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  1. #1
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    Mysterious 'Fake' Cell Phone Towers Found Across America

    What's the truth behind the mysterious 'fake' cell phone towers discovered across America?

    http://www.infowars.com/mysterious-f...cross-america/






    Published on Sep 2, 2014
    Are strange imposter cell phone towers discovered across the country part of a secret government surveillance program?

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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Towers are used for much more than cell phones.

    Microwave transmission

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



    The atmospheric attenuation of microwaves in dry air with a precipitable water vapor level of 0.001 mm. The downward spikes in the graph correspond to frequencies at which microwaves are absorbed more strongly, such as by oxygen molecules

    Microwave transmission refers to the technology of transmitting information or energy by the use of electromagnetic waves whose wavelengths are conveniently measured in small numbers of centimetre; these are called microwaves. This part of the radio spectrum ranges across frequencies of roughly 1.0 gigahertz (GHz) to 30 GHz. These correspond to wavelengths from 30 centimeters down to 1.0 cm.

    Uses[edit]

    Microwaves are widely used for point-to-point communications because their small wavelength allows conveniently-sized antennas to direct them in narrow beams, which can be pointed directly at the receiving antenna. This allows nearby microwave equipment to use the same frequencies without interfering with each other, as lower frequency radio waves do.

    Another advantage is that the high frequency of microwaves gives the microwave band a very large information-carrying capacity; the microwave band has a bandwidth 30 times that of all the rest of the radio spectrum below it. A disadvantage is that microwaves are limited to line of sight propagation; they cannot pass around hills or mountains as lower frequency radio waves can.


    Microwave radio transmission is commonly used in point-to-point communication systems on the surface of the Earth, in satellite communications, and in deep space radio communications. Other parts of the microwave radio band are used for radars, radio navigation systems, sensor systems, and radio astronomy.


    The next higher part of the radio electromagnetic spectrum, where the frequencies are above 30 GHz and below 100 GHz, are called "millimeter waves" because their wavelengths are conveniently measured in millimeters, and their wavelengths range from 10 mm down to 3.0 mm. Radio waves in this band are usually strongly attenuated by the Earthly atmosphere and particles contained in it, especially during wet weather. Also, in wide band of frequencies around 60 GHz, the radio waves are strongly attenuated by molecular oxygen in the atmosphere. The electronic technologies needed in the millimeter wave band are also much more difficult to utilize than those of the microwave band.


    Wireless
    transmission of information




    A parabolic satellite antenna forErdfunkstelle Raisting, based inRaisting, Bavaria, Germany.



    C band horn-reflector antennas on the roof of a telephone switching center inSeattle, Washington, part of the U.S. AT&T Long Linesmicrowave relay network.

    Wireless transmission of power

    • Proposed systems e.g. for connecting solar power collecting satellites to terrestrial power grids


    Parabolic (microwave) antenna[edit]


    Main article: Parabolic antenna
    To direct microwaves in narrow beams for point-to-point communication links or radiolocation (radar), a parabolic antennais usually used. This is an antenna that uses a parabolic reflectorto direct the microwaves. To achieve narrow beamwidths, the reflector must be much larger than the wavelength of the radio waves. The relatively short wavelength of microwaves allows reasonably sized dishes to exhibit the desired highly directional response for both receiving and transmitting.

    Microwave radio relay[edit]



    Dozens of microwave dishes on the Heinrich-Hertz-Turm in Germany.

    Microwave radio relay is a technology for transmitting digital and analog signals, such as long-distance telephone calls, television programs, and computer data, between two locations on a line of sightradio path. In microwave radio relay, microwaves are transmitted between the two locations with directional antennas, forming a fixed radio connection between the two points. The requirement of a line of sight limits the distance between stations to 30 or 40 miles.

    Beginning in the 1940s, networks of microwave relay links, such as the AT&T Long Lines system in the U.S., carried long distance telephone calls and television programs between cities.[1] The first system, dubbed TD-2 and built by AT&T, connected New York and Boston in 1947 with a series of eight radio relay stations.[1] These included long daisy-chained series of such links that traversed mountain ranges and spanned continents. Much of the transcontinental traffic is now carried by cheaper optical fibers and communication satellites, but microwave relay remains important for shorter distances.


