Feature Phone Hack Can Block Calls, Texts On Some Networks

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Feature Phone Hack Can Block Calls, Texts On Some Networks

Posted by Unknown on Monday August 26, 2013 @11:31AM from the security-through-obscurity-problems dept.

Trailrunner7 writes, quoting Threat Post "By tweaking the firmware on certain kinds of phones, a hacker could make it so other phones in the area are unable to receive incoming calls or SMS messages, according to research presented at the USENIX Security Symposium. The hack involves modifying the baseband processor on some Motorola phones and tricking some older 2G GSM networks into not delivering calls and messages. By 'watching' the messages sent from phone towers and not delivering them to users, the hack could effectively shut down some small localized mobile networks. Essentially the hacked firmware ... can block ... pages by responding to them before the phones that were initially intended to receive them do, something Kevin Redon and company called during their research 'the race for the fastest paging response time.'" Thanks to the power of Osmocom BB, which has implemented Free Software baseband for several GSM devices. Also see the research paper.

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first useless reply! by themushroom · 2013-08-26 11:45 · Score: 1

I'd love to be able to block texting around me.

--
Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
1. Re:first useless reply! by je+ne+sais+quoi · 2013-08-26 12:36 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Shoot, I couldn't care less about blocking other people's texting, what I want is to block texting to my own phone selectively. If they aren't in my contacts list, I don't want their text message. This is mostly, but not entirely due to AT&T's (and everyone else's) abusive pricing strategy for texts. What I would call fair is rates for text messages that are charged the same as the equivalent amount of voice data. As it is, Apple never did a better thing by creating Messages for iOS and imessage.app for OS X. It's a pity they don't open their standard so that android devices or linux computers can use the same protocol and I would never have to pay for another text message.
  
  --
  Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the war room!
2. Re:first useless reply! by DavidClarkeHR · 2013-08-26 12:45 · Score: 1
  
  I'd love to be able to block texting around me.
  A cell phone jammer is inexpensive ... and illegal. This is the same thing - it breaks FCC broadcast rules.
  
  --
  - Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
3. Re:first useless reply! by cheater512 · 2013-08-26 13:32 · Score: 1
  
  But...but it has a FCC sticker on it!
4. Re:first useless reply! by DontScotty · 2013-08-26 13:55 · Score: 1
  
  You can do this.
  Pretty easy...
  
  google yourself a solution.... (hint)
5. Re:first useless reply! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-26 14:03 · Score: 0
  
  I'd love to be able to block texting around me.
  Well then, good news! All you have to do is convince all the wireless providers and users to downgrade to 2G standards which were abandoned for a variety of reasons, security issues not the least of them.
  Something else which should peak your interest is a program for cracking the Enigma code, which will allow an attacker to spy on all the communications of one of the world's largest and most aggressive military forces!
  Film at Eleven.
6. Re:first useless reply! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-26 14:15 · Score: 1
  
  You can do this.
  Pretty easy...
  google yourself a solution.... (hint)
  All the 'solutions' do not actually block messages. You MUST have a Carrier who offers SMS/MMS blocking at the provider level to actually BLOCK unsolicited messages. All the app-based and OS-based solutions do not block the message, they merely suppress notifications, alerts, some auto-delete the item or otherwise hide it. But the cell company still will show a text was sent to your phone. (Which might not matter if you're on an unlimited texting plan) I haven't tested the iPhone to verify, but I suspect the built-in blocking feature in iOS doesn't really block either, just suppresses.
  I do know of one way to do it on the phone itself, but it will most likely void your phone's warranty, and will 100% violate your TOS agreement with your carrier. I won't get into gritty details but essentially it's a hack which reads the message header then fails to provide an 'Ack' back to the tower indicating the handset got it. This will result in the tower retrying the send until it eventually and times out fails... but until then you won't get any messages from other sources either, and some carriers will fail all the messages in the 'pending to-send' pool at once. So it's not very practical for most people.
7. Re:first useless reply! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-26 14:32 · Score: 1
  
  It would be pretty difficult to be caught jamming, unless you remain completely stationary with your jammer for days on end.
8. Re:first useless reply! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-26 15:00 · Score: 0
  
  Try Extreme Call Blocker. (Droid) I can white/blacklist just as you described. Keeps my boss (or anyone not in my directory) from calling at all hours when I am not clocked in. My fav is the ATT recording of "This is not a working number"...)
9. Re:first useless reply! by Trogre · 2013-08-26 17:06 · Score: 1
  
  Wait, you pay to receive text messages where you live?
  WTF?
  Having said that, there's a few good IM apps for android that
  
  --
  "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
10. Re:first useless reply! by Trogre · 2013-08-26 17:12 · Score: 1
  
  (stupid submit button) ... that let you send/receive text messages, but of course require the other parties to have the same app installed. Viber comes to mind.
  
  --
  "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
11. Re:first useless reply! by Errtu76 · 2013-08-26 18:31 · Score: 1
  
  Also, I found out that if you're in a train and sit close enough to the engineer(? the person who operates the train ..) and switch on the jammer while the train is at the station, the train won't move anymore because you're blocking the signal used by the train to communicate with the station. Was kind of funny at first, but then too many people came in asking questions and being upset ... Also, I was getting late for work and people complaining about their phone not working was worse than when they were quietly texting.
12. Re:first useless reply! by Crudely_Indecent · 2013-08-26 19:37 · Score: 2
  
  It's a setting in Cyanogenmod 10.2
  Add number
  no phone calls from that number
  no texts from that number
  yay CM!
  
