Is someone snooping my phone calls?

Recently i was wondering if it is possible for people to evesdrop on my telephonic coversations.

I was taught that GSM is quite secure. But since i heard a lot about mobile phone tapping cases in the news i was quite curious to know how this thing works!
whats the mechanism behind it! how do those GSM towers, signals etc. work?
How do they do it?

- one more thing, if you use Nokia and turn "Cell info display" on. the cellphone screen shows the current location of the mobile phone. Right?
How does it do that? and can any unethical guy by using some technique get information about that location of mine?


HOW CAN I PROTECT MYSELF?

I am by no means an expert in this area but ill try.

Short answer is YES it is possible.

Think of it this way, while it may be hard to grab onto your phone's signal while it is 'airborne', but it has to hit a land line somewhere, and that is where it will be hacked.

Can anybody say "Paris Hilton"?
:cool:

Greeting's

You might want to have a look at these thread's :

1. http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=273046

2. http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=273113

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Originally posted here by rcgreen
Can anybody say "Paris Hilton"?
:cool:

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The paris hilton case was funny.
Anyhow the attacker had gained her phone number, and sent a spoofed message, the attacker made the message look like it was from her phone company, but the reply number was to a set up mobile phone.
The attacker was asking for her pin number, sim number etc. She sent the details thinking it was all legit.
The attacker then rang the particular company and used her details to have all her phone contacts etc sent to him.



cheers
front2back

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Originally posted here by zwanderer
Recently i was wondering if it is possible for people to evesdrop on my telephonic coversations.

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Your innocences is refreshing. Unfortunately a cellphone is a transceiver of sorts, and as such its transmissions can be intercepted. Some companies promise encryption but fall short in reality. Not too long ago knowing the frequency and having simple scanners readily available at Radio Shack, was all it would take. You could even scan a block of frequencies listening to many calls. Surely it's not that simple any longer, I hope.

cheers

I believe there should be a way to get into the server of the service provider and do some manipulation!

Can cellphones be made to have parrallel lines as in fixed line phones.

I want to make such a tranceiver on my own. Any help from electronics ppl?

Not to forget that DDos attacks really cripple bluetooth handsets. I recently tried out one... I would like to know more on Bluetooth phones and how does their security compromise...

What protocols, methodology do these mobile companies use for transmission of data . I would like to see a tutorial on this...

The Paris Hilton issue was a Service provider Server access issue, and a Blonds pis poor stupidity.

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Not too long ago knowing the frequency and having simple scanners readily available at Radio Shack, was all it would take. You could even scan a block of frequencies listening to many calls. Surely it's not that simple any longer, I hope.

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The encryption isnt provided by the carrier.. it is a part of the GSM standard.. AND HAS BEEN CRACKED.
The difference between the Analogue Phone days and the GSM Days? Add a PC between the RAdio frequency scanning reciever and the speaker.. and that is it.

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Can cellphones be made to have parrallel lines as in fixed line phones.

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the two in one line IS a DIGITAL line, the conversations on both phones are digitised and sent down the line together. That is how GSM works 16/32/64 users on the same radio frequency channel (this is dependant on Cell setup) so it would be possable to have a two in one phone.. but it would basicly be two phones.. but the data would be using the one radio carrier.... shared with the other 16/32/64 users.

I would recommend the use of Google (or prefered search engine) and do a search on how GSM Phone work and similar..

So to answer the original question;
YES it is possable for people to listen to your GSM phone conversations:
1/ by accessing the land line of the people your talking to.
2/ By accessing the GSM to land line interface at the Mobile CO's system.
3/ by sniffing the airwaves and decrypting the data streams (stay in one cell long enough and your full conversation WILL be decodable.

In security: NEVER ASSUME THAT IT IS SAFE OR SECURE OR UNCRACKED.. Or works the way you think it should.

Thanks Und3ertak3r for the edification. I only use a cellphone about once a week (if someone calls me..lol), so I haven't stayed up on the advances. It doesn't sound like it's much too difficult for a deviant to sniff the traffic of GSM phones. Just dropping a computer inbetween! Pretty soon, if not already, a person could inject/modify the transmission.

;)