Is it possible to wiretap mobile phones? How to define it? What to do? More on this later in the article. Nowadays, in the age of technology, new modern toys appear every day. This is due to the fact that the world is changing, people are developing, new needs are emerging, and people have become dependent on technology, and most importantly, on sophisticated gadgets.

Phones and wiretapping

Every day, improved phone models appear that even replace modern cameras. But users often forget that advanced models can be wiretapped. Many people are wondering, how can you tell if your phone is being tapped? Let's look at this issue.

At this time, influential people who have many secrets and have something to lose have become afraid of wiretapping mobile phones. Only law enforcement agencies have the right to listen to a phone, but the Internet can make this task easier.

The main signs of listening to a mobile phone

How to determine if your phone is being tapped? Let's look at the main signs that the phone has been taken under control:

  1. Your mobile phone battery drains very quickly. This sign cannot be called at all distinctive feature. Since in modern devices people install many applications that affect the phone’s charge, and this may also be the first sign that it’s time to take the gadget in for repair. But another question is when a person does not use the device throughout the day, in addition to how to simply contact someone, and it quickly runs out. Therefore, you need to think about whether he is being bugged.
  2. Sometimes you can notice such a strange thing that the phone turns on and off by itself, and can also reboot itself; the user may not even always notice this if he is very busy. As described in the first case, this most likely may be a malfunction and it’s time to bring it in for repairs. Or there is a possibility that the device is already being listened to. To find out for sure, you need to turn off the phone; if it turns off for a long time, or after turning off the phone continues to light, then the device is being monitored.
  3. Heard extraneous sounds during a conversation. The presence of other devices affects the fact that an echo can be heard during a telephone conversation, as well as the fact that it takes a long time to reach the desired subscriber. And sometimes it happens that the subscriber hears only himself, and not the interlocutor, or during a conversation he hears the conversation of other people.
  4. When the mobile phone approaches the radio, speakers and TV, there is interference, this is also present when the phone is turned off.

Other signs of cell phone wiretapping

It may have happened to the subscriber that when replenishing the account on the phone, money was debited for no reason. In this case, you should immediately contact your telecom operator and clarify the reason. If, after checking, the operator cannot indicate the reason for the write-off, then the money may be spent on replenishing the listening.

Every day, strange SMS are coming more and more often. It is necessary to pay attention to this, especially the text. Signs of phone tapping are illegible text with strange symbols or numbers.

Signs of wiretapping on a landline phone

So, it has become clear how to check a mobile phone for wiretapping and what signs you should pay attention to. How are things going with the stationary? First of all, you need to pay attention to your surroundings.

If you have any suspicions, you should carefully inspect your home or place of work. Pay special attention to how things are located; if everything is in its place, then, alas, this is paranoia. If not, then maybe someone visited and dropped something off. It is also worth paying attention to the walls near the telephone. If something is wrong, you need to call the special service.

Secondly, you should pay attention to the phone box itself; if you notice something wrong, you need to call a telephone technician to confirm your suspicions.

Other Signs of Landline Tapping

Next, you need to check the situation outside the window: how many cars are parked outside your window, what kind of transport it is (passenger cars or large trucks). Perhaps intelligence agencies are sitting in one of them and listening to private conversations.

You need to beware of annoying and unauthorized repairmen who try to look into the house in order to supposedly repair something. In order to make sure that this is a real repairman, you first need to call his service and make sure that such a person works there. And one more important fact: call only the phone number that is known to everyone and is in public access, and not according to the one given by a stranger.

What to do?

Well, now it’s clear how to understand that your phone is being tapped. The main signs of listening were mentioned above. Knowing them, you can deal with your gadget. But what to do if your phone is tapped? You can try to dispel suspicions using the following methods:

  1. A device for detecting listening devices. This device provides a device that connects to the telephone and can be used to detect wiretapping on the line.
  2. Applications. For smartphones, you can download special applications that will help detect eavesdropping programs and phone hacking.
  3. Telephone companies that serve the subscriber. In order to understand that the phone is being tapped, you need to contact the operators cellular communications, which is on this moment serves the user. Using special equipment will help you detect most listening devices.
  4. If a cell phone company refuses to provide the requested information, it may be operating under government orders.
  5. Police. If there is significant evidence that the phone is being tapped, you can contact the police to have the phone thoroughly checked, because they have the necessary equipment that can reveal this. If an unauthorized intrusion into personal space is detected, protect against wiretapping of your mobile phone. However, you need to understand that if there is no evidence, the police will be able to refuse assistance.

Who can listen to the phone?

Nobody really spreads it, but to listen to a cell phone without cell phone anyone can. Especially:

  • Law enforcement agencies. They have the right to listen to both wireless and wired telephones, subject, of course, to a court decision and the appropriate sanctions from the prosecutor. Cell phones are wiretapped without access to the phone. In this case, operators assist mobile communications and play an important role in the investigative process. This is done in order to prevent a terrorist attack and other actions of attackers.
  • The audition takes place in the environment of big business. This is done in order to understand what competitors or partners are up to, so that you can get ahead of them.

