Researchers from University of Minnesota revealed some alarming results of their study: information regarding one’s location can be accessible to phone hackers via cellular networks.
Tracking a user’s location is important for mobile service providers
to deliver efficient products
and services to consumers. As an example,
researcher Denis Foo Kune demonstrated, “An incoming voice call requires
the network to locate that device so it can allocate the appropriate
resources to handle the call.” Turns out, this is a vulnerability of the
mobile network system, as phone hackers can access data gathered and tracked by a cell phone tower.
To prove their point, the researchers tracked the location of a
number of mobile phone users on the Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM) network, without them knowing.
The results pose security issues to mobile phone owners; for example,
hackers will know whether a person is in a specific area or not using
his mobile phone location information, increasing risks of break-ins and
theft. People like protesters, police, and politicians can also be
tracked using their mobile phone, exposing them to numerous threats.
