The Hill
“60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi traveled to Berlin, where she interviewed a team of hackers who are looking for vulnerabilities in mobile phone systems so they can warn the public of the risks they face.
The program sent an iPhone to Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), a member of the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Information Technology, who agreed to use it knowing it would be hacked.
The results were startling.
As soon as the hackers had the phone number, they accessed a flaw in a vital global network that connects phone carriers and accessed nearly everything in his phone. They were able to listen to and record calls, view his contacts and track his movements.
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“First, it's really creepy. And second, it makes me angry,” he said.
“They could hear any call of pretty much anyone who has a smartphone. It could be stock trades you want someone to execute. It could be calls with a bank. ... Last year, the president of the United States called me on my cellphone. And we discussed some issues. So if the hackers were listening in, they would know that phone conversation. And that's immensely troubling.
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