Silent SMS
A so-called silent SMS (also stealth ping , silent SMS or Short Message Type 0 ) describes a special form of a message sent via SMS . This is not on the screen of mobile phone displays and triggers no acoustic signal from the mobile operators but falling connection data , which can then be evaluated. Originally, the service was intended to be used for special services by network operators. Such short messages can be used by investigative authorities to locate telephones or to create movement profiles.
The mobile phone provider knows at all times in which location area an activated mobile phone is located. A location area can, however, consist of several dozen radio cells . When sending a (silent) SMS, the mobile phone is requested by a broadcast message to the location area to register with a radio cell so that the SMS can be delivered. The provider then knows the radio cell and can pass it on to the investigative authorities .
Technical background
The basis for Short Message Type 0 is the GSM specification 03.40 from 1996:
"A short message type 0 indicates that the ME [Mobile Equipment] must acknowledge receipt of the short message but may discard its contents."
"A short message type 0 means that the terminal (ME) must confirm receipt of the short message, but can discard its content."
The message generates traceable data traffic, but remains unnoticed by the user on the mobile device in the absence of any display.
Data protection and cell detection in Germany
A silent SMS is only suitable for direct localization if telephone surveillance has been ordered by a judge in accordance with Section 100a of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Otherwise only traffic data can be generated. It is then not possible to locate the location, but only to determine the location, which is dependent on a court order according to § 100g StPO. The network operators then deliver the connection data several days later.
The "silent SMS" is most frequently used by the customs investigation authorities (2012: 199,023), the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (2014: approx. 195,000) and the BKA (2nd half of 2015: approx. 117,000). Silent SMS can also be sent privately, but then only show that the addressed SIM is logged in or that the receiving device is ready to receive.
From 2007 to 2012, federal agencies sent a total of 1.7 million silent text messages to track cell phone owners. In 2012, 328,572 detections were carried out by investigative authorities (Federal Criminal Police Office, Federal Police and Customs), as well as the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, of which 138,779 were located by customs. In the first half of 2013 there were 264,648. Sending silent SMS declined in the first half of 2015, but rose sharply in the second half.
| year | BfV | BKA | BPOL | inch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 107,852 | 96.314 | ? | 236.617 |
| 2012 | 28,843 | 37,352 | 63,354 | 199.023 |
| 2013 (1st half) | 28,472 | 31,948 | 65,449 | 138,779 |
| 2014 (1st half) | ~ 53,000 | ~ 35,000 | ~ 69,000 | (classified as VS-ONLY FOR SERVICE USE ) |
| 2014 (2nd half) | 142.108 | 26,915 | 39,409 | (classified as VS-ONLY FOR SERVICE USE ) |
| 2015 (1st half) | 53,227 | 22,357 | 31,865 | not specified |
| 2015 (2nd half) | 45,376 | 116,948 | 41,671 | ? |
| 2016 (1st half) | 71,555 | 46,679 | 92.027 | not specified |
| 2016 (2nd half) | 143,809 | 16,693 | 47,899 | not specified |
| 2017 (1st half) | 130,887 | 23,646 | 40,077 | not specified |
| 2017 (2nd half) | 179,258 | 21,932 | 33,645 | not specified |
| 2018 (1st half) | 103.224 | 30,988 | 38,990 | not specified |
| 2018 (2nd half) | classified as SECRET | 21,337 | 50,654 | as VS-RESTRICTED USE classified |
The state authorities for the protection of the constitution also use the procedure: The North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Interior presented figures in 2011. According to this, 2,644 subscribers in the most populous German state received a total of 255,784 "silent SMS". It cannot be said whether this determined the whereabouts.
The police authorities use their own software and corresponding “SMS server” for silent SMS. The radio cells evaluation and sending positioning pulses are loud Ministry of Interior legally and technically different measures.
Police in the federal states also use silent SMS. For example, the Berlin police sent 145,666 and the Hamburg police 137,522 silent SMS in 2012.
The federal and state authorities can request the mobile network operators to hand over all data by means of a court order. The Chaos Computer Club spoke of a "locating bug".
In 2003, the Senator for the Interior of Berlin Ehrhart Körting received the regional Big Brother Award for the questionable justification of the so-called "silent SMS" by the Berlin police . Since the second half of 2018, the number of breastfeeding SMS are for the Federal Constitutional protection with the classification level of classified "SECRET" and the number of silent SMS for the Federal Intelligence Service as "TOP SECRET". At the Customs Criminal Police Office, the numbers were also classified as classified.
