Surveillance companies exploiting telecom system to spy on targets’ locations, research shows

Citizen Lab researchers found surveillance vendors exploiting weaknesses in telecom infrastructure—using hidden SMS commands and abuses of SS7 and Diameter signaling—to impersonate carriers and pinpoint device locations. The activity routed through three mobile networks acting as gateways, appears widespread, and researchers observed massive unauthorized signaling traffic; routing analysis indicated the traffic likely traced back to an entity in Israel.