Security News

Tracking Down a Suspect through Cell Phone Records
2023-07-17 11:13

Investigators went through phone records collected from both midtown Manhattan and the Massapequa Park area of Long Island-two areas connected to a "Burner phone" they had tied to the killings. They then narrowed records collected by cell towers to thousands, then to hundreds, and finally down to a handful of people who could match a suspect in the killings.

French Police Will Be Able to Spy on People through Their Cell Phones
2023-07-13 11:20

French police should be able to spy on suspects by remotely activating the camera, microphone and GPS of their phones and other devices, lawmakers agreed late on Wednesday, July 5. Covering laptops, cars and other connected objects as well as phones, the measure would allow the geolocation of suspects in crimes punishable by at least five years' jail.

Feds, you'll need a warrant for that cellphone border search
2023-05-31 23:52

It is the first US court to do so, to the delight of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which along with other advocacy groups has been fighting for years to narrow the scope of border searches. "EFF is thrilled about this decision, given that we have been advocating for a warrant for border searches of electronic devices in the courts and Congress for nearly a decade," said Sophia Cope, senior staff attorney, in a statement Tuesday.

Identifying People Using Cell Phone Location Data
2023-01-09 12:14

" I don't even think turning your cell phone off would help in this instance. Oh and do not think that "Turning the phone off" actually works, it does not, the phone remains powered up but supposadly in some quiescent mode.

Ukraine Intercepting Russian Soldiers’ Cell Phone Calls
2022-12-21 12:09

"You still have a lot of soldiers bringing cellphones to the frontline who want to talk to their families and they are either being intercepted as they go through a Ukrainian telecommunications provider or intercepted over the air," said Alperovitch. "That doesn't pose too much difficulty for the Ukrainian security services."

Prison inmate accused of orchestrating $11M fraud using cell cellphone
2022-10-13 00:10

On June 8, 2020, an individual claiming to be billionaire film producer and philanthropist Sidney Kimmel contacted brokerage Charles Schwab by phone and stated that he had uploaded a wire disbursement form using the service's secure email service. All the while the alleged mastermind, Arthur Lee Cofield Jr, was incarcerated in a maximum security prison in Butts County, Georgia, according to the government.

Large-Scale Collection of Cell Phone Data at US Borders
2022-09-19 11:07

The Washington Post is reporting that the US Customs and Border Protection agency is seizing and copying cell phone, tablet, and computer data from "As many as" 10,000 phones per year, including an unspecified number of American citizens. This is done without a warrant, because "Courts have long granted an exception to border authorities, allowing them to search people's devices without a warrant or suspicion of a crime."

On Cell Phone Metadata
2021-11-02 11:28

Interesting Twitter thread on how cell phone metadata can be used to identify and track people who don’t want to be identified and tracked.

Identifying People Through Lack of Cell Phone Use
2021-04-29 11:07

After Faïd's helicopter breakout, 3,000 police officers took part in the manhunt. According to the 2019 documentary La Traque de Rédoine Faïd, detective units scoured records of cell phones used during his escape, isolating a handful of numbers active at the time that went silent shortly thereafter.

Cell Phone Location Privacy
2021-01-15 12:36

We all know that our cell phones constantly give our location away to our mobile network operators; that's how they work. "Pretty Good Phone Privacy" protects both user identity and user location using the existing cellular networks.