Listening to a “non-telephone” conversation using a telephone

If necessary, in order to listen to a conversation on the phone, it is not at all necessary to put a “bug” in a person’s pocket or connect a listening device. All it takes is the “victim’s” mobile phone.

At the right moment, your phone will independently and discreetly dial a specific number, and an interested attacker will be able to listen to your conversation until he hangs up.

And if your mobile phone is near you, you can rest assured that the conversation will not only be heard, but also recorded. And the distance from you to the wiretapping place does not matter.

By the way, in the phone, in outgoing calls, there will be no traces of the “left” call, and you will not be able to find out that you were eavesdropped. Hard to believe? Alas, this is true. Although not all cell phones can be used by scammers as wiretapping.

There is a segment of consumers who prefer business-class smartphones. This type of device is distinguished by its wide capabilities and attractive design, but at the same time, this smartphone also has many vulnerabilities. By taking advantage of these vulnerabilities, an interested person can turn your smartphone into a wiretap controlled by him, and you won’t even know about it.

And even if the attacker is on the other side of the globe, he will be quite capable of initializing a call to listen to your cell phone. And it is not at all necessary to steal the “victim’s” phone in order to install a “bug” - some brands of phones allow you to call them remotely, without pressing any buttons on the device and even (!) without knowing the number.

Attackers' methods of operation

Some brands of phones with Bluetooth transmitters are susceptible to this vulnerability, allowing the phone to be controlled using a headset. It was the “blunders” in the authorization algorithm for such headsets that made the possibility of remote wiretapping real. The main disadvantage of the headset is that it does not require mandatory authorization.

And all because manufacturers are trying to reduce the cost of the headset by evading the hardware implementation of the authentication algorithm. Mobile phone developers, aware of the lack of such algorithms, eliminated the algorithm for checking the equipment connected to the phone, while, as an additional benefit, the phone was compatible with many headsets.

But not all phone models can be tapped in this way. And the fact that there is no headset authorization algorithm cannot be considered some kind of curiosity, because the headset connected to the phone is used only for talking without using the microphone and speaker of the phone. The headset itself is “not capable” of either making a call or downloading any data from the phone. In other words, an unauthorized connection of the “left” headset to the phone does not make it possible to organize listening.

As a rule, the mobile phone itself initiates the search for the headset, because the headset does not have functionality that allows you to search for devices (in order to reduce cost). That is, the headset cannot find the phone and, moreover, cannot determine the Bluetooth channel through which it is necessary to contact the phone.

For each functionality of the Bluetooth transmitter, a corresponding port (channel) of the device is allocated. The standard transmitter has many ports. This allows the transmitter to simultaneously solve several problems or, in more technical terms, support different profiles.

Profile related functions:

• information interaction with the point of access to the global network;
• receiving/transferring electronic business cards;
• emulation of a serial port for the purpose of exchanging data with a PC, etc.

One of these functions is interaction with a Bluetooth headset. After identifying a Bluetooth headset, the mobile phone provides it with a port number through which the headset is connected. But for “vulnerable” mobile phones, the wireless headset profile number is publicly available. It turns out that we know the channel number, authorization is not required - what is stopping us from implementing listening to someone else's conversation?? The situation is further complicated by the fact that the headset has quite significant rights.

The development of technology and the creation of new smartphones have led to the widespread use of mobile communications for communication and obtaining information from the Internet, solving household issues, working and communicating with friends. In some cases, it becomes necessary to use programs to monitor the devices of employees, family members, and elderly relatives. In order to check whether mobile phone wiretapping is installed on your device, you need to know the main signs indicating its operation.

How mobile phones are tapped

The more new mobile gadgets are created, the more methods and means of monitoring and wiretapping appear. Intelligence agencies and police have the ability to intercept, listen in, record conversations, SMS, and control the geolocation of subscribers through telecom operators. Permission for such control can be obtained by legal authorization of the court. Without special equipment, such an interception is impossible. An easier way to listen to phones is to install spyware on them, which can remotely monitor all subscriber activity.

Special equipment for signal interception

The operational means of intercepting mobile phone signals are mobile false base stations. If it is necessary to control a specific subscriber, its identifiers in the network are determined. Then the interception station is installed close to the location of the control object. The mobile phone, scanning the airwaves, identifies this station as the nearest base station of its operator. Signals from nearby subscribers pass through it and are transmitted further to the cellular network. When the computer detects the necessary identifiers, wiretapping of the mobile phone is activated.

