Getting the Message? Police Track Phones with Silent SMS

[Mirrorshades]

Getting the Message? Police Track Phones with Silent SMS

In Europe security services have been sending thousands of Silent SMS messages, allowing them to locate and track phones without the recipient's knowledge.
A legal vacuum exists around the technique.
by Fabien Soyez On January 27, 2012

In June 2011, Colette Giudicelli, a senator representing the Maritime Alps region of France, wrote to Claude Gueant, the French Interior Minister:

Many foreign police and intelligence services use clandestine ?Silent? SMS to locate suspects or missing persons. This method involves sending an SMS text message to the mobile phone of a suspect, an SMS that goes unnoticed and sends back a signal to the sender of the message. Colette Giudicelli would like to know whether this procedure has been used in France.

Seven months later, and there has still been no response from the French government. The subject might well have faded from memory, had it not been for the 28th Chaos Communication Congress, held in Berlin at the end of December. At the international hackers conference, the researcher and mobile security expert Karsten Nohl announced: ?In Germany in 2010, police sent thousands of Silent SMS in order to locate suspects.?

Also known as Flash-SMS, the Silent SMS uses an invisible return signal, or ?ping?. Developers from the Silent Services company, who created some of the first software for sending this type of SMS, explain:

The Silent SMS allows the user to send a message to another mobile without the knowledge of the recipient mobile?s owner. The message is rejected by the recipient mobile, and leaves no trace. In return, the sender gets a message from a mobile operator confirming that the Silent SMS has been received.

Silent SMS were originally intended to allow operators to ascertain whether a mobile phone is switched on and to ?test? the network, without alerting the users. But now, intelligence services and police have found some other uses for the system. Neil Croft, a graduate of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, explains:

Sending a Silent SMS is like sending a normal SMS, except that the mobile does not see the message it has received. The SMS?s information is modified, within the data coding scheme, so that the user who receives the message doesn?t notice anything. A Silent SMS can help police to detect a mobile without the person concerned being aware of the request.

Technical bit: in order to tamper with the SMS?s information and make it silent, the security services go through a network for sending and receiving SMS known as an SMS gateway, such as the Jataayu SMS gateway. This allows them to interconnect the processing and GSM systems. Neil Croft, now president of an SMS marketing company, explains:

These Silent SMS are also used by some hackers to organise attacks known as ?distributed denial of service? (DDOS) attacks. These run down the battery on a mobile abnormally fast, rendering it unable to receive calls. Such a procedure is not expensive: to send one Silent SMS per second for one hour costs about ?36 euros.

This method of mass sending appears to be widely used by these security services. In November 2011, Anna Conrad of the Die Linke (The Left) party in Germany, posed a written question (pdf) to her local state assembly concerning the use of Silent SMS by the German police. Her local assembly responded: in 2010, her state conducted 778 investigations and sent 256,000 Silent SMS.

Mathias Monroy, a journalist with Heise Online, argues this surveillance technology is flourishing largely as a result of a legal vacuum:

This is very problematic for privacy, because legally it is unclear whether or not a Silent SMS counts as a communication (?) The state found that it was not one, since there is no content. This is useful, because if it is not a communication, it does not fall under the framework of the inviolability of telecommunications described in Article 10 of the German Constitution.

On December 6, the German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich announced that German police and intelligence had been sending an average of 440,000 Silent SMS a year since they began using the system.

After each SMS was sent, investigators went to the four German mobile operators ? Vodafone, E-Plus, O2 and T-Mobile ? in order to access the recipient?s information. To aggregate this raw data provided by operators, the police use Koyote and rsCase, software supplied by Rola Security Solutions, a company that develops ?software solutions for the police?.

Smile, you?re being tracked

Silent SMS allow the user to precisely locate a mobile phone by using the GSM network, as Karsten Nohl explains:

We can locate a user by identifying the three antennas closest to his mobile, then triangulating the distance according to the speed it takes for a signal to make a return trip. A mobile phone updates its presence on the network regularly, but when the person moves, the information is not updated immediately. By sending a Silent SMS, the location of the mobile is instantly updated. This is very useful because it allows you to locate someone at a given time, depending on the airwaves.