    How microwave radio relay links are formed[edit]



    Because the radio waves travel in narrow beams confined to a line-of-sight path from one antenna to the other, they don't interfere with other microwave equipment, and nearby microwave links can use the same frequencies. Antennas used must be highly directional (High gain); these antennas are installed in elevated locations such as large radio towers in order to be able to transmit across long distances. Typical types of antenna used in radio relay link installations areparabolic antennas, dielectric lens, and horn-reflector antennas, which have a diameter of up to 4 meters. Highly directive antennas permit an economical use of the available frequency spectrum, despite long transmission distances.


    Danish military radio relay node

    Planning considerations[edit]

    Because of the high frequencies used, a quasi-optical line of sight between the stations is generally required. Additionally, in order to form the line of sight connection between the two stations, the firstFresnel zone must be free from obstacles so the radio waves canpropagate across a nearly uninterrupted path. Obstacles in the signal field cause unwanted attenuation, and are as a result only acceptable in exceptional cases. High mountain peak or ridge positions are often ideal: Europe's highest radio relay station, the Richtfunkstation Jungfraujoch, is situated atop the Jungfraujoch ridge at an altitude of 3,705 meters (12,156 ft) above sea level.


    Multiple antennas provide space diversity

    Obstacles, the curvature of the Earth, the geography of the area and reception issues arising from the use of nearby land (such as in manufacturing and forestry) are important issues to consider when planning radio links. In the planning process, it is essential that "path profiles" are produced, which provide information about the terrainand Fresnel zones affecting the transmission path. The presence of a water surface, such as a lake or river, in the mid-path region also must be taken into consideration as it can result in a near-perfect reflection (even modulated by wave or tide motions), creating multipath distortion as the two received signals ("wanted" and "unwanted") swing in and out of phase. Multipath fades are usually deep only in a small spot and a narrow frequency band, so space and/or frequency diversity schemes would be applied to mitigate these effects.

    The effects of atmospheric stratification cause the radio path to bend downward in a typical situation so a major distance is possible as the earth equivalent curvature increases from 6370 km to about 8500 km (a 4/3 equivalent radius effect). Rare events of temperature, humidity and pressure profile versus height, may produce large deviations and distortion of the propagation and affect transmission quality. High intensity rain and snow must also be considered as an impairment factor, especially at frequencies above 10 GHz. All previous factors, collectively known as path loss, make it necessary to compute suitable power margins, in order to maintain the link operative for a high percentage of time, like the standard 99.99% or 99.999% used in 'carrier class' services of most telecommunication operators.


    The longest microwave radio relay known up to date crosses the Red Sea with 360 km hop between Jebel Erba (2170m a.s.l., 20°44'46.17"N 36°50'24.65"E, Sudan) and Jebel Dakka (2572m a.s.l., 21° 5'36.89"N 40°17'29.80"E, Saudi Arabia). The link built in 1979 by Telettra allowed to proper transmit 300 telephone channels and 1 TV signal, in the 2 GHz frequency band. (Hop distance is the distance between two microwave stations) [2]


    Portable microwave rig forElectronic news gathering(ENG) for television news

    Troposcatter[edit]

    In over-horizon, or tropospheric scatter, microwave radio relays, unlike a standard microwave radio relay link, the sending and receiving antennas do not use a line of sight transmission path.

    Instead, the stray signal transmission, known as "tropo - scatter" or simply "scatter," from the sent signal is picked up by the receiving station. Signal clarity obtained by this method depends on the weather and other factors, and as a result a high level of technical difficulty is involved in the creation of a reliable over horizon radio relay link. Over horizon radio relay links are therefore only used where standard radio relay links are unsuitable (for example, in providing a microwave link to an island).


