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Hacking the call records of millions of Americans
Imagine if anyone could punch in a phone number from the largest U.S. cell carrier and instantly retrieve a list of its recent incoming calls—complete with timestamps—without compromising the device, guessing a password, or alerting the user. Now imagine that number belongs to a journalist, a police officer, a politician, or someone fleeing an abuser. This capability wasn’t a hypothetical. I recently identified a security vulnerability in the Verizon Call Filter iOS app which made it possible for an attacker to leak call history logs of Verizon Wireless customers.
Imagine if anyone could punch in a phone number from the largest U.S. cell carrier and instantly retrieve a list of its recent incoming calls—complete with timestamps—without compromising the device, guessing a password, or alerting the user. Consider scenarios involving survivors of domestic abuse, law enforcement officers, or public figures—individuals who rely on the confidentiality of their communication patterns. With unrestricted access to another user’s call history, an attacker could reconstruct daily routines, identify frequent contacts, and infer personal relationships.
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