Don't worry about me. Tell us more about you, how famous and interesting you are, how clever and realistic and rational and in-control and you don't need any silly antipsychotics.
Mysterious Phony Cell Towers Could Be Intercepting Your Calls
Wed, 08/27/2014 - 11:00
Unencrypted Connection Les Goldsmith Like many of the ultra-secure phones that have come to market in the wake of Edward Snowden's leaks, the CryptoPhone 500, which is marketed in the U.S. by ESD America and built on top of an unassuming Samsung Galaxy SIII body, features high-powered encryption. Les Goldsmith, the CEO of ESD America, says the phone also runs a customized or "hardened" version of Android that removes 468 vulnerabilities that his engineering team team found in the stock installation of the OS.
His mobile security team also found that the version of the Android OS that comes standard on the Samsung Galaxy SIII leaks data to parts unknown 80-90 times every hour. That doesn't necessarily mean that the phone has been hacked, Goldmsith says, but the user can't know whether the data is beaming out from a particular app, the OS, or an illicit piece of spyware. His clients want real security and control over their device, and have the money to pay for it.
To show what the CryptoPhone can do that less expensive competitors cannot, he points me to a map that he and his customers have created, indicating 17 different phony cell towers known as “interceptors,” detected by the CryptoPhone 500 around the United States during the month of July alone. Interceptors look to a typical phone like an ordinary tower. Once the phone connects with the interceptor, a variety of “over-the-air” attacks become possible, from eavesdropping on calls and texts to pushing spyware to the device.
“Interceptor use in the U.S. is much higher than people had anticipated,” Goldsmith says. “One of our customers took a road trip from Florida to North Carolina and he found 8 different interceptors on that trip. We even found one at South Point Casino in Las Vegas.”
Who is running these interceptors and what are they doing with the calls? Goldsmith says we can’t be sure, but he has his suspicions.
“What we find suspicious is that a lot of these interceptors are right on top of U.S. military bases. So we begin to wonder – are some of them U.S. government interceptors? Or are some of them Chinese interceptors?” says Goldsmith. “Whose interceptor is it? Who are they, that's listening to calls around military bases? Is it just the U.S. military, or are they foreign governments doing it? The point is: we don't really know whose they are.”
Ciphering Disabled Les Goldsmith
Interceptors vary widely in expense and sophistication – but in a nutshell, they are radio-equipped computers with software that can use arcane cellular network protocols and defeat the onboard encryption. Whether your phone uses Android or iOS, it also has a second operating system that runs on a part of the phone called a baseband processor. The baseband processor functions as a communications middleman between the phone’s main O.S. and the cell towers. And because chip manufacturers jealously guard details about the baseband O.S., it has been too challenging a target for garden-variety hackers.
“The baseband processor is one of the more difficult things to get into or even communicate with,” says Mathew Rowley, a senior security consultant at Matasano Security. “[That’s] because my computer doesn't speak 4G or GSM, and also all those protocols are encrypted. You have to buy special hardware to get in the air and pull down the waves and try to figure out what they mean. It's just pretty unrealistic for the general community.”
But for governments or other entities able to afford a price tag of “less than $100,000,” says Goldsmith, high-quality interceptors are quite realistic. Some interceptors are limited, only able to passively listen to either outgoing or incoming calls. But full-featured
The Clear Skies Act 2003 was a failed attempt by Republicans to INCREASE the amount of allowed air pollution. It would have done exactly the opposite of its title. It is a textbook example of doublespeak. It was never passed. It was an abysmal failure on so many levels.
Old George and Tricky Dicky weren't quite so brazen as Dubya. But: HW's sulphur cap and trade program took another five years to start, and was less successful than conventional regulation in Europe.
Correctamundo. Given that the best theory of cosmology yet devised, the Lambda-CDM model, is a Big Bang theory that includes dark matter and dark energy, I would... defer to Ian Betteridge's opinion on the matter.
Starting Score: 0 points
Moderation +5
60% Insightful
20% Informative
10% Funny
Extra 'Insightful' Modifier 0 (Edit)
Total Score: 5
Which is to say, parent AC was never at -1. Which is to say, stop abusing/. moderation to blow your own horn. And (more importantly) stop telling porky pies.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't worry about me. Tell us more about you, how famous and interesting you are, how clever and realistic and rational and in-control and you don't need any silly antipsychotics.
Source.
Mysterious Phony Cell Towers Could Be Intercepting Your Calls
Wed, 08/27/2014 - 11:00
Unencrypted Connection Les Goldsmith Like many of the ultra-secure phones that have come to market in the wake of Edward Snowden's leaks, the CryptoPhone 500, which is marketed in the U.S. by ESD America and built on top of an unassuming Samsung Galaxy SIII body, features high-powered encryption. Les Goldsmith, the CEO of ESD America, says the phone also runs a customized or "hardened" version of Android that removes 468 vulnerabilities that his engineering team team found in the stock installation of the OS.
