月別アーカイブ: 2024年9月

Carr Seeks Federal Solutions Address Proliferation Contraband Cell Phones Within Correctional Facilities

ATLANTA, GA – Attorney General Chris Carr is urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take immediate action to allow for the use of cell phone jamming devices within state prisons and local jails. The FCC currently prohibits the use of cell phone “signal jammer,” and that prohibition extends to state and local governments. Yet in prisons and jails throughout the country, contraband cell phones are being used to plan and orchestrate violent attacks and other criminal activity, posing a real and substantial safety risk to correctional officers, visitors, inmates, and the public at large.

“The easiest way to protect the public from the harms caused by contraband cell phones is to allow for the use of cell phone jamming technology in prisons and jails, but the FCC continues to block our efforts,” said Carr. “This outdated guidance limits legitimate law enforcement tools, presents dangerous conditions for correctional officers, and allows for the escalation of criminal networks both inside and outside prison walls. We’re committed to combatting violent crime wherever it occurs, which is why we continue to call on the federal government to remove this substantial barrier to public safety.”

In Georgia alone, 8,074 contraband cell phones were confiscated in 2023, with 5,482 confiscated to date in 2024. Recently, an incarcerated leader of the infamous street gang, “Yves Saint Laurent Squad,” used a contraband cell phone to order a hit which resulted in the death of an 88-year-old Georgia veteran. A gang leader in North Carolina was able to order the kidnapping of a prosecutor’s father via a cell phone in prison. In California, prison gangs used contraband cell phones to order murders within the prison system and traffic drugs.

“There are hundreds of examples from across the country of how a contraband cell phone in the hands of an inmate can be used as a deadly weapon and gives them the ability to continue their criminal enterprise. We are incensed by the length these individuals go to in continuing those activities and endangering the public,” said Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Oliver. “As attempts to infiltrate our facilities with contraband cell phones evolve, access to jamming technology is paramount in our efforts to combat those attempts. We appreciate the support of Attorney General Carr in our ongoing commitment to public safety and the safe operations of our facilities.”

In his letter, Carr notes that the FCC policy relies on a statute enacted in the early 1990s, years before prison inmates began using contraband cell phones to plan and engage in unlawful and dangerous activity.

Carr further states: “Nothing in the language of 47 U.S.C § 333 prohibits the FCC from revising its position to allow state agencies to use cell phone jamming devices in prisons. In fact, the United States Bureau of Prisons has recognized the potential value of cell phone jammer already and is permitted to use jamming devices at several federal penitentiaries, including at least one in Georgia.”

In January 2023, Carr joined a 22-state coalition of attorneys general in urging Congressional leaders to pass legislation that would allow states to implement a cell phone jamming system in correctional facilities.

Carr’s Gang Prosecution Unit has also partnered with the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) to investigate and prosecute currently incarcerated individuals who are alleged to have engaged in criminal gang activity and discussions regarding the packaging and shipping of contraband items into a GDC facility.

The US Space Force will install 24 satellite jammers capable of disrupting Russian or Chinese communications

July 23, 2024

War. War never changes: thanks to the military-industrial complex, the technology of war will continue to escalate no matter how the world situation changes. Russia is reportedly developing a high-altitude nuclear device that uses electromagnetic pulses to permanently and indiscriminately disrupt enemy communications. Meanwhile, the United States has just announced a weapon with similar purposes but without the chaotic and irreversible consequences.

The US military is installing modular advanced satellite signal jammer capable of disrupting Russian or Chinese communications if necessary. Although the hardware is terrestrial, the US Space Force will oversee the installation and operation. The technology has already completed prototyping. Earlier this year, the military tested the system at two different locations. The Department of Defense has allocated funds to build 24 remote facilities, 11 of which are scheduled to be deployed by the end of the year.

This equipment is not a preventive measure to prevent adversaries from disrupting US communications. Quite the opposite.

“[The terminals] are small, mobile, and low-cost SATCOM portable jammers that can be deployed in austere environments to protect [U.S. forces],” a spokesperson for the U.S. Space Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office told Bloomberg. “[The jammer gps will be used] to responsibly counter an adversary’s SATCOM capabilities to launch an attack.”