    Usage of microwave radio relay systems[edit]


    During the 1950s the AT&T Long Lines system of microwave relay links grew to carry the majority of US long distance telephone traffic, as well as intercontinental television network signals.[3] The prototype was called TDX and was tested with a connection between New York City and Murray Hill, the location of Bell Laboratories in 1946. The TDX system was set up between New York and Boston in 1947. The TDX was improved to the TD2, which still used klystron tubes in the transmitters, and then later to the TD3 that used solid state electronics. The main motivation in 1946 to use microwave radio instead of cable was that a large capacity could be installed quickly and at less cost. It was expected at that time that the annual operating costs for microwave radio would be greater than for cable. There were two main reasons that a large capacity had to be introduced suddenly: Pent up demand for long distance telephone service, because of the hiatus during the war years, and the new medium of television, which needed more bandwidth than radio.

    Though not commonly known, the US Military used both portable and fixed-station microwave communications in the European Theater during WWII. Starting in the late 1940s, this continued to some degree into the 1960s, when many of these links were supplanted with tropospheric scatter or satellite systems. When the NATO military arm was formed, much of this existing equipment was transferred to communications groups. The typical communications systems used by NATO during that time period consisted of the technologies which had been developed for use by the telephone carrier entities in host countries. One example from the USA is the RCA CW-20A 1–2 GHz microwave relay system which utilized flexible UHF cable rather than the rigid waveguide required by higher frequency systems, making it ideal for tactical applications. The typical microwave relay installation or portable van had two radio systems (plus backup) connecting two LOS sites. These radios would often provide communication for 24 telephone channels of frequency division multiplexed signal (i.e. Lenkurt 33C FDM), though any channel could be designated to carry up to 18 teletype communications instead. Similar systems from Germany and other member nations were also in use.


    Similar systems were soon built in many countries, until the 1980s when the technology lost its share of fixed operation to newer technologies such as fiber-optic cable and communication satellites, which offer lower cost per bit.


    Microwave spying

    During the Cold War, the US intelligence agencies, such as the National Security Agency (NSA), were reportedly able to intercept Soviet microwave traffic using satellites such as Rhyolite.[4] Much of the beam of a microwave link passes the receiving antenna and radiates toward the horizon, into space. By positioning a geosynchronous satellite in the path of the beam, the microwave beam can be received.

    At the turn of the century, microwave radio relay systems are being used increasingly in portable radio applications. The technology is particularly suited to this application because of lower operating costs, a more efficient infrastructure, and provision of direct hardware access to the portable radio operator.

    Listen to this article (info/dl)


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    Microwave link[edit]

    A microwave link is a communications system that uses a beam of radio waves in the microwave frequency range to transmit video, audio, or data between two locations, which can be from just a few feet or meters to several miles or kilometers apart. Microwave links are commonly used by television broadcasters to transmit programmes across a country, for instance, or from an outside broadcast back to a studio.

    Mobile units can be camera mounted, allowing cameras the freedom to move around without trailing cables. These are often seen on the touchlines of sports fields on Steadicam systems.


    Properties of microwave links[edit]





    Uses of microwave links[edit]



    • In communications between satellites and base stations
    • As backbone carriers for cellular systems
    • In short range indoor communications
    • Telecommunications, in linking remote and regional telephone exchanges to larger (main) exchanges without the need for copper/optical fibre lines.


    Microwave power transmission[edit]


    Microwave power transmission (MPT) is the use of microwaves to transmit power through outer space or the atmosphere without the need for wires. It is a sub-type of the more general wireless energy transfer methods.

    History[edit]


    Following World War II, which saw the development of high-power microwave emitters known as cavity magnetrons, the idea of using microwaves to transmit power was researched. In 1964, William C. Brown demonstrated a miniature helicopter equipped with a combination antenna and rectifier device called a rectenna. The rectenna converted microwave power into electricity, allowing the helicopter to fly.[6] In principle, the rectenna is capable of very high conversion efficiencies - over 90% in optimal circumstances.

    Most proposed MPT systems now usually include a phased array microwave transmitter. While these have lower efficiency levels they have the advantage of being electrically steered using no moving parts, and are easier to scale to the necessary levels that a practical MPT system requires.