  • Husband or wife. Most often, this happens due to the fact that spouses do not trust each other, and in order not to collect information from others, they install devices to listen to the phone. This is mainly done by detective agencies.
  • Caring parents. There are such moments, especially in families where teenagers are growing up, parents resort to this method to protect their children. There are cases when children disappear. In order to quickly understand what happened, parents install listening devices on their children’s gadgets.
  • Scammers or blackmailers. To do this, they process the innocent victim long before they listen.
  • Hackers. These amateurs don't care who their victims are. They do this in order to have fun or, so to speak, “show off” in front of their peers. They send viral messages to your phone.
  • Friends, colleagues, relatives and even neighbors. Sometimes, for “fun,” they can listen to someone they know. But it’s better not to do this, so as not to witness any unpleasant conversation.

If you have any suspicions, you need to contact diagnostic specialists or immediately contact the police. We found out how to understand that your phone is being tapped. But you also need to figure out how to protect yourself from such actions.

Eavesdropping protection

Not every person can understand and protect their personal life in a timely manner. Sometimes this is very costly and difficult. This is mainly done by special services, but even without them you can try to protect yourself using some special applications:

  • EAGLE Security is one of the reliable programs that will save your phone data. This program can be easily downloaded from the Internet, it scans all phone calls and allows you to identify extraneous networks.
  • Android IMSI-Catcher Detector- a lightweight and reliable application, which is also downloaded via the Internet and is based on the work of the previous application.
  • Darshak- very good and powerful program. Suitable for any phone models. Diagnoses calls and messages. Works also in sleep mode.

  • Catcher-Catcher - simple program, ensures the reliability and success of identifying suspicious networks.
  • If you still haven’t managed to remove suspicions, then it would be nice change SIM card, or better yet, change your phone.
  • Another important factor! In order to surf the Internet from your phone, you should use not the usual browsers, but special browsers such as Orweb and Orbot, they effectively check phone data (SMS, all calls, as well as various files).

Conclusion

When sending your phone for repair, you need to choose not an unknown company, but a trusted center. Since it is quite problematic to understand that your phone is being tapped.

Naturally, everyone needs to be vigilant. But you should always treat this without fanaticism. After all, most of the suspicions of wiretapping are false. Therefore, do not needlessly deprive yourself of a restful sleep!

Of course, few people would dare to deny the fact that most representatives of the stronger sex have such a quality as jealousy. Men are especially alarmed by the situation when their spouses go into another room to talk on a mobile phone or hang up the call in their presence. What could this behavior mean? In this case, the question of how to tap your wife’s phone suggests itself. Do not hire a private detective, since this pleasure is not cheap. How to listen to your wife's phone for free and is it possible?

Weigh the pros and cons

Before we begin to consider these issues, it is necessary to warn those who are jealous, because there is a secret telephone conversations, therefore the fact of access to them is illegal.

You could end up facing criminal charges. In addition, the moral aspect of this matter cannot be discounted. Will you be able to calmly look your wife in the eyes when she finds out that you know the contents of all her telephone conversations? It is very likely that your marriage will crack after this, since your missus will believe that you do not trust her at all.

However, if the moral aspect of the problem is secondary for you, and the question of how to tap your wife’s phone is the main one, then it makes no sense to stop your intentions. Unfortunately, when experiencing jealousy, a person is ready for any reckless actions.

Methods

So, what are the ways to solve the question of how to wiretap your wife’s cell phone? There are several of them.

Legal

The first of them is for informational purposes only, as it belongs to the official category. It involves direct contact with the cellular operator.

However, such a service is provided exclusively to representatives of law enforcement agencies, provided that they have permission from the relevant authorities. In this case, the operator must provide all statistics on outgoing and incoming calls, as well as the contents of all sent SMS messages. Let us emphasize once again that ordinary citizens cannot use this method.

Illegal

Don't know how to tap your wife's phone? You can use the illegal method if you are not afraid of the consequences outlined above. The point of wiretapping in this case is to intercept the signal that comes from the mobile phone to base station operator and back. It must be taken into account that from a financial point of view this method is considered quite expensive, since it will be necessary to purchase special equipment. And yet, in deciding how to wiretap a phone, a huge number of people use it. Why?

Firstly, there is no direct contact with mobile operator, and secondly, the likelihood that the wife will find out that she is being tested using such a sophisticated method is minimized.

However, it is necessary to mention the disadvantages of the above method. The fact is that its range is limited - only 300 meters from the phone being tapped. In addition, it must be taken into account that mobile operator can change the encoding of the transmitted signals, in which case the efficiency of your eavesdropping equipment will be zero.