In 2013 Karsten Nohl showed at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas that older SIM cards with the outdated Data Encryption Standard can be hacked with a "silent SMS".
Legal basis Germany
The Federal Criminal Police Office refers to Section 20l of the Federal Criminal Police Office Act (preventive). For criminal prosecution, the Federal Ministry of the Interior relies on Section 100g of the Code of Criminal Procedure and, for the protection of the constitution, on Sections 1, 3 of Article 10 Act . However, this is very controversial because Section 100g of the Code of Criminal Procedure only regulates the release of traffic data that is generated by receiving a silent SMS. It is in the legal discussion whether an authorization basis is required at all for the mere sending of a silent SMS. In 2003, the Stuttgart Public Prosecutor warned the Public Prosecutor General that “information about the location data of a cell phone that is in standby mode” is only allowed strictly within the framework of Paragraph 100a. Otherwise he considers a "creation of a movement profile by secretly establishing a connection" to be "inadmissible". This view is to be agreed with, since localization is technically not possible in any other way.
On February 8, 2018, the Federal Court of Justice decided that Section 100i Paragraph 1 No. 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is the legal basis for sending silent SMS. As a result, in all cases in which silent SMS are to be used to determine the location of a mobile radio terminal, the court order must be obtained expressly. If the number of silent SMS had been published, it would have been possible to determine for the first time the impact of the BGH judgment on the practice of silent SMS on the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
Silent SMS in Austria
The Austrian Minister of the Interior, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, responded to a parliamentary question in 2014: The Federal Ministry of the Interior does not use “silent SMS” to determine location data. Location inquiries would be directed to the network operator in accordance with the Security Police Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure.
See also
- Patras (customs software)
- IMEI , serial number for the unique identification of mobile radio devices
- IMSI for the unique identification of network subscribers in GSM and UMTS cellular networks
- IMSI catcher for eavesdropping on cell phone customers
- SIM card to identify the user in the cellular network
- Cell phone tracking
- Cell of Origin is a method of mobile positioning in the GSM cellular network
literature
- Use of so-called silent SMS, WLAN catchers, IMSI catchers, radio cell queries and software for image search in the first half of 2015 . Small question (Die Linke), German Bundestag printed matter 18/5509 18th electoral period July 3, 2015, answer from the Federal Government .
- Stephan Tölpe: The criminal investigation measure "silent SMS". wvb, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86573-365-8 (also dissertation at the European University Viadrina , Frankfurt (Oder) 2007) ISBN 978-3-86573-365-8 ( table of contents )
- Legality of sending "silent SMS" . (PDF) Small question (Die Linke), German Bundestag, 18th electoral term, printed matter 18/2504, September 9, 2014, response from the Federal Government . (PDF) Printed matter 18/2695, September 30, 2014
- Christine Krüger: The so-called “silent SMS” in criminal investigation proceedings. Findings on use in practice and consideration of the legal requirements for application . In: Zeitschrift für das Juristische Studium , 5, 2012, pp. 606–613
- Answers (14, 15) from State Secretary Klaus-Dieter Fritsche from December 6, 2011 to the written questions from MP Andrej Hunko (DIE LINKE.) . (PDF) Printed matter 17/8102, December 9, 2011, German Bundestag, 17th electoral period, Written questions with the answers received from the Federal Government in the week of December 5, 2011, pp. 12–13
- Search by SMS . (PDF) Answer of the federal government to the small question of the FDP, German Bundestag printed matter 15/1448 15th electoral term July 22, 2003
Individual evidence
- ↑ 3GPP TS 51.010-1 version 12.5.0 Release 12. (PDF; 27 MB) ETSI , September 2015, pp. 3418–3423 , accessed on April 23, 2017 (English).
- ↑ Guide to data access, especially in the telecommunications sector. (PDF; 429 kB) Munich Public Prosecutor's Office, June 2011, accessed on December 5, 2011 .
- ↑ Richard Meusers (meu): Observation of suspects: Police in North Rhine-Westphalia sent 250,000 location text messages ( memento from April 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), Spiegel Online netzwelt, November 23, 2011
- ↑ http://www.datenschutzbeauftragter-allgemein.de/stille-sms-was-ist-das/ ( Memento from May 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Silent SMS - what is that? , datenschutzbeauftragter-allgemein.de, January 17, 2012
- ↑ ETSI TC-SMG: GSM Technical Specification. ETSI TC-SMG, July 1, 1996, accessed April 1, 2019 (English).
