"What I don't understand is how this vector occurred (on the Android phone) given it is no different to connecting over public (open) wifi" See the talk from B

"What I don't understand is how this vector occurred (on the Android phone) given it is no different to connecting over public (open) wifi" See the talk from BlackHat titled "Femtocells: a poisonous needle in the operator's haystack" http://femto.sec.t-labs.tu-berlin.de/bh2011.pdf http://femto.sec.t-labs.tu-berlin.de/bh2011.pdf Basically, they set up a rogue femtocell, you connected to it as you walked by and voila. It would also explain why you sometimes couldn't make calls (you need to be within 15 feet of most femtos to make a call, but you still have signal strength up to 40 feet).