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Leaky Cellphone Nets Can Give Attackers Your Location
alphadogg writes "GSM cellular networks leak enough location data to give third-parties secret access to cellphone users' whereabouts, according to new University of Minnesota research. 'We have shown that there is enough information leaking from the lower layers of the GSM communication stack to enable an attacker to perform location tests on a victim's device. We have shown that those tests can be performed silently without a user being aware by aborting PSTN calls before they complete,' write the authors, from the College of Science and Engineering, in a paper titled 'Location Leaks on the GSM Air Interface' (Pdf). The researchers are working with carriers and equipment makers, including AT&T and Nokia, to address the security issues."
If you happen to travel to the USA then getting tracked by GSM is the least of your problems
"And with all our coverage black spots, you won't ever be tracked whilst on our network" /AT&T Marketing Campaign
I'm trying to think of one thing someone could do to me armed with knowldege of my current location.
1. Determine that you're far away from home while they burglarize your house.
2. Determine that you were in the vicinity of a burglarized house and throw you behind bars without a warrant for 48 hours while they try to find evidence.
3. Determine you were someplace "unsavory" and use it as blackmail, or to deny you future employment, etc.
I am not important enough to blackmail.
Security by social irrelevance. Brilliant!
lucm, indeed.
I have no criminal record, but I have been pulled over and followed by cops. I have been pulled over to secondary at DHS checkpoints and had my car torn apart while they looked for contraband, only for them to find nothing and try to "bargain" with me and get me to incriminate myself on baseless charges to inflate their numbers.
You, sir, are totally full of shit and out of touch with reality. Or you live in a state that doesn't matter, like Montana or one of the Dakotas.
Come down to California and try to drive across an interstate highway. You may not be "arrested" per se, but you will be detained and your personal effects be searched...all because a low-rent goon fed the right hand-signal to a well-trained dog at a blatantly unnecessary highway checkpoint.