    Using microwave power transmission to deliver electricity to communities without having to build cable-based infrastructure is being studied at Grand Bassin on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.


    Common safety concerns[edit]


    The common reaction to microwave transmission is one of concern, as microwaves are generally perceived by the public as dangerous forms of radiation - stemming from the fact that they are used inmicrowave ovens. While high power microwaves can be painful and dangerous as in the United States Military's Active Denial System, MPT systems are generally proposed to have only low intensity at the rectenna.

    Though this would be extremely safe as the power levels would be about equal to the leakage from a microwave oven, and only slightly more than a cell phone, the relatively diffuse microwave beam necessitates a large receiving antenna area for a significant amount of energy to be transmitted.


    Research has involved exposing multiple generations of animals to microwave radiation of this or higher intensity, and no health issues have been found.[7]


    Proposed uses[edit]


    Main article: Solar power satellite
    MPT is the most commonly proposed method for transferring energy to the surface of the Earth from solar power satellites or other in-orbit power sources. MPT is occasionally proposed for the power supply in beam-powered propulsion for orbital lift space ships. Even though lasers are more commonly proposed, their low efficiency in light generation and reception has led some designers to opt for microwave based systems.

    Current status[edit]


    Wireless Power Transmission (using microwaves) is well proven.

    Experiments in the tens of kilowatts have been performed at Goldstone in California in 1975[8][9][10] and more recently (1997) at Grand Bassin on Reunion Island.[11] In 2008 a long range transmission experiment successfully transmitted 20 watts 92 miles (148 km) from a mountain on Maui to the main island of Hawaii.[12]


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_transmission
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  3. #3
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Cell phone towers were originally built by one company for their equipment only.

    So just because there is a tower nearby doesn't mean it is for the company that handles your phone calls.

    Many cell towers have been bought out and now lease space for the cell equipment, sometimes for more than one company.

    But that still doesn't mean that all nearby cell calls are handled by that tower.

    Only the companies that pay for their equipment to be on the tower can use it.
    JD2
    ====================

    T-Mobile USA to Sell Towers to Crown Castle for $2.4B ...

    www.bloomberg.com/.../crown-castle-to-buy-t-mobile-u...
    Bloomberg L.P.

    Sep 28, 2012 - Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA agreed to sell the rights to operate ... exclusive rights to lease and operate the antenna towers for about 28 years, ... while allowing T- Mobile to rent back antenna space on the towers.



    AT&T confirms deal with Crown Castle to sell and lease cell ...

    www.androidcentral.com/att-confirms-deal-crown-castle...
    Android Central

    Oct 21, 2013 - 600 towers sold and 9,100 leased with the option to buy .... People don't want ugly cell towers in their back yards, so if you have a tower already ...
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    Rogue ‘Cell Towers’ Can Intercept Your Data; At Least One Found In Chicago

    September 3, 2014 1:02 PM



    Here are locations of reported cell phone interceptor devices as reported to EDS America.


    John Dodge
    John Dodge is the Executive Producer of CBS Chicago's website


    By John Dodge
    CHICAGO (CBS) — So-called rogue cell phone towers, the type that can intercept your mobile calls and data, are cropping up all over the United States, including here in Chicago, according to a company that specializes in developing highly secure mobile phones.

    More cell phone users, who fear their information could be at risk, are turning to high-end secure mobile devices. As a result, it is become easier for them to detect the presence of these interceptor devices.


    A user gets an alert that a “cell tower” nearby may be a threat. (Credit: ESD)

    The origin of these devices that disguise themselves as cell phone towers is not known.

    CBS 2 security analyst Ross Rice, a former FBI agent, said it’s likely being used illegally.

    “I doubt that they are installed by law enforcement as they require a warrant to intercept conversations or data and since the cell providers are ordered by the court to cooperate with the intercept, there really would be no need for this,” Rice said.

    “Most likely, they are installed and operated by hackers, trying to steal personal identification and passwords.”

