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Earlier quoted context omitted.
With all that being said, I'd consider that a gross misuse of emergency functionality.
A warning to take shelter from incoming missiles seems quite reasonable use of emergency broadcast systems to me.
I feel kind of weird that Netanyahu was allowed to give a speech from the UN HQ. It’s rather like allowing Putin to do so.
I'd like more details. Did they really hack the phones? Or use the towers to call the phones with a message. Hacking every cellphone sounds unrealistic. Making a call to every phone connected to a tower sounds plausible.
Is it really unrealistic though? Considering Israeli Pegasus spyware alone? Honest question.
Not because it would be impossible, although the "every phone" is a bit of a stretch given how hard it would be to build an exploit that reliably works on all the messed up versions of Android that vendors put out.
But because if you had a capability like this, you wouldn't burn several full exploit chains just to broadcast a speech.
Doing something on the network side (either compromising existing infrastructure, simply being the infrastructure provider, or providing fake base stations) and then simply calling each phone - sure.
Pushing emergency alert cell broadcast messages with a link to the stream - sure.
Actually exploiting the phones? Nah.
How come the more I hear about what Israel or Israeli companies can do with our devices makes me just not want to use a device at all? Maybe my tinfoil hat is too tight? Why are they so bold with their abilities while other countries are not? Are they just that much better, or are other nation states just better at keeping quiet?
You probably took your security for granted? I'm being perfectly serious, RCEs like this are table-stakes for modern cyber-warfare.
I'd like more details. Did they really hack the phones? Or use the towers to call the phones with a message. Hacking every cellphone sounds unrealistic. Making a call to every phone connected to a tower sounds plausible.
In the UK we recently had a test of the emergency alert system. Most people had an alarm and a message on screen, with phones locked. There were a few incidents of motorists ending up in road traffic accidents in the immediate aftermath, and some phones reportedly spoke the announcement rather than just beep loudly. Since the 'beep' is just an audio file, my hunch is that some A/B testing was going on, with most peop…
Reportedly, some phones have a setting to toggle TTS for emergency alerts...
"Those who do not will be hunted" just feels gross. There's something sinister there
I'd like more details. Did they really hack the phones? Or use the towers to call the phones with a message. Hacking every cellphone sounds unrealistic. Making a call to every phone connected to a tower sounds plausible.
I think it is more likely that the Israeli government would have abused Gaza's wireless emergency alert system to send a link to a live stream to every cell phone. AFAIK, emergency alert systems are limited to text messages but smartphones will recognise URLs to allow users to tap to open them. But a user would have needed to actively tap on the link to open the stream.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it really unrealistic though? Considering Israeli Pegasus spyware alone? Honest question.
Kind of. Not because it would be impossible, although the "every phone" is a bit of a stretch given how hard it would be to build an exploit that reliably works on all the messed up versions of Android that vendors put out. But because if you had a capability like this, you wouldn't burn several full exploit chains just to broadcast a speech. Doing something on the network side (either compromising existing infrastru…
IMHO someone was likely given a task such as "disseminate the message to 100% of the population" and they found a way to claim they accomplished the task (with reasonable credibility).
"Those who do not will be hunted" just feels gross. There's something sinister there
In the verbally given version of the speech that isn't shortened to a tweet ( https://www.nbcnews.com/video/shorts/israel-pm-says-they-use... ) this is explicitly directed "to the jailers of our hostages", and in that context, it seems pretty reasonable.
How come the more I hear about what Israel or Israeli companies can do with our devices makes me just not want to use a device at all? Maybe my tinfoil hat is too tight? Why are they so bold with their abilities while other countries are not? Are they just that much better, or are other nation states just better at keeping quiet?
Reminds me how at some point the U.S. was so strong that it didn’t even have to show up to dick swinging contests anymore. No military parades and the like, which feels antiquated and kind of embarrassing when you see the Russians or North Koreans doing it.
Though the Americans are into military parades again… hmmm…