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From the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Sen. Ron Wyden has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice concerning disruptions to 911 emergency services caused by law enforcement's use of cell-site simulators (CSS, also known as IMSI catchers or Stingrays). In the letter, Sen. Wyden states that:
Senior officials from the Harris Corporation—the manufacturer of the cell-site simulators used most frequently by U.S. law enforcement agencies—have confirmed to my office that Harris' cell-site simulators completely disrupt the communications of targeted phones for as long as the surveillance is ongoing. According to Harris, targeted phones cannot make or receive calls, send or receive text messages, or send or receive any data over the Internet. Moreover, while the company claims its cell-site simulators include a feature that detects and permits the delivery of emergency calls to 9-1-1, its officials admitted to my office that this feature has not been independently tested as part of the Federal Communication Commission's certification process, nor were they able to confirm this feature is capable of detecting and passing-through 9-1-1 emergency communications made by people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech disabled using Real-Time Text technology.
The full text of the letter can be read here.
Researchers of CSS technology have long suspected that using such technologies, even professionally designed and marketed CSS's, would have a detrimental effect on emergency services, and now—for the first time—we have confirmation.
So not only does it snoop on all calls in the area, it also disrupts emergency calls. And why is everything about Stingrays, even their existence, such a huge secret, even to the point of dropping prosecutions?
(Score: 5, Informative) by DannyB on Tuesday August 28 2018, @06:21PM (1 child)
That is similar to the two theories that I've long maintained. (in reverse order)
1. The security was designed a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. It is extremely vulnerable. The secret is that Stingray uses some exploit that any high school kid would be able to exploit. Possibly many exploits.
2. There are stolen credentials or crypto keys. If what keys were used became known, the stolen keys / credentials would be revoked and Stingray would be over.
I've posted that here before. I can only agree with you -- YES -- that is the explanation for the extreme secrecy.
They are willing to drop prosecutions or commit perjury rather than disclose anything about Stingray. For a long time even its existence was secret. And local police that were allowed to use one had to agree to keep its very existence a secret (from TechDirt story quite some time back).
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday August 28 2018, @08:13PM
What I am wondering right now is how often do my local Police use these things?
I am not American, and have never heard a single mention about Stingrays in my local media which makes me wonder why.
It is fairly widely assumed in my country that the media takes special care on reporting about the Police because they get so much access when they want it.