Did Hezbollah use SIGINT against Israel?

[Alexander Klimov]

On Wed, 20 Sep 2006, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
> http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/stories/ny-wocode184896831sep18,0,7091966,print.story
>
> That isn't supposed to be possible these days...

It is not clear that with modern technology interception is
impossible, at least during Second Gulf War the reports about
SIGINT against US were quite convincing:

 <http://www.google.com/search?q=iraq+radio+intercept>


> (I regard it as more
> likely that they were doing traffic analysis and direction-finding than
> actually cracking the ciphers.)

IIUC, spread-spectrum communication is not much stronger than the
background noise, and thus the traffic analysis is not that easy
either.

My guess that at least some information was leaked due to cellular
phones (the solders were routinely calling their families).

"Besides radio transmissions, the official said Hezbollah also
 monitored cell phone calls among Israeli troops. But cell phones are
 usually easier to intercept than military radio, and officials said
 Israeli forces were under strict orders not to divulge sensitive
 information over the phone."

Even if one don't care what was said over the phone, a lot of
information can be extracted from mere location of a phone
(especially, if one knows the owner of each phone):

"Israeli officials said the base also had detailed maps of northern
 Israel, lists of Israeli patrols along the border and cell phone
 numbers for Israeli commanders."

-- 
Regards,
ASK

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