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Fake Mobile Phone Towers Found To Be "Actively Listening In" On Calls In UK

New submitter nickweller writes: More than 20 Stingray fake phone towers which can collect data from passing devices and listen in on calls have been discovered operating in the UK. The Metropolitan Police have refused to say who is controlling the IMSI catchers, also known as Stingrays, or what is being done with the information they are gathering. Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said: "If people imagine that we’ve got the resources to do as much intrusion as they worry about, I would reassure them that it’s impossible.”

5 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Use a cellphone booster? by Demonoid-Penguin · · Score: 5, Informative

    Anyone here can comment on using a cellphone booster to nullify stingrays?

    No. Because most Stingrays (IMSI catchers) work on 2G - those that work on 3G and 4G play man-in-the-middle (use encryption to "beat" those). If you mean can I get a better antennae so that when I've set my phone to only use 3G I can still get a signal most of the time - then yes (I just did). If you mean you want to boost the 2G reception then you'd need to find a way to only connect to your own boosted 2G connection - which is problematic to say the least. How do you ensure it is not boosting a Stingray? How do you legally run a booster? (I don't know the relevant law on amplifiers in the U.K. - in Oz we have to buy them from carriers, which is expensive as well as an act of faith). i.e. the way to "nullify" Stingrays is only use 3G and use encryption (if you use encryption then you can use any mobile protocol, which makes your "booster" redundant). Better to get a stronger signal with a better antenna than boost a weak one using an active repeater/amplifier (most mobiles have crap reception). Were you planning on lugging the repeater everywhere?

  2. Re:What Is Being Done by johanw · · Score: 3, Informative

    First you have to find them. Fortunately there is software for that: on a rooted Android, use https://github.com/SecUpwN/And... and https://opensource.srlabs.de/p...

  3. Wrong authority by johnjones · · Score: 3, Informative

    The metropolitan police are not responsible for GSM interference

    Doing so legally they would be run by Government Communications Headquarters ( GCHQ)
    It matters not most UK communications are intercepted quite legally by the NSA and shared back to UK.

    They are most likely test towers or towers created by individuals illegally

    The British have always allowed intercepts legally

    Regards

    John Jones

  4. Re:What is a republic? by nospam007 · · Score: 5, Informative

    "The time France had a king was in the 1800's

    How come you guys still allow draconian bullshits in your lawbooks??"

    Look who's talking.Did you ever check your own laws?
    Here are a few:

    It is considered an offense to open an umbrella on a street, for fear of spooking horses.
    It is illegal to sell peanuts in Lee County after sundown on Wednesday.
    It is illegal to wear a fake moustache that causes laughter in church.
    In New York, adultery is still a crime.
    Citizens may not greet each other by “putting one’s thumb to the nose and wiggling the fingers”.
    In Alabama putting salt on railroad tracks may be punishable by death. ...

  5. A Question of Trust - RIPA review. by auric_dude · · Score: 3, Informative

    “A Question of Trust”, the report of my Investigatory Powers Review under DRIPA 2014 s7, was laid before Parliament today. It is available here in print and web accessible versions, together with the accompanying press release and (so far as the authors were willing for it to be published) the evidence submitted to the Review in writing. https://terrorismlegislationre... which may be of interest to some who are viewing this thread.