Hackers crawled Canadian streets with SMS blasters causing 13 million network disruptions


Authorities in Canada have disclosed details of a mobile cyber operation that relied on SMS blasters mounted inside vehicles moving through urban areas.

Three suspects drove around downtown Toronto with these hidden devices running in their cars, impersonating cell towers. The Toronto Police Service confirmed that this marked the first operation of its kind ever recorded in the country, with the campaign causing 13 million network disruptions in total. Investigators say the devices mimicked legitimate cellular base stations, forcing nearby phones to connect automatically due to stronger signal proximity.

Read more…
Source : TechRadar News


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Major telco breach sees 6.2 million users have personal info leaked

    February 13, 2026

    Dutch telecommunications company Odido has confirmed suffering a cyberattack and losing sensitive data on millions of people. In a notice published on its website, the company says it “deeply regrets” the situation and is “fully committed” to limiting its impact. “Based on investigation, the incident concerns personal data from a customer contact system used by Odido,” ...

  • Singapore says China-backed hackers targeted its four largest phone companies

    February 10, 2026

    Singapore’s government has blamed a known Chinese cyber-espionage group for targeting four of its top telecommunication companies as part of a months-long attack. In a statement Monday, Singapore confirmed for the first time that the hackers, known as UNC3886, targeted the country’s telecoms infrastructure, including its largest companies: Singtel, StarHub, M1, and Simba Telecom. While the ...

  • European Commission probes intrusion into staff mobile management backend

    February 9, 2026

    Brussels is digging into a cyber break-in that targeted the European Commission’s mobile device management systems, potentially giving intruders a peek inside the official phones carried by EU staff. Identified by CERT-EU, the bloc’s computer emergency response team responsible for defending EU institutions, the intrusion was detected on January 30 and affected infrastructure associated with centrally ...

  • Apple’s new iOS setting addresses a hidden layer of location tracking

    February 3, 2026

    Most iPhone owners have hopefully learned to manage app permissions by now, including allowing location access. But there’s another layer of location tracking that operates outside these controls. Your cellular carrier has been collecting your location data all along, and until now, there was nothing you could do about it. Apple just changed this in iOS ...

  • The Chrysalis Backdoor: A Deep Dive into Lotus Blossom’s toolkit

    February 2, 2026

    Rapid7 Labs, together with the Rapid7 MDR team, has uncovered a sophisticated campaign attributed to the Chinese APT group Lotus Blossom. Active since 2009, the group is known for its targeted espionage campaigns primarily impacting organizations across Southeast Asia and more recently Central America, focusing on government, telecom, aviation, critical infrastructure, and media sectors. Rapid7 investigation ...

  • Internet collapses in Iran amid protests over economic crisis

    January 8, 2026

    Internet connectivity collapsed across Iran on Thursday amid nationwide protests, according to web monitoring firms. “I think we’re at a near-total disconnection from the outside world now,” Amir Rashidi, an Iranian cybersecurity researcher who works for the nonprofit Miaan Group, told TechCrunch. Doug Madory, the director of internet analysis at Kentik, a company that monitors internet ...