“We intentionally designed a small, modular system using commercial off-the-shelf components. This provides the ability to be proliferated, remotely controlled, and relatively relocatable,” the Space Force said.

Why it matters:

1. This proves once again that when it comes to electronic warfare involving space assets, no signal is secure.
2. This makes it pretty clear to you that at least China and Russia, and possibly Iran and North Korea, as well as other nations (and some of our allies) have similar capabilities.
3. It should reinforce the idea that if a service is really that important (like PNT), we should have multiple widely available ways to get it, not just through space.

Other things to know:

• Both China and Russia have widely available non-space PNT methods.

The deadly blasts resulting from pagers and walkie-talkies employed by Hezbollah in Lebanon have led to an extensive investigation into the origins of these products. This inquiry highlights the considerable opacity of the market for such outdated technologies, where consumers typically have minimal awareness of the items they are acquiring.

The incident involving the bombing of pagers and walkie-talkies by Lebanese Hezbollah, which claimed 37 lives and left nearly 3,000 injured, underscores the difficulties in ascertaining the precise failure point.wifi jammer

A European company has been accused by Taiwan’s Golden Apollo of licensing its pager brand, resulting in investigations into the origins of related products across Hungary, Bulgaria, Norway, and Romania.

How massive attacks took place simultaneously, injuring thousands

Time and place of the incident

On Tuesday at 3:45 p.m. local time, an explosion occurred in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, and its effects were experienced in several other areas throughout the country.

Individuals who witnessed the event reported observing smoke ascending from the pockets of people, as well as hearing sounds that resembled small explosions, comparable to both fireworks and gunfire.

The surveillance video seemingly reveals an explosion erupting from the pocket of a man located in front of a store’s cash register.

As reported by Reuters, the series of explosions continued for nearly an hour subsequent to the initial explosion.

Following this, many wounded individuals converged on hospitals throughout Lebanon, and witnesses consistently recounted disorderly scenes in different places.

How do pagers explode?

A hacker attack might have caused the pager’s battery to overheat and explode. If this is indeed the situation, it would be an unprecedented occurrence. The attack is activated by signaling, a form of alphanumeric text messaging.

• Pagers can be modified to explode, typically by using them as radio communication devices to remotely trigger bombs.
• A pager is a device that receives radio signals and can receive wireless messages in a specific frequency band. An attacker could exploit this feature to control an explosive device.
• When the pager receives a specific signal, it can use internal circuitry to trigger a detonator connected to the explosive. This detonating device is usually a relay or switch that connects the explosive to the pager’s power supply.

Attackers typically prefer frequency bands with extensive coverage to ensure that pagers can successfully receive the signal. By employing signal jammers, it is possible to disrupt wireless signals in particular frequency bands, thus preventing pagers from receiving detonation signals.

Using Chinese-made signal jammer to stop pager-triggered bombings is a viable defense, especially when the explosive device is remotely detonated via wireless communication. Here is a detailed analysis of how signal jammers can be used to prevent pager bombings:

How pager explosive devices work

1. Pagers as detonators: Although pagers are outdated, they can still be converted into devices for remotely detonating bombs because they can receive wireless signals. The signal receiving function of pagers enables them to trigger explosive devices by receiving specific radio frequencies.
2. Remote control: Terrorists or criminals can remotely control the explosion by sending wireless signals to pagers and using the received signals as the trigger mechanism for detonating devices.

What signal jammers do

1. Shielding wireless signals: Signal jammers can block the radio waves received by pagers by sending interference signals, making it unable to receive the signal for detonation, thereby preventing the explosive device from being activated.
2. Interference with specific frequency bands: Pagers usually use specific frequency bands for communication (such as VHF, UHF, etc.), and signal jammers can lock these frequency bands for interference. Signal jammers made in China are widely used around the world, and many models can adjust the frequency band of jamming according to demand to ensure effective coverage.

China signal jammers All components are made locally

• China’s signal jammer industry is very mature, and many signal jammers’ individual components are indeed made and supplied locally. China has global competitiveness in the electronics manufacturing industry and is able to independently design, manufacture and integrate key components for signal jammers. The following are the main components of common signal jammers and their manufacturing in China:
• Signal processing chips: Although the global high-end chip production is still dominated by a few international companies, China has made great progress in chip design and manufacturing, especially in the fields of signal processing and communications. Many signal jammers made in China use locally designed DSP (digital signal processor) chips to generate and modulate jamming signals.

