60 Minutes Shows How Network Flaw Makes Any Smartphone Easy Prey

An international team of cybersecurity experts hacked into an iPhone loaned to a U.S. congressman who sits on a key technology committee, in a 60 Minutes demonstration of how easy it is for a criminal to spy on callers by exploiting an international mobile phone network vulnerability. The segment aired Sunday.

The hackers were able to listen in on a call by Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., who sits on the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee, just by getting the actual phone number he was using, according to the program.

The team, led by German security researcher Karsten Nohl, easily penetrated the Signalling System No. 7 network, which it then could use for everything from listening in on calls to tracking the caller's movements and intercepting text messages.

Lieu, who volunteered to participate in the hacking demonstration, characterized the ease with which the researchers were able to access the phone data as "creepy," and said demonstration left him feeling angry.