Spyware

However, there is another solution to the question of wives. To do this, you will need so-called “spyware” software, which is installed discreetly into the cellular device. This know-how works on the principle of conference calling. During conversations, it quietly involves a third party in the communication process and duplicates it to another number, which is specified in advance.

The disadvantages of this wiretapping method include the fact that for each model mobile device an individual program algorithm should be created. Moreover, it is imperative to establish direct contact with the listening device.

Internet to help

Today, many are interested in how you can listen to your wife’s phone without paying a penny. Unfortunately, free cheese can only be in a mousetrap. At the same time, you can find free version spyware, but be prepared for the fact that it will have functional limitations. How to tap your wife's phone? Everything is very simple. Use the Internet.

The World Wide Web is currently simply loaded with programs that are able to function incognito on an eavesdropped phone, transmit and save the contents of telephone conversations and SMS messages, as well as determine the geographic location of an object and even photograph it with a built-in camera. Certain software allows the device to operate like a “bug”: you make a call and hear everything that happens on the “other end of the line.”

How to determine if your phone is being tapped

So, we have decided how to listen to my wife’s phone.

It would also be useful to consider the signs that may indicate that your conversations are being monitored.

The battery in your mobile device runs out quickly

If you begin to notice that your cell phone battery is always hot and drains quickly, then it is possible that you are being tapped. Be sure to check this fact with specialists.

Malfunctions

When your phone does not respond promptly to shutdown mode or reboots chaotically, this may also indicate that the contents of your conversations are becoming known to third parties.

Uncharacteristic sounds in the device

If while communicating with your interlocutor you hear extraneous sounds, noises or unfamiliar voices, this may be a sign that your device contains spyware.

Interference

The likelihood of wiretapping may be high when you notice that a mobile device located near the “non-working” speakers is creating interference.

This is a clear sign that the spyware has become active and is broadcasting the conversation to third parties.

The connection with the interlocutor takes too long to establish

Sometimes cases arise when, having clicked on the call, you have to wait a long time for the connection to occur with the interlocutor, and the disconnection period is also excessively prolonged. The above signs may also confirm the fact of illegal access to telephone conversations. In this case software it takes a certain period of time to transmit the contents of a telephone conversation.

What to do if you are being bugged

If you are sure that the contents of your telephone conversations are becoming known to third parties, this is a reason to contact law enforcement agencies. The police will use special equipment to check your suspicions.

In general, if you are not sure that your other half is faithful to you, then you should resort to wiretapping her telephone conversations as a last resort. It's better to sort things out face to face. Also try not to leave your cell phone unattended for a long time and use different passwords when unlocking it.

During a period of rapid development information technologies Many people are wondering how to check their phone for wiretapping. With the active use of computer technology, smartphones and the Internet, various spy applications and programs are being created that can damage office equipment and communication devices. But there are certain signs that you should pay close attention to. There are methods that make it easy to independently check whether the phone is wiretapped. Let us consider in detail in our article how to eliminate “strange” interference and in which case you will need the help of specialists.

How to detect wiretapping on your phone

The phenomenon of wiretapping a mobile phone has its own unique features, by which it can be determined. Getting access to another person's phone is quite simple. If you suspect that your own device is being tapped, then do not hesitate and urgently send it for diagnostics.

Detectives and telecommunications specialists know exactly how to check a phone for wiretapping, but first try doing it yourself so as not to waste money on company services. Of course, such diagnostics cannot guarantee an absolute result, but the presence of an extraneous network will certainly be detected.

The main signs of attachment to a listening device

To check your phone for wiretapping, you need to remember the basic signs of interaction with a listening device. Many of them can also be found on regular faulty devices. Make sure this is not your case.

1. The battery drains quickly. Of course, this is not always an accurate indicator, because it is also inherent in devices on which many applications and games are installed. But it’s a completely different matter when the phone can be in the wrong hands, disappear from the field of view of its owner (at night you cannot control) and there is no running programs. If, in a calm state, a mobile device is discharged in just an hour or two, then this is a clear signal that there is wiretapping on it.

2. The device turns off spontaneously, reboots or turns on the backlight. If all of the listed problems are not related to disruptions in the operation of the operating room Android systems or iOS, then there is a high probability that interference is being created on the side. Remember that when the phone is still tapped, nothing new or unnecessary is displayed on the screen, but during operation periodic failures may occur.

3. During a conversation, extraneous sounds are constantly heard. The presence of other connected networks prevents the subscriber from reaching another number - this takes many times longer than without wiretapping. If during a telephone conversation there is minor interference and a noticeable echo of both voices, this means that a special listening program is being connected. It happens when a subscriber hears only himself, and not his interlocutor. Cell phones interfere with radio, TV, and stereo systems. Even when turned off, the phone may emit noise when approaching any other devices.

