A senator has confirmed that the use of cell site simulators for conducting real-time surveillance on cell phones may interfere with 911 calls.In a letter to the attorney general, Sen.
Ron Wyden said that devices, widely known as&stingrays,& can jam cell phones from sending or receiving phone calls and text messages, which may limit a phone from contacting the emergency services.
Wyden said officials at Harris, which develops the surveillance device, told his office that a feature designed to preventinterference with 911 calls was neither tested nor confirmed to work.Wyden said that not only do stingrays disrupt the communications of a targeted cell phone, other people devices nearby might also &experience a temporary disruption of service.Stingrays are controversial bits of tech — largely in part because almost nobody outside law enforcement has seen one or knows exactly how they work.
These devices are held as a closely guarded secret by police and federal agencies who are bound by non-disclosure agreements — so much so that prosecutors have dropped court cases that might reveal confidential information about the devices.What we do know is that policeacross the US use these suitcase-sized devicesto mimic cell towers, which trick nearby cell phones into connecting to the device.
Police can then identify someone real-time location and log all the phones within its range.Some advanced devices are believed to be able to intercept calls and text messages.Busting through the secrecy has become a challenge for hobbyists and hackers alike.
As far back as 2015, researchers were building low-cost alternatives to cell site simulators as proof of concepts.
Nowadays,according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, cell site simulators are &easy to acquire or build, with homemade devices costing less than $1,000 in parts.That going to become a problem for regulators and the authorities — if it not already a nationals security problem.
Although cell site simulators are only available for purchase to law enforcement, Homeland Security recently warned that foreign spies have also obtained the technology — and are using the devices in the nation capital.The EFF said that the &only way to stop the public safety and public privacy threats that cell-site simulators pose is to increase the security of our mobile communications infrastructure at every layer.All companies involved in mobile communications from the network layer [cell carriers] to the hardware layer (chip and networking device makers], to the software layer [tech giants] need to work together to ensure that our cellular infrastructure is safe, secure, and private from attacks by spies, criminals, and rogue law enforcement,& said the rights group.