Mysterious Phony Cell Towers Could Be Intercepting Your Calls

It seems that there are at least 17 cell phone towers in the CONUS that do not appear to be a part of any recognized network, yet they are functional. Someone built the things, and if you are close to them, your phone will connect through them. And at that point, whoever is operating the towers can not only listen in, they can also upload malware to your smart phone. One especially exciting bit of programming that can be uploaded to your phone can turn it into a spy device: even when you think it’s off, the mike and camera can listen, watch and transmit.

The obvious suspect would be the NSA. But they can tap into the existing network and get everything they want anyway, much more readily than via a few mystery towers. A more disturbing thought is that the towers were paid for and operated by the Chinese or some such foreign entity. Many of the towers are built on or near military bases, just perfect for capturing juicy tidbits.

Might be interesting if it turns out that all of these towers have perfectly mundane and valid back stories… but the publication of this article inspires China to build just such towers.

A map of these “interceptor” towers:

I would have expected more in California, Silicon Valley and such. Still, the “southern border” clustering seems odd. Perhaps these are being installed by Mexican drug cartels for some reason?