US government intercepts telecom data with falsified cell towers in planes

The US government is using small planes with imsi catchers on board to track down people, an American newspaper reports. This mainly happens in the United States, but sometimes also in other countries, to track down fugitives and terrorists.

The imsi catchers on board are forged cell towers, forcing civilian phones on the ground to connect. The equipment on board the plane then intercepts the registration data of telephones, The Wall Street Journal reports. For example, the American police department, which is responsible for finding fugitive criminals, among other things, uses the planes.

During a flight, the service searches all picked up telephone data for the presence of telephones of fugitives. The technology would be able to locate suspects’ phones with an accuracy of three meters.

However, this means that during a flight, especially in densely populated areas, the police service will pick up the data of tens of thousands of people. The government would not use the data of citizens who are not wanted, but it is unclear what measures the US government is taking to prevent employees from misusing data.

The aircraft – mostly Cessnas – would mainly be deployed within the United States, but sometimes also outside it, for example in war zones. There, for example, according to The Wall Street Journal, the government uses them to track down terrorists.

The police would ask for permission from a court to use the planes, but sources tell The Wall Street Journal that they doubt whether the judges assessing the requests understand the impact.

In theory, the imsi-catchers could also intercept communications. It is unclear whether that will happen. Anyone who is in the vicinity of an imsi-catcher can also suffer from dropped calls, but the US government is said to have taken measures to prevent, for example, calls to the emergency number from dropping out.