BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14, Iran has hacked mobile networks across the Middle East in an effort to track the locations of US military personnel and contractors during the conflict, the Financial Times reported, citing telecommunications data from the Mobile Surveillance Monitor research project and people familiar with the matter.
The report said US lawmakers expressed concern over the findings, warning that weaknesses in mobile roaming systems and smartphone advertising technologies have created potential security risks for military personnel.
According to the Financial Times, officials in Gulf countries suspected Iran or groups linked to Tehran of exploiting roaming agreements with local telecommunications providers to identify the locations of US personnel.
A US official, speaking anonymously, said actors connected to Iran had allegedly used commercially available advertising databases to track mobile devices in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Gary Miller, a senior research fellow at the cybersecurity watchdog Citizen Lab who reviewed the data, said Iran has the ability to obtain real-time and continuous location information from mobile networks.
“It would surprise me very much if Iran were not using SS7, or mobile network access in the region, to track US users,” Miller was quoted as saying.
The allegations highlight growing concerns over cyber warfare, telecommunications security, and the vulnerability of military personnel operating in regions with advanced mobile surveillance capabilities.
