Exploitation of Israeli Telecoms for Global Citizen Tracking Revealed

• •Israeli telecoms were exploited to track citizens in over ten countries.
• •The attack utilized SMS vulnerabilities and older signaling protocols like SS7.
• •British regulators have recently banned the abusive tracking practices.

A recent report by Citizen Lab indicates that Israeli telecom infrastructure has been exploited to track citizens in over ten countries during the past three years. The exploitation involves a sophisticated SMS vulnerability that turns smartphones into tracking devices, leveraging both 4G and 5G networks. The report highlights two distinct tracking operations, one linked to a Swiss firm and the other involving Israeli companies 019Mobile and Partner Communications, both of which deny involvement. The tracking exploits utilize the SS7 signaling protocol, originally designed for call routing, and the newer Diameter protocol, which is intended to enhance security in mobile networks. British regulators recently banned the abusive practices associated with these exploits, which have been identified as a significant source of malicious traffic. The findings reveal that even modern signaling systems are vulnerable to exploitation by spyware firms. The investigation underscores the ongoing risks associated with legacy telecom infrastructure in the smartphone era.