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Reminds me of a story I heard: In a conflict, Russia sent SMS to the mothers of Ukrainian(?) soldiers, informing them of their son’s death (pretending to be the

Reminds me of a story I heard: In a conflict, Russia sent SMS to the mothers of Ukrainian(?) soldiers, informing them of their son’s death (pretending to be the Ukrainian government/military). The mothers, distraught, called their son’s cellphone. The increased, clustered cellphone activity near the frontline gave away the unit positions. Shortly after, Russian bombs dropped.

matt_the_bass 6y ago
This is sinister genius. Do you have a citation link? I’d love to read more.
- sitkack 6y ago
  That same "sinister genius" has and is still playing out in our elections right now.
  - celebrant 6y ago
    Are Macedonians still putting out a tiny number of low quality Facebook ads?
  - Dahoon 6y ago
    Sure why not? The US does that same thing so what is the problem?
runarb 6y ago
Russian intelligence was also able to counterfeit an app used by Ukrainian artillery forces to track them: https://www.google.com/amp/s/fortune.com/2016/12/22/russia-ukraine-app/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/fortune.com/2016/12/22/russia-u...
- dependenttypes 6y ago
  Non-amp link: https://fortune.com/2016/12/22/russia-ukraine-app/ https://fortune.com/2016/12/22/russia-ukraine-app/
ISL 6y ago
Went looking for citations: https://www.ausa.org/articles/russia-gives-lessons-electronic-warfare https://www.ausa.org/articles/russia-gives-lessons-electroni... https://mwi.usma.edu/text-messages-hell-restraint-information-warfare/ https://mwi.usma.edu/text-messages-hell-restraint-informatio...
- eloff 6y ago
  That's some next level evil genius. Pretty scary.
rezeroed 6y ago
If the russians could get the mother's phone numbers, why not the sons? If you're able to identify the location of call activity, why aren't you able to identify the cell while not on a call, when as far as I am aware there is still communication?
- Ma8ee 6y ago
  Maybe they couldn’t and just sent the SMS to a lot of random numbers. Those that belonged to mothers at the frontline naturally tried to call their sons.
  - rezeroed 6y ago
    Right. Still curious about monitoring cell activity only during calls. Thinking if you can monitor the cells, just look at the front line cells for comms.
    - jinglebells 6y ago
      They didn't know where the front line was?
      - rezeroed 6y ago
        You're involved in a conflict and you don't know where the front line is?
        TeMPOraL 6y ago
        They knew where the front line was, they were trying to learn where the Ukrainian forces were positioned along that front line.
        rezeroed 6y ago
        Right, so back to the question - why not just monitor front line cells for activity, which i think can be done without making calls?
williamscales 6y ago
Is it typical that soldiers carry mobile phones? It seems like it would open them up to all kinds of possible problems, and I can't think of a reason you would need a cell phone in a conflict when you have a radio, right?
- flurdy 6y ago
  From the volume of photos and videos from US, UK, etc that were based in Afganistan, Iraq etc you can deduce a smartphone is quite normal in those forces, so I would assume the same in Ukrainian forces. They might not wear them out on patrol or manoeuvres, but back at their tents/barracks, I would assume some if not all have their personal phones. You only need a couple to track them. I also read once Strave/Fitbit type trackers was rife at army bases and used to work out patrol routes.

matt_the_bass 6y ago

This is sinister genius. Do you have a citation link? I’d love to read more.

sitkack 6y ago
That same "sinister genius" has and is still playing out in our elections right now.
- celebrant 6y ago
  Are Macedonians still putting out a tiny number of low quality Facebook ads?
- Dahoon 6y ago
  Sure why not? The US does that same thing so what is the problem?

runarb 6y ago

Russian intelligence was also able to counterfeit an app used by Ukrainian artillery forces to track them: https://www.google.com/amp/s/fortune.com/2016/12/22/russia-ukraine-app/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/fortune.com/2016/12/22/russia-u...

dependenttypes 6y ago
Non-amp link: https://fortune.com/2016/12/22/russia-ukraine-app/ https://fortune.com/2016/12/22/russia-ukraine-app/

ISL 6y ago

Went looking for citations: https://www.ausa.org/articles/russia-gives-lessons-electronic-warfare https://www.ausa.org/articles/russia-gives-lessons-electroni... https://mwi.usma.edu/text-messages-hell-restraint-information-warfare/ https://mwi.usma.edu/text-messages-hell-restraint-informatio...

eloff 6y ago
That's some next level evil genius. Pretty scary.

rezeroed 6y ago

If the russians could get the mother's phone numbers, why not the sons? If you're able to identify the location of call activity, why aren't you able to identify the cell while not on a call, when as far as I am aware there is still communication?

Ma8ee 6y ago
Maybe they couldn’t and just sent the SMS to a lot of random numbers. Those that belonged to mothers at the frontline naturally tried to call their sons.
- rezeroed 6y ago
  Right. Still curious about monitoring cell activity only during calls. Thinking if you can monitor the cells, just look at the front line cells for comms.
  - jinglebells 6y ago
    They didn't know where the front line was?
    - rezeroed 6y ago
      You're involved in a conflict and you don't know where the front line is?
      - TeMPOraL 6y ago
        They knew where the front line was, they were trying to learn where the Ukrainian forces were positioned along that front line.
        rezeroed 6y ago
        Right, so back to the question - why not just monitor front line cells for activity, which i think can be done without making calls?

williamscales 6y ago

Is it typical that soldiers carry mobile phones? It seems like it would open them up to all kinds of possible problems, and I can't think of a reason you would need a cell phone in a conflict when you have a radio, right?

flurdy 6y ago
From the volume of photos and videos from US, UK, etc that were based in Afganistan, Iraq etc you can deduce a smartphone is quite normal in those forces, so I would assume the same in Ukrainian forces. They might not wear them out on patrol or manoeuvres, but back at their tents/barracks, I would assume some if not all have their personal phones. You only need a couple to track them. I also read once Strave/Fitbit type trackers was rife at army bases and used to work out patrol routes.