton (investigation/cover up). They would never have exchanged those texts, if they knew they'd see the light of day.

      Now they have to get honest jobs (not really, they'll have work telling libs what they want to hear forever).

      This whole thing will produce one good outcome. Serous information security in politics. Next time, Russian hackers won't even be plausible. Internal leaker will be the only ans

    • Thanks Hillary.. now the FBI/NSA/CIA/Fusion GPS have switched over to cellular data...

  • ... to use a secure phone in a different light.
    • Well, to be fair, using an unsecured phone to tweet with is, well, not a big deal.

      You know the Twitter is public, right?

      • I don't get it ... why are you evening Slashdot if you are so technically clueless that you think that's the issue?
      • Twitter is a problem (Score:2, Interesting)

        by k2r ( 255754 )

        Just imagine what an adversory with access to Trumps Twitter account tweeting in his name could do eg. when there’s a situation bordering an armed conflict.
        Or to trouble stock markets.

        OTOH: maybe that’s already happening.

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      He uses an unsecure phone for Twitter, not phone calls. The stuff he types into that phone is public knowledge.

      The issue is that he's carrying around an unsecure device that has GPS, a microphone, and a camera, and those items can turn it into a surveillance tool if the phone is hacked. That is a legit concern, but as long as he's not using it for phone calls at least the attack surface is smaller.

    • by bano ( 410 )

      Not really.
      1: it was already assumed that there were illicit ISM catchers in embassies. I've heard security experts basically say someone is failing the intelligence portion of their mission if they aren't doing this.
      2: it is already known that there were illicit ISM catchers in embassies in the DC area for a while now, but since we can only focus on one story for one news cycle we've forgotten about it until someone new reports on it a few months later.

  • by nehumanuscrede ( 624750 ) on Friday June 01, 2018 @10:47AM (#56710308)

    I love how this is only an issue when the folks in charge are being spied upon by the very tech they're using to spy on the rest of us :|

    Though, to be honest, it's a good thing.

    Perhaps we'll see some changes as to how the phones determine what towers they will / will not connect with vs blindly connecting to any of them.

  • by k6mfw ( 1182893 ) on Friday June 01, 2018 @10:54AM (#56710354)
    there's spying including use of cellphones in the nation's capital.
    • by dj245 ( 732906 )
      I'm surprised we keep seeing these stories. One of my professors told a story about the time he set up a pirate radio station. The FCC tracked him down within a week and told him to knock it off or they would levy a huge fine.

      There are a few embassies around the White House I wouldn't think you would need to be within their fences in order to take care of the problem.
  • If you don't like it then stop doing it to others.

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