Radio Sweden on Mobile Phone Tapping

[jei@zor.hut.fi]

http://www.infowar.com/class_2/99/class2_021999a_j.shtml

2/19/99

Radio Sweden on Mobile Phone Tapping 

From: Frits Westra fwestra@hetnet.nl

Hello all, Last night (Feb. 13) I listened to 'Sweden Today', a news
program of the English service of Radio Sweden.
<http://www.sr.se/rs/english/schedule/ >

They had an interesting report on mobile phone tapping. The head of
SEPO, the Swedish secret service, claims that mobile telephones can be
bugged even when switched off. I wrote a transcription of the full
report. Names of people mentioned in this report may be misspelled.

--[begin transcription Radio Sweden report]-----

People in Sweden are being warned not to take mobile phones into
meetings where sensitive information is being discussed. The warning
comes from no less than the head of the secret service here. He says
you only need a mobile phone number to be able to bug a conversation,
regardless of whether the phone is switched off or not. Jeson Cristie
has the story.

>From the Swedish secret service circle comes the statement that GSM
mobile phones can be used for industrial espionage, even when switched
off. This is the latest in a string of reports claiming that all is
not as technologically foolproof as first thought. Brain tumors,
electric shocks, and a threat of impotency among males who carry a
mobile phone close to the genitals have all been talked about of late.
But bugging or tapping of conversations has long [unintelligible].
Many might think that tapping of conversations via a mobile is highly
unlikely, and even fewer might think that it's possible to listen into
conversations going on around a mobile telephone, without the need for
the phone to be switched on.

On the line is the head of the secret service, Andres Erikson, and I
asked him what he said during a speech on people and security, here in
Sweden.

"There is equipment available for telephone tapping of GSM telephones
and you have to take into account that such telephone call can be
listened to by other people without the help of the telephone
operator. And the other issue is, is it possible to use GSM telephones
for bugging? And the answer is: yes, it is possible. There is no need
to put into the telephone anything special. You can use the telephone
as it is. But I don't want to go into how this can be done, because I
don't want to give people information about this matter. So, our
recommendation is: you should not speak over the telephone about
secret things, and you should not bring GSM telephones into rooms
where you talk about secret things." Is there any way of knowing that
your mobile is being bugged ? "No, it is not, it doesn't show on the
telephone." Can conversations be recorded when the telephone is
switched off? "It can, yes."

And in a conversation with the Swedish company Ericsson is revealed
that the industry strongly disagrees with the statements made by SEPO.
The spokesperson for the telecommunications giant, Nina Eld, denounced
the claim that it is possible that a switched off mobile telephone can
be bugged.

"We've been talking around in the industry about this, And I think
everybody was really surprised about this statement. To our
understanding and in our belief there is no chance to do this. The
phone isn't prepared, you couldn't use it to bug anybody." What do you
mean, prepared? "Well, I mean you could prepare a phone, fix it in
some way. I suppose that is what they mean, but I don't know...
Actually, ask him what he means with it. Because to our understanding
there is no such possibility."

Has there been any dialogue between mobile telephone companies and
SEPO on this issue? "This is no issue for us. Because we don't believe
this is the case." And that was Nina Eld, spokesperson for the Swedish
communcations giant Ericsson.

--[end transcription Radio Sweden report]-----

Read you later, Frits Westra -- fwestra@hetnet.nl Net-Tamer V 1.11.2 -
Registered