Citizen Lab details two spying campaigns that abuse weaknesses in the SS7 and Diameter protocols across 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks to track people's locations
Security researchers have uncovered two separate spying campaigns that are abusing well-known weaknesses in the global telecoms infrastructure to track people's locations.
TechCrunch Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
Related Coverage
- Bad Connection — Uncovering Global Telecom Exploitation by Covert Surveillance Actors The Citizen Lab
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- Hackers Abuse SS7 and Diameter Protocols to Track Mobile Users Worldwide Cyber Security News · Abinaya
- This hidden SIM flaw lets spies track your location, and using a VPN can't help TechRadar · Monica J. White
- Surveillance campaigns use commercial surveillance tools to exploit long-known telecom vulnerabilities CyberScoop · Tim Starks
- UK regulator closes loophole that allowed rogue companies to track phone users' location Reuters · Raphael Satter
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- Security News This Week: Discord Sleuths Gained Unauthorized Access to Anthropic's Mythos Wired
- Israeli spy orgs absolutely suck. It's difficult to believe stuff like this has become just normalised to allow to operate in the UK. https://techcrunch.com/... @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social · Kevin Beaumont
- Surveillance vendors caught abusing access to telcos to track people's phone locations, researchers say — The Citizen Lab found two separate surveillance vendors abusing the backbone of cellular networks to spy on several victims across the world. — #cybersecurity #diameter #israel #location-tracking #privacy #security #ss7 #surveillance … @StevenSaus@faithcollapsing.com
Discussion
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@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
Vas Panagiotopoulos
on bluesky
New @citizenlab.ca investigation exposes how suspected commercial surveillance vendors exploit the global 📶telecom interconnect ecosystem, leverage private operator networks, and conduct covert location tracking operations that can persist undetected for years. — citizenlab.ca/…
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@wchr
Wolfie Christl
on bluesky
New @citizenlab.ca report with an incredibly sophisticated analysis of covert surveillance operations with a focus on location tracking, which target phones by exploiting global 3G/4G telecom networks and sending invisible SMS while acting as trusted telecom operators: — citize…
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Gary Miller
Gary Miller
on linkedin
What happens when surveillance actors operate inside telecom networks? — Today, Citizen Lab published new research uncovering …
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@lorenzofb
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
on bluesky
NEW: Researchers have identified extensive spying campaigns abusing well-known weaknesses in the global cellphone infrastructure to track and locate targets. — Two (unnamed for now) surveillance vendors, whose customers are likely government agencies, were allegedly behind thes…
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@rosamundevb
Rosamunde Van Brakel
on bluesky
Security researchers have uncovered two separate spying campaigns that are abusing well-known weaknesses in the global telecoms infrastructure to track people's locations techcrunch.com/2026/04/23/s...
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@zackwhittaker@mastodon.social
Zack Whittaker
on mastodon
NEW: At least two surveillance vendors are believed to be abusing access to at least three telecommunication companies in an effort to tap people's location data on behalf of their government customers. — The phone companies include one in Israel, one in the U.K., and one in Je…