Forwarded from Strike Force
A caveat to this otherwise exciting news: traditionally IMSI catchers would utilize 2G signals to intercept communications after downgrading the connection from 3G or 4G. That downgrading was the way that IMSI catchers detection apps would identify malicious GSM nodes, otherwise known as stingrays.
The newest generation of IMSI catchers are able to utilize 4G by spoofing the key exchange process between the device and the tower. This allows the operators of the stingray to listen into otherwise encrypted 4G calls. This is why Signal is so important; it is a data protocol, not a cellular GDM protocol, and has its own encryption stack that is not able to be compromised in this process, which only applies to cellular 4G communications over GSM.
It is also important to note that the most common use of stingray type devices is not the interception of communications or the cutting off of communications. Rather, it is the triangulation of location or the logging of the presence of people at a location, like a protest. This operates through "pings" from the device to the IMSI catcher, which is pretending to be a tower. That process still functions regardless of the cellular protocol being used.
So, this is great news, and it renders millions and millions of dollars of police surveillance gear obsolete. But, they have been rolling over to these new machines for years, so it is very much something we should still be concerned about.
The EFF has done some excellent research on these new generation IMSI catchers, and even released a detection tool called Crocodile Hunter. See links below for some basic information, research that has been conducted and to the code for the detection tooling.
https://www.eff.org/wp/gotta-catch-em-all-understanding-how-imsi-catchers-exploit-cell-networks
https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/05/crocodile-hunter-4g-stingray-cell/
https://github.com/EFForg/crocodilehunter
The newest generation of IMSI catchers are able to utilize 4G by spoofing the key exchange process between the device and the tower. This allows the operators of the stingray to listen into otherwise encrypted 4G calls. This is why Signal is so important; it is a data protocol, not a cellular GDM protocol, and has its own encryption stack that is not able to be compromised in this process, which only applies to cellular 4G communications over GSM.
It is also important to note that the most common use of stingray type devices is not the interception of communications or the cutting off of communications. Rather, it is the triangulation of location or the logging of the presence of people at a location, like a protest. This operates through "pings" from the device to the IMSI catcher, which is pretending to be a tower. That process still functions regardless of the cellular protocol being used.
So, this is great news, and it renders millions and millions of dollars of police surveillance gear obsolete. But, they have been rolling over to these new machines for years, so it is very much something we should still be concerned about.
The EFF has done some excellent research on these new generation IMSI catchers, and even released a detection tool called Crocodile Hunter. See links below for some basic information, research that has been conducted and to the code for the detection tooling.
https://www.eff.org/wp/gotta-catch-em-all-understanding-how-imsi-catchers-exploit-cell-networks
https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/05/crocodile-hunter-4g-stingray-cell/
https://github.com/EFForg/crocodilehunter
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Gotta Catch 'Em All: Understanding How IMSI-Catchers Exploit Cell
Table of ContentsSection 1: Introduction Section 2: Necessary background info Section 3: Overview of attacks Section 3.1: Basic IMSI-catcher Section 3.2: Communication interception Section 3.2.1:
Forwarded from Strike Force
Strike at Rikers
200 detainees at the Robert N Davoren Center on Rikers Island in NYC have been on a hunger strike for 7 days. Conditions at the facility have been deteriorating for years, and the recent Covid-19 surge has brought conditions to a breaking point. An ineffectual "quarantine" means that detainees have no access to recreation and spend much of their time locked in their cells. A major staffing crisis and ongoing sickout among COs (up to 1/3 of the whole staff calls in sick on some days) have led to more service cuts. Some units reported having their commissary visits cut. The heating system in many units is also failing and violence (both between detainees and from COs) has skyrocketed.
In this article, David Campbell, a former political prisoner at Rikers, reflects on how challenging it is to organize collective action at Rikers, and why the current strike is a huge deal.
https://www.nysfocus.com/2022/01/14/rikers-strike-david-campbell/
200 detainees at the Robert N Davoren Center on Rikers Island in NYC have been on a hunger strike for 7 days. Conditions at the facility have been deteriorating for years, and the recent Covid-19 surge has brought conditions to a breaking point. An ineffectual "quarantine" means that detainees have no access to recreation and spend much of their time locked in their cells. A major staffing crisis and ongoing sickout among COs (up to 1/3 of the whole staff calls in sick on some days) have led to more service cuts. Some units reported having their commissary visits cut. The heating system in many units is also failing and violence (both between detainees and from COs) has skyrocketed.
In this article, David Campbell, a former political prisoner at Rikers, reflects on how challenging it is to organize collective action at Rikers, and why the current strike is a huge deal.
https://www.nysfocus.com/2022/01/14/rikers-strike-david-campbell/
New York Focus
I Know What It Means to Strike at Rikers
I helped organize a strike at Rikers during the first wave. Those striking now are not to be ignored.
