FAKE CELL TOWERS FOUND AROUND THE US!!

[DiveDeepSix]

Seventeen fake cellphone towers were discovered across the U.S. last week, according to a report in Popular Science.

 

Rather than offering you cellphone service, the towers appear to be connecting to nearby phones, bypassing their encryption, and either tapping calls or reading texts.

 

Les Goldsmith, the CEO of ESD America, used ESD's CryptoPhone 500 to detect 17 bogus cellphone towers. ESD is a leading American defense and law enforcement technology provider based in Las Vegas. 

 

With most phones, these fake communication towers are undetectable. But not for the CryptoPhone 500, a customized Android device that is disguised as a Samsung Galaxy S III but has highly advanced encryption.

 

Goldsmith told Popular Science: "Interceptor use in the U.S. is much higher than people had anticipated. One of our customers took a road trip from Florida to North Carolina and he found eight different interceptors on that trip. We even found one at South Point Casino in Las Vegas.”

 

The towers were found in July, but the report implied that there may have been more out there.

 

Although it is unclear who owns the towers, ESD found that several of them were located near U.S. military bases. 

 

"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," Goldsmith said to Popular Science.

 

It's probably not the NSA -- that agency can tap all it wants without the need for bogus towers, VentureBeat reported:

Not the NSA, cloud security firm SilverSky CTO/SVP Andrew Jaquith told us. "The NSA doesn't need a fake tower," he said. "They can just go to the carrier" to tap your line.

 

ComputerWorld points out that the fake towers give themselves away by crushing down the performance of your phone from 4G to 2G while the intercept is taking place. So if you see your phone operating on a slow download signal while you're near a military base . . . maybe make that call from somewhere else.

 

In an amazing coincidence, police departments in a handful of U.S. cities have been operating "Stingray" or "Hailstorm" towers, which -- you guessed it -- conduct surveillance on mobile phone activity. They do that by jamming mobile phone signals, forcing phones to drop down from 4G and 3G network bands to the older, more insecure 2G band.

 

http://money.msn.com/investing/post--mysterious-fake-cellphone-towers-found-across-us

 

Looks like this spying on US citizens, invasion of our privacy, and deterioration of our rights may go deeper then we thought!!  

Edited September 4, 2014 by DiveDeepSix

[Saint]

Thanks for the intel.

[dontlop]

Wow

The us govt has been spying on the us citizens since the civil war

Now thanks to the internet everything they do is compromised

They spend billions of dollars watching over America only to be destroyed in a few seconds with the click of a mouse

The USA will definatly fall if people don't learn to keep their mouths shut

This isn't some new world order thing to spy on America to protect ourselves

The spy satellite program was passed by JFK

The new wave kids growing up uncovering things and post them on line won't stop anything besides wasting our tax payers dollars

Then they cry about how they don't want to lose their freedom

Nothing has changed since the civil war

The biggest thing that changed is airport security checks and no more driving while drunk

Big deal metal detectors in our govt buildings and schools

Wow I lost my rights

They got cameras to rewind in case of some crime that has already been committed

But no the kids think someone is behind every camera watching them

It's the bs that's tearing down America

[Whatshername]

"Looks like this spying on US citizens, invasion of our privacy, and deterioration of our rights may go deeper then we thought!!"

Without a doubt... we don't even know the HALF of it! One things for sure... they're gonna get an eyeful from me!

[Shabibilicious]

Somebody had to buy or lease the property.....somebody had to hire a surveyor and attorney for proper land descriptions.....somebody had to acquire the proper permits for construction.....possibly even attend local zoning board hearings on the matter.....somebody had to hire a contractor for construction.......somebody has to maintain and mow around the darn thing when operable......somebody had to get FCC approval and licensing......somebody has to write checks to pay for all of the above.  Big Brother is the only one with the power to circumvent all of these issues.......Or is this whole story garbage?  As always, just my opinion.    

 

GO RV, and NO BV

[SnowGlobe7]

Shabs...are you somebody?

[Viciousdoggie]

I evened you out Shabs, you bring up a good point.

[Shabibilicious]

Shabs...are you somebody?

 

Not me.....I hate mowing.    

 

GO RV, and NO BV

[DiveDeepSix]

Somebody had to buy or lease the property.....somebody had to hire a surveyor and attorney for proper land descriptions.....somebody had to acquire the proper permits for construction.....possibly even attend local zoning board hearings on the matter.....somebody had to hire a contractor for construction.......somebody has to maintain and mow around the darn thing when operable......somebody had to get FCC approval and licensing......somebody has to write checks to pay for all of the above.  Big Brother is the only one with the power to circumvent all of these issues.......Or is this whole story garbage?  As always, just my opinion.    

 

GO RV, and NO BV

 

You are right buddy, it shouldn't be that difficult to figure out who owns them and why!

