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GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

people.torproject.org

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Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#11

Post by tlrobinson »

markrages wrote: post #8
tomkinstinch wrote: post #4

Very few companies produce GPS chips. Most devices that include GPS capability do not bother to reinvent the wheel, but instead elect to integrate an existing GPS processing chip. It's unlikely the GPS module is integrated with the processor core of this thing. Since it is likely separate, it would be fun to probe the PCB with a logic analyzer to see if there are any exposed serial (or possibly I2C, SPI) traces relay…

The enterprising hacker could always use a LabSat[1] device to play back a bogus GPS trace. No physical connection to the board is required. [1] http://www.labsat.co.uk

I'd like to see FBI agents pulling up a map of the guy's locations and finding an elaborate drawing of a penis.

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#13

Post by cloudwalking »

jrockway wrote: post #3

I guess it's a sad world when I breathe a sigh of relief upon seeing that this didn't take place in the US. I like how the agency gummed over the chip silkscreens so you can't see what chips they're using. Even though it's obvious that one is flash, another is a GPS module, and the third is the micro. And it appears that some scraping will show you the part numbers anyway. Amateur hour.

It does take place in the US though, just not this instance... http://www.wired.com/2010/10/fbi-tracking-device/

Edit: this is downvoted, but a similar comment with the same link, posted 10 minutes later, is upvoted? I don't understand.

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#14

Post by godgod »

jrockway wrote: post #3

I guess it's a sad world when I breathe a sigh of relief upon seeing that this didn't take place in the US. I like how the agency gummed over the chip silkscreens so you can't see what chips they're using. Even though it's obvious that one is flash, another is a GPS module, and the third is the micro. And it appears that some scraping will show you the part numbers anyway. Amateur hour.

I'd like to know if there are any fingerprints on the actual device. It's obvious a criminal placed the device but maybe there is a way to find out exactly who did this by searching a national fingerprint database. Wishful thinking to use the tools of the enemy but hey...it's worth a shot.

Even though this incident didn't happen in US, you know it is happening right now. Our intelligence forces are totally out of control and now unleashed on innocent Americans that have NOTHING to do with terror. Just because you speak out makes you the enemy. If that isn't a sign that we're living in a police state where total surveillance is accepted, I don't know what is.

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#16

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

jrockway wrote: post #3

I guess it's a sad world when I breathe a sigh of relief upon seeing that this didn't take place in the US. I like how the agency gummed over the chip silkscreens so you can't see what chips they're using. Even though it's obvious that one is flash, another is a GPS module, and the third is the micro. And it appears that some scraping will show you the part numbers anyway. Amateur hour.

This has already happened in the US. Pretty galling that the FBI requested one to be returned:

http://www.wired.com/2011/11/gps-tracker-times-two/ http://www.wired.com/2010/10/fbi-tracking-device/

Would be interesting if they could lift any prints from the tape on this newest one and publish them. I can't imagine it's easy to apply duct tape with gloves on.

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#17

Post by gnu8 »

jrockway wrote: post #3

I guess it's a sad world when I breathe a sigh of relief upon seeing that this didn't take place in the US. I like how the agency gummed over the chip silkscreens so you can't see what chips they're using. Even though it's obvious that one is flash, another is a GPS module, and the third is the micro. And it appears that some scraping will show you the part numbers anyway. Amateur hour.

The vendor obscures the chips because they sell these devices to agencies for thousands of dollars on government purchase orders. It wouldn't do for the customer to discover they could build these things for less than $100 in parts that anyone can order from anywhere.

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#18

Post by simcop2387 »

Based on the way it's laid out and all the unpopulated headers I'm almost wondering if this is a GSM dev board that someone makes that's paired with a GPS daughter card they make. It doesn't look quite as purpose built for a tracking application as I would expect, if it was i'd expect it to be far more compact and have very few test points and headers for the controller. In fact I'd expect they'd probably use a smaller controller too to help cut down on power usage, since they've got the large flash chip they can probably store all the data and send it in burst rather than keep the GSM modem powered up all the time which would let it last far longer in the field.

In fact even the soldering for the power wires to the strange battery array board looks rather amaturish. I'm not sure I'd chalk this up to any agency that's got much of a budget for this kind of thing. I think it's likely to be some other activist group that's in disagreement with this one and wants to dig up dirt (Private Eye maybe?)

Edit: correction, what I thought was a bunch of batteries on a board looks like it's actually the magnets that held it in place on the car. D'oh. Either way it still looks odd that it's built like a set of development boards by a chip manufacturer.

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#19

Post by eli »

tlrobinson wrote: post #9

It would be interesting to figure out where the data is being sent. It could probably be done in a variety of ways (JTAG? Replace the SIM card and setup a fake GSM base station? Check your local laws...). It would be pretty ironic if they routed through Tor...

It should be relatively easy to pop the SIM card out and use an off the shelf forensics tool. Those things have like 64kb of storage. At the least you'd get the phone's number and IMEI.
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