Cybersecurity

Senator Demands Overhaul of Telecom Security to Curb Abuses

  • Security flaws in mobile networks have allowed for spying
  • Wyden calls for threat to be ‘meaningfully addressed’ by Biden
Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, at a January hearing. Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg

Foreign governments are abusing security flaws in mobile phone networks to secretly track Americans in the US and journalists and dissidents abroad, Senator Ron Wyden has warned.

In a letter sent to President Joe Biden on Thursday, reviewed by Bloomberg News, Wyden is urging the White House to counter the threat by supporting a major overhaul of cybersecurity standards for US-based wireless carriers.