 

DONTLOP,

I agree the govt. has been watching us since the civil war, but nothing to the magnitude they are today because the tech didn't exist until not that long ago, and even when it first came out it was unaffordable for most people, today however everyone has a computer, smart phones, etc. even little kids.  Personally I hate it and think it's totally unnecessary, you see kids running into walls because they are to busy texting to pay any attention to their surroundings, why half of them can't change a damn tire themselves.

 

Todays tech lets anyone, not just the govt, use all your toys against you, is it right Dontlop that the govt can turn your smartphone on, camera, mic, the whole works when ever they want to and see and hear everything you do, plus pinpoint your location right down to the room you are in? (If you have an Iphone try the find my phone feature, think only you can do that?)  Turn on the same things with your computer, laptop, tablet, you name it?  This stuff didn't exist back then the invasion of our privacy today is unheard of and unethical, why the hell do you think Snowden blew the whistle on some of it?  How would you feel about a nude photo of your wife or kid from your home they took using your electronics getting passed around Langley or Ft. Meade for laughs, it frosts me to no end and the reason I'm very leery of any type of electronic tech crap.

You can buy this capability yourself for your spouse and kids phones, a lot of it's free, if you want to monitor their locations and such it's less then $50 for a year for some of these services, you can do it, what do you think the govt. can do with unlimited funds (ours)?  This doesn't keep anyone safer, it opens up a can of unethical worms and lets our govt spy on us, while continuing to hold themselves above the law, all the while letting us pay them to do it.

 

If you were to spy on someone as a civilian to that extent you'd be thrown in prison, so why is it ok for our govt to do it to us?

[dontlop]

Ya I believe they can pan around thru these new tvs too

How many pixles do they have now days

Why couldn't one pixil be a camera lense they can turn on and watch inside your home or office

We would never know

We could watch a football game and they could be watching

But who would they watch

Just some every day person ?

Or a person of interest

They could never reveal their source but they can gain other sources to reveal from it

In your car , are their cameras? That may never be used

But when necessary they can use them

But you could never tell anyone or that intel is gone too

"Looks like this spying on US citizens, invasion of our privacy, and deterioration of our rights may go deeper then we thought!!"

Without a doubt... we don't even know the HALF of it! One things for sure... they're gonna get an eyeful from me!

That's funny

I guess in your own home you can do just about anything including showing them your bung holio

Lol

If you knew where they were looking from

Heck they could be looking at me right now thru this smart phone

They sure did get rich real fast with these smart phones

The govt has deep pockets and a single blind eye and a huge investment can launch any item into the mainstream

Face book sure did take off fast

Was that by design?

I'm sure it was

[nstoolman1]

I guess in your own home you can do just about anything including showing them your bung hole

 

Not quite true. Ask Donald Sterling. In the privacy of his home he probably thought his statements and opinions were safe. 

 

I don't agree with his position just way it went about.

Edited September 4, 2014 by nstoolman1

[MyLadiesDaddy]

Kinda like all those fake conservative petitions ,to tell a government that doesn't care

a thing about you, to stop. What there really doing is getting the, "future dissidents", to

Tell where they live.

PRAY FOR REVIVAL EVERYDAY

Edited September 4, 2014 by ladyGrace'sDaddy

[flatdawg]

Somebody had to buy or lease the property.....somebody had to hire a surveyor and attorney for proper land descriptions.....somebody had to acquire the proper permits for construction.....possibly even attend local zoning board hearings on the matter.....somebody had to hire a contractor for construction.......somebody has to maintain and mow around the darn thing when operable......somebody had to get FCC approval and licensing......somebody has to write checks to pay for all of the above.  Big Brother is the only one with the power to circumvent all of these issues.......Or is this whole story garbage?  As always, just my opinion.    

 

GO RV, and NO BV

I was thinking the same thing, until they said one was found in a casino. With today's technology, might something like this be the size of a bread box?

[Shabibilicious]

I was thinking the same thing, until they said one was found in a casino. With today's technology, might something like this be the size of a bread box?

 

The only ones spying in a casino are the Eye in the Sky and the pit boss.    

 

GO RV, and NO BV

[Hooter]

I was thinking the same thing, until they said one was found in a casino. With today's technology, might something like this be the size of a bread box?

I was listening to the inventor of the encrypted phone talk on the radio, and he said it was more than likely a laptop with a range of less than a mile. He also said it wasn't the feds because they can take over a whole network. He sells his phones for $3500, but you get free minutes.

[TexasGranny]

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/09/04/rumor-check-those-fake-cellphone-towers-youre-hearing-about-arent-necessarily-towers-at-all/

 

Rumor Check: Those Fake Cellphone ‘Towers’ You’re Hearing About Aren’t Necessarily Towers at All

 

A story has been taking the Internet by storm this week about an encrypted cellphone device that has uncovered 17 “fake” cell towers across America. There’s just one problem: the “towers” aren’t necessarily towers at all.

