This infrastructure, from networks built in the 1970s to the most modern 5G systems, was transformed into “tracking devices” with sophisticated spyware programs, said the investigation by Canadian-based digital research group Citizen Lab, according to a Sunday report by Israeli daily Haaretz.
Since November 2022, more than 15,700 attempts have been made to determine the location of phones in numerous countries -- including Thailand, South Africa, Norway, Bangladesh, and Malaysia -- via the infrastructure of Israeli-based telecommunications companies, the findings indicated, Anadolu Agency reported.
Internal documents seen by Haaretz revealed that Verint, the parent company of Cognyte, sold an SS7-based tracking system called SkyLock to a government client in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The findings showed that Fink, a Swiss telecom, enabled Israeli surveillance firms such as Rayzone to impersonate cellular carriers and connect to legacy mobile networks, allowing them to track users worldwide through the exploitation of the SS7 signaling protocol for surveillance.
SS7 was originally developed to handle call and text routing, support international roaming, and enable interoperability between mobile operators, Haaretz stated.
Next-generation Diameter systems that manage 4G/5G networks were also exploited, the report said.
One of the most notable cyberattack techniques used was SIMjacking.
With this method, a hidden SMS message, invisible to the user, is sent to the target phone, and a command within the message forces the SIM card to share the device’s location, the findings indicated.
It also found that phone tracking operations were carried out through the networks of Israeli telecommunications companies 019Mobile and Partner Communications.
019Mobile claimed in response that it is a virtual operator and that its identity may have been impersonated, denying involvement in any tracking operations.
There were no immediate responses from Fink, Partner Communications, Exelera Telecom, or Cognyte/Verint on the revelations.