This technique is much more effective than a simple cellular location (Cell ID), as Fran?ois-Bernard Huyghe, a researcher at IRIS, sets out:

This is the only instantaneous and practical method to track a mobile constantly when it?s not in use. We?re talking then about geopositioning rather than geolocation. After that, either the police track the information via the operators, or private companies process the data and, for example, refer the investigator to a map where the movements of the monitored phone appear in real time.

The benefits of Silent SMS don?t stop there: by sending a large number of these SMS, security services can also disrupt the mobile or remotely reactivate its signal and wear out the battery. A spokesman for the German Interior Ministry tells OWNI:

German police and intelligence services use Silent SMS to reactivate inactive mobile phones and refine the geolocation of a suspect, for example when they move during an interview. The Silent SMS is a valuable investigative tool, which is used only as part of a telecommunications surveillance operation sanctioned by a judge, in a specific case, without violating the fundamental right to protection of privacy.

Remote reactivation

In France, police and intelligence services work with Deveryware, a ?geolocation operator?. Deveryware also market a ?geolocation employee punchcard?, the Geohub, to businesses.

Deveryware combine cellular localization, GPS, and other ?real-time location? techniques. Questioned by OWNI whether Silent SMS were one of these techniques, the company?s response was evasive:

Regretfully we are unable to provide an answer, given the confidentiality imposed on us by legal requisitions.

Deveryware?s applications enable investigators to map and compile a history of a suspect?s movements. Laurent Ysern, head of investigations for SGP Police, states:

All investigative services have access to the Deveryware platform. With this system, one can follow a person without having to be behind them. There?s no need for shadowing, so less staff and equipment needs to be mobilized.

While in Germany the Ministry of the Interior responded within 48 hours, the French government remains strangely silent. There has been one single response, from the Press Department of the National Police:

Unfortunately, no one at the PJ (Police Judiciare) or the public safety office is willing to comment on the subject, these are investigative techniques ?

Silence too from the French telecoms operators SFR and Bouygues Telecom. Sebastien Crozier, a union delegate at France Telecom-Orange, says:

Operators always collaborate with the police, it?s a public service obligation: they act in accordance with judicial requests?There is no definitive method, sending SMS is one of the methods used to geolocate a user. We mainly use this technique to ?reactivate? the phone.

By 2013, the use of these surveillance methods is expected to reach an industrial scale. The Department of Justice will set up, with the help of the arms company Thales, a new national platform of judicial interception (PNIJ), which is expected to centralize all legal interception, i.e, phone-tapping, but also summons such as requests for cell location. Sebastien Crozier remarks:

This interface between police officers and operators will streamline court costs and reduce processing costs by half, because until now summons have been handled station by station?There will be more applications, but it will be less expensive for operators like the police.

Image Credits: Flickr CC Nicolas Nova ; Arlo Bates ; Keoshi ; Luciano Belviso ; Meanest Indian ; Spo0nman

Follow @FabienSoyez on Twitter

Read more about Surveillance on Owni.eu

Source: http://owni.eu/2012/01/27/silent-sms-germany-france-surveillance-deveryware/

 

[Warhead14]

No question a cell phone tied to you is the first thing that gets pitched...

 

[peptideman.com]

In America they use your smart phones as listening devices, also the Tv's you hook up to the internet they can listen through that too. So much for privacy anymore.....

 

[MR. BMJ]

Great post MS!

 

[Trapology]

lots of info here

 

[Mirrorshades]

In America they use your smart phones as listening devices, also the Tv's you hook up to the internet they can listen through that too. So much for privacy anymore.....

There is no question whatsoever that phones can be used as listening devices, but this is the first I've ever heard that TVs have been mentioned in that regard, at least.

To the best of my knowledge, and I'll freely admit I could be dead wrong on this, TVs have no microphone on them which could be turned on remotely. It might be possible to monitor what you watch, or where you surf, if you use the TV to connect to sites on the Net, but that is the extent of it as far as I am aware.