    Les Goldsmith, the CEO of ESD America, which makes secure cell phones, said law enforcement, with a warrant, can use interceptor devices if they need information in real time, or if they don’t want a cellular network to know what they are tracking.
    These devices don’t look like a tower, but are rather electronic boxes and laptops that trick a regular phone that it’s part of an actual cellular network.

    How did ESD customers discover these interceptor devices?

    ESD America’s cellphones protect users data, phone calls and text. The phone looks like a typical Android phone, but the inside includes encryption algorithms developed by a German company, GSMK, that protects the phone from intercepts.
    ESD has asked them to report when their devices detect a threat.

    As a result, the company recently published a map showing 19 such eavesdropping devices across the country, including at least one in Chicago.

    ESD says it is able to verify each customer’s report.

    ESD says on its Facebook page that there are likely many, many more so-called “phony towers.”

    “The more phones we have out there, the more we will see,” said Goldsmith.

    The company’s top of the line GSMK Cryptophone, the CP500, has a firewall that constantly monitors all activity on the phone.
    The ESD Cryptophone 500. (Credit: ESD America)

    When a user gets an alert that a cell tower has no neighboring towers–legitimate towers from phone companies form a network–it indicates the “cell tower” is potentially a danger to the user’s security.

    (Credit: ESD America)

    ESD can only rely on location information of the reported interceptors based on the user’s report. In the case of the Chicago interceptor, the user simply reported it as near the airport, but didn’t specify whether it was Midway or O’Hare.

    The top of the line ESD phone costs around $3,500. Goldsmith said they do a lot of business with governments, but are selling more privately, including about 200 units today alone.

    http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/09/03/rouge-cell-towers-can-intercept-your-data-at-least-one-found-in-chicago/



  5. #5
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    It is interesting that there are so many near the Mexican border.

    Rogue "Interceptor" Cell Phone Towers Discovered Near U.S. Army Bases​


    Matthew Phelan

    Matthew Phelan

    Yesterday 3:07pm



    Les Goldsmith is the CEO of ESD, a defense and law enforcement technology firm based in Las Vegas. They make one of the oldest, most expensive high-security cell phones on the market. And lately, Goldsmith and his CryptoPhone customers have been noticing some pretty ominous, fake cell phone towers across America.

    Boo!

    EXPAND

    This is the August 2014 map compiled by Goldsmith and ESD's CryptoPhone 500 customers pinpointing the locations of their mysterious "interceptor" tower discoveries.

    The interceptors can be as simple as a computer and a radio and, for years now, hackers have been demonstrating methods for putting one together for as little as $3000. But for governments, the actual technology retails at closer to $100,000. The devices work by communicating with a second, proprietary operating system common to all mobile phones and run off the baseband processor: the chip that handles a phone's radio functions.

    A telltale sign that the phone is currently being raided by these "over the air" attacks is that it begins communicating to a lower, older generation network, as opposed to the more contemporary and secure networks—but the interceptors Goldsmith has found have proven remarkably good at spoofing higher-level 3G and 4G networks. Using a Samsung Galaxy S4 and an iPhone as a control group, Goldsmith drove his CryptoPhone past an interceptor located near an undisclosed government facility in the Nevada desert. Both commercial phones not only didn't register the attack, but continued to communicate that they were on a 4G network.

    "As we drove by, the iPhone showed no difference whatsoever. The Samsung Galaxy S4, the call went from 4G to 3G and back to 4G," he told Popular Science. "The CryptoPhone lit up like a Christmas tree."

    Is this a big deal? It sounds like it could be:

    "Interceptor use in the U.S. is much higher than people had anticipated," Goldsmith says. "One of our customers took a road trip from Florida to North Carolina and he found 8 different interceptors on that trip. We even found one at South Point Casino in Las Vegas."

    Who is running these interceptors and what are they doing with the calls? Goldsmith says we can't be sure, but he has his suspicions

    "What we find suspicious is that a lot of these interceptors are right on top of U.S. military bases. So we begin to wonder—are some of them U.S. government interceptors? Or are some of them Chinese interceptors?" says Goldsmith. "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."

