Alert: Hackers Can Spy On You Just By Knowing Your Phone Number

All that hackers need to listen in on your phone conversation or to read your text messages or to track your movement is your smartphone number. The Daily Mail reports: They can do this by exploiting a flaw in a global telecom network called Signal System 7 (SS7) that helps phone carriers across the world route calls and texts. Now, a 60 minutes investigation has revealed just how easy it is to exploit this vulnerability, and according to experts, all phones are at risk. The program sent an iPhone to congressman Ted Lieu, a member of the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Information Technology. He agreed to use the phone knowing it would be hacked by Security Research Labs in Berlin – and the results were surprising. Using the congressman’s new phone number, the hackers accessed a flaw in SS7, a global network that connects phone carriers. They were then able to access almost everything on his phone, including listening to and recording calls, tracking his movement and viewing his contacts. Karsten Nohl, one of the hackers who cracked Lieu’s phone, said that all phones were at risk. ‘[We can] track their whereabouts, know where they go for work, which [...]