September 27, 2011 at 11:58Unique mobile phone hacking scheme in Russia - how it worked
Yesterday, the first channel and many other media outlets talked about millionaire hackers who were able to “hack into networks” of various operators and remotely control the victims' phones, debiting money from them. The number of shortcomings and outright misunderstanding, lies, in this story exceeds reasonable limits. Let's see what exactly happened and what is so unique in the scheme that the thieves used. I also hasten to reassure you that there are no miracles and the GSM standard is in no way compromised by the current attack.
The facts set forth by the press service of the K
-Crime Management Department were detained in Moscow, their development was carried out for about six months.
- 50,000 people across the country suffered in a year. The amount of damage is about 3 million rubles
- Fraudsters used a car from which they hacked phones
- The equipment was installed illegally and smuggled into the Russian Federation
in the car
- The video also showed two laptops installed in the car - The programmer was in the apartment and hacked telephones remotely, he was not in the car
- Radius up to 5 kilometers from the car, within it could carry hacking
- The dispatcher controlled the whole process
- We used the services of freelancers to modify the programs for hacking phones
- 7 people participated in the scheme, the organizer was not caught. Performers received from 30 to 50 thousand rubles
- An alarm was sounded in one of the operators, accidentally discovering a scheme
How journalists interpreted the story
They called me for a comment yesterday at lunchtime and told me that the attackers broke into the networks of operators and were able to remotely withdraw money from accounts. The journalist spoke of a certain base station, which traveled around Moscow and to which ordinary citizens joined, after which their phones fell into submission. I have never heard such nonsense for a long time, but this was only the beginning. Then similar stories began to appear in the mass of sources. And the operators refused to comment on the situation, citing the secret of the investigation and the fact that they did not want to give weapons to crackers. On the other hand, those who have been doing this have long understood how they were found and why, but the privacy regimen harms ordinary consumers.
Let's get together what happened and how.
Brilliant criminal scheme
So, in the gazelle which was disguised as a real estate agency there was a driver and another person, they traveled around Moscow and got up in crowded places. Then the second employee of the company “Horn and Hooves” included two laptops and work began. Remotely, another employee connected to these laptops and began to scan the air for an open bluetooth / wifi connection on mobile phones within a radius of 5 kilometers. This is where the ether scanner was needed, which was terribly terribly complex and missing equipment in Russia. This is not so, it’s another matter that such equipment is not certified and its use is punishable.
So, having discovered a working bluetooth or wifi on the phone, the attackers picked up a password (standard zeros, ones, and so on). Moreover, depending on the model and manufacturer, different vulnerabilities were used. If the password was not selected within 5-10 minutes, then this activity was abandoned and transferred to another device. Having picked up the password from the hacked phone, they made a call or sent SMS to a paid number (cost from 28 to 80 rubles). Hackers were not greedy, did not pump out all the money, behaved unnoticed. In a word, small amounts of funds were selected. And this guaranteed their invisibility and the ability to work for a long time.
In this scheme, the main thing is not the hacking method itself, it used standard equipment and some software that was written to facilitate hacking, but was based on software that can be easily found on the network. Not. The scheme is unique precisely as the organizer, who did not get it done. None of the participants knew him. Within six months, the management of K went to the dispatcher, but it was not possible to find who was behind it. That is, the level of security was very good. I am sure that there were few such machines, and the ridiculous level of damage is explained by the fact that they caught only one brigade and one number for sending paid SMS.
Having organized a dozen cars, it was easy to withdraw money from more people. Why do I think it was not one car? In the plot on the first channel it was shown that someone was in charge of the areas in which the machine works. That is, he indicated where to work. This is only necessary when there are several such machines and it is necessary to ensure that they do not intersect each other. This is the simplest explanation.
And there is almost no chance of finding with such an organization who really stands behind the hacks. He’s just smarter and more cunning than those who catch him. For half a year, not catching the organizer means that the management operation K has failed. De facto. On the other hand, the police triumphantly announced their success, but whether you decide to consider it as such or not is up to you. I am of the opinion that there is no success at all. They took the performers, equipment, dug only the tip of the iceberg.
The scheme was accidentally opened at the Megafon network monitoring center. They saw that, as a rule, they leave for one of the paid SMS numbers from different districts of the city, but at the same time. And it seemed strange. Finding out from the subscribers what they were doing, they found out that nobody sent anything. Subscribers themselves did not notice the theft of money from accounts. Surprisingly well thought out scheme, which is proved in practice.
