Fake Cell Phone towers found in areas of America, but no one knows who they belong to

[Rakehellion]

Not that I'm saying their aren't interceptors out there, but it sounds like a marketing attempt to push the "CryptoPhone 500".

This.

 

[mnewsham]

There's no prof that someone is trying to sell a damn phone.

The guy who is talking to popsci is someone who works for a company selling a phone, i don't understand where you are not seeing the conflict of interest.

 

[Rakehellion]

Doubtful. If a tower is found and tampered with, more than likely the offending party will just abandon it for the exact reason you're surveiling it.

Unless you start taking down all of them.

 

[Gunbuster]

There's no prof that someone is trying to sell a damn phone.

Again, third party would be?

I gave a link to Pop sci...

Of course, an outdated magazine turned website would never resort to a clickbait headline possibly culled from a convenient cryptophone press release.

 

[John Connor]

Outdated is a bit of a stretch, don't you think. I have a damn subscription and they have been publishing for god knows how long. Since what? The 50's?

Maybe it is BS. But to get the phone is a PITA!

 

[bignateyk]

Read the PopSci story.


Sounds like they are using the term "tower" in a virtual sense. No actual 150 foot steel construction in the middle of town; just some guy with a setup sending out signals hoping someone's phone connects to it. Sort of like wardriving with a different protocol.

Notice they said one was located in a hotel. Just a guest doing some fishing.

So basically just some random people setting up an OpenBTS radio in populated areas doing some phishing. Doesn't sound like a coordinated tin-foil hat worthy conspiracy.

For less than $1000 anyone can do the same.

 

[gorcorps]

There's no prof that someone is trying to sell a damn phone.

Again, third party would be?

I gave a link to Pop sci...

There's not even proof that these towers exist. Towers you can ONLY detect with a super special phone that nobody would have? That's pretty convenient...

 

[John Connor]

No Such Agency doesn't exist either?

 

[Gunbuster]

Funny they also don't even explore if it's a false positive. Perhaps since they correlated the signals with military bases it's simply an unintended or benign interaction caused by military communication systems, you know they have to use the airwaves too...

 

[John Connor]

Funny they also don't even explore if it's a false positive.

Or the RF parameters, Sin wave dimensions, radiated power output or magnetic field of the earth. WHO CARES!

False positives...

 

[John Connor]

The military does seem to jack around with garage door openers though. LOL They transmit on the same band as the remotes.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Doubtful. If a tower is found and tampered with, more than likely the offending party will just abandon it for the exact reason you're surveiling it.

Side note: The pic in the op doesn't have cell towers in it. Those are long range microwave backhaul link towers with a few local radio omni contracts on it.

There's some cell antennas too I think, they're not right on top but among the microwave dishes.

But yeah if it's government they'd probably either abandon it, or have some way to find out exactly who did it, and you'd never hear of that person again.

They probably have armed security guards as well.

 

[JEDIYoda]

okay I am not much for acronyms but let us try this one out....NSA NSA NSA
NSA NSA NSA NSA NSA NSA NSA NSA NSA NSA NSA NSA NSA NSA NSA

 

[The Boston Dangler]

holy shit, i knew popular science had gone down the shitter, but that is just an advertisement. somebody take that magazine out back and shoot it, please.

message sent from my CryptoPhone 500

 

[Fayd]

umm.. weren't rogue towers a demonstrated threat a LONG time ago?

specifically, a demonstrated threat to GSM?

 

[rudeguy]

Taking a quick look at the site, it sounds like it's full of a bunch of tin-hat wearing paranoid wackjobs that think everyone everywhere is out to get them and their precious data. It's a weird story with no sources... just people who used the phone said they picked up these towers.

Sounds like this is just meant to scare people, and as mentioned, push this secure handset to a bunch of people who are paranoid enough to buy such a thing. It wasn't just found by a secure smartphone, it was found by the "CryptoPhone 500". It's always suspicious when the product is called out by name.

Let the morons go.

They honestly believe that tere are evil cell phone towers that no phone can see except one special phone. Oh..and tge guy that runs the phone company just happens to be tge one who found them!

They found tge towers on military bases? They went on the bases? Then we can actually get into how baseband works and how it would be the least effective and efficient way of injecting spyware.

Idiots gonna idiot.

 

[DrDoug]

I'd believe this more if that pic had a couple of black helicopters hovering in the background. That or a shot with a FEMA concentration camp off in the distance.

Needs moar cornspiracy!

 

[John Connor]

On Thursday’s Glenn Beck Radio Program, the CEO of the company behind the CryptoPhone 500 cleared up some of the confusion: Les Goldsmith of ESD America confirmed the towers aren’t necessarily large physical structures.
“That’s the one misconception the media got from this,” Goldsmith said. ”When we say a fake cellphone tower, that can be simply a laptop with two dongles plugged into it to actually give it GSM coverage.”
“It doesn’t have to be a large fully built tower,” he added. “So you can have somebody in a hotel room with a laptop that is collecting every phone within half a mile and having it run through there instead of a normal cell tower.
“Think of it as a cellular repeater. You put a cellular repeater in your building to give you better coverage. All your calls pass through the cellular repeater. Well, an interceptor pretends to be a cell tower and passes your call on like a cellular repeater. It just turns encryption off on the way so it can listen.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...earing-about-arent-necessarily-towers-at-all/

 

[MongGrel]

NSA doesn't need that.

The Stingray thing seems more likely to me.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah NSA has access to the trunks for all data communications anyway, though I suppose this could supplement that as it can be better used for triangulation.

Could also be used for their own communications such as air spy drones.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

so the printed article was part of a coordinated advertising blitz that includes the pied piper of retardation....

the towers aren’t necessarily large physical structures.
“That’s the one misconception the media got from this,” Goldsmith said. ”When we say a fake cellphone tower, that can be simply a laptop with two dongles plugged into it to actually give it GSM coverage.”

it's not a misconception by the reader if you misuse a well-understood word, it's you being disingenuous.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Everyone keep in mind that the company claiming to find all these rouge sites also sells an encrypted phone that eliminates the problem for a mere $3500.00.
Seems an awful lot like those old antivirus companies that would "scan" your PC for free then remove a bunch of maleware they installed for $10

 

[bononos]

They mentioned being near military sites - I guarantee it would be our military putting them in-place.

edit: Though you could say it would be our foreign enemies putting them there....

Its because military bases have more freedom to mess about with comms when the black agencies are testing their hacks.

 

[schmuckley]

I'm betting on ..NOT U.S. Gov't
..and still it happened.
Where's the FCC on this?

 

[The Boston Dangler]

I'm betting on ..NOT U.S. Gov't
..and still it happened.
Where's the FCC on this?

no kidding it's not the government. the government has been plugged in and taking anything it wants for years. check out the news some time

these guys are after credit cards, bank accounts, nude celebrity selfies, valid email addresses, password to be added to their lists, maybe even newscorp altering a victim's voicemail.

where's the fcc on this? well, their position is "it's against the law". have a nice day.