New research states that sophisticated hackers are now taping the Phone network by exploiting the SS7 protocol to steal money from the bank accounts by intercepting the messages.
SS7( Signaling System No. 7) protocol used by Internet service providers and telecom companies to control the phone calls and text messages around the world.
SS7 Attacks performed by Cyber criminals using an existing design flaw in SS7 protocol and exploit it to perform various dangerous attacks such as data theft, eavesdropping, text interception
Basically, these controls are extremely limited and some time the access can be provided to the intelligence agencies or surveillance contractors for a legitimate purpose since it is a very serious concern about sensitive data and privacy of users.
According to the motherboard statement, but now this capability is much more widely available in the hands of financially-driven cybercriminal groups, who are using it to empty bank accounts.
Also Motherboard identified that a UK’s Metro Bank fallen victims of this SS7 Attacks and now the cyber criminals started wide spreading this attack.
Based on the confirmation given by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the defensive arm of the UK’s signals intelligence agency GCHQ, SS7 attacks are using by cybercriminals to intercept the messages to steal the code that used for bank transaction.
NCSC said that “We are aware of a known telecommunications vulnerability being exploited to target bank accounts by intercepting SMS text messages used as 2-Factor Authentication (2FA).”
SS7 Attacks Hard to Detect
Basically, SS7 Network doesn’t authenticate who send the request and pass it into
Since the bank accounts are under
“something that members of the general public don’t necessarily have to worry about. An SS7 attack is unlikely to be effective if the bank uses a form of 2FA that doesn’t rely on text messages, such as an authenticator app.”
Some of The Telecom Service Provides Statements
Vodafone spoke person said to Motherboard, “We have specific security measures in place to protect our customers against SS7 vulnerabilities that have been deployed over the last few years, and we have no evidence to suggest that Vodafone customers have been affected.”
Also they states that, Vodafone working with GSMA, banks and security experts in order to mitigate and protect their customers.
Major UK telco BT said, “We’re aware of the potential of SS7 to be used to try to commit banking fraud. Customer security is our top priority so we’re always upgrading our systems and working with the industry and banks to help protect our customers.”
You can follow us on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook for daily Cybersecurity updates also you can take the Best Cybersecurity courses online to keep your self-updated.