PS For subscribers, this is an occasion to turn off bluetooth / wifi when it is not needed. The device invisibility mode in this situation does not save, it is necessary to turn it off. It is also worth inventing your passwords that differ from the standard ones and are more complicated than them. Simple rules that most people don’t follow.
We also have reason to be proud. This is the first documented case of mass hacking of phones in the world.
The facts set forth by the press service of the K
-Crime Management Department were detained in Moscow, their development was carried out for about six months.
- 50,000 people across the country suffered in a year. The amount of damage is about 3 million rubles
- Fraudsters used a car from which they hacked phones
- The equipment was installed illegally and smuggled into the Russian Federation
in the car
- The video also showed two laptops installed in the car - The programmer was in the apartment and hacked telephones remotely, he was not in the car
- Radius up to 5 kilometers from the car, within it could carry hacking
- The dispatcher controlled the whole process
- We used the services of freelancers to modify the programs for hacking phones
- 7 people participated in the scheme, the organizer was not caught. Performers received from 30 to 50 thousand rubles
- An alarm was sounded in one of the operators, accidentally discovering a scheme
How journalists interpreted the story
They called me for a comment yesterday at lunchtime and told me that the attackers broke into the networks of operators and were able to remotely withdraw money from accounts. The journalist spoke of a certain base station, which traveled around Moscow and to which ordinary citizens joined, after which their phones fell into submission. I have never heard such nonsense for a long time, but this was only the beginning. Then similar stories began to appear in the mass of sources. And the operators refused to comment on the situation, citing the secret of the investigation and the fact that they did not want to give weapons to crackers. On the other hand, those who have been doing this have long understood how they were found and why, but the privacy regimen harms ordinary consumers.
Let's get together what happened and how.
Brilliant criminal scheme
So, in the gazelle which was disguised as a real estate agency there was a driver and another person, they traveled around Moscow and got up in crowded places. Then the second employee of the company “Horn and Hooves” included two laptops and work began. Remotely, another employee connected to these laptops and began to scan the air for an open bluetooth / wifi connection on mobile phones within a radius of 5 kilometers. This is where the ether scanner was needed, which was terribly terribly complex and missing equipment in Russia. This is not so, it’s another matter that such equipment is not certified and its use is punishable.
So, having discovered a working bluetooth or wifi on the phone, the attackers picked up a password (standard zeros, ones, and so on). Moreover, depending on the model and manufacturer, different vulnerabilities were used. If the password was not selected within 5-10 minutes, then this activity was abandoned and transferred to another device. Having picked up the password from the hacked phone, they made a call or sent SMS to a paid number (cost from 28 to 80 rubles). Hackers were not greedy, did not pump out all the money, behaved unnoticed. In a word, small amounts of funds were selected. And this guaranteed their invisibility and the ability to work for a long time.
In this scheme, the main thing is not the hacking method itself, it used standard equipment and some software that was written to facilitate hacking, but was based on software that can be easily found on the network. Not. The scheme is unique precisely as the organizer, who did not get it done. None of the participants knew him. Within six months, the management of K went to the dispatcher, but it was not possible to find who was behind it. That is, the level of security was very good. I am sure that there were few such machines, and the ridiculous level of damage is explained by the fact that they caught only one brigade and one number for sending paid SMS.
Having organized a dozen cars, it was easy to withdraw money from more people. Why do I think it was not one car? In the plot on the first channel it was shown that someone was in charge of the areas in which the machine works. That is, he indicated where to work. This is only necessary when there are several such machines and it is necessary to ensure that they do not intersect each other. This is the simplest explanation.
And there is almost no chance of finding with such an organization who really stands behind the hacks. He’s just smarter and more cunning than those who catch him. For half a year, not catching the organizer means that the management operation K has failed. De facto. On the other hand, the police triumphantly announced their success, but whether you decide to consider it as such or not is up to you. I am of the opinion that there is no success at all. They took the performers, equipment, dug only the tip of the iceberg.
The scheme was accidentally opened at the Megafon network monitoring center. They saw that, as a rule, they leave for one of the paid SMS numbers from different districts of the city, but at the same time. And it seemed strange. Finding out from the subscribers what they were doing, they found out that nobody sent anything. Subscribers themselves did not notice the theft of money from accounts. Surprisingly well thought out scheme, which is proved in practice.
PS For subscribers, this is an occasion to turn off bluetooth / wifi when it is not needed. The device invisibility mode in this situation does not save, it is necessary to turn it off. It is also worth inventing your passwords that differ from the standard ones and are more complicated than them. Simple rules that most people don’t follow.
We also have reason to be proud. This is the first documented case of mass hacking of phones in the world.