#noding

Louis.Saillans @LSaillans

Hey everyone, with the recent revelations about First Wap’s Altamides system, I wanted to break down the tech behind this surveillance scandal in simple terms. A massive investigation just exposed how this company has been selling tools to track phones globally, targeting journalists, politicians, celebrities, and more often without oversight. Let’s explain the basics of cell phone communication and how vulnerabilities like this happen. How Your Phone Talks to Cell Towers Your phone is always “checking in” with nearby cell towers to stay connected to the network. Why? So that if someone calls you or sends a message, the network knows where to route it. In order to be reached by a cell tower, the system first needs your rough location: this is shared automatically as your phone registers with the closest phone tower (or “base station”). Once that’s done, the tower can send and receive data: your voice, texts, or internet traffic travels as radio waves between your phone and the tower. It’s like a two-way street : 1. location first for routing 2. then the actual data exchange. But here’s the key: not every interaction involves sending data. Sometimes, the network just queries your location to keep things efficient. Enter SS7: The Backbone with Zero Security All this magic happens on an ancient system called SS7 (Signaling System No. 7). Developed in the 1970s, SS7 is the global protocol telecom companies use to set up calls, route messages, and (crucially) locate phones across networks. It’s like the nervous system of the phone world, connecting carriers worldwide. The big problem? SS7 was built assuming everyone on the network is trustworthy, like an old-school club with no ID checks. There’s virtually no security: no encryption, no authentication for queries. Anyone with access (like telecom insiders or connected companies) can send requests without proving who they are. Now, imagine a “proxy company”, a middleman with leased access to telecom networks (often for legit reasons like messaging services). Using SS7, they can ping the network for a phone’s location without actually transferring any data, like a call or text. It’s simple: They send a silent query like “Where is this number?” via SS7, and the network responds with the cell tower info (which reveals your approximate location). Since you can call people all around the world, you can also check on people’s location all around the world. No notification to you, no data exchanged, just pure tracking. In the Altamides scandal, First Wap (an Indonesia-based firm run by Europeans) built a whole business around this. Their Altamides tool has been used in over 100 countries to spy on targets, from world leaders to activists, by exploiting these SS7 flaws. The investigation uncovered a dataset of 1.5 million tracking attempts, showing how unregulated this tech has become. I think that if that dataset hadn’t leaked the business would still be running. This isn’t new : SS7 vulnerabilities have been known for years, but companies like First Wap thrive by hiding behind weak regulations and “law enforcement” excuses. What Can You Do? •Turn off location services when not needed, though it won’t fully stop network-level tracking. •Push for modern protocols like Diameter (with better security) to replace SS7.