His mobile security team also found that the version of the Android OS that comes standard on the Samsung Galaxy SIII leaks data to parts unknown 80-90 times every hour. That doesn't necessarily mean that the phone has been hacked, Goldmsith says, but the user can't know whether the data is beaming out from a particular app, the OS, or an illicit piece of spyware. His clients want real security and control over their device, and have the money to pay for it.
To show what the CryptoPhone can do that less expensive competitors cannot, he points me to a map that he and his customers have created, indicating 17 different phony cell towers known as “interceptors,” detected by the CryptoPhone 500 around the United States during the month of July alone. Interceptors look to a typical phone like an ordinary tower. Once the phone connects with the interceptor, a variety of “over-the-air” attacks become possible, from eavesdropping on calls and texts to pushing spyware to the device.
“Interceptor use in the U.S. is much higher than people had anticipated,” Goldsmith says. “One of our customers took a road trip from Florida to North Carolina and he found 8 different interceptors on that trip. We even found one at South Point Casino in Las Vegas.”
Who is running these interceptors and what are they doing with the calls? Goldsmith says we can’t be sure, but he has his suspicions.
“What we find suspicious is that a lot of these interceptors are right on top of U.S. military bases. So we begin to wonder – are some of them U.S. government interceptors? Or are some of them Chinese interceptors?” says Goldsmith. “Whose interceptor is it? Who are they, that's listening to calls around military bases? Is it just the U.S. military, or are they foreign governments doing it? The point is: we don't really know whose they are.”
Ciphering Disabled Les Goldsmith
Interceptors vary widely in expense and sophistication – but in a nutshell, they are radio-equipped computers with software that can use arcane cellular network protocols and defeat the onboard encryption. Whether your phone uses Android or iOS, it also has a second operating system that runs on a part of the phone called a baseband processor. The baseband processor functions as a communications middleman between the phone’s main O.S. and the cell towers. And because chip manufacturers jealously guard details about the baseband O.S., it has been too challenging a target for garden-variety hackers.
“The baseband processor is one of the more difficult things to get into or even communicate with,” says Mathew Rowley, a senior security consultant at Matasano Security. “[That’s] because my computer doesn't speak 4G or GSM, and also all those protocols are encrypted. You have to buy special hardware to get in the air and pull down the waves and try to figure out what they mean. It's just pretty unrealistic for the general community.”
But for governments or other entities able to afford a price tag of “less than $100,000,” says Goldsmith, high-quality interceptors are quite realistic. Some interceptors are limited, only able to passively listen to either outgoing or incoming calls. But full-featured
The last remaining problem I had with beta.slashdot was its turning up in google results. I solved that with Firefox redirector and this rule:
Include pattern ... *-beta.slashdot.org* ....... $1.slashdot.org$2 ...... Wildcard
Redirect to
Pattern type
Everyone wishes they had never heard of you. Except Chuck Norris. He HAS never heard of you.
Hmm. Grandeur has delusions of Chuck Norris.
Pah. Chuck Norris seeks faster than APK Custom Hosts File Engine 9.0++.
So long, and thanks for all the chips!
Do you come from a furture in which samzenpus wins a Purlitzer?
FTFY.
And that is why we should return to the safe, natural goodness of gasoline.
The Clear Skies Act 2003 was a failed attempt by Republicans to INCREASE the amount of allowed air pollution. It would have done exactly the opposite of its title. It is a textbook example of doublespeak. It was never passed. It was an abysmal failure on so many levels.
Old George and Tricky Dicky weren't quite so brazen as Dubya. But: HW's sulphur cap and trade program took another five years to start, and was less successful than conventional regulation in Europe.
Many could. But Slashdot editors aren't exactly gunning for the Pulitzer.
Does anyone know what that really means?
I don't know, sorry. But remember, there is always Soylent News.
I'm sure that in 1985 plutonium was available in every corner drug store, but in 2014 it's a little hard to come by.
Correctamundo. Given that the best theory of cosmology yet devised, the Lambda-CDM model, is a Big Bang theory that includes dark matter and dark energy, I would ... defer to Ian Betteridge's opinion on the matter.
Parent AC really doesn't belong at -1, I ...
Here is a copy-paste of the GP's score window:
Which is to say, parent AC was never at -1. Which is to say, stop abusing /. moderation to blow your own horn. And (more importantly) stop telling porky pies.
It is true that intensive farmers must ensure their crops get enough critical nutrients. Marijuana Yields and CO2.
Yeah. Why don't they just use the full name? Ecuadoge.
How do you know so much about T-Rexes?
That would be like discovering mad cows.
This is bottom-grade science. Too much Farquharson around at SDSU. Even the Wikipedia page is bog standard.
I can see the headlines now: Barbara Streisand sues for trademark dilution.
Now that's discipline.
As far as enterprise development is concerned, .NET is clearly picking up steam compared to Java. I think schools should teach C#.
Not even wrong.
(1) Just about everything is doing better than Java. .NET's fate is tied to Windows which is has ceded nearly all its market share to Android.
(2)
kill -9 `/usr/bin/Laden`
I'm looking for something like: moderate .. -1 "unix newbie"