(April 25th, 2016) U.S. Congressman Ted Lieu called for a federal investigation of a gap in security that lets people get into others’ phones to record calls, texts and locations.
The Guardian reports that security flaws within the system that brokers connections, billing and transfers messages between cell phone networks – called Signaling System No 7 (SS7 – allow remote access to cell phone users’ data anywhere in the world regardless of the security system of their phones, using just their phone number.
Mr. Lieu said: “The applications for this vulnerability are seemingly limitless, from criminals monitoring individual targets to foreign entities conducting economic espionage on American companies to nation states monitoring U.S. government officials.”
Encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp are unaffected, The Guardian reported.