https://www.itnews.com.au/news/travel-esims-secretly-route-t…
Read this article today and this sounds concerning tbh.
Researchers from Northeastern University tested dozens of popular eSIM services and discovered that user traffic frequently passes through Chinese infrastructure, regardless of the customer's actual location.
Something to keep in mind when buying an esim next time.
Yeah true but I think it's about using Chinese servers which is a risk
Think. No, stop and think.
If you do start doing dodgy or controversial things with your phone, or thinking the wrong thoughts, will it be the evil Chinese that kicks in your door?
OR… will it be your local, upstanding, freedom loving democracy that will kick in your door?
Spoiler alert - it will be the latter.
Spoiler alert - it will be the latter.
Spot on!
But obviously the purpose of this thread is to believe the evil empire is listening
How about both?
If you get on the wrong side of any of the people spying on you then any or all of them can harm you. That they all have a different angle and interests merely increases your chances of falling foul of one of them.
Chinese servers which is a risk
What exactly is the "risk"?
Let us know after you get bundled up in a van for accessing something the motherland doesn't like.
@YesPleaseThankYou: .
Cannot wait for such an invigorating and Hollywood-ske theatrics.
Finally it will be me me me and me!! I am so important !!!!!
Almost all of the operators will use the cheapest telco they can source. This is likely to be Hong Kong, Spain, Thailand and not something nefarious.
If the IP is important, you can choose suppliers with local breakout, and everyone should use a vpn or encryption if your threat model includes network level attacks (i.e. someone wants to expend resources to target you in particular)
Aside from IP there's also latency, routing halfway across the world (unsurprisingly) doesn't exactly help.
I always make sure any travel plans I get use a local operator. Not for security (anything important should be HTTPS anyway) but for performance.
you can choose suppliers with local breakout
Tell us, which one has 'local breakout'?
Narrator: There was no such service.
I’ve never tried to buy it, but it was at least a theoretical option when I used to work in telco. It does look like you are right:
https://www.reddit.com/r/cellmapper/comments/12j8ac6/why_are…
But you recommended that the OP 'choose suppliers with local breakout' — but you can't to point to one, just one!
If you want local data, get a local SIM. Simple.
@YesPleaseThankYou: Vodaphone offered it as an optional feature for corporate fleets in the past. I understood it was available more widely, but it seems you are correct.
I apologise if I mislead you.
The advantage lbo was trying to confer was for frequent travellers wishing to roam. Getting a local sim was not a suitable option.
Vodaphone offered it as an optional feature for corporate fleets in the past.
Vodafone. Source required.
Also, some random post from Reddit is hardly authoritative.
I apologise if I mislead you
I have not been misled — others might have been though.
A study finds messages routed through other countries networks.
It refers to one company's product routing through Hong Kong.
So ITS CHINA CHINA SCAREY EVIL CHINA, THE CCP IS SPYING ON EVERYONE.
This thread is just mindless drivel.
Grow up, OP.
It's a PSA , why would you say it's mindless. I wasn't aware this happens .
Meanwhile in the real world the University of Melbourne, right here in Australia, which said when it implemented it that its ability to locate devices connected to its wifi network would only be used for wifi traffic management, is using it to identify, discipline and expel students and staff involved in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. And is then opening and reading their emails to get evidence against them. And to get away with it all it will be required to do is warn users that they could do that.
That's how much privacy we get here from our own institutions.
Who the hell cares what the CCP could read, if it cared. Which it doesn't.
The enemy that wants tell us what we can say, and demonstrate about, is right here in this country, amongst us.
Sad world tbh, democracy and privacy is just a facade so no one goes batshit against the government!
I can tell you with SimsDirect (Simify) and Xplori (Klook), the traffic is routed to HK (Macau).
It is a bit unnerving but what can we do? That's why I have both roaming and this. Roaming for me to access stuff like MyGov (There was an attack to my MyGov account while I was overseas - I stopped using travel eSims since) and bank accounts.
Thats is scary indeed. Aren't the requests encrypted though ?
From experience in late 2024, I couldn't access MyGov from eSims. It would get you to the login screen and allow you to enter your login details but MyGov would then reject the login connection. What happened was a few days later when I was in Singapore, I got a notification through my roaming phone somebody used my password correctly to login into MyGov BUT because MyGov imposes 2FA, I got the code (the roaming phone).
I quickly went to MyGov and changed my password from my roaming phone. It is interesting it only ever happened when I was overseas so eSim was the only explanation of how it could have happened.
Holy moly
That sounds like you were notified about your own failed login attempt, (for whatever reason, but possibly because you didn’t receive the 2FA code), or am I missing something?
@BigBirdy: No no. When I was in Singapore (I was on a bus at the time), I got 5 2FA codes into my roaming phone and because I couldn't do anything at the time, I had to wait until I got to my hotel before I noticed I got an email from ATO to "Change your MyGov Password".
Once I reset the password using my laptop which used my roaming phone data, I went to the Security section of MyGov and noticed 5 attempts where the hacker successfully used the password to login but failed to enter because of 2FA.
Before all this, I did attempt to get into MyGov using my travel eSim but got declined in the end. You have to use roaming phone to login into MyGov.
This is why when I now travel, I have roaming (for Government entities/Financial institution/work related) and eSim (for chats/entertainment/googlemaps). Having a dual sim phone really works.
I'm by no means blind to the really dodgy shit that happens in China, and all of the nefarious and evil things that the Chinese government get up to.
However, I also think the whole "red scare" thing is a bit ridiculous. Would this article have had anywhere near as much interest if it was found that your traffic was passing through Saudi Arabia (or some other random country) whose government are equally as repressive and antagonistic as the Chinese?
The idea that the Chinese are more interested in what you do on the internet vs. any other country is just based on pure "China bad" hysteria, and broadly unfounded.
I'm not against the idea that people ought to be more aware of their digital footprint and online security, but that has nothing to do with China - if you genuinely cared, use a VPN, encrypt your traffic, tunnel to your own home internet connection if you don't trust a VPN provider…etc.
More so after Huawei scandal
Huawei scandal
Huawei scandal witch hunt.
Well said.
Every country's Government does dodgy stuff (robodebt anyone?) but Governments typically couldn't care less about nobodys in another country and would be more interested in what their own citizens are doing. I'd be more concerned about scammers who have nothing to do with a foreign government.
But regardless of who or where the threat is, ensuring ones accounts and digital information are sufficiently protected is the main thing.
Unless one chooses to not use any online services, just accept that some of your online information will be taken one way or another and do enough to make it impossible for your accounts to be taken over.
that's how roaming works? Chinese sim company routes to china.