StingRays Tool | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has admitted that it used controversial cell phone spying tool " Stingrays " more than 1,000 times since 2008 without warrants. In the documents obtained by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) , the NYPD acknowledged that the department has used Stingrays to intercept personal communications and track the locations of nearby mobile phone users. What are Stingrays? In my previous article , I have explained the scope of Stingrays along with its working, how it cracks encryption and how the police agencies are using these cell phone spying devices equipped in its military surveillance technology DRTBox  in order to: Track people Intercept thousands of cellphone calls Quietly eavesdrop on conversations Eavesdrop on emails and text messages Stingrays are small cell phone surveillance devices that work by imitating cellphone towers, forcing all nearby phones to connect to them and revealing the owners' locat...

Remember StingRays ? The controversial cell phone spying tool , known as " Stingrays " or " IMSI catchers ," has been used by authorities to track criminal suspects most of the times without obtaining court orders. But now, the Federal law agencies will have to be more transparent about their use of Stingrays to spy on cell phones. Thanks to the new policy announced Thursday by the US Department of Justice. For years, local police and federal authorities have used and spent over $350,000 on Stingrays , which essentially mimic mobile phone tower, to track cell phones in countless investigations. What is Stingray? Stingrays , made by the Harris Corporation, has capabilities to access user's unique IDs and phone numbers, track and record locations, and sometimes even intercept Internet traffic and phone calls, send fake texts and install spyware on phones. The authorities used these tracking tools for years to breach people's privacy...

Vulnerability Management (VM) has long been a cornerstone of organizational cybersecurity. Nearly as old as the discipline of cybersecurity itself, it aims to help organizations identify and address potential security issues before they become serious problems. Yet, in recent years, the limitations of this approach have become increasingly evident.  At its core, Vulnerability Management processes remain essential for identifying and addressing weaknesses. But as time marches on and attack avenues evolve, this approach is beginning to show its age. In a recent report, How to Grow Vulnerability Management into Exposure Management (Gartner, How to Grow Vulnerability Management Into Exposure Management, 8 November 2024, Mitchell Schneider Et Al.), we believe Gartner® addresses this point precisely and demonstrates how organizations can – and must – shift from a vulnerability-centric strategy to a broader Exposure Management (EM) framework. We feel it's more than a worthwhile read an...

The U.S. government is reportedly using spy airplanes equipped with special military-grade snooping equipment to eavesdrop on cell phone information from millions of smartphone users in U.S, according to a new report. This little device, nicknamed " Dirtbox ", is being used to mimic mobile phone tower transmissions from the sky and gather data from millions of mobile phones, helping the US Marshals Service track criminals while recording innocent citizens' information. The purpose of the device is supposedly to track a specific target, but if active, all mobile devices in the particular area will respond to the signal. The Dirtbox causes smartphones to transmit back the users' location, registration information and identity data – uniquely identifying IMEI numbers stored in every mobile device, The Wall Street Journal reported . The name Dirtbox is given after the initials of Digital Receiver Technology, Inc. (DRT) , a Boeing Company subsidiary that allegedly ma...