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stingray

The federal government has been loath to discuss the use of rogue cell telephone surveillance devices in the US. But the Department of Homeland Security has finally acknowledged that such devices are likely in operation in Washington DC. This revelation comes by fashion of a alphabetic character to U.s. Senator Ron Wyden dated March 26. In it, the DHS confirms it has detected cell site simulators about important government agencies.

These eavesdropping devices are technically known as "IMSI-catchers," but they're usually only called Stingrays, afterward devices from Harris Corporation commonly used past law departments and federal authorities. All IMSI-catchers operate in the aforementioned basic mode — they pretend to be a cell tower, forcing nearby phones to connect before passing the bespeak along to a existent tower. This allows the Stingray to assemble data from the device and heed in on conversations.

The electric current cellular standards were robust and hard to crack when they were developed, but technology has avant-garde. It's now possible to listen in on telephone calls with the right hardware using attacks like the GSM Active Key Extraction. Stingrays can also rails a phone'south location and cake it from connecting to the existent cellular network.

In the letter of the alphabet to Wyden, DHS admitted it could not determine the type of devices in performance. While it did know these devices were not operated by any legitimate law enforcement organization, it could not tell who was running the equipment. Security researchers and government officials have long suspected that strange intelligence agencies have conducted prison cell phone surveillance in and around the nation's upper-case letter. These signals are probably not from your average mobile hobbyist — Stingrays and similar devices cost between $1,000 and $200,000. Some are simply good for brusk range and fit inside a small haversack or briefcase. Others are the size of a microwave and need a continuous power source.

DHS officials have told the AP that the agency detected unauthorized Stingray action during a 90-day sweep that started in January 2017. Tracking downwardly the locations of Stingrays would be a time-consuming and expensive undertaking. It would probably besides crave the cooperation of wireless carriers to implement new technologies, on which they aren't anxious to spend money. Law enforcement is also suspected of dragging its feet as many departments and agencies rely on Stingrays to surveil suspects.

Government officials with certain hardened, ultra-secure prison cell phones won't be affected by Stingray activity, but most people are just using off-the-shelf smartphones. They could easily be picked up past illicit eavesdropping devices.