Program for wiretapping a mobile phone

Cheaper wiretapping of a mobile phone is possible by installing a special spy program on it. To do this, the interested person needs to register on the website of this service, then download and install the spy utility on the controlled device. Now you have the opportunity to choose a paid or free service. Free methods offer a modest set of controls. Paid services can offer a wide range of such parameters:

By phone number via the Internet

There are services with which you can listen to a mobile phone via the Internet. They provide the opportunity to control another mobile device via the Internet online. To do this, you need a phone number that needs to be tracked. These services cannot intercept or listen to a conversation. Their action is based on the use of services such as GPS and WiFi. With their help, it is possible to track the location of the device and its movement.

Why do you need to tap your phone?

Life often poses challenges that require additional control. This may be a production need to control the movement of transport around the city and country, a requirement to preserve commercial information of sensitive facilities or innovative companies. At the everyday level, wiretapping a mobile phone will help establish a child’s social circle and prevent him from committing illegal actions. Family problems may make it necessary to obtain reliable information about the behavior of spouses outside the family.

Protection of commercial interests and corporate information

Using wiretapping of the phones of company employees who have access to confidential information, technological innovations and financial secrets can really protect the interests of the business. Knowing about this possibility, many employees will be more careful about their work and avoid overly frank topics in business conversations, especially those related to areas of work that are vital for the company, and classified information. Recording the process of communication between employees and clients and negotiations disciplines the staff.

Child supervision

The modern world is full of temptations for a child. At school, in the yard or educational institution, he may encounter aggressive peers, bad company, scammers, etc. Considering the fact that all school-age children have a mobile phone, it becomes possible to remotely monitor their actions and social circle. Wiretapping a mobile phone, remotely activating a microphone, and the ability to determine its location using GPS can save life and health in emergency situations.

Wiretapping a wife's or husband's phone

Doubts or suspicions of infidelity can ruin the life of spouses. If the situation reaches extreme tension, a possible solution may be additional control or wiretapping of a cell phone. If doubts are dispelled, such control will lead to peace in the family and the restoration of normal relationships, which are possible only with complete trust and respect for each other. Installing spyware on your spouse’s device for a short period of time is not difficult.

Help and protection of loved ones

Wiretapping and location programs can provide important assistance in critical situations with sick and elderly relatives. Such a program will be useful if your relative goes for a walk and does not return on time, a person with diabetes may feel ill on the street, and passers-by will not understand what is happening to him. If such a person does not answer the phone, using spyware you can track his location, listen to the sounds around him and understand what is happening.

How to listen to someone else's mobile phone

To use the control service, personal registration on the program developer’s website is required. When registering, you must remember your login and password to enter the service, and confirm your email address. Spy programs differ from each other in their control functions and the types of presentation of information “taken” from the monitored device to you. This could be a screenshot, a table of calls, SMS, call recordings. The surveillance program must be downloaded, installed, and activated on the smartphone secretly from the user.

What programs can you use?

Among the range of spy programs offered, there are free utilities that, when analyzed and tested, turn out to be ineffective. To obtain high-quality information, it is necessary to spend money on collecting and storing photos, videos, and audio information. After registering on the developer’s website, the client receives a personal account indicating the connected control functions and the collected information. The most common programs for different models of smartphones on the Android or iPhone system include:

Software capabilities for cell phone tracking

By monitoring the smartphone, the spy program implements the functions of tracking and logging all actions of the object. Having collected information, the utility is able to provide the following data:

• log of incoming, missed, outgoing calls;
• audio recordings of telephone conversations;
• list and texts of all SMS, mms messages;
• photo, video information taken by camera;
• current location of the subscriber using GSM operator base stations or GPS navigation;
• history of visiting smartphone browser pages;
• accounting of downloaded, installed, used applications;
• Remote control of a cell phone's microphone can transform it into a real bug.

