Telephone tapping: Governments no longer hold a monopoly

Forget expensive electronic gear and secretive maneuvers once needed to tap into telephone lines. It's now possible technically - if not exactly legal - to intercept GSM communications with light and inexpensive equipment. Hackers have succeeded in building makeshift antenna relays to capture GSM transmissions and to even hack into Femtocell, a small cellular base station specially designed for home and small businesses. On the supply side, the arrival of Indian and Chinese manufactures has driven down the price of GSM interceptors that can now be ordered easily on the Internet. Intelligence Online outlines the main breakthroughs in the field and ways to protect yourself against them.