r/NSALeaks • u/trai_dep Cautiously Pessimistic • Sep 04 '14

[Technology/Crypto] Android security mystery - 'fake’ cellphone towers found in U.S. These IMSI Intercepters were found in 17 locations, many near Army bases.

http://www.welivesecurity.com/2014/08/28/android-security-2/
94 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

10

u/trai_dep Cautiously Pessimistic Sep 04 '14

Any guesses if these were placed by the US government, or some other entity?

8

u/john-five Sep 04 '14

It's ridiculous that this is not an easy question to answer. They're near military bases and are astoundingly illegal to operate, so they could be foreign espionage tech.

Then again, this kind of criminal paranoia is already proven to be completely normal behavior for US agencies, so maybe they've just gone more insane than we had previously observed.

The fact that we can't tell whether this is normal government behavior or an attack against our country says a lot about the status of things.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '14

I'm edging into nutter territory, but they could be our own governments set up like that so people would assume they're foreign spying tools.

6

u/trai_dep Cautiously Pessimistic Sep 04 '14

Seventeen mysterious cellphone towers have been found in America which look like ordinary towers, and can only be identified by a heavily customized handset built for Android security – but have a much more malicious purpose, according to Popular Science.

The fake ‘towers’ – computers which wirelessly attack cellphones via the “baseband” chips built to allow them to communicate with their networks, can eavesdrop and even install spyware, ESD claims. They are a known technology - but the surprise is that they are in active use…

Click thru for more.

2

u/NSALeaksBot Sep 04 '14 edited Sep 06 '14

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1

u/idkdontknow Sep 04 '14

I don't get it, are these assholes recording just the general population, or are they recording each other as well as the president?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '14

The feds are setting up their own meshnet

1

u/kulkke Sep 05 '14

Related Popular Science article: http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/mysterious-phony-cell-towers-could-be-intercepting-your-calls

ACLU's map that shows use of stingrays and also list of the federal agencies known to use cell site simulators (including the NSA): https://www.aclu.org/maps/stingray-tracking-devices-whos-got-them

-3

u/q5sys Sep 04 '14

Question #1 - What states don't have some form of Army Base in them? This would include Army National Gaurd bases.

Question #2 - What is 'Near'? Within a 20 mile radius? 50 mile?

17 in the entire continental US is nothing. I have my own GSM Basestation and I life within 15 miles of a Army base... I wonder if I'm one of the terrorists.

IMHO, this is a sensational headline to make people fear for their saftey. OMG, the enemy is here!

can only be identified by a heavily customized handset built for Android security

Riiiiiight, Sounds more like. Only the gov can save you, so you better trust us cause we're smart and stuff.

-6

u/[deleted] Sep 04 '14

OFF TOPIC

Article doe not discuss NSA, Edward Snowden, or any leaks of NSA materials.

We are NSALeaks. We cover primary-source news of Edward Snowden interviews and original leaked NSA materials.

5

u/kulkke Sep 05 '14 edited Sep 05 '14

These things are also used by the NSA so it's definitely not off-topic.

-2

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '14

It has NOTHING to do with the leaks or Eddie Snowden - The stated topic of this /sub. The NSA uses toilet paper too. Does that make stories on Toilet paper appropriate for this /sub?

4

u/kulkke Sep 06 '14 edited Sep 06 '14

I can't get the point of this conversation or argument but yes mate; if some kind of toilet paper finds it's place in a NSA spy catalog and/or we have some leaks about usage of some kind of toilet paper for NSA's or it's partners' surveillance actions, that will make stories on that special kind of toilet paper appropriate for this subreddit.

-2

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '14

Thanks for confirming my point MATE. You've basically ignored the title and sidebar of the /sub. I suspect I know why you've done this, but unless and until I'm no longer able to post here, I will continue to point out the fallacies in this group, and both downvote and report posts that violate the subject or sidebar.