If you can supply any links providing more information, I would very much appreciate it.

Mirrorshades

 

[millenium girl]

Great info ... I'm not in France or Germany but ... close.

 

[Perses]

There is no question whatsoever that phones can be used as listening devices, but this is the first I've ever heard that TVs have been mentioned in that regard, at least.

To the best of my knowledge, and I'll freely admit I could be dead wrong on this, TVs have no microphone on them which could be turned on remotely. It might be possible to monitor what you watch, or where you surf, if you use the TV to connect to sites on the Net, but that is the extent of it as far as I am aware.

If you can supply any links providing more information, I would very much appreciate it.

Mirrorshades

For television to transmit sound, it must have a microphone.

As far as using the phone as a listening device, this is something that LOCAL law enforcement absolutely is NOT capable of, atleast here in America. The day it comes out that a bust was made by listening in on a mobile phone secretly, would create a massive fallout amongst citizens that would be costly to our government. Unless your a terror figure or running a multi-million dollar drug industry, the funding and clearance required for that sort of surveillance will never pertain to you. The FBI is still bugging homes and tapping land lines, the day these things stop is when I'll be convinced they have something new.

One thing that gives me piece of mind is having a smart phone, especially Apple. With the thousands of independent coders/programmers that disect these phones and ALL of their functions, nothing has been uncovered that would pertain to third party activating the microphone. A few of the DevGru guys already buried the claim of that when it comes to the iPhone.

 

[frenchBB]

even your computer can be used to listen , so , never leave your net connection on , remove cable from phone conection , take out your phone battery , and you can start talking .

the more technologie improved , the less privacy we have .
i hate wifi , free box ..... smart phone ( i used an old phone ) ....

 

[Perses]

even your computer can be used to listen , so , never leave your net connection on , remove cable from phone conection , take out your phone battery , and you can start talking .

the more technologie improved , the less privacy we have .
i hate wifi , free box ..... smart phone ( i used an old phone ) ....

It doesn't matter, they can listen in on any line, the same way they can keylog computers, access data accounts, voicemails, etc.

You might as well enjoy your smart phone and upgrade technology, unless your BIG time in something corrupt or illegal, nobody is listening in on you. Surveillance costs money, money that no law enforcement wants to spend unless they MUST.

 

[frenchBB]

It doesn't matter, they can listen in on any line, the same way they can keylog computers, access data accounts, voicemails, etc.

You might as well enjoy your smart phone and upgrade technology, unless your BIG time in something corrupt or illegal, nobody is listening in on you. Surveillance costs money, money that no law enforcement wants to spend unless they MUST.

i aggree , best way to communicate is face to face .
and i meant this for someone doing something that has to stay low key .
there is too anti keylogger to use too , many other things ....

 

[MindlessWork]

I'd then rather use one of those prepaid phones, but now many carriers ask for personal information to even activate the phone and the information you give will be checked

I am not sure but using something like Silent SMS might require a warrant to even use it in the USA

 

[Warhead14]

I'd then rather use one of those prepaid phones, but now many carriers ask for personal information to even activate the phone and the information you give will be checked

I am not sure but using something like Silent SMS might require a warrant to even use it in the USA

Warrant? LOL, they dont give a fuck about any stinking laws. They have judges in their pocket for anything they need. Pre paid is THE ONLY way to go. And when your not using it, pull the battery.

 

[Perses]

In the end, if they truly want you, they'll find you. Anything electronic origin is going to lead to you or someone you involved.

A pre-paid for example;
The IMEI and Serials related to the phone, are ALL documented by the factory.
You buy it at any retailer. They know what batch of phones is sent to what stores.
You buy an AT&T go-phone from 7/11 or Walmart, ie anywhere.
The phone number is assigned by the factory, is tied to all the phones serials/imei.
That phone's product # for the retailer receives an inventory id and sku.
Just from knowing your phone number, LE contacts the provider, they contact their warehousing/inventory department, now they will know the phone's distribution history and to what retailer it went to.
Now they contact the store, from the sku and store's inventory ID, they can narrow it down to time and date the sku was entered for sale, and then look onto store surveillance at every entry to the store in that time-frame.

