Officials disclose potential cellphone surveillance activity near White House

[brooklynite]

Source: The Hill

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security detected potential surveillance activity near “sensitive facilities” in Washington, including the White House, in a study conducted last year.

Officials disclosed the activity, associated with devices commonly known as “Stingrays,” in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), which was first reported by The Washington Post this week.

The revelation boosts long-held suspicions that foreign actors are using the technology to conduct spying in the nation’s capital.
Christopher Krebs, the acting head of the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), Homeland Security’s cybersecurity unit, explained in the May 22 letter that the department initiated a “limited pilot project” in the D.C. region last year to understand the activity of these devices—formally known as International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catcher technology.

An IMSI is a unique identification number that is used to recognize any one mobile device on a cellular network. IMSI catcher technology mimics legitimate cellphone towers in order to intercept cellular communications, allowing for eavesdropping. The tracking devices are often referred to as "Stingrays" after a brand widely used by state and local police officers.

Read more: http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/390235-officials-disclose-potential-cellphone-surveillance-activity-near-white

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Certainly is a relief that nobody in the White House uses an unsecure phone...

[Botany]

1. And the same people who talked 24/7 about HRC's email server will not say word one about ....

.... Trump using an unsecured phone. I wonder if Putin told Trump the type of
phone he should use?

[dalton99a]

2. +1

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Pootie gave him one of these

for the private residence next to the bust of Lenin -

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. 11 top-level tRumpians have done as bad or worse with private email servers since 2016; Bannon, Kush

[Ligyron]

5. I think that goes without saying.

Were I in government, I would always assume my cell phone calls were being intercepted - as I think most do, and act accordingly.

Some of us just don't care. I hope NSA is also monitoring. That would make for some really interesting "unmasking" at some point.

[hvn_nbr_2]

6. Every spy agency in the world is listening to IQ45's insecure cell phone.

I hope Mueller is too.

[Danascot]

7. Oh, the inanity!

nt