CROSSBEAM: NSA Exploit of the Day
Today’s item from the NSA’s Tailored Access Operations (TAO) group implant catalog:
CROSSBEAM
(TS//SI//REL) CROSSBEAM is a GSM module that mates a modified commercial cellular product with a WAGONBED controller board.
(TS//SI//REL) CROSSBEAM is a reusable CHIMNEYPOOL-compliant GSM communications module capable of collecting and compressing voice data. CROSSBEAM can receive GSM voice, record voice data, and transmit the received information via connected modules or 4 different GSM data modes (GPRS, Circuit Switched Data, Data Over Voice, and DTMF) back to a secure facility. The CROSSBEAM module consists of a standard ANT architecture embedded computer, a specialized phone component, a customized software controller suite and an optional DSP (ROCKYKNOB) of using Data Over Voice to transmit data.
Status: Limited Supply Available
Unit Cost: $4k
Delivery: 90 days for most configurations
Page, with graphics, is here. General information about TAO and the catalog is here.
In the comments, feel free to discuss how the exploit works, how we might detect it, how it has probably been improved since the catalog entry in 2008, and so on.
d33tah • February 21, 2014 2:58 PM
I hope that this wasn’t asked before already – is there a MediaWiki website for the implants? It sounds like something that should happen. When I read about CROSSBEAM referencing WAGONBED, it kind of begs for a hyperlink.