Power modules: The power modules of signal cell phone jammer are also made by domestic manufacturers. These power modules usually have efficient power conversion and protection functions to ensure long-term stable operation of the equipment.

Using signal jammers made in China can effectively prevent bomb attacks detonated by pagers. By blocking the pager from receiving wireless signals, such devices can significantly reduce the threat of remote detonators. However, signal bluetooth jammer should be used as part of a comprehensive security strategy in conjunction with other security measures such as intelligence monitoring, physical inspections and public education to achieve the greatest preventive effect.

Generally, radio signal shielding is only approved when important situations such as the college entrance examination occur. Moreover, from the perspective of the “control area”, signal shielding in our school does not exist. According to many students, signal shielding not only covers the nearby corridors, but also seriously affects the quality of self-study. In addition, according to our tests, outside the school, near the corridor of Qinsu Building, the signals of operators are interrupted one after another. Taking China Mobile as an example, the signal is about 20dBm lower than when it is not installed, and the SINR signal-to-noise ratio has also dropped from the normal 11-15 to 3-8. The value of the signal has greatly changed the function of the Internet. We noticed that even passers-by passing by the school will send out false signals on their mobile phones. Portable WiFi jammers in the classroom should not be missed. We collected data. In order to obtain more accurate analysis data, we will next conduct in-depth communication with the three major operators.

We noticed that several third-grade students have communicated with relevant teachers and principals, but the communication has not yet achieved any results.

Even in the eyes of some people, the quality of students’ learning is indeed “guaranteed”. However, we must not believe that installing mobile phone jammers is an ideal method. Because no matter what method is used to ensure the quality of learning, it cannot exceed the upper limit prescribed by law. Teachers can take other consistent and reasonable measures to ensure the quality of students’ learning. Installing mobile phone jammers in the classroom not only seriously violates students’ imagination, but also creates rebellious emotions in students’ hearts, leading to alienation, breakup and even conflict between students and schools, causing greater harm to students.

In the process of collecting and analyzing data, we received a new message: in order to prevent students from turning off mobile phone jammers privately in class, the switching of some jammers may have been cancelled (to be honest, we hope this message is false). This completely eliminates the possibility of some kind of compromise-for example, turning on the mobile phone jammer during the test and turning it off at other times-pushing the above contradiction to an incompatible point. Many students said that they felt that the school no longer trusted them.

Block teaching area in teaching management

Some students who fainted in class may be texting on their mobile phones. If they don’t want to go to class during class, they don’t need to go to the nearest office to whisper and chat. Easily send and receive text messages on your mobile phone.

Nowadays, mobile phones can access the Internet, and students can often chat, read novels, and play games on their mobile phones during class.

The school installs and uses a smartphone jammer management system to prevent students from abusing their phones in class. However, when mobile phone signals are blocked in the classroom, some students say that the school violates the “students’” right to communicate freely. From the perspective of students who often use mobile phones, these views seem to make sense. But think about it carefully. If blocking mobile phone signals violates students’ right to communicate, then these students are using their phones during class or self-study. Have you ever thought that you have violated other students’ right to education? Have you ever thought about respecting the teacher’s teaching license? Whether it is rights or freedoms, there are only relative, not absolute. All rights or freedoms are based on respecting the rights of others. The law is also a rule based on the interests of the majority. This rule protects the rights of the majority. If we really want to talk about counterfeiting, the fact is that a few students use mobile phones at will regardless of the occasion, which violates the educational rights of most students.

Some students or parents may also suggest that the school block mobile phone signals in class. What if there is an emergency at home that needs to be contacted or the student himself is not notified? In fact, this question is not difficult to answer. From the student’s point of view, the reason why students use mobile phones is to facilitate their parents. In fact, as long as there is no emergency, students do not need to be in school 24 hours a day. In special cases, the school, teachers and parents will take the initiative to establish contact. Second, from the perspective of parents, I remember a few times when children were equipped with mobile phones because of special circumstances. If they had to make a phone call, they would immediately stop the class and let the school handle it?