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In a letter to Senator Ron Wyden, the Department of Homeland Security has acknowledged that unknown users are operating IMSI catchers in Washington, D.C.:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is acknowledging for the first time that foreign actors or criminals are using eavesdropping devices to track cellphone activity in Washington, D.C., according to a letter obtained by The Hill.
DHS in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) last Monday said they came across unauthorized cell-site simulators in the Washington, D.C., area last year. Such devices, also known as "stingrays," can track a user's location data through their mobile phones and can intercept cellphone calls and messages.
[...] DHS official Christopher Krebs, the top official leading the NPPD, added in a separate letter accompanying his response that such use "of IMSI catchers by malicious actors to track and monitor cellular users is unlawful and threatens the security of communications, resulting in safety, economic and privacy risks."
DHS said they have not determined the users behind such eavesdropping devices, nor the type of devices being used. The agency also did not elaborate on how many devices it unearthed, nor where authorities located them.
Also at Ars Technica and CNN.
Related: Police: Stingray Device Intercepts Mobile Phones
ACLU Reveals Greater Extent of FBI and Law Enforcement "Stingray" Use
US IRS Bought Stingray, Stingray II, and Hailstorm IMSI-Catchers
EFF Launches the Cell-Site Simulator Section of Street Level Surveillance
NYPD Making Heavy Use of Stingrays
New York Lawmakers Want Local Cops to Get Warrant Before Using Stingray
New Jersey State Police Spent $850,000 on Harris Corp. Stingray Devices
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Wednesday April 04 2018, @06:07PM (1 child)
This could be a good (read compelling) use of the backdoors that NSA likely has in most cell phones.
Outside of the NSA, I'm sure there would be a community of people interested in crowd-sourcing this effort, as long as the results were published. Something along the lines of Folding@Home, but for cell phones. I suppose all that math you referred to would require some backend server to do the heavy lifting.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by Knowledge Troll on Wednesday April 04 2018, @09:28PM
Well one issue that is going to be a problem is I don't think the average cell phone is going to do this with out some kind of modification. I heavily suspect the interface available to the baseband module just won't allow for operating it/getting information out of it in a way where all the detail would be available. Though for a good chunk of them there is quite likely a new firmware that could be loaded into the baseband module if it uses SDR.