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(The Stingrays, also called IMSI catchers work by drawing information from phones (File Photo: AP)[/caption]Fake mobile phone masts are being used in London to secretly capture people’s mobile phone data an investigation by British TV Sky News has revealed.
It is believed there are more than 20 of the towers – known as Stingrays – being operated in the British capital, the report added.
The devices were detected using German security technology made by GMSK Cryptophone, the report added.
The Stingrays, also called IMSI catchers work by drawing information from phones.
The system tricks the user’s phone into thinking that it is a normal phone mast, and users cannot tell when phones are connected.
Although the Stingrays were built with the intention of monitoring the communications of criminals, the report revealed that all phones are at risk of being intercepted, as the system is unable to distinguish between the two.
This type of surveillance technology is thought to be used across the world, but it is believed this is the first time it’s been discovered in the United Kingdom.
But according to a report in The Times in Novmber, London Metropolitan Police force was already using Stingray technology.
And according to The Guardian, the same the United Kingdom police force paid £143,455 in 2009 for the equipment.
The Met commissioner and United Kingdommost senior police officer, Bernard Hogan-Howe told Sky News:: “We’re not going to talk about it, because the only people who benefit are the other side, and I see no reason in giving away that sort of thing.”
The police force continues to refuse to confirm or deny the use of the technology.
As a result, Sky News say it is impossible to say for definite who is behind the use of the devices.
But National Crime Agency Director-General Keith Bristow told Sky News that talking about the issue to would “defeat the purpose of having the tactics in the first place.”
"Because it's neither confirmed nor denied, we simply don’t know on what basis they are being used - if they are being used,” Brick Court Chambers barrister, Tim Johnston, who specializes in the law of surveillance told Sky News.
(By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News)
(Al Arabica News, 11 Thursday June 2015 The Roman)
