Iran hacked Middle East mobile networks to track US personnel: Financial Times
Note: AI technology was used to generate this article’s audio.
- Iran or its allies allegedly exploited mobile networks and advertising data to track US personnel in the Middle East.
- US officials warned that telecom systems could leave military users vulnerable.
Iran has hacked mobile networks across the Middle East to track the locations of US personnel and contractors during the war, the Financial Times reported, citing telecommunications data and people familiar with the matter.
The report, based on data from the Mobile Surveillance Monitor research project, said US lawmakers had raised concerns over vulnerabilities linked to roaming systems and smartphone advertising technology.
A person familiar with the matter told the newspaper that Gulf officials suspected Iran or its allies of exploiting roaming agreements with local telecom providers to locate US personnel.
A US official also said actors linked to Iran had used commercially available advertising databases to track phones in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
“Iran absolutely has capabilities to get real-time, immediate and continuous location information,” Gary Miller, a senior research fellow at Citizen Lab, told the Financial Times after reviewing the data.
Miller added that it would be surprising if Iran were not using mobile network access or SS7 signaling systems in the region to track US users.
