Hacking Your Phone

[LiberalArkie]

The following script is from "Hacking Your Phone" which aired on April 17, 2016. Sharyn Alfonsi is the correspondent. Howard L. Rosenberg and Julie Holstein, producers.

A lot of modern life is interconnected through the Internet of things -- a global empire of billions of devices and machines. Automobile navigation systems. Smart TVs. Thermostats. Telephone networks. Home security systems. Online banking. Almost everything you can imagine is linked to the world wide web. And the emperor of it all is the smartphone. You've probably been warned to be careful about what you say and do on your phone, but after you see what we found, you won't need to be warned again.

We heard we could find some of the world's best hackers in Germany. So we headed for Berlin. Just off a trendy street and through this alley we rang the bell at the door of a former factory. That's where we met Karsten Nohl, a German hacker, with a doctorate in computer engineering from the University of Virginia.



We were invited for a rare look at the inner workings of security research labs. During the day, the lab advises Fortune 500 companies on computer security. But at night, this international team of hackers looks for flaws in the devices we use everyday: smartphones, USB sticks and SIM cards. They are trying to find vulnerabilities before the bad guys do, so they can warn the public about risks. At computer terminals and work benches equipped with micro lasers, they physically and digitally break into systems and devices.

Snip

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-hacking-your-phone/

NOTE: SS7 is used by all phone systems. Besides billing it sets up the call. When you punch in the number you want to call, the SS7 network goes the telephone office where they phone is located to see if it is a good number and if it is busy. It will then tell the your phone company to send the ringing sound or busy sound. The SS7 network then instructs your phone how to get to the calling phone. In the cellular SS7 packets are were the original text messages were sent.

[snooper2]

1. NOTE- SS7 is NOT used by all phone systems

Not by any means, also the CDR (call detail record) are for the most part specific to the equipment manufacturer. A lot of companies have code that will convert the CDR from multiple switch systems into a standard format, usually very similar to the old school DMS500 CDR records. This makes for easy billing mediation