Mobiles susceptible to radio hacks

Attack could command phones to record and transmit your voice

Podcast Deep inside your mobe is the “baseband chipset”, a slab of silicon that handles all radio communications.

Baseband systems have plenty of processing grunt and, according to renowned Jailbreaker Eric "Musclenerd" McDonald, are deeply integrated with the rest of a mobe’s hardware. That makes them a great place to run a virus, which could be uploaded through a hacked cell.

The good news is that this attack is largely theoretical for now: to pull it off you would need to follow your target around and aim a dedicated cell at their phone.

The bad news is that the baseband chipset is just the kind of thing you’d attack if you wanted to run the extensive surveillance needed to sustain a police state.

In this podcast, McDonald explains just how the baseband chipset could be exploited and how to do it for the Qualcomm chipsets used in the iPhone.

Eric Musclenerd McDonald on Risky.biz

You can also download the podcast here. ®

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