4. After replenishing the account, an impressive amount of funds was written off for no reason. If such a problem is detected, you must call the operator at hotline to clarify the circumstances or go to your Personal Area on the Internet and look at “Fund Expense” If there is no error, then we can assume that along with the balance, information about calls and messages was sent to the listening program.

If you suspect the operation of eavesdropping systems, it is recommended to contact a service that removes bugs and other special programs, or change your gadget.

Don’t forget that you can install wiretapping on every phone, regardless of its cost or year of manufacture. Of course, the very first push-button models they succumb to this only after installing bugs, and not using a network or the Internet, since they do not have operating systems, but even these cases are a cause for concern.

Is it possible to buy a wiretapping bug?

Previously, only law enforcement agencies had access to spy equipment, and only special services could install it on the required number. Today, with the development of Internet technology, a bug can be inexpensively purchased online. This is a small program for wiretapping a cell phone that can work for you and suit your needs. However, there is one big problem: in order to install the application, access to someone else's device is required. Advantage - it works on all brands, even very outdated ones. This will inform you about calls and text messages.

It must be said that the price of a quality product is relatively high - several tens of thousands of rubles, for this reason, the wiretapping bug is not used so often. In addition, there are more advanced remote methods that involve remote connection to the cellular network operator and the implementation of special applications on program level. Our service sells similar equipment for household use.

Wiretapping at a distance

The most popular method among users. There is no need to look for the moment when a person leaves the phone unattended, to deal with spyware installations, and through services you can manage it anonymously. Absolutely everyone is at risk modern devices, and given that they are used by all age categories of citizens, any person can be brought under control. When the smartphone is active, it creates very little interference that is unnoticeable, the battery does not drain, everything works as usual, as a result, you can listen to other people’s conversations from a distance and read the other subscriber without the danger of being detected.

To eliminate the possibility of listening to a mobile device at a distance, a few tips from experts will help:

  • should not be communicated over the phone confidential information
  • Do not use your cell phone for business negotiations
  • a conversation conducted in a moving car is much more difficult to listen to due to noise and frequency changes
  • there is no need to take risks and trust phone repair to an unfamiliar company with a dubious reputation

How to listen to your wife's phone without installing programs

The same question is asked by women who want to test their husband. Today, all communication is conducted through mobile communications, which means that this is the basis for a channel of reliable information. If you do not have the opportunity to check your wife or husband’s phone, then choose remote connection methods; alas, they are only possible with the help of specialists. However, they do not require searching and installing programs, which is fraught with danger both for you and for someone else’s phone. You can download a program riddled with viruses and lose your personal data, but for another person the harm can be even more global - theft of passwords and all documents downloaded on the smartphone. At best, it will be a stupid toy with information that the subscriber is online or busy without indicating or providing the spouse’s telephone conversations. The service of wiretapping your wife's (husband's) phone will help in case of divorce to convict your other half of betrayal.

In order to wiretap someone else's phone, you just need to send us mobile number, no other information is required. After testing the device, our company will connect the controlled number to a duplicate channel on the server, from where the information will “go” to you. The service is paid for once and is valid for an indefinite period. The entire device will be under control, for example, if the smartphone is dual-SIM, then information is collected from all numbers connected to this phone.

Knowing how to check your phone for wiretapping, you don’t have to fear for the integrity and safety of the device, as well as for yourself. At the first “bell”, you must immediately contact repair shops that will carry out diagnostics. If wiretapping is installed remotely, they will not help. You need to look for specialists who, through requests from the provider’s server, will be able to create a channel for duplicating your conversations and SMS messages. Send your orders to us via the feedback form.

What is included in the package of services for monitoring other people's conversations:

  • Copying all data from the monitored device
  • Recording incoming and outgoing calls
  • Detailed information about subscribers
  • Online recording of all telephone conversations
  • Audio files - conversations in MP3 format with the ability to download to your computer
  • SMS message details
  • Determining the location of the device on the map
  • Listening to your surroundings
  • Manage applications, files and folders

Development digital technologies, the advent of “smart” smartphones has pushed society towards the widespread use of mobile communications for conversations and searching for interesting information. But sometimes, it is necessary to control the extreme consumption of Internet resources through special programs. Someone is keeping an eye on the employees so they don’t waste money work time for entertainment, other family members - children or elderly relatives.

In order to check whether a mobile phone wiretapping is installed on a device, you need to know the main signs indicating its operation.

How to listen to mobile phones from a distance

The more different mobile devices, the more means of wiretapping there become. Intelligence services and police have the ability to intercept SMS, listen, record conversations, and monitor with the help of cellular companies. It is there that full control of a person’s actions is carried out and a report is issued upon the first request of the state. organs. Permission can be obtained by legal authorization of the court.

For ordinary citizens, there is a method of wiretapping phones by installing spy programs that can remotely monitor all subscriber activities.

