Technology has been improved soo much that there is no guarantee that our data is safe not only our computers but also our smartphones data or our social networking passwords. Hackers can steal our smartphones data by hijacking cell phone towers. Yes, it is possible and also report says that this technique has been already tested by several hackers all around the world and they are on the hunt.
Here is how your smartphone’s data can be stolen by hackers with the help of cellular networks. Security researchers of the cellular network firm have confirmed it.
Zimperium has recently found few security flaws in BTS station which helps the hackers to remotely hijack the whole network of cell stations. It is being said that there are 3 main flaws which help the hacker to hijack the network and steal the information. Also, it has been confirmed by the Zimperium that these flaws are very dangerous that the hacker can access the data of several users simultaneously and also the hacker has full control over the network including crashing the network with his power. BTS (Base Transceiver Station) defines cellular phone towers which we can see surrounded by our towns,Villages, And Cities.
This works by software and radio equipment which allows the mobile station to help connect to GSM, UMTS, and also LTE networks. BTS stations are basically used by the service providers which help to pass your messages, transfer calls and including data plans packages from phone to operator;s data center.
Zimperium says it was found out that there were three serious errors in many software packages which run on the BTS stations. Also according to the Zimperium, other software packages which are not included in their tests might also be affected, since they all appear to run in the same manner, with a similar concept of design.
There are 3 issues which are critical and which should be handled carefully by the mobile operators and BTS software vendors. Firstly there is a bug in main BTS software device which exposes the device to other external connections By which the hacker can reach the BTS station’s transceiver with the help of Internet.
The second flaw is the overflow of memory buffer which is caused by the UDP packets. This allows the hacker to run malware by running malicious codes on the device.
And the third flaw is that the hacker can operate BTS station. Consider if the attacker sends the UDB traffic to the station in the form of the control channel. Then the transciever which is used for transmitting and receiving data between the BTS core software and the radio antenna can be operated by the attacker which lead to data exposure.
Zimperium says that the attacker who has access to the control channel can turn the BTS off, and can also alter the BTS identity, or just block antenna radio frequencies, and make it behave like another BTS station from the same network. Which will lead to doing anything like stealing the data.
The vendors who were affected has applied patches and range networks has also managed to fixed first two flaws in open BTS on the 6th of July and following with July 13. Software vulnerability was fixed back in may 6. Hope you have got the idea about how networks can be hijacked by the hackers.
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Terry Ts