Cybersecurity

Meet The Grabber: How government and criminals can spy on you (and how to protect yourself)

Last week an Israeli-made cellphone signal grabber, or IMSI-catcher, made headlines after amaBhungane published an investigation into Willie Lotter and Joseph Pooe, who were arrested by the Hawks for the alleged illegal possession of an IMSI-catcher.

The implications of this device are enormous. In the wrong hands, it can be used to eliminate political rivals, curb a free press by targeting investigative journalists, and in the case of Lotter and Pooe, allegedly help bug members of the Airports Company of South Africa’s bid adjudication committee which makes decision on contracts worth hundreds of millions of rand, according to The Star.

What is even more frightening is that in recent years, IMSI-catcher technology - which was previously only within the grasp of governments – is now accessible to hackers and researchers who have been able to successfully build their own grabbing devices.