- ↑ Technology for locating cell phones "Silent SMS" from the protection of the constitution , tagesschau.de, February 27, 2015
- ↑ a b BKA sends a lot more "silent SMS" . tagesschau.de, January 19, 2016
- ↑ Roland Freist: Silent SMS and IMSI-Catcher, tracking down and listening to cell phones . PC Welt, August 7, 2012
- ↑ Surveillance - Secret control via "Ortungswanze" , DRadio Wissen , article from January 9, 2012 (at podcast.de)
- ↑ Roland Freist: Silent SMS and IMSI-Catcher - Detect and intercept cell phones . In: PC world advisor . IDG Tech Media GmbH 2012. Accessed July 10, 2013.
- ↑ a b page no longer available , search in web archives: Monitoring by means of silent SMS is increasing , Süddeutsche.de , September 6, 2013
- ^ Ole Reissmann (ore): Silent SMS: German investigators are increasingly using covert cell phone tracking . Spiegel Online netzwelt, September 6, 2013
- ↑ Christiane Schulzki-Haddouti : Federal government only provides incomplete information on telecommunications surveillance , heise.de, July 24, 2015
- ↑ Anita Klingler: Customs sends most of the “silent SMS” , ZDNet, December 14, 2011
- ↑ Bundestag printed matter 17/14714. (PDF)
- ↑ Anna Biselli: More silent text messages from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the BKA and the Federal Police , netzpolitik.org , August 6, 2014. Retrieved on August 6, 2014.
- ^ Matthias Monroy: "Silent SMS" from the domestic secret service have increased fivefold within a year . In: netzpolitik.org . February 27, 2015. Accessed March 2, 2015.
- ↑ BT-Drs. 18/5645
- ↑ andrej-hunko.de
- ↑ BT-Drs. 18/9366
- ↑ BT-Drs. 18/11041
- ↑ BT-Druksche 18/13205. (PDF) Retrieved August 14, 2017 .
- ^ German Bundestag: Printed matter 19/505. Retrieved February 19, 2019 .
- ↑ German Bundestag Printed Matter 19/322. Retrieved February 19, 2019 .
- ↑ German Bundestag Printed Matter 19/7104. Retrieved February 19, 2019 .
- ^ Matthias Monroy: A quarter of a million "Silent SMS" annually , Telepolis, November 22, 2011
- ↑ Kilian Froitzhuber: Silent SMS: State of Berlin has found some figures , netzpolitik.org , October 22, 2013
- ↑ Matthias Monroy: Also in Hamburg more “Silent SMS” and research into “Telecommunications traffic data” , netzpolitik.org , October 9, 2013
- ↑ The regional prize of this year's BigBrotherAwards goes to the Berlin Senator for the Interior, Dr. Ehrhart Körting , Big Brother Awards , 2003
- ↑ Silent SMS: The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution pings in secret , heise.de , 2018
- ↑ Kai Biermann Millions of SIM cards are not secure , Zeit Online, July 21, 2013
- ↑ Claudia Kornmeier: Silent SMS This is how you tinker with a basis for authorization , Legal Tribune Online, August 8, 2014
- ↑ Claudia Kornmeier: Silent SMS - Authorization does not work (PDF) StV defense lawyer, Editorial, issue 11/2014, ISSN 0720-1605
- ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: SMS from the state , penalty area, legal blog, October 25, 2014
- ↑ Stefan Krempl, Hilmar Schmundt: Search with silent mail . In: Der Spiegel . No. 15 , 2003 ( online ).
- ↑ Decision of the 3rd Criminal Senate of 8.2.2018 - 3 StR 400/17 - , BGH , 2018.
- ↑ silence SMS: Federal Constitutional protection pings in secret . In: heise.de , 2018.
- ↑ Location query by "Silent SMS" (2109 / AB) , query response by the Federal Minister of the Interior Mag. Johanna Mikl-Leitner on the written request (2231 / J) from the MPs Mag. Albert Steinhauser, colleagues to the Federal Minister of the Interior Location query by "Silent SMS", 23 September 2014, 40th session of the National Council: notification of receipt