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.
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Source : TechRadar News
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