PPRuNe Forums - Taliban tapping British troops' mobiles to taunt soldiers' families

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One of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, yet one of the biggest pains in the a*se for traditional social intercourse
I suppose some nerds will be suing the MoD for "traumatic stress withdrawal symptoms" having been separated from their mobile for more than 1 hour!:)
How about claims for arthritic cramp for not being allowed to text for at least 10 times an hour?:) - must be some ambulance chasers out there watching this thread::p
Hopefully this message has now got through to the selfish and thoughtless few who put the lives of others at risk - but I doubt it

John Chapter 8. Para 3:7

Okay vecvec, I will cast the first stone. I have never used my mobile phone whilst on ops. OPSEC is not a dirty word..........Crevice, however.

I came back to offer VoIP.. well done that man! As for discussing how to tap GSM on an open forum. Its right that we discuss it here - we can show our own community how vulnerable we are. Theres a certain nievity in the way we conduct our lives in the electronic age, but nothing has changed. Since Phidippides launched high speed communication we've always tried to intercept the message. Back in time, we would mug the runner, since AGB we put a man in the exchange and undoubtably thats whats happening now - if the police out there are subject to corruption, so are all the other walks of life.

Quote:

There seems to be a taboo on the restirction of creature comforts such as mobile phones because of the effect it will have on morale. Morale should be treated as a more subtle and complicated subject than this. Without going into a diatribe about the factors influencing morale the fact is that you don't need a mobile phone in the field. They present a multitude of problems not least of which is OPSEC. Ban the carriage of mobile phones on operations - the key is to ensure it is actively enforced for everyone - common hardship rarely effects morale.

What about iPods? Can I still carry my iPod?

Yeah, you can still use your iPod. Just don't cry when the Iranians confiscate it! :{

Assuming - and it's merely an assumption, but I'll see what people who know about such things say - that the Taliban don't have proper GSM interception equipment, then the most effective, cheap and reliable way to monitor and interfere with mobile phone calls is elsewhere on the network, as has been said. Tapping microwave links between base stations is usually the best way, but if you've got a pal in the network operator who'll let you bung some kit inside the switch you can do what you like.
Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_t...case_2004-2005
There will be two ways to militate against this. Ban mobile phones, or run your own GSM network and maintain appropriate security -- in other words, see mobiles as part of your tactical communications strategy, and deploy suitably modified commercial off-the-shelf kit to support it. Operators do this anyway - they tow a COW (Cell On Wheels) into a field, pump up the mast, point a dish at a satellite and there's your infrastructure.
Perhaps Blandford Forum could have a word with Nokia.
R

We've had the $$$$$$ scenario for air interception. The MW interception - again not the easiest, but the simple fact remains, the guy in the switch in these countries is paid peanuts. How little cash compared to the first two scenarios could change his life? Thats where your leak is -guaranteed.

Monitoring xxx interface to the BTS/Node B is all it takes. And thats giving no secrets, if you are capable of operating the commercially available equipment, you already know where to plug it in.

The instant you use a transmitter, you've given away some intelligence. In fact, if the enemy is close enough, the instant you use a receiver, you've given away some intelligence. Basic, basic ECCM.

It's not rocket science, and one can develop this theme as much as one likes. It becomes a matter of policy how much low level int one is willing to gift to the enemy versus the inconvenience of taking steps to guard against this.

Electronic silence, anyone?