Tag: TechStories

A very intriguing video about vulnerabilities in mobile communication.

In brief, the gist is this: due to the expansion of the network of cellular operators, control over who enters “the club” has been lost, and it’s fairly easy to gain unauthorized access to the SS7 network, through which mobile connections are managed. From there, one can do anything: intercept calls and SMS, record calls without the caller’s knowledge, and even track locations — in cities, it’s incredibly accurate. Access to the network simply costs money. And, of course, one must know what to do and how—it’s just knowledge, albeit rare.

A notable example is the case with Princess Latifa from Dubai, who was captured after an attack via SS7 allowed the location of her yacht captain’s phone to be pinpointed.

A live attack is demonstrated, in which a hacker intercepted a phone call intended for someone else. This was done by deceiving the network into thinking that the victim’s phone was in roaming, which allowed the hacker to redirect the call.

In the discussion, it is emphasized that, although newer protocols introduced with 5G are more secure, the transition to them is slow due to network effects: all operators need to switch at the same time to fully benefit from the advantages.

Conclusion: SMS is evil. Use authenticator apps or hardware tokens for two-factor authentication. Or, just don’t stick out so much that someone would not mind spending a few thousand dollars to hack specifically you.

Links in the comments.

I wonder why no one has made a player that integrates with the Apple Watch, and turns off the background music (for example) when the pulse shows that the person has fallen asleep? Ideally, if it could do the same with YouTube or any other service. Essentially, it involves opening a browser window with YouTube, then I start whatever I need, and at the right moment, when the watch reports that I have fallen asleep, simply closing that window.

If you think your toll roads are expensive, take a look at ours. $31 just to use a dedicated lane. And that’s not even the maximum; I’ve heard it can reach $40. Note that on I-395/95, it’s not a dedicated highway, but just a dedicated lane.

If there are three or more people in your car, you can go for free, but you have to activate a special mode on the Ez-Pass box (HOV). If there are fewer than three, you must definitely disable this mode, and then you pay according to the standard rates. Forgetting to turn off HOV when driving alone or with one passenger means a $125 fine for the first offense, $250 for the second, $500 for the third, and $1000 for the fourth and subsequent offenses. From the second offense, you also get three penalty points, which significantly increases insurance rates, and if unaddressed, the record stays for 11 years. So, if you want to use the toll highway, you need to be not only prepared to pay but also remember to switch the box to a different mode.

Truthfully, the cost indicated on the sign is the maximum possible toll at that moment for the full route. It’s the price for the entire journey on toll lanes, from one end to the other — about 60 miles, roughly an hour’s drive. But if you exit earlier, the system automatically recalculates the price based on your actual route.

Moreover, there are cameras on the road that somehow manage to detect if there are three people in the car. It’s easy to spot two in the front, but how do they detect an additional person at the back? Well, they don’t see children well, which is why the police periodically stop families and apologize. I’ll leave a link to one of the solutions in the comments. Understandably, there will be some false triggers, but at least the data set provided for human check and filtering will have fewer errors.

People on forums are asking if, now that abortions are considered murder in some states, from which month can you count two passengers in the seat of an expecting mother in the car. A valid question, indeed.