Tech company finds mysterious fake cell towers in DC area

[Team Sergeant]

So tell me how much spying by the "American" government on "Americans" and on "American" soil are you going to stand for? Personally I think it might be time to start shooting spies in the face. Find who's doing it and kill them, plain and simple.




Tech company finds mysterious fake cell towers in DC area
Posted: Sep 23, 2014 5:21 PM
Updated: Sep 23, 2014 6:38 PM
By Tom Fitzgerald, FOX 5 Reporter

WASHINGTON -
Is somebody hacking into cell phones in the D.C. area? A new investigation is raising concerns this may be happening.

An independent investigation found fake cell phone towers popping up all over the area. The towers are located near the White House, the United States Capitol and the Supreme Court.

It begs the question: Who is behind these towers?

We know that unless you have a special piece of equipment, you would never even know that your phone has connected to one of these so-called “non-network towers.”

The federal government will neither confirm nor deny that they use such towers for law enforcement purposes. But technology experts say it is another example of how none of us really know who is prying into our electronic lives.

cont:

http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/2661019...ers-in-dc-area

[mugwump]

They've found a bunch of these around Chicago. A few in gangland were clearly stingrays--fake towers set up by the cops. Several were sloppily kluged but effective interceptors, probably for scooping personally identifying data and passwords. The others were standardized and professional. Chinese? NSA? Rooskie hackers?

[tonyz]

Land for tower locations generally has to be acquired or leased, permits pulled, power supplied...even illegitimate construction of towers should have presumably drawn the attention of local authorities.

[Sdiver]

I have a feeling ......

If you're looking at investing, invest in ESD America. With all these "fake" towers popping up across the country, that they are finding, and touting that their GMSK Cryptophone 500 is secure enough against these "towers", I have a feeling that these GMSK Cryptophone 500s might just start flying off the shelf.

As was reported at the beginning of the month .... http://www.businessinsider.com/myste...-towers-2014-9


Just a queasy feeling in my gizzard (aka, my $0.02) about this ....

[35NCO]

Originally Posted by mugwump

The others were standardized and professional. Chinese? NSA? Rooskie hackers?

^^^^ THIS.

Its hard to say what it really means at all. It could be anyone. Doing interesting things with technologies is getting easier and easier today. Just doing searches on Google can turn up all sorts of nefarious activity's that can be done with easily obtainable equipment or at least the plans to build it. Honestly I am really surprised some 12 year old kid has not taken down some nation state yet by themselves just for fun. The information to do things of tremendous damage is certainly available out on the net.

I think in this case it could be foreign spy's, LE, and maybe secret service in DC. However I really doubt the fed would be doing that. I think some of these are more likely BLACKHAT or DEFCON type folks just messing around. Or I suppose it could be some corporate espionage in certain areas as well. If it was Hollywood I would say its the paparazzi looking for nude pics of celebs.

I personally would be more seriously concerned about the ones that exist one day and then don't the next. If something is there for a long time, it can be found and likely those that are doing it have to be known by the fed or LE in some manner. Its either hiding or its not. Even in the case of a stationary, but if its left alone on purpose, perhaps its so they can understand its purpose. Its like when you see all those WIFI spots on your computer at an airport. Who are all those people? You do not know. You do not know until you can track them down physically. What are they doing with that data? You do not know until you can watch those packets or watch them physically doing it. Its anyone's guess until you flat out know the answer.

But really though, there is absolutely ZERO expectation today that anything technology related is private at all. If not some suspected government or LE group, or nation state, some kid could just as easily steal that info. There will always exist that one guy or group that is smarter than everyone else. If only for a moment, but that is all it takes. The laws have no way of physically stopping such activity's if someone wished to conduct such actions. It has become forever a cat and mouse game to those with the knowledge, understanding, and capability.

As for the interests of this to us all, I would be very concerned about those true believers with the understanding and capabilities. Really, we have yet to see what power and horror can really evolve from such basic technological warfare.

[MR2]

In all probability, these spy towers are probably placed by corporate America.

[35NCO]

Originally Posted by Sdiver

I have a feeling ......

As was reported at the beginning of the month .... http://www.businessinsider.com/myste...-towers-2014-9.

This too, we did not hear about this until this company started its marketing. I remember the first article about Chicago. It makes so much sense for them to create a fear to push a product. Has anyone talked to the FCC about this problem? How bad is it? How long has it been happening? What are they doing about it?


And as MR2 stated, someone like Google, can do just about whatever they want. It would not surprise me in the least that they would do that if they could make a buck at it somehow.

[SF_BHT]

Originally Posted by mugwump

They've found a bunch of these around Chicago. A few in gangland were clearly stingrays--fake towers set up by the cops. Several were sloppily kluged but effective interceptors, probably for scooping personally identifying data and passwords. The others were standardized and professional. Chinese? NSA? Rooskie hackers?

Stingray gear does not use towers. Please do not speculate on things you are not sure of.

[PSM]

Living off-grid, our internet provider has their own cell towers. We have a parabolic dish that is aimed at their tower and that provides us with an internet "landline" telephone number and internet service. Those towers serve no one else.

Pat

[mugwump]

Originally Posted by tonyz

Land for tower locations generally has to be acquired or leased, permits pulled, power supplied...even illegitimate construction of towers should have presumably drawn the attention of local authorities.

Not so much. Some of these were found in transformer boxes in Lincoln Park and others were leeching power, piggybacked onto legitimate towers. Many of them are pretty short range but in areas densely packed with upscale yuppies, still pretty effective.

I agree that it's in CryptoPhone's interest to publicize these interceptors but I think the issue is real. Chicago LEOs have been using these things ("stingrays") for a couple of years. Without warrants.

There's a subspecies of hacker that does this sort of thing just to prove they can.

[tonyz]

Originally Posted by mugwump

Not so much. Some of these were found in transformer boxes in Lincoln Park and others were leeching power, piggybacked onto legitimate towers. Many of them are pretty short range but in areas densely packed with upscale yuppies, still pretty effective.

I agree that it's in CryptoPhone's interest to publicize these interceptors but I think the issue is real. Chicago LEOs have been using these things ("stingrays") for a couple of years. Without warrants.

There's a subspecies of hacker that does this sort of thing just to prove they can.

Gotcha - there is a difference between actual cell towers and cell connection points or hot points. Sounds like you are referring to connection points and not actual towers (aside from piggybacking). Point well taken. Constructing a typical tower would/should draw attention.

[The Reaper]

And there are our friends, the Chinese.

TR