A network of fake base mobile stations that can snoop on leading politicians’ mobile phones, as well as ordinary people, has been discovered in central Oslo, some outside Norway’s parliament and the prime minister’s residence, according to a report.
Investigative journalists from the Aftenposten newspaper have
detected a number of places in the capital with suspicious mobile
activity. They teamed up with two security companies to help
track down fake base stations, which confirmed that spy equipment
has been used in downtown Oslo.
According to the newspaper, false base
stations, known as IMSI catchers, have been most probably used to
monitor the movements of high-ranking officials, specifying who
enters parliament, government offices and other buildings in the
area. It could also be used to snoop on phone calls of selected
people in the area.
An IMSI catcher (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) is a
telephony eavesdropping device for monitoring mobile phone
traffic and movement of mobile phone users. IMSI catchers are
used in a number of countries, including the US, by law
enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Under Norwegian law, only the National Security Agency (NSM) and
police are authorized to use eavesdropping equipment.
The Security service (PST) has launched an investigation in
central Oslo, following the Aftenposten report, to find out who
installed the surveillance equipment.
The Local has quoted security operatives as saying that a number
of organizations could be responsible for the false base
stations.
“It could be private actors or state actors,” the PST’s
Arne Christian Haugstøyl said.
“I can’t on the basis of these discoveries say that it is a
foreign intelligence agency, but I can say that we know that
foreign intelligence agencies have this kind of capacity. And in
our preventive work we advise those looking after Norwegian
interests not to talk about sensitive issues on mobile
phones,” he noted.