abduce write up of illicit phone tracking confirm by Homeland Security officials last twelvemonth , Senator Ron Wyden on Wednesday called on the Federal Communications Commission to establish raw regulations to force wireless companies to secure 5 G networks from outlawed interception and tracking .
While older cellular web technology has long been easy to compromise , the wireless industry is still in the former twenty-four hour period of roll out 5 G and is still in a posture to address know vulnerabilities work by hackers and foreign government , Wydenwritesin a letter sent to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Wednesday .
“ Unencrypted cellular headphone birdsong and other wireless communication theory have long been vulnerable to interception by felon and spies . Surveillance technology company openly sell products that tap these flaws to wiretap song , track phone and taint phones will malware , ” the letter of the alphabet says . “ This decades - long cybersecurity vulnerability has undoubtedly make monolithic harm to our interior security , and harm continues with each sore call or textual matter that is tapped . ”
Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, testifies as the House Energy and Commerce Committee holds an oversight hearing of the FCC, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, 25 April 2025.Photo: J. Scott Applewhite / AP
https://gizmodo.com/fcc-proposes-banning-u-s-firms-from-using-federal-subs-1839430289
The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment .
Last year , the Department of Homeland Security revealed it hadobtainedevidence of phone tracking equipment being used near the White House and other raw locating around the nation ’s capitol . The devices , called IMSI catchers , or “ Stringrays ” after a democratic law enforcement theoretical account , mimic cellphone telephone tower and , with the gain of script - held or fomite - mounted equipment , can be used to accurately pinpoint a cell ’s location to a exclusive home base or flat . In sure modality , the devices are know to be extremely troubled , make nearby phones to drop their connectivity .
investigator have shown that illegal home plate - brew versions of IMSI catchers , which be less than $ 1,000 to make , are also capable of launching moresophisticated attacks ; booting telephone set off phone connection and leaving them inoperable , for example .
In a September 2018 paper , an FCC advisory group cognise as the Communications Security , Reliability and Interoperability Council ( CSRIC)—or “ scissor - ick”—noted that many unwashed attack on cellular networks could be mitigated by improvements in 5G. These include fix trailing , traffic interception , electronic web spoofing , denial of religious service , impersonation of devices , and the malicious use of foundation stations .
Even with these advance , however , phones may still be vulnerable if they can be tricked into downgrade to a lower contemporaries of connection technology . This is fulfill through what ’s known as a “ bid down attack . ” Security investigator are already looking for direction toexploit 5 GiB networksusing this proficiency .
CSRIC recommended that carriers adopt various encoding and hallmark applied science to ward off attacks , mark that , for example , hackers targeting networks whose brain is establish on a Software - define web ( SDN ) architecture “ can take reward of any unencrypted communication user interface to intercept or intervene with traffic to and from a primal controller or web ingredient . ”
However , the group does not recommend any regulatory natural action whatsoever . At every turn , it put forward the best route is to countenance the telecommunications industry to do its own thing ; the government should merely provide the caller with scourge assessment generated by the Department of Homeland Security to help inform its determination .
But it ’s deserving noting that CSRIC is overwhelminglycompromised of industry representatives . This , even though originally CSRIC was intended to include a residual of government and non - profit consumer advocates as well . According to late inquiry by the Project on Government Oversight ( POGO ) , the last iteration of CSRIC — responsible for the aforementioned surety recommendations — included 13 privacy - sector fellow member and only a single polite society example .
“ For decades , wireless carriers have ignored known cybersecurity vulnerabilities that foreign regime were and are still actively exploiting to place Americans . The market place has failed to incentivize cybersecurity in part because consumers have no way of comparing the cybersecurity exercise of phone company , ” Wyden states .
“ The FCC has the authority to regulate wireless carriers and their use of the public air , especially in areas that involve public prophylactic and Carry Amelia Moore Nation certificate , ” he says . “ The FCC must bar leave the cybersecurity of American consumers , businesses and government agencies to wireless carriers and finally procure America ’s next - contemporaries 5 G networks against interception and hacking by criminals and foreign spies . ”
you could translate Wyden ’s full letterhere , which includes a list of questions for the FCC president . He ’s bespeak answers by December 6 .
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