Surveillance vendors caught abusing access to telcos to track people’s phone locations, researchers say

What Happened

Security researchers from Citizen Lab uncovered two spying campaigns abusing global telecom infrastructure weaknesses to track people's phone locations. Surveillance vendors operated as fake cellular providers, exploiting known security flaws in SS7 and Diameter protocols. Researchers warn this represents widespread exploitation of vulnerable phone networks lacking authentication and encryption safeguards.

Key Entities

AI Tools