Let's look at some ways.

Signal interception equipment

A quick means of intercepting mobile signals are mobile decoy base stations. When monitoring a specific subscriber, its identifiers on the network are determined by imei. Next, the interception station is located close to the location of the control object. The mobile phone, scanning the network, identifies this station and takes it as the nearest base station of its operator. Signals from other subscribers pass through it and are transmitted further to cellular network. The computer tracks the identifiers and, having found the right one, starts wiretapping the mobile phone. This technique can only be performed by special structures.

Program for wiretapping a mobile phone

The cheapest wiretapping of a mobile phone is possible by installing a spy program. To do this, you need to download the utility and secretly install it on the controlled device. The problem is free apps from open access with hidden “worms” and will steal your personal data rather than spy on someone else’s number.

How to detect wiretapping of a mobile phone

Many wiretapping programs can hide their presence on a smartphone. They are not active. They can only detect antivirus programs With current databases, even that’s not all.

But don't worry. If there is a possibility that your conversations will be intercepted, then you need to pay attention to the non-standard behavior of your smartphone. There are various possible signs of cell phone wiretapping that are easy to recognize by someone with a smartphone:

1. The battery discharges quickly, the battery temperature rises, and the backlight suddenly lights up.

The remote control algorithm assumes the presence of constant sending signals, even in a “resting state” and spends additional electricity on this. Every smartphone has a battery. If you know exactly how long it lasts and suddenly notice a sharp reduction in the operating period, then replace the battery. If the situation does not change, then urgently check your smartphone for unauthorized programs.

2. Unexpected reboots, spontaneous shutdowns of the device.

As a rule, a smartphone exhibits this behavior when dubious applications are removed. Rebooting dangerous programs can disguise themselves as system utilities, informing you that it is not advisable to remove them. The solution is to reinstall the operating system. Before this procedure, we recommend saving contacts in cloud services.

3. The presence of interference, crackling, extraneous noise during a conversation.

If noise or a strong echo appears during a conversation, it is possible that the smartphone is wiretapped. If you notice repetition of phrases with a time delay, you should end the conversation and call the subscriber back from another device.

4. Long delay when calling a subscriber and establishing a connection.

To understand whether the device is being wiretapped, analyze several components. For example, it takes a long time to establish a connection with the interlocutor after the call stops ringing. This delay is also due to the fact that the equipment records conversations using an identifier.

Wiretapping a wife's or husband's phone

Suspicions of infidelity can ruin the life of spouses. If the situation reaches its climax, then telephone wiretapping will be the solution. If doubts are dispelled, this will lead to the restoration of normal relationships, which are formed only on the basis of trust. To read other people's SMS messages or find out the contents of conversations and there are no conditions to install the software, we recommend placing an order for, which will show all incoming and outgoing calls to a specific number. As a rule, when a lover appears, the spouse will communicate with him for a long time and most often via cell phone. If you want to read correspondence from instant messengers or, you can also take a printout of the correspondence, based on the results of checking which you can make a decision.

Ways to protect against eavesdropping

For preliminary protection against wiretapping, update operating system smartphone, set a login password, install an antivirus.

Changing your SIM card will not help you protect yourself from wiretapping - when registering on the network GSM standard phone identifiers are used. By changing your device or buying a new SIM card, you won’t throw an experienced specialist off the scent. Using 10-15 geolocation points of the old device, the computer identifies you.

The following can be used as protective equipment against wiretapping:

  • voice distorters that make it unrecognizable, therefore, the recorded conversation will not be presented as evidence;
  • scramblers - encrypt the conversation under different sounds, but your interlocutor should also have a similar thing;
  • cryptophone - a device with built-in conversation encryption tools
  • The Global Secure GSM system involves the purchase of a special SIM card that does not have stable identifiers, and communication occurs through a server with call-back functions, voice distortion, and protection against false base stations.

How to listen to someone else's mobile phone

Using our service, you can listen to a mobile phone by subscriber number via the Internet. All you need is a tracking number. We will do the rest of the work for you. An anonymous wiretap is installed on the phone, which will record conversations in mp3 format, check voice mail and intercept incoming and outgoing messages, as well as track the person’s location and his minute-by-minute movement.

Alternatively, you can give a gift to the person whose phone you want to listen to. You buy a gadget and install it while you have access to it. reliable program, which has been tested in advance and is confident in its performance. Then you make a surprise, and that person is unlikely to guess about the hidden control and will not notice the catch. This is especially true for gifts to loved ones or friends.

