Cellphone Privacy Is Shaky, Researchers Say

 

 

 

” German researchers have discovered security flaws that could let hackers, spies, and criminals listen to private phone calls and intercept text messages on a potentially massive scale — even when cellular networks are using the most advanced encryption available.

  The flaws, to be reported at a hacker conference in Hamburg this month, are the latest evidence of widespread insecurity on SS7, the global network that allows the world’s cellular carriers to route calls, texts, and other data to one another. Experts say it’s increasingly clear that SS7, designed in the 1980s, is riddled with serious vulnerabilities.

  The flaws discovered by the Germans are actually functions built into SS7 for other purposes, such as keeping calls connected as users speed down highways, switching from cell tower to cell tower. Hackers can repurpose them because of the lax security on the network.”

 

Read more at the Boston Globe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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