  --
  
  "Lame" - Galaxar
13. Re:first useless reply! by ameen.ross · 2013-08-26 20:35 · Score: 1
  
  And it works about 900 times better than any app I tried before CM10.2 for that purpose.
  
  --
  $(echo cm0gLXJmIC8= | base64 --decode)
14. Re:first useless reply! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-26 21:15 · Score: 0
  
  WhatsApp might be a bit more popular.
15. Re:first useless reply! by oPless · 2013-08-26 21:37 · Score: 1
  
  Then there's KIK too
16. Re:first useless reply! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-27 03:32 · Score: 0
  
  If they aren't in my contacts list, I don't want their text message. This is mostly, but not entirely due to AT&T's (and everyone else's) abusive pricing strategy for texts.
  Try shopping around. I'm on Boost Mobile, it starts at a flat $50 per month and you get unlimited talk, text, email, internet, roaming, 411, and I don't remember what else. And every six on-time bill payments your bill drops by five bucks a month until you reach $35.
  Meanwhile, my daughter in college is paying AT&T over a hundred bucks a month to use her broken iPhone.
17. Re:first useless reply! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-27 03:48 · Score: 0
  
  I recently travelled outside the US and, indeed, you are charged for all texts ($0.05 for incoming, $0.50 outgoing) while roaming internationally. Also, I pay for my mother's phone, and she does not have texting. ATT routinely sends her texts and changes me $0.10 each for the privilege.
18. Re:first useless reply! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-27 21:11 · Score: 0
  
  It's not the same thing though, as the original speaker at 29C3 in December last year points out. A cell phone jammer takes out only the devices within range of the jammer or possibly the cell. This device works over an entire LAC which could encompass hundreds or thousands of cells, causing a lot more disruption for a lot less cost.
Cool by oodaloop · 2013-08-26 11:57 · Score: 5, Funny

But can it re-open closed tabs?!1? I just wish there was a hot-key or menu option for this essential but rarely used feature.

--
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
1. Re:Cool by immaterial · 2013-08-26 12:28 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Don't be ludicrous. That would be tantamount to creating "undo" for the entire Internet. It would be a technological marvel to pull that off!
2. Re:Cool by kesuki · 2013-08-26 12:51 · Score: 1
  
  Shift+control+t for firefox which also has it under 'history' 'recently closed tabs'
  i knew about the menu method but noticed today that you can use the afore mentioned keyboard shortcut. it remembers forms though so can be used to recover forensic data...
  
  --
  https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
3. Re:Cool by Guy+Harris · 2013-08-26 13:40 · Score: 1
  
  Shift+control+t for firefox
  Apparently you missed the target of the snark in this thread.
4. Re:Cool by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-27 08:25 · Score: 0
  
  people give me more credit for inteligence... than is merited sigh
Not legal in USA by craigminah · 2013-08-26 12:28 · Score: 1

There are devices you can buy that do the same thing but they are called "jammers" and are illegal in the USA (http://www.jammer-store.com/).
1. Re:Not legal in USA by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-26 12:34 · Score: 0
  
  There's a difference between radio interference and software-based intercepting.
2. Re:Not legal in USA by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-26 13:55 · Score: 0
  
  You want to explain that to the men in black suits that show up at your door?
3. Re:Not legal in USA by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-26 18:46 · Score: 0
  
  That's a relief. Now we're protected from all those wily "hackers" with their special "hack" things and stuff. All of us normals thank you and the law, good sir!
Jamming GSM & GPS by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-26 12:48 · Score: 0

is probably not good if you live near a major airport , at night, in zero to low visibility
1. Re:Jamming GSM & GPS by viperidaenz · 2013-08-26 13:22 · Score: 1
  
  It's probably not a good idea to launch WMD's if you live near a major airport, at night, in zero to low visibility.
2. Re:Jamming GSM & GPS by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-26 13:47 · Score: 0
  
  www\.cmd
3. Re:Jamming GSM & GPS by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-26 22:52 · Score: 0
  
  Ever heard of the big sky theory??
security by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-26 12:57 · Score: 0

so these older cell systems have no security. no wonder the telcos want locked down hardware.
Super8 by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-26 13:17 · Score: 0

Internet is Malware :
http://amigodlosdebiles.wix.com/noun#!internet-is-malware/c5f
If they can respond to the messages... by viperidaenz · 2013-08-26 13:20 · Score: 1

If they can respond to the messages, can they read them too?
Glad I'm not a Vodafone customer anymore though. I'll be safe until they crack WCDMA
1. Re:If they can respond to the messages... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-27 21:08 · Score: 0
  
  Yes. By telling the network they don't support encryption, the network will deliver the SMS messages to their device unencrypted.
  This came out in June last year at 29C3, it's hardly news.
First post! by wonkey_monkey · 2013-08-26 23:19 · Score: 2

...but it got delayed somehow.

--
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Not News by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-27 21:07 · Score: 0

This is not news, it was published at 29c3 LAST > YEAR.
Everyone should have known about this for over 12 months.