In Ukraine, each side uses mobile networks to spy on the adversary but also to locate him, to then hit him with a missile. For this, the armies use false relays made up of drones and a truck to locate the smartphones of the soldiers.
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[EN VIDÉO] Kézako: how does a mobile phone network work? Every day thousands of calls are made in France from a mobile phone. Allowing you to stay in touch easily and almost everywhere, the smartphone however works with a complex mobile phone network. The University of Lille 1 and Unisciel explain its secrets to us on video in this episode of Kézako.
Airplanes are not the only enemies of populations and soldiers in the tunes. There are also the drone, but also… telecommunication networks. In a long investigation, sky news details how Ukraine and Russia use them as real weapons of war.
The objective is not only to intercept conversations and to do espionage, but it is above all a question of using the networks to “track” the enemy. Exactly as when a judicial inquiry makes it possible to know where the mobile phone of a suspect. In this case, each side uses devices called “cell-site simulators”, which mimic a telephone relay. They are linked to drones sent over the battlefield to pick up signals from nearby phones, then the information is sent to a truck dedicated to this mission.
Monitor 2,000 phones within a radius of 6 kilometers
Its simulators force phones to connect to multiple towers in the area, measuring signal strength and direction for each phone and mast. By analyzing these responses, based on signal strength, it is possible to determine where devices are likely to be and send a strike there. It’s even easier when the phone’s GPS chip is activated. It is then possible to have the precise position of the smartphone, and therefore of the enemy.
always according to sky newsin Ukraine, the Russians use the electronic warfare system Leer-3 — consisting of two drones and a command truck — as a means of location Ukrainian forces. This system can pick up more than 2,000 telephones within a radius of 6 kilometers. The Ukrainians would use an equivalent system, and the New York Times reports that at least one Russian general has been killed after a call on his mobile phone was intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the Ukrainians have succeeded in intercepting Russian communications, whether by radio waves or by telephone. © TV5 World
Why is Russia not destroying infrastructure?
At war for eight years in the Donbas, Ukraine has experience with this type of technology, so it has issued a circular to soldiers and people who have been fighting since the invasion began in late February. You can read a list of tips such as leaving your SIM card at home, buying one at the very site of the conflict or even making calls away from the front line or in heavily frequented areas. And of course, as much as possible, to leave your phone off.
According to sky newsthere is a reason why the infrastructures of the telecommunications are finally little attacked by the Russians: they allow them to recover information from Ukrainian calls, but also to operate their drones. Each camp therefore needs the mobile network to work.
Another reason? Simply know the enemy positions without hitting them. Acquire as much information as possible about their movements and their projects. ” Perhaps they are not big enough targets to immediately send a missilebut they may be sufficiently so that we can follow them and draw information from them”, concludes John Scott Railton, researcher at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto.
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