No other options for wiretapping a phone at a distance have yet been invented. The process does not stand still and perhaps remote commands or built-in chips will appear very soon. But this threatens that phones will be chipped at the factory, and as a result, listening to someone else’s conversations and recording them on micro media will not be difficult.

https://www.site/2013-08-19/kto_kak_i_zachem_proslushivaet_vashi_razgovory_i_chitaet_perepisku_issledovanie_site

“Shhhh. This is not over the phone"

Who, how and why listens to your conversations and reads your correspondence. Study site

"Not on the phone." “I’ll call you back from another number now.” “Let’s go outside and take a walk, it’s better not to talk here.” Such phrases have become firmly established in the life of the Russian establishment, but just a few years ago those who complained about wiretapping of phones and offices were mistaken for half-crazy people, like those who wear tin foil hats and believe in the zombie rays of the KGB. Today everyone knows: they listen to everyone, they listen without regard to the law, and the materials of these wiretaps are more often used not in court, but in political intrigues, denunciations, and provocations. the site spoke with one of the professionals of the shadow market of electronic intelligence to find out how this sphere works.

Who's listening

In the language of law enforcement agencies, wiretapping telephones and monitoring Internet traffic is called the abbreviation “SORM” - “System of technical means to ensure the functions of operational-search activities.” SORM-1 is a set of measures aimed at wiretapping mobile communications, SORM-2 is mobile internet traffic. Today, such investigative methods are coming to the fore, eclipsing traditional forensic approaches. Accordingly, the units responsible for SORM are becoming increasingly influential within the internal affairs bodies. IN Sverdlovsk region these are, for example, the Bureau of Special Technical Measures (BSTM) of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Sverdlovsk Region and the Operational and Technical Department (OTO) of the FSB Directorate for the Sverdlovsk Region.

According to the law, wiretapping of telephones and monitoring of Internet traffic is possible only by a court decision. True, the law allows investigators to “turn on the recording” without it, if the case is urgent and wiretapping is necessary to prevent an impending crime. By approximately the same principle, investigators are “as an exception” allowed to conduct searches, receiving court approval after the fact. As in the case of searches, law enforcement officers often use this rule to gain uncontrolled access to other people's secrets.

There are also ways to legalize illegal wiretapping by placing the name and telephone number of the desired person on a long list of suspects in some criminal case. As sources in the authorities say, judges almost never delve into how this or that surname is connected with a criminal case, and sign permission “in one fell swoop.” Such court decisions are classified as “secret”, and citizens will never know who was on the wiretapping list.

However, experts involved in wiretapping say: today, more and more often, citizens are “put on record” without any court decisions at all. Each telecom operator has equipment installed that allows security forces to access the conversations of any client at any time (operators are required to do this by law). And in the regional department of the FSB there is a terminal remote access, with which you can start listening to any mobile user in a few clicks.

According to the law, several special services have the right to conduct wiretapping. In addition to the FSB itself, these are the Ministry of Internal Affairs, FSKN, GUFSIN, customs, FSO, SVR. But control over the equipment itself, which ensures the operation of SORM-1 and SORM-2, is under the control of the FSB. As experts explain, in order to put a particular number under wiretapping, employees from the police bureau of special technical measures do not have to run to the FSB and ask them to press a button: the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other agencies conducting operational investigative activities have their own access terminals. But they are connected “through the FSB,” that is, the main key is still located with the security officers.

“Therefore, for example, in the Roizman wiretapping case, it will be difficult to point all the fingers at the police and pretend that the FSB had nothing to do with it,” says the site’s interlocutor. According to him, responsibility for unauthorized wiretapping and its leakage in any case lies with two departments.

“Why do you need so many phones?”

How to protect yourself from wiretapping? Almost nothing. Firstly, it is useless to change SIM cards: it is not the mobile number that is used for wiretapping, but the unique number of the telephone device (IMEI). No matter what SIM card is installed in the phone, it will still be “live”.

Many representatives of the establishment and businessmen carry several phones with them, believing that one “ordinary” one is listened to, while others - the “leftists” - are not.. - If a person is wiretapped, law enforcement officers constantly receive information about the location of his phone. To do this, the phone does not necessarily have to have a GPS module installed; the location of even the simplest and cheapest handset is determined by base stations with an accuracy of one meter. And if you carry several handsets with you, geolocation data shows that next to your “main” number there are always 2-3 others. They are also immediately put on wiretapping, so walking around with a bunch of phones is completely pointless.”

However, there is a small trick with two handsets that allows you to relatively reliably keep the secret of negotiations. “Suppose there are two devices - A and B. A is used constantly, and there is reason to believe that it is being listened to. B – for confidential conversations, registered to another person. In this case, A and B should never be turned on at the same time or next to each other. If you need to make a call on the “secret” phone B, you turn off A, move further away, into the coverage area of ​​another base station, then turn on B and make a call. Then you turn off B, go again to another base station and then turn on A,” says our interlocutor. Another way is to constantly store a “secret” phone in some hidden place, each time arriving at it with the “main” mobile phone turned off.