    A native of Australia's Gold Coast, Les Goldsmith founded ESD back in 2005 and according to at least one report in Brisbane's Courier-Mail, sold an earlier version of the firm's CryptoPhone to the Ecuadorian embassy's terminal house guest, Julian Assange.

    Skeptics and other casual non-alarmists might be inclined to believe that this whole episode is nothing more than a marketing outing for ESD, so it's worth noting that the FCC announced last month that they're assembling a task force to begin actively pursuing cyber criminal and espionage cases involving interceptors, also known as IMSI catchers or stingrays. Plus, as Goldsmith told the MIT Technology Review this past spring, his company hasn't been able to make these boutique phones fast enough, ever since the NSA scandals erupted last year. At $3500, the phone goes for five times the price of competitors like SGP Technologies' Blackphone; So, they're not exactly sweating it, money-wise.

    Even if this were simply some publicity hounding designed to sell ESD hardware, it has already been frankly way more of an entertaining advertisement than those Sprint® "Framily Plan" commercials.

    Once the FCC task force gets to the bottom of these interceptors, they really need to find out who's actually responsible for those.

    http://boingboing.net/2014/09/01/fak...-cell-tow.html


  6. #6
    Senior Member AirborneSapper7's Avatar
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    Top Whistle Blower: Fake Cell Towers Will Be Used To Track American Citizens

    Former NSA employee says US acting like "stasi"

    by Infowars.com | September 8, 2014

    Alex Jones interviews William Binney about the growing surveillance grid that is America.



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    Mysterious Fake Cellphone Towers Are Intercepting Calls All Over The US




    September 4, 2014 by Andrew Rosenblum

    “Interceptor use in the U.S. is much higher than people had anticipated,” Goldsmith says. “One of our customers took a road trip from Florida to North Carolina and he found 8 different interceptors on that trip. We even found one at South Point Casino in Las Vegas.”
    Who is running these interceptors and what are they doing with the calls?
    Who is running these interceptors and what are they doing with the calls? Goldsmith says we can’t be sure, but he has his suspicions.
    “What we find suspicious is that a lot of these interceptors are right on top of U.S. military bases. So we begin to wonder – are some of them U.S. government interceptors? Or are some of them Chinese interceptors?” says Goldsmith. “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.”

    Ciphering Disabled Les Goldsmith
    Interceptors vary widely in expense and sophistication – but in a nutshell, they are radio-equipped computers with software that can use arcane cellular network protocols and defeat the onboard encryption. Whether your phone uses Android or iOS, it also has a second operating system that runs on a part of the phone called a baseband processor. The baseband processor functions as a communications middleman between the phone’s main O.S. and the cell towers. And because chip manufacturers jealously guard details about the baseband O.S., it has been too challenging a target for garden-variety hackers.
    “The baseband processor is one of the more difficult things to get into or even communicate with,” says Mathew Rowley, a senior security consultant at Matasano Security. “[That’s] because my computer doesn’t speak 4G or GSM, and also all those protocols are encrypted. You have to buy special hardware to get in the air and pull down the waves and try to figure out what they mean. It’s just pretty unrealistic for the general community.”
    But for governments or other entities able to afford a price tag of “less than $100,000,” says Goldsmith, high-quality interceptors are quite realistic. Some interceptors are limited, only able to passively listen to either outgoing or incoming calls. But full-featured devices like the VME Dominator, available only to government agencies, can not only capture calls and texts, but even actively control the phone, sending out spoof texts, for example. Edward Snowden revealed that the N.S.A. is capable of an over-the-air attack that tells the phone to fake a shut-down while leaving the microphone running, turning the seemingly deactivated phone into a bug. And various ethical hackers have demonstrated DIY interceptor projects, using a software programmable radio and the open-source base station software package OpenBTS – this creates a basic interceptor for less than $3,000. On August 11, the F.C.C. announced an investigation into the use of interceptors against Americans by foreign intelligence services and criminal gangs.

