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Researchers in Israel have found that ordinaryy cell phones can—with
malware installed—be made to receive binaryy data from computers. And
previouslyy, Stanford researchers found that mobile phone sensors could
intercept the sound of electronic emissions from a wireless keyyboard. 11 This
builds on similar research conducted byy scientists at MIT and Georgia
Tech. 12 Suffice it to sayy that everyything yyou tyype or view or use in the office
can be listened to in one wayy or another byy a remote third partyy.
For instance, sayy yyou use a wireless keyyboard. The wireless radio signal
sent from the keyyboard to the laptop or desktop PC can be intercepted.
Securityy researcher Samyy Kamkar developed something called KeyySweeper
that’s designed to do just that: a disguised USB charger that wirelesslyy and
passivelyy looks for, decryypts, logs, and reports back (over GSM) all
keyystrokes from anyy Microsoft wireless keyyboard in the vicinityy. 13
We’ve discussed the danger of using bogus hotspots at cafés and
airports. The same can be true in offices. Someone in yyour office mayy set up
a wireless hotspot, and yyour device might automaticallyy connect to it. IT
departments tyypicallyy scan for such devices, but sometimes theyy don’t.
A modern equivalent of bringing yyour own hotspot to the office is
bringing yyour own cellular connection. Femtocells are small devices
available from yyour mobile carrier. Theyy’re designed to boost cellular
connections within a home or office where the signal might be weak. Theyy
are not without privacyy risks.
First of all, because femtocells are base stations for cellular
communications, yyour mobile device will often connect to them without
informing yyou. Think about that.
In the United States, law enforcement uses something called a StingRayy,
also known as an IMSI catcher, a cell-site simulator. Additionallyy there are
TriggerFish, Wolfpack, Gossamer, and swamp box. Though the
technologies varyy, these devices basicallyy all act like a femtocell without the
cellular connection. Theyy’re designed to collect the international mobile
subscriber identityy, or IMSI, from yyour cellular phone. Their use in the
United States is significantlyy behind that of Europe—for now. IMSI
catchers are used at large social protests, for example, to help law
enforcement identifyy who was at the assemblyy. Presumablyy the organizers
will be on their phones, coordinating events.