---
author: "Eric Priezkalns"
published: "2016-12-07T06:00:24+00:00"
modified: "2016-11-28T07:14:51+00:00"
title: "IMSI-Catcher Disguised as HP Printer"
permalink: "https://commsrisk.com/imsi-catcher-disguised-as-hp-printer/"
---

# IMSI-Catcher Disguised as HP Printer

Artist and engineer [Julian Oliver](https://julianoliver.com/output/category/about) has long held an obsession with badly-disguised radio masts, whether they are the kind that pretends to be a palm tree or the kind that pretends to be a lamp post. Now he has progressed from documenting the fakery of mobile network antennae to constructing his own elaborate GSM-based deception. Oliver took the dull beige and grey casing of a Hewlett Packard printer, and put an IMSI-catcher inside; see [here](https://julianoliver.com/output/stealth-cell-tower). And to convince the world it really works, he shared the software for the IMSI-catcher too!

Oliver treats the piece as a work of art, calling it *Stealth Cell Tower*. As he recognizes, the device could not be used without breaking various laws. But he obviously has a serious point. If an artist can successfully make a fake GSM network node, which appears just like an innocuous piece of office equipment from the outside, then crooks and spies could do the same. So ask yourself a question: when a new office printer is installed, would you think to check who ordered it?