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Jamming Cellphones with Text Messages

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the only-one-man-would-dare-give-me-the-raspberry dept.

Steve writes "Some Penn State professors and students have published a way to jam cellular voice service with simple text messages. From the article: 'Because text messages are transmitted on the same signal that is used to set up voice calls, just 165 messages a second is enough to disrupt all cellphones in Manhattan.' Cellular providers, of course, fired back, one stating that it 'constantly and aggressively monitors potential threats to the integrity and security of its network.'"

4 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. I call shenanigans... by The_Rippa · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Don't you think that there are already more than 165 text messages being sent out every second in Manhattan?

    1. Re:I call shenanigans... by mirqry · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't think its even close. 165/sec lets say from 8am to 8pm is 7,128,000. Around 1.5 million people in Manhattan. So that would be saying every single man, woman, and child in the Manhattan send 4.75 text messages a day.

  2. Re:165 msgs a sec OR by ScentCone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You could send 165 text messages a second OR you could keep calling the phone you want to disrupt!

    Except this isn't about disrupting one phone - this is about disrupting the entire regional network. Just the sort thing a criminal or terrorist might want to do during or in the wake of some mal-behavior. So it costs a bunch to send those messages? So what? Bad guys can have some real (or fraudulant) financial resources when that's part of their plan.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  3. Re:165 msgs a sec OR by ScentCone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you think 2 to 4 simultaneous telephone calls will take down a cellular network, the thing would have stopped working a long time ago.

    But... I think it's not the vox bandwidth - it's that part of the system that manages the call overhead (per the summary, the part of the system that "sets up" the calls). I believe that housekeeping does indeed take place in a smaller, and separate piece of the spectrum and the network's plumbing. Of course, IANATE (I am not a telecommunications engineer). Text messaging piggy-backs on the data that keeps the system and the phones aware of each other - long before a call (and the related bandwidth) is actually assigned to an user that dials/answers. This would be when someone who works for Verizon or Spring would anonymously chime. We can hear you now, good.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.