Discussion
In loose terms, roughly speaking, how did journalists achieve this nefarious end aim? Was it complex or relatively simple, is my question.
I believe PH has a "not to discussing hacking" policy - I should point out that I'm more interested in roughly what needed to be done in order to achieve the hack, Im not after a step by step guide.
Id have guessed that phone hacking in the digital era would have been incredibly difficult, but it seems now that looking back, phone hacking was rather rampant.
I believe PH has a "not to discussing hacking" policy - I should point out that I'm more interested in roughly what needed to be done in order to achieve the hack, Im not after a step by step guide.
Id have guessed that phone hacking in the digital era would have been incredibly difficult, but it seems now that looking back, phone hacking was rather rampant.
They weren't hacking the actual phone call (well, not since phones went digital). What they did wasn't even really hacking in the sense most people understand the term.
They basically accessed the voicemail on your phone by dialing your number plus the extension to get into your voicemail service (as you would do if you were trying to listen to voicemail from another phone). They found that most people never changed their voicemail PIN from the manufacturer/phone company's default (like 1111 or 1234) - some didn't even have a PIN.
They also use other methods. Private investigators were hired to blag private information from your bank (phoning up and pretending to be you, quoting your account numbers from statements collected from your bins, answering your security questions) etc and also paying police officers for information.
They basically accessed the voicemail on your phone by dialing your number plus the extension to get into your voicemail service (as you would do if you were trying to listen to voicemail from another phone). They found that most people never changed their voicemail PIN from the manufacturer/phone company's default (like 1111 or 1234) - some didn't even have a PIN.
They also use other methods. Private investigators were hired to blag private information from your bank (phoning up and pretending to be you, quoting your account numbers from statements collected from your bins, answering your security questions) etc and also paying police officers for information.
Edited by ninja-lewis on Thursday 24th November 23:05
Mr Pies said:
I believe they only hacked people who hadn't changed their operator set, default answer phone pin number.
Bloody hell, well that wasn't hard then, was it.This need not have been moved to the news forum.
I have no interest in the news, didnt read the phone hacking or NOTW thread, simply wanted to know what clever, ingenious high tech methods were employed and what lengths one might have to go to, to hack a phone.
Not very clever or high tech at all then!
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