Tracking a suspect by mobile phone

The BBC explains in detail how calls made from a mobile phone led Italian police to one of the suspects in the failed suicide bombings in London on 21 July.

It is relatively simple to follow a person via their mobile phone. Plenty of companies offer technology to do so, legally and with the phone user's knowledge.

...One way tapping a mobile phone is with a device called an IMSI-catcher.

This pretends to be a legitimate base station of the mobile phone network and tricks the phone into routing its call via the IMSI-catcher where it can be passed on for decryption.

Once received, the IMSI-catcher passes the call on to the network, so the suspect is none the wiser he is being monitored.

emily | 6:48 PM | Technology |
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