Forwarded from Inhabit
"Mass student walkout at Kenwood Academy in Hyde Park, Chicago, over unsafe conditions" https://fxtwitter.com/chicago_commune/status/1482060819873636355
Fxtwitter
FixTweet
Sorry, that post doesn't exist :(
Forwarded from Florida Youth Liberation Front
Thousands of students gather in front of Chicago Public Schools denouncing lack of PPE and safety for students in schools amid Omicron spike
https://fxtwitter.com/chifreemedia/status/1482081863665598476?s=20
https://fxtwitter.com/chifreemedia/status/1482081863665598476?s=20
TwitFix
(C)hicago (F)ree (M)edia
Forwarded from Strike Force
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/13/german-covid-contact-tracing-app-luca/?
German police used a tracing app to scout crime witnesses.
“Police in the city of Mainz, near Frankfurt, successfully petitioned local health authorities to release data from an app called Luca when a man fell to his death after leaving a restaurant in November. They said they were seeking witnesses who had dined at the restaurant around the same time and reportedly found 21 people from the app data.”
“Luca is subject to Germany’s strict data-protection regulations and, by law, information from the app cannot be accessed by non-health authorities and used in criminal prosecutions. The app stores the user’s personal details and uses QR codes to record how long they’ve spent at a location. The information is encrypted to obscure any personal information, according to Culture4life, the company that developed the app, and can only be decrypted by health authorities if someone at a venue is infected.
Culture4life said it received requests from law enforcement for data from Luca “almost every day” and that it always declined because it did not have the ability to access tracing information. “In this case, the health department probably simulated an infection under pressure or requests from the police and obtained the consent of the company [the restaurant] to provide the data,” the organization said.”
German police used a tracing app to scout crime witnesses.
“Police in the city of Mainz, near Frankfurt, successfully petitioned local health authorities to release data from an app called Luca when a man fell to his death after leaving a restaurant in November. They said they were seeking witnesses who had dined at the restaurant around the same time and reportedly found 21 people from the app data.”
“Luca is subject to Germany’s strict data-protection regulations and, by law, information from the app cannot be accessed by non-health authorities and used in criminal prosecutions. The app stores the user’s personal details and uses QR codes to record how long they’ve spent at a location. The information is encrypted to obscure any personal information, according to Culture4life, the company that developed the app, and can only be decrypted by health authorities if someone at a venue is infected.
Culture4life said it received requests from law enforcement for data from Luca “almost every day” and that it always declined because it did not have the ability to access tracing information. “In this case, the health department probably simulated an infection under pressure or requests from the police and obtained the consent of the company [the restaurant] to provide the data,” the organization said.”
SWR Aktuell
Mainzer Polizei nutzte Daten aus Luca-App ohne Rechtsgrundlage
Die Mainzer Polizei hat bei Ermittlungen zu einem Sturz mit Todesfolge ohne rechtliche Grundlage auf Daten der Luca-App zugegriffen. Das haben SWR-Recherchen ergeben.
Forwarded from Strike Force
FWD from Sudanese Anarchists Gathering
To our anarchist comrades, regarding what happened in the demonstrations of January 17, 2022 AD and the positions on Monday:
Excessive repression practiced by the government forces against the defenseless peaceful revolutionaries led to the martyrdom of 7 revolutionaries in the center of the capital, Khartoum, and serious injuries with live bullets.
This led to a decision to take control of the capital, Khartoum, and all the cities of Sudan, and to declare comprehensive civil disobedience as of today, January 18, 2022 AD.
Currently the revolutionaries control almost all the streets with checkpoints. The security forces come from time to time to practice their excessive suppression of the revolutionaries, despite that, the revolutionaries are still in a control of the streets.
A.C.A.B
To our anarchist comrades, regarding what happened in the demonstrations of January 17, 2022 AD and the positions on Monday:
Excessive repression practiced by the government forces against the defenseless peaceful revolutionaries led to the martyrdom of 7 revolutionaries in the center of the capital, Khartoum, and serious injuries with live bullets.
This led to a decision to take control of the capital, Khartoum, and all the cities of Sudan, and to declare comprehensive civil disobedience as of today, January 18, 2022 AD.
Currently the revolutionaries control almost all the streets with checkpoints. The security forces come from time to time to practice their excessive suppression of the revolutionaries, despite that, the revolutionaries are still in a control of the streets.
A.C.A.B
ALERT: Heavy machinery and reports of tree cutting in the Atlanta Forest at the Old Atlanta Prison Farm! DEFEND THE FOREST!
Enter at Key Road and Fayetteville Road and head south on trails
Enter at Key Road and Fayetteville Road and head south on trails