How to detect wiretapping of a mobile phone

Many wiretapping programs can hide their presence on a smartphone. They can exclude themselves from the list of applications and not show their activity during periods of using the device. Many antivirus programs can detect such software. If there is a possibility of your conversations being intercepted, you should pay attention to the unusual behavior of your smartphone. There are various possible signs of wiretapping of a mobile phone, which, with careful observation, can be easily recognized by the owner of the smartphone:

• the battery discharges quickly, the battery temperature rises, the backlight suddenly lights up;
• unexpected reboots, spontaneous shutdowns of the device;
• the presence of interference, crackling, extraneous noise during a conversation;
• long delay when calling a subscriber and establishing a connection.

Rapid battery drain

The remote control algorithm involves making hidden calls to a phone during periods of inactivity. In this case, the device does not give any signals, but it secretly processes these commands, spending a certain amount of electricity on it. Every smartphone has a battery. If you clearly know how long a full battery charge lasts for you, and you notice a sharp reduction in operating time, you should check your smartphone for the presence of unauthorized applications.

Phone reboots unexpectedly

One of the events that confirms the presence of spyware on a smartphone can be unexpected reboots. This may happen when you try to remove questionable applications. By switching to a reboot, dangerous programs can disguise themselves as system utilities, informing you that it is undesirable to remove them. The easiest way to get rid of any suspicions that arise is to reinstall the operating system. Before this procedure, do not forget to save your contacts in cloud services.

Availability of new applications

If you suspect the presence of spyware, you should check the list of applications. Installation of such applications is possible by changing the system setting of the smartphone in application management. Check the status of the Allow downloads from unknown sources setting. If you didn’t change it, it means there was an intrusion by outsiders. If you find an unknown application, find its name on the Internet and find out its purpose. Many spy utilities disguise themselves in the list of applications, so it makes sense to turn to specialists to find them.

Interference and noise during conversation

One of the ways that external interference in a smartphone or its wiretapping can occur is the appearance of additional crackling or noise during a conversation. One of the manifestations of wiretapping is the appearance of an echo - repetition of your words with a time delay. When such effects appear, it makes sense to stop the conversation and call your subscriber back from another device.

It takes a long time to establish a connection with the interlocutor

To understand whether the device is wiretapped or not, an analysis of several components is required. Among such manifestations may be an increase in the time it takes to establish communication with the subscriber after the call has stopped ringing. Such a delay may mean that the recording equipment is triggered when the system detects a monitored identifier.

Ways to protect against eavesdropping

If you have any suspicions about external control and for preliminary protection against wiretapping, you should update your smartphone’s operating system, set a login password, and install anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. If you want to protect yourself from wiretapping, changing the SIM card will not help you - when registering in a GSM network, phone identifiers are used. By changing your device or SIM card, you will not throw an experienced specialist off the scent - the computer will identify you using 10-15 geolocation points of your old smartphone. The following can be used as protective equipment against wiretapping:

• voice distorters make your voice unrecognizable, making the recorded information difficult to present to you as evidence;
• scramblers - encrypt a conversation using different sounds, but it is necessary that your interlocutor also has a similar scrambler;
• cryptophone – a device with built-in conversation encryption;
• use the Global Secure GSM system, which requires the purchase of a special SIM card that does not have permanent identifiers, and communication is carried out through a server with call-back functions, voice distortion, and protection against false base stations.

Video

How can you listen to conversations on mobile phones, is it possible to protect yourself from this kind of attack, and how can a subscriber determine that his phone is being monitored? In light of the latest spy scandals These issues are once again on the agenda. AIN.UA asked Ukrainian mobile operators to tell us what to do in such cases.

Surprisingly, many market participants were unable to answer such questions - we received a full answer only from MTS Ukraine. Life:) did not respond to the request at all, and Kyivstar stated that the operator is not an expert in such matters, so they advised to contact government service representatives for comments. In addition to MTS's responses, we used information about wiretapping from open sources.

How operators protect their networks

GSM technology was initially developed and implemented taking into account the requirements of government agencies regarding the level of security. To maintain this security, most countries in the world prohibit the use and sale of powerful encryptors, scramblers, crypto equipment, as well as highly secure public communications technologies. Telecom operators themselves protect their radio channels by encryption, using quite complex algorithms for this. The choice of cryptographic algorithm is carried out at the stage of establishing a connection between the subscriber and the base station. As for the likelihood of subscriber information leaking from operators’ equipment, MTS claims that it is reduced to zero due to the complexity and controllability of access to facilities and equipment.

How can you “listen” to phones?

