A great segment from 60 minutes Australia on security and privacy hacking on the cell phone network around the world. This segment demonstrates how a simple radio antenna with parts costing around $100 can act as a mobile cellphone tower and intercept all communications.
The technology is based upon IMSI Catching. If you want to monitor these fake networks in your area you can install an app on your Android phone called Android IMSI-Catcher Detector. We highly recommend this app if you use an Android phone. These devices are essentially false mobile towers (base stations) acting between the target mobile phone(s) and the real towers of service providers. They are considered a Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attack. This surveillance technology is also known as “StingRay“.
