Research proves hackers can find you via cell phone location

At the 19th Annual Network & Distributed System Security Symposium in San Diego, California, a research paper called “Location Leaks on the GSM Air Interface” was brought to light. The research, conducted by University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering, reports that hackers can quite easily track the locations of cell phone users anywhere. Service providing companies have access to cell phone users’ locations to be able to consistently provide them with good reception. Hackers, however, are able to breach into the supposedly secure system and retrieve all the users’ information. The researchers expressed several concerns in their report: oppressive organizations can track down the locations of their protesters or thieves can locate their victims’ locations to assist them in their robberies. The researchers have already contacted AT&T and Nokia to urge them to add inexpensive techniques to their hardware.