There are two methods of listening to subscribers - active and passive. Passive listening to a subscriber will require the use of expensive equipment and specially trained personnel. Now on the “gray” market you can buy complexes with which you can listen to subscribers within a radius of 500 meters; their cost starts from several hundred thousand euros. They look like the picture on the right. You can easily find it on the Internet description such systems and the principle of their operation.

Manufacturers of such equipment claim that the system allows you to monitor GSM conversations in real time, based on access to the object's SIM card or the cellular operator's database. If there is no such access, then conversations can be listened to with a delay, depending on the level of encryption used by the operator. The system can also be part of a mobile complex for tracking and listening to moving objects.

The second method of eavesdropping is active on-air interference with control and authentication protocols using special mobile systems. Such equipment, despite its apparent simplicity (in essence, it is a pair of modified phones and a computer), can cost from several tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Working with such complexes requires highly qualified service personnel in the field of communications.

The operating principle of such an attack is as follows: the mobile complex, due to its closer location to the subscriber (up to 500 m), “intercepts” signals to establish a connection and transmit data, replacing the nearest base station. In fact, the complex becomes an “intermediary” between the subscriber and the base station with all the ensuing security problems.

Having “caught” the subscriber in this way, this mobile complex can perform any function to manage the subscriber’s connection, including connecting it to any number the attackers need, installing a “weak” encryption algorithm, or even canceling encryption for a given communication session, and much more.

An example of such eavesdropping is the events of the beginning of this year in the center of Kyiv. During mass protests against the Yanukovych regime, the crowd seized a car with SBU officers, from which they “wiretapped” the frequencies of the protesters’ radios and phones. What such equipment looks like can be clearly seen in the picture.

There is a third possibility for listening to conversations and intercepting mobile subscriber traffic. To do this, you need to install virus software on the victim’s smartphone. When installing malicious software, attackers can “independently” choose or cancel the encryption algorithm, unauthorized transfer (or destruction) of the subscriber’s confidential information, and much more.

How to determine if your phone is being tapped

As MTS Ukraine told AIN.UA, it is impossible to directly determine whether the phone is currently being tapped, but it is possible to obtain indirect confirmation of some probability of this. Many models of old push-button phones even displayed a special icon (closed or open lock), which demonstrated whether conversation encryption was currently being used or not.

Modern phones do not provide this function. However, there are special applications for smartphones that can inform the user about the configuration of the settings of the current communication session, including whether his speech is transmitted openly or using an encryption algorithm. Here are some of them:

A powerful program to protect phones from eavesdropping. It allows you to prevent connection to a false base station by checking the signatures and identifiers of base stations. In addition, it tracks the location of stations, and if a base station moves around the city or periodically disappears from its place, it is marked as suspicious and the program notifies the user about this. Using the program, you can also get a complete list of applications that have access to the microphone and video camera of your phone, as well as block access of unwanted software to the camera.

The program helps monitor any suspicious activity on the cellular network, including SMS that are sent without the user's knowledge . The program also evaluates network security in real time, shows which algorithms are used to encrypt conversations, and much more.

There are many different ways to wiretap phone conversations, both legal and illegal. We will tell you about the most common ones.

SORM

SORM is a system of technical means to ensure the functions of operational-search activities. All telecom operators are required to use it, otherwise they will not be able to obtain a license. SORM provides law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies with direct access to telephone conversations, and the operator is not even informed when his subscriber is being monitored. Formally, wiretapping requires court approval, but in reality, the suspect is often listened to without authorization, and permission can be obtained after material has been collected on him that can be used in court. Analogues of SORM exist in many countries around the world (for example, a program in the USA).

Operators

Russian operators are preparing to comply, according to which they are required to record telephone conversations of all subscribers and store them from six months to three years. Surely, the records are already saved in test mode, and you can access them through friends from among the operator’s employees.

Interception via SS7

In cellular networks there is an unavoidable . It allows you to tap any phone and intercept SMS messages using equipment costing several thousand dollars, or order wiretapping on the black market for several thousand rubles. Cellular standards were not designed to protect against such attacks because phones were expected to only work within the operator's signal network. In practice, third-party equipment can be connected to such a network from anywhere in the world.