The same goes with shipping companies.
Your package is intercepted for whatever reason, by law enforcement.
The bar code for the shipping information relates back to the origin, store, time of sale. USPS, UPS, FedEx and most shipping stores all have video systems.
Now whoever shipped the item's smiling face is right there on camera at the time of sale that the label is printed for.

It's scary, but the more advances in technology and more we rely on it, the more EVERY action has a trail. Safest way to buy a pre-paid? Buy someone elses pay-as-you-go phone. You never purchased it, you were never in the store, you never might've slipped up during registration, the original customer knows zero about you. Don't receive packages to your home, never use real information, even if it means you can't retrieve a non-picked up WU. If you can't afford to lose the money you send out in a western union, you shouldn't be spending $ on supplements in the first place. It's easy to stay safe even with big brother cracking down, it's the little slip ups and showing off that blows it for people.

 

[frenchBB]

In the end, if they truly want you, they'll find you. Anything electronic origin is going to lead to you or someone you involved.

A pre-paid for example;
The IMEI and Serials related to the phone, are ALL documented by the factory.
You buy it at any retailer. They know what batch of phones is sent to what stores.
You buy an AT&T go-phone from 7/11 or Walmart, ie anywhere.
The phone number is assigned by the factory, is tied to all the phones serials/imei.
That phone's product # for the retailer receives an inventory id and sku.
Just from knowing your phone number, LE contacts the provider, they contact their warehousing/inventory department, now they will know the phone's distribution history and to what retailer it went to.
Now they contact the store, from the sku and store's inventory ID, they can narrow it down to time and date the sku was entered for sale, and then look onto store surveillance at every entry to the store in that time-frame.

The same goes with shipping companies.
Your package is intercepted for whatever reason, by law enforcement.
The bar code for the shipping information relates back to the origin, store, time of sale. USPS, UPS, FedEx and most shipping stores all have video systems.
Now whoever shipped the item's smiling face is right there on camera at the time of sale that the label is printed for.

It's scary, but the more advances in technology and more we rely on it, the more EVERY action has a trail. Safest way to buy a pre-paid? Buy someone elses pay-as-you-go phone. You never purchased it, you were never in the store, you never might've slipped up during registration, the original customer knows zero about you. Don't receive packages to your home, never use real information, even if it means you can't retrieve a non-picked up WU. If you can't afford to lose the money you send out in a western union, you shouldn't be spending $ on supplements in the first place. It's easy to stay safe even with big brother cracking down, it's the little slip ups and showing off that blows it for people.

very good infos !

 

[reps]

the book 1984 comes to mind. wtf we got no freedom anymore!

 

[tilltheend]

Thats the police taking peoples rights away, the govt isn't the police.

 

[ontime34]

I make it a point to pull the battery out of my cell phones in the evening. Not to bright if I have an emergency however safety and privacy for all of us inside and outside these rooms is paramount. This country "U.S." is slowly turning into a police state.

 

[ontime34]

Thats the police taking peoples rights away, the govt isn't the police.

Perhaps not directly however what scares the livin hell out of me and should everyone here is the NDAA National Defense Authorization Act. American Citizens can NOW be detained indefinetly without trial. The President signed it on New Years Eve. Certainly worth a look into.

 

[Khem]

Its good in some aspects I guess.. Kidnapping cases, etc.. but you know they'll overstep whats right and abuse it.

 

[mnm]

PersesGrK, it's already happend. Since the advent of 9/11, PDD51, and Threat Fusion Centers, the intelligence services and local police can tap your phones without needing a warrant. i read about an arrest in New Jersey last year that they utilized "ONSTAR" in a vehicle to listen in and track a dealer and make an arrest.

 

[Perses]

PersesGrK, it's already happend. Since the advent of 9/11, PDD51, and Threat Fusion Centers, the intelligence services and local police can tap your phones without needing a warrant. i read about an arrest in New Jersey last year that they utilized "ONSTAR" in a vehicle to listen in and track a dealer and make an arrest.