The story seems to originate from a Popular Science article last week titled, “Mysterious Phony Cell Towers Could Be Intercepting Your Calls.” It focused on how a fancy device called the CryptoPhone 500 (available for $3,500) can detect when your call has been routed through a “phony” tower. And in fact, the phone recently discovered “17 different phony cell towers known as ‘interceptors.’” The story then spread to an obscure site and beyond. But what the original article never makes clear is that the “interceptors” are not necessarily physical towers, and such devices have been known about for several years.

A StingRay cellphone surveillance device. (Image source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office)

In fact, TheBlaze has been reporting on interceptor devices that mimic towers since 2011, when our own Buck Sexton wrote about something known as a “Stingray” and its legality:

The Stingray is a generic term for devices that can track a cellphone’s location as long as it is turned on. As the Journal 

described

 its method of operation, the Stingray functions by:

“mimicking a cellphone tower, getting a phone to connect to it and measuring signals from the phone. It lets the stingray operator “ping,” or send a signal to, a phone and locate it as long as it is powered on.”

Law enforcement across the country does not have a standardized procedure for obtaining permission to use devices like the Stingray, though generally police agencies obtain a court order and not a search warrant, which would require a higher standard of proof.

This raises the question: should law enforcement be able to know exactly where you are without going before a judge to show probable cause?

TheBlaze TV’s Real News program continued debating the topic in February 2013 and TheBlaze has covered the Stingray numerous other times here, here, here and here. In fact, Elizabeth Kreft conducted a detailed interview this July with a security expert talking about how the Stingray (which is also a brand name in addition to the generic term) and another variation called the Hailstorm work, and why the public should know about them:

NF:

 These devices are pieces of physical equipment that police use themselves to track cellphones. It works by mimicking cell service providers’ cellphone towers and then sending out electronic signals that force phones — really trick phones — into reporting back their identifying information, including their electronic serial numbers and their location. A good way to describe this is that old kids pool game: so the cell site simulator will say “Marco,” and your cellphone says “Polo.”

EK:

 Ha. I want to laugh, but I’m too annoyed. So many ways for innocent Americans to be tracked. Now, some of these are carried and some are permanently fixed, right?

NF:

 One is a handheld model that is a little less powerful, others are vehicle-based that have stronger signals, some of them have directional antennas — but they all work in the same way. But there are several concerning things about how these work, much like cell tower dumps, they trigger every phone in the area — including phones of completely innocent bystanders — into reporting back their location information to the police.

This image and its caption sums it up well (don’t let the picture of the actual tower confuse you — look closely):

This graphic illustrates how a StingRay works. Signals from cellphones within the device’s radius are bounced to law enforcement. The information relayed may include names, phone numbers, locations, call records and even text messages. (Image source: KQED)

On Thursday’s Glenn Beck Radio Program, the CEO of the company behind the CryptoPhone 500 cleared up some of the confusion: Les Goldsmith of ESD America confirmed the towers aren’t necessarily large physical structures.

“That’s the one misconception the media got from this,” Goldsmith said. ”When we say a fake cellphone tower, that can be simply a laptop with two dongles plugged into it to actually give it GSM coverage.”

“It doesn’t have to be a large fully built tower,” he added. “So you can have somebody in a hotel room with a laptop that is collecting every phone within half a mile and having it run through there instead of a normal cell tower.

“Think of it as a cellular repeater. You put a cellular repeater in your building to give you better coverage. All your calls pass through the cellular repeater. Well, an interceptor pretends to be a cell tower and passes your call on like a cellular repeater. It just turns encryption off on the way so it can listen.”

Here is the map from Goldsmith and his company showing where the “towers” they located are:

This map from ESD America shows where its special phone picked up on “fake” tower pings. But the towers aren’t physical structures — they are devices that mimic towers.

But again, they’re not necessarily physical towers.

To be fair, the second site to pick up the “17 fake towers” story did eventually add a note at the top of its story admitting the confusion:

There have been many comments to this story from people who are assuming that these ‘towers’ are physical installations. There’s no reason to assume this is the case: it’s far likelier that they are mobile installations of the kind used not only by law enforcement and government agencies, but also by scammers and other criminals.

But the damage seemed to already be done when the original story took off.

Now you have a more complete picture. The use of such technology is still concerning and worth debate, but at least you know that some mysterious construction group isn’t necessarily erecting actual towers in the dead of night and disguising them. Instead, it seems more likely that law enforcement and other government agencies are doing it in a much more covert and frankly easy way with small device and laptop.

And that’s probably more scary.

Watch Goldsmith’s interview with Beck below: Click on the link.

 

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/09/04/rumor-check-those-fake-cellphone-towers-youre-hearing-about-arent-necessarily-towers-at-all/

 

 

 

[Shabibilicious]

That's what makes you "That Lady", TG.  Thanks for great info, as always.    

 

GO RV, and NO BV