It was? Why didn't I hear about this? I don't remember this coming up on HN. That is interesting that the mainstream media would take an interest in that considering SS7 security was relatively an obscure subject until recently in the tech community.

>> In his letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Lieu said the flawed SS7 system provides an open door for foreign hackers who want to intercept the private communications of U.S. government officials. https://www.wirelessweek.com/news/2016/08/congressman-urges-...

I don't think there has been enough research into the risks of these mobile networks. Not just from external attack but exploitation by domestic nation states to deploy malware onto peoples phones, mass location tracking, social network modeling, etc.

The amount power these ubiquitous towers provide any nation state with a modern security service and a penchant for secrecy is definitely underrated. Forget all of those quotes from the US founding fathers about gun ownership as a necessary affront to tyranny, controlling the communications networks makes any type of internal non-political rebellion against the state a long lost idea.