    An “Over-the-Air” Attack Feels Like Nothing

    Whenever he wants to test out his company’s ultra-secure smart phone against an interceptor, Goldsmith drives past a certain government facility in the Nevada desert. (To avoid the attention of the gun-toting counter-intelligence agents in black SUVs who patrol the surrounding roads, he won’t identify the facility to Popular Science). He knows that someone at the facility is running an interceptor, which gives him a good way to test out the exotic “baseband firewall” on his phone. Though the baseband OS is a “black box” on other phones, inaccessible to manufacturers and app developers, patent-pending software allows the GSMK CryptoPhone 500 to monitor the baseband processor for suspicious activity.
    So when Goldsmith and his team drove by the government facility in July, he also took a standard Samsung Galaxy S4 and an iPhone to serve as a control group for his own device.
    ”As we drove by, the iPhone showed no difference whatsoever. The Samsung Galaxy S4, the call went from 4G to 3G and back to 4G. The CryptoPhone lit up like a Christmas tree.”
    Though the standard Apple and Android phones showed nothing wrong, the baseband firewall on the Cryptophone set off alerts showing that the phone’s encryption had been turned off, and that the cell tower had no name – a telltale sign of a rogue base station. Standard towers, run by say, Verizon or T-Mobile, will have a name, whereas interceptors often do not.
    Some devices can not only capture calls and texts, but even actively control the phone and send spoof texts.
    And the interceptor also forced the CryptoPhone from 4G down to 2G, a much older protocol that is easier to de-crypt in real-time. But the standard smart phones didn’t even show they’d experienced the same attack.
    “If you’ve been intercepted, in some cases it might show at the top that you’ve been forced from 4G down to 2G. But a decent interceptor won’t show that,” says Goldsmith. “It’ll be set up to show you [falsely] that you’re still on 4G. You’ll think that you’re on 4G, but you’re actually being forced back to 2G.”

    So Do I Need One?

    Though Goldsmith won’t disclose sales figures or even a retail price for the GSMK CryptoPhone 500, he doesn’t dispute an MIT Technology Review article from this past spring reporting that he produces about 400 phones per week for $3,500 each. So should ordinary Americans skip some car payments to be able to afford to follow suit?
    It depends on what level of security you expect, and who you might reasonably expect to be trying to listen in, says Oliver Day, who runs Securing Change, an organization that provides security services to non-profits.

    Mysterious Fake Cellphone Towers Are Intercepting Calls All Over The US
    September 4, 2014 by Andrew Rosenblum
    “There’s this thing in our industry called “threat modeling,” says Day. “One of the things you learn is that you have to have a realistic sense of your adversary. Who is my enemy? What skills does he have? What are my goals in terms of security?”
    If you’re not realistically of interest to the U.S. government and you never leave the country, then the CryptoPhone is probably more protection than you need. Goldsmith says he sells a lot of phones to executives who do business in Asia. The aggressive, sophisticated hacking teams working for the People’s Liberation Army have targeted American trade secrets, as well as political dissidents.
    Day, who has written a paper about undermining censorship software used by the Chinese government, recommends people in hostile communications environments watch what they say over the phone and buy disposable “burner” phones that can be used briefly and then discarded.
    “I’m not bringing anything into China that I’m not willing to throw away on my return trip,” says Day.
    Goldsmith warns that a “burner phone” strategy can be dangerous. If Day were to call another person on the Chinese government’s watch list, his burner phone’s number would be added to the watch list, and then the government would watch to see who else he called. The CryptoPhone 500, in addition to alerting the user whenever it’s under attack, can “hide in plain sight” when making phone calls. Though it does not use standard voice-over-IP or virtual private network security tools, the CryptoPhone can make calls using just a WI-FI connection — it does not need an identifiable SIM card. When calling over the Internet, the phone appears to eavesdroppers as if it is just browsing the Internet.


    http://bwcentral.org/?p=33490&singlepage=1

    Last edited by kathyet2; 09-14-2014 at 10:43 AM.

  8. #8
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    Who Is Behind All These Fake ‘Interceptor’ Cell Phone Towers Being Found All Over the U.S.?


