Cell Phone Spying
A secret catalog of cell phone spying gadgets used by the military and intelligence agencies was recently leaked. The list of cell phone spying gadgets includes the infamous Stingray. Boeing’s dirty boxes are also in the catalog. What’s surprising is just how many cell phone spying devices there are! The cost of these cell phone spying gadgets will blow your mind too. Why so many cell phone spying gadgets? Why pay so much? The information collected is often priceless!
Survey Equipment
Heard of the Blackfin II? The cell phone spying device is designed for concealment and mobility. It conducts passive monitoring surveys, it intercepts GSM voice and captures SMS of target(s). It can also be used for blanketed or targeted denial of service. And, geolocation of a GSM handset is also possible. It’s an effective intelligence gathering tool. But, using is is considered wiretapping. Without the correct warrant, the information gathered is useless. The price . . a mere $75K per unit. We can see the utility of this cell phone spying device when searching for dangerous targets in a large group. For the non-dangerous targets whose data is also captured — your right to privacy has been revoked.
Visit the catalog for more cell phone spying devices used for surveying.
Fixed Wing Geo-Location
Look out for the Garuda (G-Box)! It was designed for use on a fixed wind aircraft. The aircraft can be manned or unmanned. The G-Box is a GSM airborne geo-location system. It works by replicating a GSM network base station. It tricks cell phones to connect with it. Once connected, the cell phone’s IMSI or IMEI number is compared to a target watch list. Match the target and it’s showtime. The unit can take 1000 entries. The price tag is a mere $185K per unit. Question: Once they get your phone to connect with the G-Box, how do you get disconnected? And, what information can they capture while it’s connected?
Visit the catalog for more fixed wing geo-location cell phone spying devices.
Ground Based Geo-Location
The Stargrazer III is a triple cell phone spying threat. The unit geo-locates the target, and jams the target handset while it is capturing metadata. The unit can either brute force attack or surgically jam the target cell phone. We can see its usefulness as an intelligence gathering tool . But, if you’re innocently in the area of the collection, your cell phone can be jammed too. So sorry, but that call won’t be completed for you either. How long will your cell phone be jammed? That depends.
Visit the catalog for more ground based geo-location cell phone spying devices.
Direction Finding Systems
You’ll never see the THORACIC coming. It’s 3.3″ at it largest dimension. It weighs less than 2 lbs. It uses three omni directional antennas and three body worn patch antennas. The antennas cover GSM, CDMA and iDen. And, at the (relatively) low price of $7,500 per unit, it’s affordable enough for multiple units per location. What does it do? It’s an 8 band radio receiver that detects and measures the signal strength of any channel in the uplink portions of the GSM, UMTS, CDMA & iDen cell phone bands. It’s controlled by a bluetooth data link to an applet. Great for spying on cell phones in a crowd when you need to go undetected. But, not so great if you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Visit the catalog for more direction finding cell phone spying devices.
Battlefield Data Recovery/SSE
The CYBERHAWK is a serious cell phone spying extraction tool. It will capture the phonebook, names, SMS, media files, text, deleted SMS, calendar items and notes from cell phones. How many cell phones? A mere 79. And, it will even capture the information from throwaway cellphones. Limitations? It will only work with GSM. It takes 4-10 minutes to download the information. It also saves all the cell phone spying data in one report. A device like this will make you want to be more cautious about where you go, and the company you keep.
Another battlefield data recovery tool mentioned in the catalog is the CELLBRITE. The unit provides quick extraction and analysis of most types of cell phones, smart phones and PDA devices. The device is used by law enforcement, but it has a dual purpose. The CELLEBRITE can be used to detect spyware and malware on cellphones. If you’re concerned your cellphone is infected or compromised, the data extraction capability is useful.
Visit the catalog for more battlefield data recovery cell phone spying devices.
The cell phone spying devices we highlighted grabbed our attention. The cell phone spying device catalog is a real eye opener. We suggest you review the catalog to learn more about the cell phone spying technologies available. We can see the value these tools add to law enforcement and government intelligence collection capabilities. But, for those in the vicinity of the target, there’s a good likelihood your privacy will be compromised too. Is that acceptable? Privacy advocates say no. But, if these devices are the best tools for capturing terrorists or dangerous targets, is the wise answer still a no?
About the Author:
J.D. LeaSure (CCISM) is the President/CEO of ComSec LLC, a global provider of world-class counterespionage and TSCM / Cyber TSCM™ services. Learn more at https://comsecllc.com
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