Vulnerabilities

Android and iOS smartphones are susceptible to vulnerabilities that allow correspondence and conversations to be intercepted. The most valuable are zero-day vulnerabilities, which are unknown to operating system developers. There are hundreds of thousands of dollars for information about them, and the companies buying them cooperate with the intelligence services of different countries. Some Trojans are developed specifically for law enforcement agencies. They are used en masse, but unofficially, without court permission, and are distributed using fake applications.

Viruses

There are viruses even in official app stores (primarily Google Play). Security system hackers: they upload a normal application to the market, and the malicious code is loaded later as a small module with one of the updates. An unsuspecting user himself gives the application permission to use the microphone and access the Internet, after which his conversations are leaked to strangers.

Fake base stations and femtocells

Fake base stations and femtocells are sometimes used to intercept voice data. They work as intermediaries between cell phones and operator base stations, allowing you to record conversations and SMS messages. Hackers are also able to hack into femtocells and install spyware there.

Special equipment

The intelligence services have a huge arsenal of technical means for covert wiretapping: bugs, miniature microphones and scanners that decipher sound by the vibration of glass in the room where a person is located. The most effective way is to use a receiver that intercepts the GSM signal over a wide range of frequencies, and a computer that then decrypts this signal, converting it into a voice recording.

As you can see, tapping your phone is not particularly difficult, if only you had the desire or the means. Another thing is that people who have something to hide know about it and try to use more secure communication channels, for example, messengers like

There are many fairy tales surrounding the issue of wiretapping a phone without installing a monitoring program. Many newly minted spies claim the existence of such a possibility. Would-be marketers promote their products to intercept other people's conversations and SMS on the fly. But the fact that the GSM telephone network is secure and cannot be hacked without specialized equipment is usually kept silent. And easily led by such tricks, uninformed Internet users listen avidly and spend money.

All traffic from cellular operators is encrypted using a complex algorithm. To intercept it, you don’t need a lot of effort, it’s enough to stand in the path of this signal with a signal receiver (close to the person talking), however, to decipher protected information you will have to acquire very expensive equipment. Either the level of technical knowledge in the field of cryptography and simpler equipment, but also very expensive and bulky, with which you will not be mobile enough. In general, everything here is at the professional level, which means it is not accessible to the masses.

Telephone wiretapping by subscriber number - theory

So, wiretapping by subscriber number is possible. This is clear. And it is possible in several ways.

First way— to wiretap a phone without installing a program, you need to get access to data from mobile operators. In accordance with recent changes in legislation, operators are now required to store conversations of network users for several years. Just like text messages. But they do not have the right to disclose them in accordance with the same legislation. The responsibility for such an act is too great for them. Only intelligence services can access this data; they simply need to send a corresponding request, after which the operator is obliged to transfer all the requested information. Hence the simple conclusion - wiretapping without access to the phone is the prerogative of the special services for whom this is normal routine work. You just haven’t thought about how many crimes are solved by analyzing data from cellular operators.

Second way- wiretapping a phone without installing a program is possible when using complex software and hardware systems on GSM interception and decryption. But there are so many difficulties that the method will never become widespread.

First, you need to be in the signal interception zone from your mobile phone (or place a receiver there that sends all GSM signals to your base station).

Next, you will need powerful equipment to decrypt the received information, which is encrypted by operators using cryptographic algorithms. There are references on the Internet to certain “rainbow tables” for decrypting the 64-bit A5/1 cryptographic protection system used by cellular operators (it even sounds difficult, imagine what it costs to set up such a system). The tables themselves take up terabytes of hard disk space. To decrypt, you need equipment similar to mining (powerful graphics processors). And it turns out that you need to assemble a GSM signal receiver (it’s expensive, but craftsmen can use regular old Nokias, making some modifications to them), a computer with a large amount of memory and a powerful graphics processor. Combine this using a specialized program for processing the encrypted signal using rainbow tables and filter out everything unnecessary.

There is nothing impossible in all this for advanced specialists, but this is not a mass product for everyday use. And using it is also very difficult and not even always possible (you will have to follow your tracking object everywhere, or slip him a GSM receiver-transmitter, but then why not use a regular bug for wiretapping?).

Therefore, we can safely say that wiretapping a phone without spyware today is available only to a select few, which are the special services and agencies specializing in this issue. Those. wiretapping a phone using a subscriber's number without direct access to his device to install the program is practically impossible!

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