Particularly cautious victims of wiretapping prefer to turn off the phone during an important conversation or hide it somewhere away. The site's interlocutor confirms that the ability to record via phone in standby mode exists, but this technology is used infrequently. “In these cases, the so-called microphone effect. This can only be done if a team of specialists works in close proximity to the interlocutors. The signal receiver and recording device must be somewhere nearby,” he explains.

How does it work

Another thing is ordinary wiretapping. It can be massive. Today in Yekaterinburg, the FSB’s capacity allows 25-50 thousand subscribers to listen simultaneously, in Moscow – hundreds of times more. The main problem is not how to record information, but how to decipher and process it. In the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Sverdlovsk Region, for example, there is a special department of “analysts” who are engaged in simply transcribing recorded conversations and turning audio into text. Now Sverdlovsk law enforcement officers, using the preparation for the 2018 World Cup and EXPO 2020 as an excuse, are setting themselves the task of increasing hardware wiretapping capacity. And creating more advanced systems for processing the information received is already a task for security forces not only at the Russian, but also at the global level. Recent scandals in the United States show that Russian intelligence services are far from the only ones involved in illegal or semi-legal “monitoring.”

The world leader in creating data analysis and processing systems for intelligence services is the American company Palantir Technologies. According to the site’s interlocutor, Palantir technologies are used by both American government organizations, such as the CIA, and Russian ones, including the FSB and the Information and Analytical Center of the Russian Government. “The last one is hard to wrap my head around. It turns out that the entire volume of government information, including secret information, goes through the American system..

In Russia, one of the largest suppliers of “analytical” software for intelligence services is also Avicomp Services. And hardware solutions and programs for “monitoring” (that is, wiretapping) are actively sold by the Novosibirsk company Signatek. Its website says that it offers “subjects of operational investigative activities” “systems for monitoring communications of objects: telephone conversations, fax sessions, video calls, SMS messages, Far Eastern Educational Institutions, ICQ, email”, as well as “Systems for monitoring the movement of objects with visualization on a map”.

The product catalog contains examples of what the program interface for “monitoring” looks like:

What'sApp or Viber?

With the analysis of Internet traffic of suspicious citizens (SORM-2), the situation with the security forces is somewhat worse than with wiretapping of conversations. Although telecom operators provide intelligence agencies with any information in the same way, the analysis of this data itself is quite complex. “Any smartphone constantly downloads and sends huge amounts of data. Until recently, there was a huge problem in isolating information of interest from all this mass, for example, correspondence on Skype or WhatsApp. However, now this problem has been generally solved, and even in the regions they have learned to read Internet messengers,” says our interlocutor.

He calls the popular What’s App an extremely unsafe messenger - the information sent is not encrypted. Skype has such encryption, and it would have been reliable if the owners of the service, having entered the domestic market, had not shared decryption codes with Russian security forces. Therefore, today communication via Viber can be considered the most reliable, in which all data (both correspondence and conversations via voice communication) are encrypted and are not yet available to domestic intelligence services (“This is why they are trying to ban Viber in the first place,” our interlocutor is sure). The site’s source does not trust the Telegram service, which is declared to be a “super-reliable” messenger, “as well as everything that is done in Russia, including by Pavel Durov.”

Another relatively reliable way to communicate is to use BlackBerry phones, which have their own messaging service, BlackBerry Messenger. The data in it is encrypted even more securely than in Viber; Russian security forces do not have access to it, and perhaps that is why BBM is banned in Russia. To use it, you have to buy a phone in the USA and “unlock” it from Russian specialists.

A major developer of programs and equipment for SORM-2 in Russia is the MFISOFT company, which supplies software for the FSB. The description of the SORMovich hardware and software complex given on their website states that it can put users under control by name account, phone number, email address, IP and ICQ number. The complex provides “detection and interception mail messages by email address”, “interception of files transferred via FTP”, “listening to IP telephony”, etc.

Who's being watched

Maybe the security forces would like to “listen to everyone,” but in reality there are only 200-300 people in Yekaterinburg under constant surveillance, the site’s interlocutor says. Most of them are suspected of extremism (primarily Islamist) and terrorism, members of organized crime groups under development, participants in large-scale opaque financial transactions (“cashers”, etc.).

“They are absolutely listening to the governor, his inner circle, and the top officials of the city. Deputies of the Legislative Assembly and City Duma are unlikely, only if someone was ordered by competitors. But this is a rare case, no one says anything important on the phone for a long time, and not many people are ready to spend 70 thousand rubles a day to wiretap a competitor,” says our source.

Recently, another proven way to become a victim of wiretapping has emerged - regularly criticize the current government or go to protest demonstrations. Of course, all participants in street actions will not be wiretapped, but the most active ones will be wiretapped. Ekaterinburg has long listened to Evgeny Roizman and Aksana Panova as opponents of Sverdlovsk Governor Evgeny Kuyvashev. Those around the governor do not hide the fact that printouts of their conversations regularly land on the table of the head of the region.

