Paige is in the locker room, brushing her hair and talking to Barbara about last Friday’s date with Jimmy. Little does she know that Jimmy can listen in to the gossip on her cell phone.
“(P)rotocols such as routing, voice-over-IP (VoIP) signaling…are common knowledge, enabling illegal manipulation of their transmission,” according to a tutorial on fraud analysis on the
International Engineering Consortium website. “Shared mediums of communication such as…wireless transmission, local multipoint distribution system (LMDS), and others enable several indiscretions, including violation of privacy caused by eavesdropping and/or unlawful access to another’s service.”
“Using “a really advanced hacker technique,” - unplugging the phone and plugging in a PC,” and software called a VoIP Hopper puts the phone into the VoIP network, blogs Marty Graham at
Wired.com.
Jimmy does not need to be a computer genius to hack into Paige’s phone and eavesdrop on her. Once in the VoIP he activates the “ringer mute” feature, so her phone will not ring. Then he activates the “autoanswer” feature, so when he calls it, the phone responds.
Spybusters.com calls this “The number one cell phone eavesdropping trick.” Paige’s cell phone, on her hip or in her pocketbook becomes a portable bugging device, enabling Jimmy to hear the lowdown on their date.
“(P)otentially the most powerful tool for the modern spy is the mobile phone,” wrote Brian Wheeler for
BBC News Online magazine.
Paige can protect herself by checking her telephone bills carefully for calls she did not make, or for incoming calls of less than a minute. She should also turn off her phone when not in use.
Blogger Bruce Schneier warns that turning off some models is not enough. She should remove the battery. Nextel, Samsung and Motorola Razr are particularly vulnerable, Schneier cautions.
Most of all, Paige should not rely on her telephone service provider to protect her from unwarranted use.
“Many fraudulent incidents remain unreported because most operators and service providers prefer to maintain a low profile when it comes to deficient network security,” the IEC reports.
The writing sample above is © 2007 Katharine Hadow