Hackers are stealing years of call records from hacked cell networks

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/24/hackers-cell-networks-call-records-theft/

By Zack Whittaker
TechCrunch
June 24, 2019

Security researchers say they have uncovered a massive espionage campaign 
involving the theft of call records from hacked cell network providers to 
conduct targeted surveillance on individuals of interest.

The hackers have systematically broken in to more than 10 cell networks 
around the world to date over the past seven years to obtain massive 
amounts of call records -- including times and dates of calls, and their 
cell-based locations -- on at least 20 individuals.

Researchers at Boston-based Cybereason, who discovered the operation and 
shared their findings with TechCrunch, said the hackers could track the 
physical location of any customer of the hacked telcos -- including spies 
and politicians -- using the call records.

Lior Div, Cybereason's co-founder and chief executive, told TechCrunch 
it’s "massive-scale" espionage.

Call detail records -- or CDRs -- are the crown jewels of any intelligence 
agency’s collection efforts. These call records are highly detailed 
metadata logs generated by a phone provider to connect calls and messages 
from one person to another. Although they don’t include the recordings of 
calls or the contents of messages, they can offer detailed insight into a 
person’s life. The National Security Agency has for years controversially 
collected the call records of Americans from cell providers like AT&T and 
Verizon (which owns TechCrunch), despite the questionable legality.

[...]

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