Thai Lawmakers Warned Of Phone Spy Threat

[webfact]

Thai lawmakers warned of phone spy threat

BANGKOK, March 4, 2011 (AFP) - Thai lawmakers were ordered on Friday not to divulge secrets over the telephone in an edict by the country's parliament about so-called "spy phone" technology.

Legislators were told that their calls could be intercepted and text messages hacked into, in a notice posted on the official parliament website.

"Don't discuss top-secret issues either on your mobile phone or land line," the announcement said.

They were instructed not to lend their personal mobile phones to strangers and only to use trusted repair shops.

Interference during conversations -- other than by call waiting notifications -- should be treated with great suspicion, the message said.

A Parliament information technology official said no actual phone tapping had been discovered, but authorities wanted to raise politicians' awareness.

There has been an increasing focus on phone tapping in recent years with a flood of Internet sites offering software to monitor children's activities, net cheating partners or spy on employees by hacking into their smartphones.

In Britain, politicians, celebrities and royalty have all been swept up in a scandal involving the hacking of mobile phone messages by the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World.

The newspaper's royal editor and a private investigator hired by the paper were jailed in 2007 for intercepting voicemails belonging to Princes William and Harry and police have recently launched a new investigation.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2011-03-04

[slapout]

I think the majority of the politicians use random public phones for any and all business/top secret calls. Cannot have any traceable records, etc for the good guys to find. They could probably give out more advice than they received.

[KRS1]

For civilian cell phone spy software the phone has to be in the possession of the person trying to tap it. The phones internet browser is then used to load the software onto the phone.

By using a series of remote commands the person spying on the target phone can now receive the targets text messages, listen in on live phone calls, activate the phones external microphone to hear the immediate surroundings, track location via GPS and cellphone tower proximity, some programs even record conversations by mp3 for later review.

The threat is very real and is peaking right now as im typing this, this type of software first became available about 7 years ago. Government, law enforcement and militarized versions are a direct installation via sms or mms requiring no interaction from the target phone. Phone records and all sms messages are required by law to be kept for an indefinate period of time, even though you delete a message it is still on the service providers system. This is a good read to educate yourself about spy phone technology and the implications to threats of personal security.

Check your phone bills, if they are more expensive than usual it may be because its sending the information gathered to the server storing the information via the internet connection, shortened battery life is also a result of frequent polling of the GPS location, keypad lights coming on for no reason are also a tell tale sign.

If you think you've heard a another voice or a cough or a sniffle during a conversation which should not have been, its because the live call intercept works via 3 way conference calling. When the target phone is in a conversation a message is sent from the target phone to the spy, who thens calls into the target phone silently.

If anyone has any questions feel free to PM me.

[whybother]

...

If you think you've heard a another voice or a cough or a sniffle during a conversation which should not have been, its because the live call intercept works via 3 way conference calling. When the target phone is in a conversation a message is sent from the target phone to the spy, who thens calls into the target phone silently.

...

You'd think with all that technology available they would have a mute button, or even no microphone at all, to hide the coughs and sniffles.

[samjaidee]

The News of the World in the UK have been doing it for at least 2 years and the Thai government have only just realized it could happen in Thailand also?

Don't they follow international news?

It's amazing how parochial the Thais can be at times.