Yeah back around 2003. The court ruled against the FBI that it interfered with the emergency service aspect of the car owner's OnStar, also there was no warrant for a wiretap, therefore anything recorded was garbage, not allowed as evidence.

The only body of government getting away with non-warranted wiretaps is the CIA and NSA. If your selling juice, some class-2 narcotics, etc, nobody is tapping you on that level.

I know a local here in California who was busting for distribution of AAS, he was moving about 200 bottles a month locally. The local PD couldn't even get the interest of the FBI, it remained a local bust.

For what we do, atleast on these boards, there's not much to fear about the government listening in. It's fucked even in general, if your average Joe it's still wrong. But as far as worrying about covering your ass, they're not going to take those measures for users or small guys making a buck. If your selling in your gym, ordering your gear online, your downfall will be an undercover or a controlled delivery after a source was busted and your info retrieved, or the moron at USPS stepped on your package and it was leaking all over, so they opened it.

 

[mth498]

Im happy i have no phones, house phone for family to talk to each other and that is it. I hate technology to be honest. Computers and cell phones turned people into lazy asses.

 

[DRveejay11]

Cool thread

 

[rocco-x]

so SMS stands for "Silent Messaging Services" or close to it?
i don't have a phone with a contract but one with a shrinking payment lan and not even in my name or anyone elses for that matter.i was told about Boost Mobil's phone plane,had someone i know order the phone i picked out and sent to their house under a family members name who lives in a different state and when i make my payments i do so out of state,not even close to my own area.could they still find out my name and who actually owns the phone?

i mean i do have to use one of my email accnts to operate most of the features on it and do check most of my email from 2 different addys since either i'm on the road a lot and don't have time to wait till i get home or when my comp's on the fritz.this is just the tip of the iceberg gents,watch and learn or wait and watch.whichever way you choose it's going to be one heck of a show when the alphabet boys come kicking in doors in the middle of the night...roc,

 

[kane.d3]

All true. Very smart bro. Use smurfs. It's your best bet. Cash, prepaid, smurf.

In the end, if they truly want you, they'll find you. Anything electronic origin is going to lead to you or someone you involved.

A pre-paid for example;
The IMEI and Serials related to the phone, are ALL documented by the factory.
You buy it at any retailer. They know what batch of phones is sent to what stores.
You buy an AT&T go-phone from 7/11 or Walmart, ie anywhere.
The phone number is assigned by the factory, is tied to all the phones serials/imei.
That phone's product # for the retailer receives an inventory id and sku.
Just from knowing your phone number, LE contacts the provider, they contact their warehousing/inventory department, now they will know the phone's distribution history and to what retailer it went to.
Now they contact the store, from the sku and store's inventory ID, they can narrow it down to time and date the sku was entered for sale, and then look onto store surveillance at every entry to the store in that time-frame.

The same goes with shipping companies.
Your package is intercepted for whatever reason, by law enforcement.
The bar code for the shipping information relates back to the origin, store, time of sale. USPS, UPS, FedEx and most shipping stores all have video systems.
Now whoever shipped the item's smiling face is right there on camera at the time of sale that the label is printed for.

It's scary, but the more advances in technology and more we rely on it, the more EVERY action has a trail. Safest way to buy a pre-paid? Buy someone elses pay-as-you-go phone. You never purchased it, you were never in the store, you never might've slipped up during registration, the original customer knows zero about you. Don't receive packages to your home, never use real information, even if it means you can't retrieve a non-picked up WU. If you can't afford to lose the money you send out in a western union, you shouldn't be spending $ on supplements in the first place. It's easy to stay safe even with big brother cracking down, it's the little slip ups and showing off that blows it for people.

 

[Androman]

Very good information, thats why I dont trust my own phone, however there are encrypted apps that dont allow anything tracking or tracing of any conversations.

 

[cog]

IMSI catchers used widely.AIMCISD for Android will show you.