    Thursday, September 18, 2014 22:04

    A few weeks back, Popular Science posted an article about phony cell towers being outed all over the country by some of the new, supposedly “ultra-secure” cell phones that have come out in the last few years following former NSA Contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks about the government spying on everyone.
    These towers look like any ordinary cell phone tower, but are not officially connected to any cell phone company. Once in the vicinity of one of these fake towers, a multitude of different attacks can hit a user’s phone, including everything from spyware uploads to eavesdropping.
    Via PopSci:
    “Interceptor use in the U.S. is much higher than people had anticipated,” Goldsmith says. “One of our customers took a road trip from Florida to North Carolina and he found 8 different interceptors on that trip. We even found one [in the vicinity of] South Point Casino in Las Vegas.”
    Who is running these interceptors and what are they doing with the calls? Goldsmith says we can’t be sure, but he has his suspicions.
    “What we find suspicious is that a lot of these interceptors are right on top of U.S. military bases. So we begin to wonder – are some of them U.S. government interceptors? Or are some of them Chinese interceptors?” says Goldsmith. “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.”
    Now, the Washington Times is reporting that not just one, but several of these towers have been located in D.C. around the capitol, so you can just take a big fat guess on who the phony towers are targeting.
    These are just the towers that have been found, some two dozen so far. While some are stationary, these rogue towers can also apparently be portable and as small as a brief case. Wired reported, “The reach of a rogue tower can be up to a mile away, forcing thousands of phones in a region to connect to it without anyone knowing.” Think of the ramifications.
    Sadly, when WT also interviewed ESD America CEO Les Goldsmith on the matter, Goldsmith told the outlet that he doesn’t think it’s the American government doing it because, “the federal government already has the capability of tapping directly into the carriers.”
    That’s right. Who could forget.
    It’s likely not law enforcement either. As Aaron Dykes of Truthstream Media reported last June, police departments are using hush hush surveillance tech, complete with FBI training, that can sweep up phone data from an entire neighborhood at once:
    According to the Associated Press, the Obama Administration has been actively advising police departments to refuse disclosure about certain cell phone surveillance technologies, including the widely used “StingRay” device, even in routine state records requests.
    Evidently, the StingRay technology allows law enforcement to “trick” cell devices into sharing identifying personal and location data with them that would ordinary be sent to communications companies and require request procedures.
    Instead, police are bypassing company assistance and collecting unique information on suspects, persons of interests, and – as the AP reports – they can even “sweep up basic cellphone data from entire neighborhoods,” all without any court orders or oversight.
    Back to our phony phone towers, Goldsmith thinks it’s a foreign entity doing this. While this information has been passed to the FCC, is anything going to be done about it?
    Wired reported that the agency is actually assembling a task force to deal with this issue. In the meantime, I guess we can all just have fun with getting spied on and having our phone’s data stolen and spyware forced onto it everywhere we go.
    Then again, considering what Goldsmith pointed out — essentially that we’re already being directly spied upon by our government all the time anyway directly through the carriers — will anyone in officialdom even pretend to care that phony, malicious spy devices are popping up all over the country?
    But we live in such a matrix, it’s sad to the point of laughable that while these fake towers are actively spying on Capitol Hill and the deep inner workings of our government, if you or I as an individual go there to take a picture of some of those famous landmarks with our cameras, we might just get stopped and questioned about what business we have snapping a photo.
    You know, as a matter of national security.

    Delivered by The Daily Sheeple

    Contributed by Melissa Melton of The Daily Sheeple.
    Melissa Melton is a writer, researcher, and analyst for The Daily Sheeple and a co-creator of Truthstream Media with Aaron Dykes, a site that offers teleprompter-free, unscripted analysis of The Matrix we find ourselves living in. Melissa also co-founded Nutritional Anarchy with Daisy Luther of The Organic Prepper, a site focused on resistance through food self-sufficiency. Wake the flock up!

    Source: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/who-is-behind-all-these-fake-interceptor-cell-phone-towers-being-found-all-over-the-u-s_092014


    http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative...s-3031482.html

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