"FSBuk"

Recently, an increasingly significant role in the structure of SORM is played by the analysis of information collected in in social networks.. With Facebook the situation is more complicated, but even here the secrecy of communication is not guaranteed. "Relatively safe way communication - through Western postal services: Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, says the interlocutor of the site. – The Tor network is also effective, guaranteeing anonymity to users. With its help, American journalists, among other things, communicate with their informants.”

Everything for information exchange more people and organizations use cloud services like Dropbox, Yandex.Disk, Google disk and others. Law enforcement agencies are also interested in them. Among the popular services, Google's offering is considered relatively reliable, but our source advises paying attention to Wuala: an encrypted storage facility with servers in Switzerland. True, if you are saving your secrets not from Russian intelligence services, but from American ones, it is unlikely that anything will help you. A few days ago another "super safe" cloud service Lavabit was mysteriously shut down and all of its users lost their information. Apparently, the fact is that Lavabit email was used by former CIA agent Edward Snowden.

Under the hood

It’s rare that a Russian businessman and politician today discusses on the phone something more important than fishing and football. Therefore, in addition to analyzing the actual texts of negotiations, electronic intelligence professionals are engaged in processing large amounts of data, identifying mathematical patterns, implicit connections, and on this basis building hypotheses about the interaction of certain groups or persons. This may include telephone calls, emails, banking operations, operations for registration or liquidation of legal entities, etc. The resulting large diagrams are similar to those shown in one of the presentations of the already mentioned company Avicomp:

Illustration email correspondence, monitoring of telephone conversations has already gone as far as the authors of dystopian novels never dreamed of. Probably, often the power of SORM helps prevent genuine terrorist attacks or real crimes. But much more noticeable to society are cases where electronic intelligence methods are used for political persecution and have nothing to do with legal procedures. At the same time, not only oppositionists, but also politicians loyal to the Kremlin suffer from uncontrolled surveillance. Compromising evidence collected using electronic means often becomes a weapon of the elite struggle against those who until recently themselves ordered the wiretapping of their enemies. In this sense, electronic intelligence has become a danger from which no one is immune.

Our information: How Ural politicians suffer from surveillance and try to save themselves

Everyone suffers from illegal wiretapping. Director of the Foundation for Support of Civil Initiatives “Legal Mission” (Chelyabinsk), Alexey Tabalov, told the site that “all his telephone conversations are being tapped” and he has been convinced of this more than once. Chairman of the Board of the Golos - Ural Foundation Yuri Gurman also assured us that in his organization the special services listen to phones and look through correspondence to e-mail. “I know that they are listening, and let them listen. Although it gets disgusting,” he says.

Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Perm Territory Vladimir Nelyubin told the site that at the entrance to some high offices it is now customary to hand over the phone to the secretary. The banker himself uses classic Nokia, does not recognize modern instant messengers and is not going to protect himself from wiretapping. And the former head of the administration of the governor of the Kama region, Firdus Aliyev, is convinced that it is impossible to protect himself from wiretapping. “Such measures do not exist, it is an illusion. Only personal communication allows us to eliminate leaks as much as possible, so we have to fly [to meetings],” he told the site.

In the “Tyumen Matryoshka” only in the South, in Tyumen, have they accustomed themselves to instant messengers like Viber and WhatsApp: in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, 3G coverage is much worse and it is expensive to use them. But northern officials are actively using hardware against wiretapping. For example, in the office of one of the high-ranking officials there is a “jammer” behind the curtain, which he turns on during important conversations. As they say, this device makes an eerie sound, so talking for a long time when it is working is simply physically difficult.

The same manager tells absolutely fantastic stories about mobile communications. According to him, today security officers have equipment that, once they have recorded the timbre of your voice, if they need to write about you in the future, it will automatically turn on, no matter what phone you are talking on. Therefore, it makes no sense to change numbers and devices. The official is also quite suspicious of the products Apple, although he has been using it since Dmitry Medvedev became president, who introduced the fashion for iPhone and iPad among civil servants. However, he covered the camera lenses on both gadgets with black tape. The official is confident that the owners of the devices can be monitored using cameras.

One of the governors of the “Tyumen nesting doll” was observed without any iPhones. A video camera was found directly above the first person's bed in the official residence. Who ordered the surveillance (FSB or private individuals) has not yet been clarified.

In the Tyumen North, in order not to become a “godsend for spies,” a few years ago they used the old grandfather’s methods - they liked to change Cell phones and SIM cards. One of the leaders of a large company told the site’s correspondent that there is a place near the shore of the Irtysh in Khanty-Mansiysk, passing over which a boat could run aground, so many telephones are sunk there.

The most thoughtful officials and businessmen will always prefer personal conversations telephone conversations. Moreover, as one of them admitted, the most reliable way of communication is to write on a piece of paper, after which this piece of paper is simply burned.