A Big Brother Detected by Aftenposten in Oslo, Norway

Secret surveillance detected in Oslo

Norway’s prime minister and members of parliament may be subject to secret surveillance by means of fake mobile base stations in the centre of Oslo. Investigations made by Norwegian daily Aftenposten during the past weeks have revealed a number of fake base stations on several locations, in and around the Norwegian capital. They were detected around the parliament building Stortinget, near several ministries and the prime minister’s residence in Parkveien.

Conversations and data may be monitored

The fake mobile base stations, known as IMSI-catchers (International Mobile Subscriber Identity), may be used for listening in on conversations and monitoring all kinds of mobile activity in the areas affected. The person running the equipment may in principle register anyone entering parliament or the government offices. The operator can easily select certain persons for eavesdropping.

National Security Authority also found «something»

After being alerted by Aftenposten the Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM) started their own investigation. On Friday they confirmed that they had found traces of «something».

– We have found something. All the data are not ready yet, but we have also found signals from IMSI-catchers in Oslo, says Hans Christian Pretorius, department head in NSM.

The perpetrators are not known

Who owns this equipment is not known, but none of the Norwegian government officials contacted by Aftenposten can confirm ownership. Norwegian law only permits the police, the Police Security Service (PST) and the Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM) to operate this kind of surveillance equipment.

Law Enforcement Agencies All Over California Secretly Tracking Cell Phone Users

More below the fold …

Law Enforcement Agencies All Over California Secretly Tracking Cell Phone Users

Local law enforcement in the San Francisco Bay Area have started deploying the fake cell sites, more accurately called “IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) catchers,” in a vast area that stretches from San Jose to Sacramento, according to Sacramento News10. The TV station said USA Today has “confirmed that at least 25 other local police agencies across the country are using StingRays or similar devices.”

StingRay is one of several brands of fake base station sold by Harris. Similar equipment from Digital Receiver Technology has been approved by the FCC for use in the United States.

When one of these types of devices is deployed correctly, every smartphone or portable computer served by a particular cellular network in a given area will recognize the stingray as just another cell site on that network, automatically connecting to it. The fake cell site can then gather information about those devices and the locations of their users.

FBI Special Agent Laura Laughlin justified all the black ink that followed by name-dropping the FCC (the same agency Harris misled in order to have its devices approved). [pdf link]

We have been advised by Harris Corporation of the Tacoma Police Department’s request for acquisition of certain wireless collection equipment/technology manufactured by Harris Corporation. Consistent with the conditions on the equipment authorization granted to Harris Corporation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), state and local law enforcement agencies must coordinate with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to complete this non-disclosure agreement prior to the acquisition and use of the equipment/technology authorized by the FCC authorization.

Devices used by U.S. law enforcement are said to be configured so they cannot be used for eavesdropping. However, similar IMSI catchers that are sold around the world are regularly used for that purpose.

For example, Israeli vendor Ability advertises that its IBIS-II can “scan, analyze, intercept, monitor, record and track GSM mobiles, regardless if they are encrypted by A5.1 or A5.2 encryption” and notes that the device “is a stand-alone solution for off the air interrogation/interception/monitoring/deception of tactical GSM communication, in a seamless way, without any cooperation with the network provider.”

By their nature, an IMSI catcher impacts every cellular user on a particular network in a given area. “From a privacy perspective, this is worrying because it collects information about the devices and whereabouts of innocent third parties, not just the target of an investigation,” wrote Linda Lye, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, in a blog post.