Feds Cloning Protesters' Cell-Phones

 

The Intercept (September 25, 2020) reported that -- Federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department used “a sophisticated cell phone cloning attack—the details of which remain classified—to intercept protesters’ phone communications” in Portland this summer.

Put aside for the moment that, if the report is true, federal agents conducted sophisticated electronic surveillance against American protesters, an alarming breach of constitutional rights. Do ordinary people have any hope of defending their privacy and freedom of assembly against threats like this?

As much as possible, and especially in the context of activism, use an encrypted messaging app like Signal (https://www.signal.org/) — and get everyone you work with to use it too — to protect your SMS text messages, texting groups, and voice and video calls.

The simplest and best way to protect against SIM cloning attacks, as well as eavesdropping by stingrays, controversial phone surveillance devices that law enforcement has a history of using against protesters, is to stop using SMS and normal phone calls as much as possible. These are not and have never been secure.

Read the Intercept article here.

An earlier article in the Intercept explained 'How to Set Up A Cheap Burner Phone'.