Interception of phone calls or SMS messages of ANY mobile phone is possible by hackers FARA to have physical access to that device, a phone number being the only element they need to do their job.
Using an iPhone that was given to a US congressman, the famous show 60 minutes gave some German hackers the opportunity to prove to the whole world that their claims are real, and this happened, unfortunately.
A German hacker called Karsten Nohl managed to intercept all the phone calls and text messages of the iPhone used by the congressman, and although the terminal had GPS located, a map of the places visited by him was made based on the triangulation of the GSM signal.
The hacker was also helped by other people to exploit a vulnerability in global GSM networks, which allows the interception of phone calls and messages of any mobile phone, regardless of how well it is secured, the hackers only needing their phone number.
They were able to do it by exploiting a security flaw they discovered in Signaling System Seven — or SS7 […] The SS7 network is the heart of the worldwide mobile phone system. Phone companies use SS7 to exchange billing information. Billions of calls and text messages travel through its arteries daily. It is also the network that allows phones to roam.
Everything is possible because the exploited vulnerability is in global GSM networks, more precisely in the system SS7, Signaling System Seven, mobile phone operators transmitting phone calls, text messages and many other types of data through it.
The hacker claims that the existing vulnerability in SS7 it has been known for years by the spy agencies of many countries and that they tried to prevent the big telecom operators from shutting it down because they rely on it to gather information.
The ability to intercept cellphone calls through the SS7 network is an open secret among the world's intelligence agencies — including ours — and they don't necessarily want that hole plugged. The people who knew about this flaw and saying that should be fired.
Practically, using this vulnerability, no government agency would need any judicial warrant for wiretapping, nor would it need a terminal to retrieve data about calls or SMS messages, everything could be intercepted remotely.
Having said that, all mobile phones are vulnerable to this type of interception.
